I'm back with n updte guys :P

I'm so glad you like it :P I know I'm updting kind of slow lately, but I hve complete writers block and haven't been able to write for months!! Thnk God I ws like 15 chapters ahead :P But it still sucks, cause I'm getting closer nd closer to the point where I don't have anymore written :(

Anyways, gotta go... Need to go wash the blue hair dye out of my hair (yep, you heard/read right... I'm making blue highlights :P... which also mens my face, neck rms etc. are blue right now... I look like a smurf :D)

ENJOY!! And don't forget to leave me those lovely reviews :P

Chapter 37 - Manipulated

Putting the bandages on the last wounds, Dr. Kovac started carefully closing Abby's gown again. When she didn't react at all, Dr. Kovac slowly pulled the stool around the bed with her and sat down, so they were at eye level with each other.

"Are you okay?" She was just staring straight into the air, like she was in another universe, and it wasn't till Dr. Kovac grabbed her hand, that she snapped out of it and looked down.

"I'm fine." During those few seconds it had taken Dr. Kovac to walk around the bed, Abby had put her façade and her barriers back up. Or at least she'd like to think that, as it helped her keep calm and feeling more safe.

"Okay." Taking another deep breath, Dr. Kovac gently moved some hair out of Abby's face, putting it all behind her shoulder. "Abby, are there anyone you want us to call?" She just shook her head, avoiding the doctor's gaze. "We need to call someone, you're not old enough to be by yourself yet. And Eric needs somewhere to stay while you're in the hospital." Abby shifted a little, still not looking up.

"I can take care of Eric. He's my brother." She knew that Dr. Kovac was right, but she wasn't ready to give in yet, at least not without a fight.

"I know that, Abby, but we need an adult." She put her hand on top of Abby's, who quickly pulled away. "What about your mother?" Snorting, Abby just shook her head. Her reaction kind of surprised Dr. Kovac, but judging by Abby's previous behaviour, they didn't seem too close. "Does she know anything about what's going on?" She shrugged her shoulders, feeling the tears build up in her eyes.

"I don't know." Even though she tried pretending like she didn't care, it hurt her a lot to think about the fact that her own mom didn't give a damn about her. "Probably." She felt Dr. Kovac looking intensely at her. "It's not like she'd care." Dr. Kovac tensed up a bit. She couldn't imagine any mother, any parent for that sake, wanting something like this for their kid, or not caring that someone else was hurting them.

"Are you sure about that? Maybe if we told her..."

"You won't even be able to get a hold of her." Dr. Kovac knew it probably wouldn't be the best way of approaching the subject, but she was pretty lost with how to handle Abby. "I haven't seen her in months. For all I know she could just as well be dead."

"What do you mean?" Biting her lip, she shrugged her shoulders.

"That's what she does. She leaves us for months at a time, and then she doesn't understand why I don't trust her." She felt Dr. Kovac giving her a sympathetic smile, probably not knowing what to say, judging by the long silence. "Now if she really cared about us, then she would stay on her meds and not just completely forget about us." She felt her own voice crack halfway through the sentence, and she hated feeling and looking so vulnerable.

"Meds? She's on medication?" Abby nodded. Dr. Kovac actually sounded surprised.

"She's supposed to be, but she's never stayed on them for more than a week at a time." At least not as far as she could remember. She took a deep breath, trying to pull herself together to continue. "She's... Bi-polar."

"Oh." She could hear the understanding tone in Dr. Kovac's voice, and was somehow really grateful for it. "How about your real dad, Abby? Where is he?" Once again Abby just shrugged her shoulders.

"I have no idea. Haven't seen or heard from him since he left us." Nodding, Dr. Kovac put a strand of hair behind her ear.

"When was that?" Closing her eyes, Abby sighed.

"The day before I turned 7. I don't even remember his name." Nodding, Dr. Kovac grabbed her hand, and to her surprise, Abby didn't pull away.

"It's okay. Is there any other family?" This time Abby just shook her head, still looking down. "Abby, I need you to look at me, okay?" She took a deep breath, somehow happy that her serious tone got Abby to obey. "I know this is going to be hard, but I need to know." She took Abby biting her lip as a sign that it was okay to continue. "Abby, do we need to do a rape exam?" Slipping her hand out of Dr. Kovac's grip, she curled up on the bed as she felt a sticky tear slowly sliding down her cheek.

"It's not really... rape." Even though she was looking down, she could still feel Dr. Kovac looking confused at her.

"I'm not sure if I understood this right. Did you want to sleep with your step dad?" Closing her eyes, she tried wiping away the tear, but without success. A new one just fell instead.

"I don't protest. I've never said 'no'." Her voice got weaker and weaker by each word, and so did she, emotionally. She'd never told this to anyone, not even Luka knew the details, he just knew it had happened. She had already revealed so much today, too much, and it made her feel vulnerable, really vulnerable.

"But do you want to, Abby?" Biting her lip she shrugged her shoulders, still not looking up.

"I have to." She tensed up as she felt her upper arm getting stroked.

"Have to?" She nodded carefully, hating where the conversation was going. "But is it out of your own free will? Is it voluntarily?" Taking a deep breath, she felt more tears flowing from her eyes.

"Sometimes." Okay, it wasn't really voluntarily, but she had still learned to do it without getting the instructions first. "I'll happily do it, knowing that Eric won't get hurt." It was true. It was the one thing that had always kept her from rebelling, from wanting help, knowing that Richard would take it out on Eric if she didn't do exactly as he wanted, if she wasn't good enough.

"So if there wasn't any consequences, no one else were involved, would you still want to?" She bit her lip. She didn't know what to answer. If it was Richard, she probably would, cause he'd just find some other way of getting her to willingly do it, but at the same time she knew her answer should be 'no'. Because deep down she really, really didn't want to, and she hated it more than anything.

"I... I don't know." And she didn't. She had never been able to, or allowed, to have her own opinions, and she had no idea how and what it would be like, not to be used as the 'slave' she literally was. "I guess not." It wasn't till she saw Dr. Kovac's sympathetic smile, that she realized tears were streaming down her face uncontrollably.

"Okay." Squeezing Abby's hand, Dr. Kovac stood up. "I'll be back soon with a nurse. It might take a little while, so get some rest." She brushed a strand of hair out of Abby's face as she nodded.

"How is she doing?" Sighing, she sat down on a chair, joining her husband in the doctors lounge. "You were in there for quite a long time."

"I know." She put her elbows on the table, resting her head in her hands. "There was a lot of things to go over, a lot of wounds that needed stitches." Looking up at him, she let out a deep breath. "Which she insisted on doing without sedation."

"What?" Shaking her head, she leaned back in her chair.

"God, Josef, that poor girl is so messed up. I can't remember ever meeting anyone more manipulated than her, and I still only know close to nothing about her life and what's going on in her mind." Grabbing her hand, he gave her a small smile.

"Are you sure you're okay with taking this case?" Closing her eyes, she nodded. "I mean, I'm sure they can find someone else..."

"It's fine." Standing up, she interrupted him. "I'm just... overwhelmed. That's all." She got a bottle of water out of the fridge and leaned up against it. "I'm gonna go find Luka and then go back to do the rape exam." She didn't even give him a chance to reply before leaving the room in search for her son.

"Okay, do you know why you're here?" Eric shrugged his shoulders, looking at the two cops in front of him.

"Because my sister's in the hospital?" He wasn't really sure. All he knew was that Luka had brought him to the hospital after school, but no one had told him exactly why.

"Do you know why she's here?" He shook his head.

"No. Is she okay?" He was really worried. "Abby's never sick." He couldn't imagine what it could be, causing the police to be involved in it.

"The last we heard she was okay, she collapsed in school." Eric's eyes turned wide.

"Why? What's wrong with her?"

"Eric, how's it like for you guys at home? How are things between Abby and your step dad?" He shrugged his shoulders, hating how they wouldn't answer his question.

"I don't know. I don't think Abby likes him too much." The police officer nodded and wrote something down.

"So you haven't seen anything... suspicious, going on? Anything between them which isn't supposed to happen?"

"No." Eric was getting a weird feeling. He had no idea where these questions were headed, but he didn't like it.

"I take it that you're not aware that he has been abusing her, then."

"What?"

"You had no idea, did you?" Eric shook his head. Of course he didn't, Abby was completely normal. He would have known, have noticed, if she was abused, wouldn't he?

"He hit her once, gave her a black eye, but that's all." The police officers sent him an unsure look, and Eric looked down. "It was an accident. Abby said he hadn't meant it, that she'd just accidentally been in the way." Eric knew that if the police told him it was true, then it probably was, and thinking about it, it kind of made sense. He just didn't want to admit it. And thinking about it, it did explain her behaviour lately.

He might only be 10, but that didn't mean he was stupid. He was actually pretty smart for his age, and in today's society, everyone, even kids younger than him, knew exactly what 'abuse' was, and they'd already gotten explained how to get pregnant on a video in school etcetera, so he didn't need any further information or explanation.

"Can I see her?" The guy who wrote down everything Eric said shrugged his shoulders, giving him a small smile.

"I don't know, you're gonna have to ask the doctor. But probably not, cause we still haven't seen her yet."

"Oh." He looked down, kind of disappointed that he couldn't see his sister. He usually wasn't afraid or scared of police men, but right now he really just wanted them to leave him alone, or even better yet, to wake up and find that this was all just a really bad dream, a nightmare.

"Well, you'll probably hear more from us soon." Still looking down, Eric just nodded.

"Okay." He held his breath as the two police officers left the room, not letting himself breath till he heard the door slam.