Hi people! I'm sorry I couldn't get this out soon but I had a fricken 10 pg health report to do. School is soooooooooooooooooooo much fun, lol. Newayz..... Here's chapter 2. Enjoy!!!! Don't forget to read and review!

Chapter 2

Cruz sat on the stool, watching Kaylee breathe.

Nurse Procter came in silently watching Cruz. "Sergeant." she whispered.

Cruz turned around and waited for the nurse to speak.

"I'm sorry to have to do this, but your gonna have to take her. I need the bed."

Cruz turned back to look at Kaylee. "What am I supposed to do with her?" she snapped quietly.

Nurse Procter shook her head. "I'm sorry."

Cruz stood up and went out of the room. Nurse Procter followed her. Cruz closed the door to Exam 1 and turned back to the nurse.

"She's 7 years old. It's about..." she looked at her watch. ".... dammit, it's now 2:47 in the morning. What am I supposed to do with her? I'm not taking her to another hospital 'cause that's just asinine. I don't think I'm allowed to take her home with me and even if I did, she has nowhere to sleep unless she takes my bed and I take the couch. If I take her into the precinct she won't have anywhere to sleep. So tell me, what the hell am I supposed to do with a poor innocent 7 year old little girl?" Cruz ranted.

Nurse Procter looked at Cruz. "I don't know Sergeant, but I need the bed."

"Take another fricken bed. Let the girl sleep."

Nurse Procter was starting to get mad. "Look, Sergeant, I know how you feel but I need the bed." She enunciated the last 3 words.

"And I know what *you're* saying, but this little girl has been through enough. Let her stay until 6. I promise I'll take her then."

Nurse Procter threw up her arms and walked away from Exam 1.

"I'll take that as a yes." Cruz shouted. She turned and walked back into Exam 1, silently closing the door behind her. She sat down at her stool besides Kaylee's bed. ~Since when do I listen to the rules? I could've taken her to my place. Oh well. She'll sleep til 6, then I'll take her to the house and she'll go into the A.C.S. system and get lost and probably kidnapped. I can't let that happen to her. She trusts me and she feels safe with me, why I don't know. If I let that happen to her, I....~ Cruz's thoughts were interrupted when out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kaylee move. She leaned over and brushed Kaylee's hair off her face.

Kaylee's eyes opened and her eyes started to wander around the room, scared. Her eyes landed on Cruz and Cruz saw the fear in her eyes go away.

"Hi." Cruz whispered.

"Hi." Kaylee whispered back, sleepily.

Cruz~ I gotta get her outta here.~ "We're gonna get outta here now that you're awake, ok?"

"What time is it?"

Cruz looked at her watch. "About 3."

Kaylee nodded. "Okay." she whispered.

Cruz helped her up slowly and put down the railings on both sides of the bed. Kaylee swung her legs down and waited for Cruz to pick her up. Cruz reached across and picked her up. Kaylee held on to Cruz tight and Cruz held on to Kaylee with all her might, but not squeezing the little girl to death.

They walked out of Exam 1 and walked right by the admit desk. No one asked any questions and they walked out the door of the E.R.

"Where are we going?" Kaylee asked once they were out on the street.

"I'm not sure yet. It's 3am, so nothings open. We can't go eat or go shopping. I think there's a 24 hour diner around here so we'll go there and get you something to eat."

Kaylee yawned and put her head down on Cruz's shoulder.

"Are you still tired?"

"A little." Kaylee yawned again.

Through the streetlight, Cruz looked into Kaylee's brown eyes that were about to close. Cruz saw so much sadness in those sweet brown eyes.

"Okay muneqita, we're gonna walk a little bit to see if the diner I'm thinking of it open." Cruz wasn't very thrilled about walking at 3 in the morning with a 7 year old. They walked for 5 more minutes.

Cruz~Damn, this kid is getting heavier and heavier.~

Finally they reached the diner Cruz was thinking of and fortunately it was a 24 hr diner. Cruz yanked the door open and walked inside.

There was one lady standing at the counter who was both a host and a waitress. "How may I help you?" she asked.

Cruz turned to look at the lady and then looked down at Kaylee, practically asleep on her shoulder. She cleared her throat. "We were hungry and you were open so um..." she trailed off, not wanting to say too much.

"Alrighty then. Sit wherever you want and I'll be with you shortly."

"Thank you." Cruz carried Kaylee over to a booth in the corner. She set her down gently. "Chica, wake up. We're gonna eat now, okay?"

Kaylee's eyes opened and she looked around the place. "Okay." she whispered.

Cruz sat down across from Kaylee and waited for the host/waitress. After a couple of minutes, she came over to them with menus.

"And how are you ladies doing this.." she checked her watch. "...morning?" She put the menus down on the table.

"Hungry!" Kaylee exclaimed.

"I think I can fix that. I'm Joey and I'll be your waitress."

Kaylee looked up at confused. "But you're a girl."

Joey laughed. "It's a nickname. My real name is Josefina. My mother hated me as you can tell."

"Oh."

Joey looked at Cruz and then back at Kaylee. "But I'll bet your mommy doesn't hate you."

Cruz saw Kaylee's mouth about to open so she said, "No, I don't.", quickly without missing a beat.

Kaylee looked at Cruz, confused. Cruz smiled at Joey. "Baby girl, look at the menu and tell Joey what you want."

Kaylee picked up the menu if front of her and started looking through it.

Cruz looked at Joey. "I'll just have coffee please. If you could bring it with whatever she gets, that'd be great."

Joey nodded.

"Nikki, have you decided yet?" Cruz asked.

Kaylee looked up at her. "Huh?"

"Do you know what you want?" Cruz repeated.

"Um... I'll have French Toast."

"Please." Cruz reminded her.

"Please." Kaylee gave Joey one of her best smiles.

"You want anything to drink with that?" Joey asked.

Kaylee thought. "Apple juice."

"Comin right up." Joey took the menus and walked away.

"Whose Nikki?" Kaylee asked.

"You." Cruz answered her, matter of factly.

"No. I'm Kaylee. K-A-Y-L-E-E." Kaylee spelt her name out for Cruz incase she forgot.

"I know that your name is Kaylee, but I didn't want the waitress to know that." Cruz~How the hell do you explain to this a 7 year old?~ "We're playing pretend now. Your Nikki and I'll be..." Cruz trailed off. "How about you name me?"

"Ooh!!! That could be fun." Kaylee sounded excited. She sat in her seat for a good 5 minutes silently.

Cruz~ Damn. That's all you gotta do with kids. Let them rename you and it'll keep them busy for awhile.~

"Samantha!" Kaylee shouted, pointing at Cruz.

Cruz~Crap.~ "Shh... sweetie. I know that my name's Samantha." Cruz looked towards the front of the diner to see if Joey heard.

"You do?"

"I want Joey to have to guess my name. So if you shout it out, she'll know."

"Oh. Okay. I get it." Kaylee was quiet until her French Toast came and Cruz's coffee.

Joey walked over to them carrying a plate of French Toast, a cup of apple juice and Cruz's coffee plus a little spout of milk.. She set the plate and the cup down in front of Kaylee.

"Yummy." Kaylee picked up the bread and started to take a bite.

"Nikki, We don't eat like that in public places." Cruz gently reminded her, not wanting to start a scene.

"Fine." Kaylee pouted a bit and then picked up her fork.

Joey gave Cruz her coffee.

"Thank you."

Kaylee practically threw down her French Toast. "Guess what her name is!" she said to Joey.

"Sweetheart. Joey has to get back to work now, right?" Cruz said looking at Joey.

"But it's empty." Kaylee pointed out.

Joey laughed. "That it is. Okay, I'll play. Can you tell me what letter it starts with?"

Kaylee looked at Cruz. Cruz sighed. "It starts with an S."

Kaylee looked back at Joey who pulled up a seat from a table in front of the booth.

"Sarah." Joey guessed.

Kaylee shook her head back and forth violently.

"Sherry. Sheila. Sasha. Selena. Susan. Stephanie. Serena. Sharon." Joey kept guessing while Kaylee kept shaking her head.

Joey threw up her hands in defeat. "I give up!" she said melodramatically.

"Samantha." Kaylee said in a 'Duh' voice.

"I was gonna guess that one next." Joey claimed. She looked at her watch. "Ut-oh, I gotta get back to work. When you want the check let me know. Enjoy your French Toast." She got up and put the chair back where it belonged.

Kaylee continued eating her early breakfast. "Where are we gonna go now?" she asked, when she was done 5 minutes later.

Cruz swallowed the last of her coffee and looked at her watch. "It's 3:45 in the morning. Nothing's open, well nothing except here. Are you still tired?"

"No." Kaylee said as she yawned.

Cruz couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah right. Finish your apple juice and we'll go back to my apartment for awhile, okay?" She looked around for Joey, caught her eye and mouthed 'Check.' Joey nodded.

Kaylee picked up the cup and nodded. She gulped it down and sighed happily.

"You feel better?" Cruz asked.

The little girl nodded happily as Joey came over to give Cruz the check.

While Cruz read it she asked Kaylee,"You wanna walk or you want me to carry you?"

"Can you carry me, please?" Kaylee started to give her a puppy dog face.

"Yes, I can carry you. I live about 10 minutes away, okay?"

"Okay." Kaylee hopped out of the booth and waited for Cruz to get the money out to pay.

Cruz got the money out of her pocket, stood up, grabbed the check and went over to the counter to pay. She turned around. "Nikki, stay there. I'll be right back."

Kaylee nodded.

Cruz gave Joey the money.

"Have a nice day." Joey said. "And take care of your little girl. She's one in a million."

Cruz nodded. "Thank you. I will." ~And there's no way in hell she's going in the system.~

Cruz walked back over to Kaylee and picked her up. They were walking out the door and Kaylee shouted. "Bye Joey!"

Joey waved to her and smiled. "Bye."

Cruz and Kaylee got outside and started walking.

After 10 minutes they reached Cruz's building. Cruz shifted Kaylee around and got her keys out of her pocket. She opened the door and went up the stairs. When she reached her door, she was exhausted.

"You still up, Kaylee?"

"Yeah." Kaylee answered sleepily.

"We're home now." Cruz opened the door and walked straight into her room with Kaylee. She got the covers out and lay Kaylee on the bed gently. Cruz started to walk out the door.

"Ritza?"

"Yeah."

"I like you better than Theresa. Your nicer and you don't hurt me." And with that, Kaylee turned over and was asleep in minutes.

Cruz stayed in the room for awhile listening to Kaylee's even breathing and thought about what Kaylee said. A little tear came out of her eye and she brushed it away immediately. She walked out the room, closing the door gently behind her.

She walked to her answering machine just to check if anyone called. There were 2 messages. She hit the button to listen. "1:43 am."

"Hi Sergeant, it's Faith Yokas. I called the hospital to see if you and Kaylee were okay 'cause I couldn't sleep and they said you weren't there. I called the house and got your number. Give me a call at 212-555-4376, when you get this." There was a dial tone.

"3:09 am."

"Hi Sergeant it's Faith Yokas again. I'm starting to get worried about Kaylee now. Call me ASAP."

Cruz sighed. She picked up the phone and dialed Faith's number.

"Hello?" A voice answered on the first ring.

"Yokas?" Cruz asked.

"Sergeant. Where are you?"

"I'm at home."

"Where's Kaylee?"

"She's here with me, sleeping."

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. We just ate breakfast."

"Are you gonna bring her in today?"

"I'm not sure."

"Your not sure. Sergeant, what are you gonna do with her?" Faith~ This is so typical.~

"Do you know what she said to me? She said that she likes me better than Theresa. This kid trusts me, Faith. She needs me." Cruz~ And I need her...~

"Sergeant, obviously she'd like you better than Theresa. That woman hurt her."

"I'm gonna call in sick today and I'm gonna spend the day with her, get to know her better and find out exactly what that bitch did to her."Cruz pretended she didn't hear what Faith said. Cruz~ Why the hell am I telling her this?~

"Okay. I do have to admit that she likes you and you're good with her. I didn't think it was possible for you to care about another human being but I think that you may be starting to."

Silence for a couple of seconds.

"Do you want me to stop by while you go do some shopping or something?" Faith asked. Faith~ Why the hell am I asking her this?~

Cruz thought about it. ~Well I *am* low in food.~ "Yeah."

"I'll come by at 1:30."

"Okay." Cruz hung up the phone.

Faith~ No thank you? I wasn't really expecting one but still...~

Cruz lay down on her couch. She curled up in a ball and fell asleep.

Okay people! Chapter 3 will come out sooner cuz of spring break!!! read and review.