Hailey's POV

"Well, everything looks good," Dr. Manning was telling Caroline and Micheal while Charlie sat cross-legged on the hospital bed, picking at a hangnail, "She should be good to go home today. I can start getting the discharge papers ready."

I watched from outside the hospital room and Dr. Manning gave me a sad smile as she left the hospital room.

It was almost scary how Charlie looked. Her bloodshot eyes, her terribly thin and unhealthy frame, and of course her drained eyes.;

"I'm grounded, aren't I?" Charlie spoke quietly, not looking at anyone in the room.

"We're just glad you're okay," Caroline replied and inched closer towards Charlie. She went to wrap her arms around the girl but Charlie shied away.

Caroline noticed and she immediately stepped back.

"Why'd you do it?" Micheal asked, his voice quiet, "Why'd you run away?"

Charlie just shrugged but then looked out the room and straight at me. She locked eyes with me as she spoke.

"I don't know," Charlie said, her brown eyes staring into me.

Neither Micheal nor Caroline pushed her about it and left it at that. I didn't know if Charlie would have kept staring at me if I had stayed but I will never find out because I left my spot to go update the rest of Intelligence about it.

"How is she?" Jay asked as I walked into the waiting room.

"Physically, fine," I replied, "Nothing a few good meals can't fix."

Atwater nodded, "And if we're not talking physically?"

"It's going to need a lot more than a few good meals," I sighed.

"Has she given any reason as to why she ran away yet?" Ruzek asked.

I shook my head, "Just the classic I don't know."

"Well, she's safe and that's the main thing," Voight quickly reminded us and we all nodded in agreement.

We had gotten Charlie off the dangerous streets and back to her foster family, but we all knew it wasn't as easy as that.

"I'm gonna go back and check on her," I announced, "Maybe she'll talk to me if her foster parents aren't in the room."

Everyone told me to tell her they said hi and I agreed before walking back into the ED and towards Charlie's hospital room.

Charlie was still sitting on her bed, staring at her hands while Micheal and Caroline were talking next to her. I wasn't sure if they were talking to Charlie or to each other but either way, it was obvious that Charlie wasn't listening.

"Hey..." I hesitantly knocked on the glass door before stepping in, "I was wondering if I could talk to Charlie...alone."

Micheal and Caroline looked at each other, almost worriedly.

"Should we be concerned?" Micheal asked me, "Charlie isn't in trouble is she?"

"No, no she isn't," I quickly said.

Charlie looked up at Micheal, "I'll be okay. Go get something from the cafeteria or whatever."

Micheal nodded slowly, "Okay...do you want anything?"

"No, I'm fine," Charlie replied, shaking her head.

"Thank you," I said to Micheal and Caroline as they left the room. When they were gone, I slowly made my way to Charlie's side before taking a seat in the chair.

"I don't know," Charlie said before I could say anything.

I raised an eyebrow, "To what? I haven't even asked anything."

Charlie scoffed, "You're going to ask me why I ran away so I'm just beating you to the punch."

"Okay..." I nodded, "So maybe you're right...maybe I was going to ask why you ran away."

"And I already told you, I don't know," Charlie looked away, avoiding eye contact, "I don't know so you can tell everyone to stop asking."

"Charlie..." I kept my voice low, "I know you said you don't know, but I have to ask...is everything okay?"

Charlie snorted, "My dad is in prison for life, my mom is dead, I'm living in foster care and I'm going to a stupid school with stupid kids. You're really going to ask me why I ran away?"

"Why is the school stupid?" I asked quietly.

"Because it is," Charlie made a face, "Everything there is stupid and dumb, one moment you think you can trust someone and the next you realize that they never had your back all along."

"What do you mean?" I tried to get Charlie to keep talking but she knew she had said too much.

Charlie shook her head, "Forget it, it's stupid and pointless."

"It's not stupid and pointless," I told her, "If there's a problem, you can tell me. Is it Micheal and Caroline? Is it school? Is it the other kids at school?"

Charlie was adamant about keeping her mouth shut though and didn't give me anything besides a shake of her head.

I nodded, "Okay...we don't have to talk about it now, but Charlie if something's wrong, I can help you."

"I don't want your stupid help!" Charlie burst out angrily, "Everyone keeps telling me that they can help me with this and help me with that but what do you know? Nobody can bring people back from the dead, nobody can suddenly make my life okay, so stop talking like you can!"

I sat there, slightly flabbergasted at Charlie's sudden outburst. She was fuming and I could tell so I decided to keep quiet, not wanting to upset her any further.

"I'm tired," She mumbled and I picked up the clue to leave.

I nodded, "Okay...just Charlie?"

The teenager looked up at me to show that she was listening.

"You can talk to me you know?" I said, "Anytime you want, anytime you need to. You're right...maybe I can't just make everything better but I can listen."

"Okay..." Charlie nodded, her voice quiet, "I know."

I nodded as well and started to leave when I heard Charlie speak up.

"You don't have to worry about me."

I turned around to face Charlie and saw that she had a very blank expression.

"I'm fine by myself," She went on, "I'll always be fine by myself."

I wasn't sure what to say about that but I didn't get a chance to speak anyway as Caroline and Micheal along with Dr. Manning came bustling back into the hospital room.

While they walked about some stuff, I decided to quietly leave but Charlie's words stayed firmly implanted on my mind.

I'm fine by myself.