5 hours later as Dana brings a cold Tess on a stretcher
"why does she look frozen, she barely looks like she's breathing" asks Mitchie
"she gave her coat to a homeless woman she met at the homeless village she managed to make it to, she spent four hours in only her dress Mitchie, you are seriously lucky I'm part of a homeless outreach program here in the area or the paramedics would have never found her, what on earth was she doing outside alone" says Dana as she motions for the paramedics to put Tess on the couch
"long story but she's dating Caitlyn and I, basically I applied for the Julie exception so I could marry both Caitlyn and Tessie and having to tell her story freaked her out" says Mitchie
"you guys are lucky she's alive, she should be in the hospital right now but Dana convinced the doctor that if Tesslin woke up in the hospital she'd go nuts, she's on an IV drip and should remain as such for a few days, she will have problems eating and her temperature may not return to normal levels" says the paramedic
"all that from a few hours in the cold, d-do you think she was trying to kill herself" asks Mitchie
"all I know is that homeless village is normally very hostile to outsiders, when we got there to take Tesslin to the hospital they tried to attack us till Dana came into view, only then did they let us save Tesslin's life" says the paramedic
"I know the village you mean, they have a reason to be hostile, that village has a few teen girls who are easy pickings for wannabe serial rapists who want to get away with their crime, those girls are there BECAUSE they were raped and had lost their parents in an apartment building fire a few days prior and had no money to pay their medical bills caused by the rape, that village is very protective of them, I supply that village with hygiene supplies, they don't trust men outside the homeless villages in the city and don't trust many females outside the community either, I knew I was one they trusted, I didn't know Dana was one" says Mitchie
"Richard you can go, I have the IV bags, as promised I will stay here till she stabilizes, you have another call to do don't you" says Dana
"I have to stay and set up Tesslin's medical equipment, my partner has already left to attend to that call" says Richard as he wheels in a bunch of medical equipment
"why all this clearly expensive medical equipment" asks Caitlyn
"that would be my fault, see even though the paramedics knew she had a home to go to because she was found she was classified as homeless which enabled my charity to pay for her medical expenses which includes any medical equipment she may need" says Dana
"she's not at risk of death is she" asks Mitchie
"with Tesslin that risk is never known, my dad hated her as much if not more than he hated Nathan, mainly because she was glued to my side the whole summer and he went nuts when he realized we shared a room at camp star, she hides a lot from people, the therapist that had to clear her to leave the hospital looked at her mental health history and believes she might be bipolar but poses no risk to anyone, during that summer she did confess suicidal thoughts to me after that luke dude cornered her and basically forced her to give him vocal lessons, to be honest he was very entitled, treated Tess like trash" says Dana
"I'm assuming Tesslin isn't staying on the couch, if I'm to set up this equipment I need to know where she's going to be sleeping" says Richard
"Caitlyn and I's bedroom, around the corner first room to the right, in your medical opinion Richard what are her chances of survival" asks Mitchie
"as long as she is kept warm she will be fine Michelle Torres, currently her body is wicking up all the cold air around her and essentially keeping her body in a coma like state, which now that I think about it perfectly explains why the homeless village didn't want us anywhere near her, anyway I'll go set things up, it's not messy in there is it" says Richard as Caitlyn turns up the heat
"we cleaned it this morning and please never call me Michelle, my name is Mitchie, I take people calling me Michelle as an insult" says Mitchie as Richard sets up Tess's heart and oxygen monitor and it starts beeping slowly
"I apologize, I didn't know, anyway is Tesslin a left side bed sleeper or right side bed sleepe" apologizes Richard
"usually center but she doesn't like the right side of the bed because it's closest to the window, can we move her to the bed right away or do we have go wait a bit" says Mitchie
"I kindly request you wait till she's been in the warm environment for at minimum half an hour, a rule of thumb I follow is a cold body is a fragile body, trust me it's not a good thing, my partner can attest to that" says Richard
"can we at least be beside her and tell her we're here for her" asks Caitlyn as Tess's monitor continues to beep
"I was just going to suggest that you do exactly that, she may not be able to respond but she can hear you and she can feel your touch, I'd suggest you cuddle her in a non sexual way, she needs as much heat as she can get to warm her up" says Richard as he goes to set up the equipment
"luckily they set her on the big couch" says Dana as Caitlyn and Mitchie slowly and carefully cuddle around Tess
25 minutes later with Tori and Dana
"I'm surprised to see you here miss bisexual queen" says Tori
"ya well I happen to have had a fling with Tess that summer, I'm one of the only people Tess trusts when she's vulnerable" says Dana
"wait Nate was trying to get you and you were having a fling with Tess, does he know that" asks Tori
"yes actually he does, am I proud of how the fling happened, hell no however it really helped demystify things for Tess, it gave her a deeper understanding of what it means to be bisexual and it helped pave the way for the relationship with Caitlyn and Mitchie, had our fling not happened she could have killed herself or kept pretending to be straight and hating herself for liking girls" says Dana as Mitchie and Caitlyn walks over
"she's warming up well, I can hear her breathing, however there are bruises we can't account for, marks that neither Caitlyn or I caused" says Mitchie
"what kind of marks" asks Dana
"bite marks on her neck, now don't get me wrong I love playing around and occasionally bite Caitlyn but neither of us had gotten to the point with Tess where we'd have felt comfortable doing that with her" says Mitchie
"hmmm did you take pictures" asks Dana
"yes, we're afraid she was raped" says Caitlyn
"well she wasn't, I was there when they did the test as I had that fear myself and Nate stayed with her while I followed the test kit right to the test room and it came back negative, most likely those bite marks are from a girl from the homeless village, one of the rape victims who lost her parents" says Dana
"I don't understand" says Caitlyn
"she's non-verbal, she bites my finger every time I visit, she loves fashion, she's ten years old, if there are multiple bite marks it was probably her trying to say "I love you wake up", Josie, the girl I'm referring to was cuddled up with Tess when we arrived and is most likely the only reason Tess is still alive, Josie is like a human furnace, her normal body temperature is a few degrees higher than most people, I spent some time with her last month and brushed her hair and stuff and I had a picture of Tess and when I asked her how she wanted her hair done she pointed to the picture, when I asked why she reluctantly signed 'I want her to be my mom'…." says Dana
"what about her family" asks Caitlyn
"do you think if her family wanted her they'd let her live on the streets for two years Caitlyn, I had my lawyer look into her case and her extended family told the courts they didn't want her, that if she couldn't talk then they didn't want her, they abdicated their right to take her from anyone who wants to adopt her so if you guys want to see if you can I can start the process" says Dana as Tess wakes up
"ow" says Tess
"how are you Tess" asks Mitchie
"in pain, how's Josie" asks Tess
"you know who she is" asks Dana
"yes of course I do, she's the cute girl who saved my life, that community welcomed me with open arms and Josie stood by my side though I don't know if she is still there or if she is ok, I'd like so bad to see her safe" says Tessa
"she lost her parents in a massive arson fire two years ago and was subsequently raped, the rest of her family has abandoned her, the 'mayor' of that village has seen me bring several other girls to safety, I've tried to get Josie out of there a few times but she always says no, though last month she saw that picture I have of you and she shyly said I want her to be my mom, though she signed it instead of speaking it because she's non-verbal" says Dana
"that explains the love bites, does she want to be here now" asks Tessa
"I would assume as much, she doesn't protect just anybody and she never cuddles, which is exactly what she was doing when we found you, I spoke briefly to Rick who is the de-facto 'mayor' of that homeless village and he agreed it was time to find Josie a home, though he said he wouldn't force you to take her in" says Dana
"no I would totally take her in, it's just i-I can't afford it, despite being a former employee of one of the biggest fashion companies in the world I was never paid that much, it just barely covered rent, groceries and car insurance, I had to scramble to pay for gas and my phone bill" says Tessa
"look Tess I just found out that the state of New-York is looking to decriminalize poly marriages, though I'm sure it will only pass with restrictions and policing of who can get married, though me being well off might help slightly but if you don't want to get married then that's ok too" says Mitchie as Tessa closes her eyes for a second
"Tess whatever you chose, adopt Josie or not we are here for you Tess, we love you" says Caitlyn
"if the law passes we should get married, if it doesn't we don't, whatever happens we need to adopt Josie, how fast can that happen Dana" says Tessa
"unofficially right away, officially a few weeks at best, at worst a few months, the courts need to assess her needs and what she wants though she will most definitely have a major part to play on where she gets to go, she's been through this four times before and has said or errr signed 'no I don't feel safe there' Josie is an extremely proficient judge of character, the last two were arrested on drug possession charges, I had no idea of that at the time by the way, those people hid that from me, anyway Tess they will look at your past but they will also look at what you are doing now, Cat will most definitely testify or give a statement in your favor as will Nate and I, though the three of you can and will most likely be allowed to raise her, Josie chose Tess specifically which means Tess has to go through the process alone and she can only reference either Caitlyn or Mitchie as her lover not both under current law, assuming the decriminalization bill passes the papers can be updated but not a minute before" says Dana