Well, that was an interesting experience. I've gotten reviews before about how graphic my stories are, but usually it's a few, among many. In those cases, it's easy to ignore the haters and press on, but when the ONLY reviews you get are "oh, my God! Stop doing this!," as an author, you wonder if maybe we've moved beyond pushing the envelope to jumping off the cliff.
The reason I say this is because that's precisely what happened here. All of the reviews we were getting begged us to end the kidnapping sequence, and not in the horror-movie-I'll-say-it-but-keep-reading sense. This was far more serious than that. And then, when we conclude that maybe we really did jump off the deep end, inboxes get flooded with supportive reviews.
The point is, if you like something, speak up. If you don't say it, no one else will say it for you. I want to write an entertaining story (with a point), and the only way I can judge whether I'm doing that or not is by what you communicate back to me.
If you're curious, and you would like to know what was cut, a list of chapter events can be found on Bellatrix Wannabe 89's profile.
Chapter 25
The fact that the Tutuolas had been taken to New Jersey brought forth a slew of legal complications. Both Fin and Olivia had completed health care proxys to name a legal decision maker in the event that they were incapacitated, as strongly advised by the NYPD. Olivia's named Fin as her primary proxy with Elliot as an alternate, and Fin's named Olivia as a primary with Munch as a alternate. However, those forms were only valid in New York. The location of the gas station was roughly the same distance from a reputable hospital in New Jersey as it was from Downtown Hospital in New York. At Elliot's insistence, the Tutuolas were taken to Downtown, where they could at least be treated in their own state.
"Alex," Elliot said into the mouthpiece of his cell phone. Munch was right behind the caravan of ambulances, each emergency vehicle traveling as fast as it could with full lights and sirens. "Do you still have copies of our health care paperwork?" he asked. The entire squad had given copies to Alex, anticipating that she would be the legal point person in the event that something happened to any one of them. Elliot had his own copy, but that was in Queens, and Alex was already in Manhattan.
"Yeah, why? What's going on?" she asked.
"We found them. Liv, Fin, and Tina," Elliot told her.
"Are they ok?" Alex asked, finally turning her full attention towards the phone.
"No. Listen, all I know is that they're in bad shape. Can you meet us at Downtown Hospital and bring the papers with you?" he asked. He hoped that Olivia or Fin would wake up on their own, and he wouldn't have to be in this position. But, he was her partner, and he was going to take care of her if he had to. Without even needing to ask, he knew that Munch was prepared to do the same for Fin.
"Sure. I'll grab a cab, and I can be there in twenty minutes," Alex said, hanging up the phone.
"They're going to be ok," Munch told Elliot.
"I hope so," Elliot replied.
XxXxX
As the ambulances pulled up to the emergency room entrance, medical personnel raced towards them, carefully organized into three teams. Fin was the first one out.
"What have we got?" a male doctor asked, beginning his preliminary exam as two nurses and the paramedics hurried the gurney through the halls.
"Male, early 40s. GSW to the right shoulder. BP 90 over 50 and falling. Victim conscious on arrival, lost consciousness en route. Pressure bandage applied," the paramedic answered in the swift medical jargon. When the settled in an emergency room bay, the doctor continued his exam, but was unable to do anything to suppress the continuous stream of blood that insistently came from Fin's chest.
"Let's get him to an OR, now!" the doctor said.
Meanwhile, Olivia was the second patient unloaded.
"Talk to me," a second doctor said, as Olivia was rushed down the hall, seconds behind her husband.
"Tina…" Olivia said weakly as her eyes opened for a split second.
"Female, mid-40s, approximately 3 months pregnant. Administered unknown drug. In process of grand mal seizure on arrival. Regained consciousness post-seizure en route," the paramedic reported.
"Start a line, normal saline. Get me full blood panel, and page obstetrics. We don't touch her until we get the all clear," the doctor reported. She turned her attention towards Olivia. "Ma'am? Can you hear me?"
"Tina…" Olivia repeated. The doctor took Olivia's hand in her own.
"Ma'am, if you can hear me, squeeze my hand," the doctor said. Inside Olivia's mind, she clamped onto the doctor's hand like it was a lifeline. In fact, all the doctor felt was a weak contracting of her hand.
"Good…you can hear me. We'll take good care of you," the doctor said, getting her situated in another one of the emergency bays.
Close behind Olivia, a third stretcher was winding its way into the emergency room, containing a scared little girl.
"Go," a third doctor said, and a repeat performance occurred.
"Female, 3, maybe 4 years old. Listless. Fever of 105.1," the paramedic reported.
"What's with her head?" the doctor asked, taking in the cuts on Tina's now bald head.
"She's the little girl that's been all over the news," the paramedic said. "Her parents are those two detectives who were abducted last week."
"Ok, first things first. That fever needs to come down, and we need to page peds. Are either of the parents stable?" the doctor asked.
"Negative, they came in just before she did," he said.
"Any other relatives?" the doctor said. They were going to need consent to do pretty much anything to Tina, and with both parents incapacitated, that could be tricky.
"There are a couple of cops in the waiting room," the paramedic reported.
XxXxX
"Elliot," Alex said, racing through the emergency room door. "Here's everything you asked for," she said, handing him a manila file folder.
"Both health care proxys are there as well as both of their wills," Alex told him. Elliot looked up at her, startled.
"Why would we need their wills?" he asked.
"Tina. It specifically states that if anything happens to both of them, you have guardianship of Tina. Legally, if they're both unable to make decisions, you can act as Tina's guardian, if it becomes necessary," Alex said. The gravity of the situation finally fell on Elliot's shoulders. Wills. Health care proxys. Forms they had all filed, thinking they would never be needed. Alex slipped out of her professional manner slightly. "Elliot, it probably won't be necessary. I just thought…"
"You were thinking like a lawyer. It's fine, Alex. Thank you," he said, still looking at the dreaded file in his hand.
"You know, I could stay…in case you run into legal issues," Alex added the last part quickly. Elliot nodded.
"Hey, Alex," Munch said, having completed his immediate task. "I just told the nurses who we were when they have any information."
XxXxX
Ken Randall flipped through the channels on the TV. It seemed like every channel had some sort of cop drama on, and that was the last thing he wanted to watch. He would have traded just about anything for a decent sit-com, anything to get his mind off of his missing family members. He had finally settled for watching a cooking competition using bizarre ingredients as part of the challenge.
But the longer he watched, the more he started to think about Olivia's cooking. Fin could manage to throw together a basic meal, but Olivia's cooking was a work of art. And then he started to imagine what she would do if she was on the show. This wasn't working either. He pushed the power button on the remote and threw it on the couch in frustration. This was a night for a book. He was pawing through his favorites when the phone rang.
"Ken, it's Elliot. We found them," Elliot said before Ken could get out anything more than a "hello."
"What? Where are they? Home?" he asked quickly.
"Listen, it's…not good," Elliot began. "They've all been taken to Downtown Hospital."
"Are they…will they…they'll be ok, right?" Ken asked.
"You should come down here," Elliot said.
"Wait, Elliot, where's Tina?" he asked, panicking at the thought of his little sister alone somewhere while her parents battled for their lives.
"She's here, too. I don't want to say anything else over the phone, but you should come," Elliot repeated.
"Yeah, ok. I'm on my way," Ken said, grateful that his family was alive, but worried that they wouldn't be for long.
XxXxX
Dr. Baker was updating the last of her charts in her cozy office at the clinic when she was interrupted by a soft rap on her door.
"Hey, what are you still doing here? I thought I was the only one who worked this late," Dr. Baker said kindly when Dr. Tanner popped her head in the door. Dr. Baker had liked the young, strawberry haired doctor from the moment she applied to the clinic when it opened three years ago. She was a talented pediatrician, and she proved to be just the right person to round out the staff at the Manhattan Family Clinic.
"I was just going over some test results. Listen, I just got a call from Downtown Hospital. They have a couple of our patients. Thought you'd want to know," she reported.
"Who?" Dr. Baker asked curiously.
"Olivia and Tina Tutuola," Dr. Tanner answered. Dr. Baker sighed, but she wasn't sure if it was from exhaustion or relief. The entire practice had been glued to the news reports on the abduction, especially once they learned that two of the three victims were patients at their clinic. While Tina's identity was never publicly released, anyone who knew the Tutuolas could piece together that she was the missing child.
Dr. Baker looked up at her colleague, whose intentions were plainly written across her face. Dr. Tanner's patients were the first priority in her life, and that was one of the many qualities that made her so valuable as a physician.
"Should we take your car or mine?" Dr. Baker asked.
XxXxX
Ken sat in the stark white hospital room holding the tiny hand of the form in front of him. She was small, but she seemed so much smaller with all of the instruments around her and wrapped in a cooling blanket. Every breath she took sounded strained, and he could hear the crackling in her lungs.
"Mr. Randall? I'm afraid visiting hours are over for this evening. You can come back tomorrow," a plump, pleasant-looking nurse informed him.
"Can't I just stay with her? If she wakes up alone, she'll be terrified," he asked.
"I'm sorry, but only a child's parent or guardian can stay outside of visiting hours," the nurse patiently explained.
"Ok, I get that, but her mom is a patient in maternity, and her dad is in ICU. Please, I'm her brother. She can't just stay here alone," he begged again. The nurse raised an eyebrow.
"You are her brother? You look old enough to be her father," the nurse said skeptically, crossing her arms in front of her.
"Yes, her brother. Ok, half-brother. She's my stepmother's daughter," he explained. A slight cough came from Tina, causing Ken to turn his attention back towards her. "It's ok, Tina. I'm right here." Tina started to whimper, and her cough gradually increased in severity, until it reached a full blown fit, waking her in the process.
"C'mon, sit up," Ken said, placing a hand on her back to help her lean forward so that her lungs could clear more easily. He heard the fluid sounds coming from her, and with a deftness matched only by Olivia herself, maneuvered a tissue under her mouth before she expelled the discharge.
"Uhhh…" Tina groaned, falling back onto the bed. She blinked her eyes a few times before she focused on Ken. "Ken? Where's Momma?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but I really do need to ask you to leave. It's hospital policy," the nurse said again. Ken shot her an annoyed look briefly before he turned back to Tina.
"I've got to go, Tina, but I'll be back first thing in the morning," he said, kissing her gently on the forehead. Tina's eyes went wide.
"NO!" she screamed. "NO, KEN, DON'T LEAVE!"
"It's ok, Tina, he can come back tomorrow," the nurse said as she started changing out the cooling packs surrounding Tina.
"NO! MOMMA! I! WANT! MOMMA!" Tina screamed, wailing at the top of her lungs.
"Tina, sweetheart, you need to calm down," the nurse said, desperately trying to calm the sick toddler down.
"NO! LEAVE! ME! ALONE!" Tina wailed. Ken had backed away as far as the doorway, but he couldn't bring himself to leave. The nurse was trying to prevent a flailing Tina from dislodging any of the instruments. Ken tried to suppress a grin, and failed miserably. He had seen this before from Tina. Ever since the day she was born, when she was exhausted or sick, she threw tantrums just like this until she got what she wanted, and the only people who could calm her down were her parents and Ken, although Olivia could usually appease her faster than the male members of the family.
"What's going on in here?" Elliot asked, rounding the corner. "I could hear her screaming from the other end of the hallway."
"MOMMA!" Tina cried again.
"Ok, Tina, take a deep breath, and tell me what's wrong. I can't understand you when you scream," he said calmly. Tina, recognizing Elliot, calmed down – slightly – but enough that she wasn't hysterical anymore.
"I hic want hic Ken hic," she said.
"Ok, Ken isn't going anywhere," Elliot said, stroking her arm to calm her down.
"Sir, I can only let a parent stay with her. Hospital policy," the nurse said again.
"Well, until her parents are in any condition to sit with her themselves, I'm her guardian, and I say he stays. You have no idea what this child has been through, and her closest relative is that young man, so he stays," Elliot said, kicking into his intimidating cop mode. The nurse eyed Ken again.
"Fine, but this better not come back on me," she said haughtily.
"Thanks, Elliot," Ken said as soon as the nurse was out of earshot. "Hey," he said, pulling Elliot out of Tina's earshot. "how are Fin and Liv?"
"They won't tell me anything about Fin, but Liv's…she's holding on. She's been seen by an obstetrician, but they haven't told me anything yet. I was actually about to go ask about her when I heard Tina screaming. Think she'll be ok with you?" Elliot asked. Ken grinned.
"When she was a baby, I was the only one she'd let baby-sit her," Ken said. "She'd throw a tantrum if anyone else tried to watch her." Elliot scoffed at the memory. He had been on the receiving end of a few of those tantrums.
"Well, if they give you anymore grief, call me right away. I may be the one making decisions for her, but you're her family, and right now, she needs family more than anything else," Elliot said. Ken nodded, grateful that he had Elliot's full support. Elliot clapped the young man on the shoulder before he turned back to Tina, whose brown eyes were already beginning to droop again.
"Hey, Sweetie," Elliot asked softly. "How you doing?"
"I want Momma and Daddy," she mumbled softly. Elliot licked his lower lip before he spoke.
"They're sick, too, right now and gotta stay in bed, just like you do."
"But I wanna see Momma," Tina whined before another heavy cough seized her.
"Take it easy, TeeTee," Ken told her as he took a seat by her bedside again and rubbed her back as the vicious coughs continued. Teers flooded her brown eyes that broke both grown men's heart when it finally stopped as she laid back down on the bed.
"I want Momma," Tina said before she began to cry. Ken eagerly wrapped his arms around the small girl.
"It's ok, TeeTee," he whispered softly as tears flew to his own eyes. "It's ok, Baby." Elliot laid a hand on Ken's shoulder one last time before he left the two siblings alone, knowing that aside from Olivia and Fin, she was in the most competent hands the detective could leave her in. Running a hand through his close-cropped hair, he continued down the hall where he stood in front of the elevator as he waited for it to open. Once it did, he was surprised to see Munch step out of the metal doors, looking tired and slightly haggard, but okay nonetheless. What was curious, though, was the small bag bearing the logo of a popular baby store nearby.
"Hey," Elliot greeted with a nod. "How's Fin?" Elliot could have sworn a tiny smile shone on his face, but it was gone as soon as he could confirm it.
"He's good. Doc says it was a clean shot, all the way through. There's no permanent bone or muscle damage. Apart from looking like he tried to take on Mike Tyson, I think he'll be ok. Physically, at least," he added with a sad mutter. "How's Liv?" he asked. Like Elliot, he was only privy his partner's medical information, so he couldn't get any information about Olivia.
"I was just about to go check," Elliot told him. "What are you doing down here in Peds? Shouldn't you be with Fin?"
"Doc said he'll be out for a while, so I thought I'd run a quick errand," he said.
"So, what's with the baby store?" Elliot asked, pointing to the bag. He reached for it, only to have Munch pull it out of his grasp.
"Don't worry about it," Munch said. "I'll talk to you later." And with that, Munch strode confidently down the hall, with his precious gift tightly in his hand. Elliot just shook his head at his colleague's randomness before he climbed on the elevator and headed for the maternity wing.
XxXxX
"Right this way, Doctor," an ER nurse said as she led Dr. Baker to one of the office areas used by the Emergency Room's attending physicians. She poked her head into one where a young blonde man was pouring over the contents of a folder.
"Dr. Scott?" the nurse said, getting his attention. "This is Dr. Stephanie Baker, from the Manhattan Family Clinic. She's Olivia Tutuola's regular OB/GYN. Dr. Baker, this is Dr. Scott, our obstetrician on call tonight," Dr. Scott stood quickly and shook Dr. Baker's hand.
"Hi, Wesley Scott. Nice to meet you," he said. "I was actually just going over Olivia's case." The nurse who had introduced them quietly disappeared, and Dr. Scott closed the door as Dr. Baker took a seat in an unoccupied spare chair.
"How is she?" Dr. Baker asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. Olivia had wanted another baby more than any patient she had, and after her previous miscarriages, she desperately wanted this pregnancy to last.
"I have no idea," Dr. Scott said, taking a seat in the chair he previously vacated and sliding the file over so that Dr. Baker could see its contents.
"Why don't you walk me through it," Dr. Baker suggested.
"When I examined her, I found chemical burns over approximately 70% of her body, including the vaginal walls. Her blood work shows a dangerously high level of sodium, which might explain the seizure, but then again, it might not. The fetus' vitals have been erratic, and I can't find an obvious cause. She has traces of a sedative in her system, but nothing that would explain fetal distress of this magnitude," he said, showing her the medical evidence he had put together. Dr. Baker studied the documentation in front of her. It took her several minutes to spot it, but once she did, it practically slapped her across the face.
"My God," she said in horror. "I think I know what happened."
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