Thank you for all the reviews!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm soo happy you like it! All the medical stuff, I got from watching ER, so if it's wrong, I'm sorry!! Also, with the IV thing, I just did it to suit the story. All the people you don't know, I own. Okay, anywayz, here's chapter 6, Review, please & thank u!
Memba, it's kinda A/U
Don't Let Me Go
Chapter 6
"Ma'am I need you to go outside," the doctor said.
A nurse escorted Cruz outside the room.
Cruz was unable to say anything and waited for 5 minutes outside, in shock.
Getting her voice back Cruz yelled, "Tell me what happened to her. Why isn't she awake? Dammit!" Cruz slammed her hand on the door separating her and Kaylee. Crap, that hurt. This is bullshit.
Cruz opened the door.
"Ma'am, please wait outside." the doctor said impatiently.
"I'm a police sergeant with the 5-5 and who the hell are you?"
"Dr. Nara. You need the girl for questioning?" Dr. Nara was rushing around Kaylee, barking orders at nurses.
Cruz How bout that? We actually do. "Yeah. Oh, she has a broken arm."
"I see that. We're gonna put the IV's and take her blood from the other arm. She's unconscious now. It looks like a concussion. We can't tell how serious, so we don't know for sure, but she may have amnesia." The doctor slowed down now that Kaylee was all set up.
"What's it from?"
"Most likely abuse. Maybe a table or side of a door. It may have even been something as small as a pot or a pan"
"Son of a bitch." Cruz muttered. "Is she in a coma?"
"Not a full coma, it's just like she's sleeping. She should wake up soon, but like I said there's a good chance of amnesia, like there is with any concussion." Dr. Nara paused. "She's not intibated and she breathing well on her own. The only thing I'm concerned with is her pulse and b/p are too high."
Cruz looked at a machine trying to see the b/p and pulse. She couldn't read it. "What are they?"
"Her pulse is 144 and her b/p is 130/ 93."
"144? That's really high isn't it?" Cruz had no idea about any medical crap.
"Not for a child, there heart rates are higher than ours. Kids normal pulses are around 100 or 110."
"Oh." Cruz looked at all the machines around Kaylee. True, most of them weren't connected to her. Just the vitals machine and the heart monitor. She didn't know what the rest of them were there for and didn't feel like making an ass out of herself to find out. She saw 2 IV bags and looked at Kaylee's body. She saw 3 little tubes going in and out of her good arm.
"How come there's all those tubes there?" Cruz pointed at Kaylee's arm.
"These 2 are for the IV's," Dr. Nara showed her. "This one over here can come out now, it was just to get blood for a blood test to make sure she's hydrated and to see if she has any drugs in her system." He leaned over Kaylee and took the one tube out of her arm. Her arm looked the same.
Cruz stood over the little girl staring at her, wishing she could do something to make her better. She felt her eyes filling up. "I have something in my eye," she muttered and brought her finger up to brush away the tear. "Can she hear me?"
Dr. Nara nodded. "I think she can. I have other patients but I'll be back to check on her."
Cruz nodded. The doctor left, so did most of the nurses. There was only one in the room with her. Cruz leaned over Kaylee and whispered into Kaylee's ear, "You're gonna be fine. I'm right here with you, muneqita. I won't leave, I promise."
Cruz looked over at the nurse who was checking supplies. The nurse turned.
"I'm so sorry about her. Are you really a cop?"
Cruz nodded.
"Oh. I thought she was your daughter."
"She's a child abuse case that ran into me last night. I took care of her last night and someone took her from me last night. I just got her back about 20 minutes ago. I was taking her back to my precinct for questioning, but I thought her broken arm was more important, so I took her here. She fell asleep in the car and I thought that was kinda weird, but I didn't do anything until we came into the hospital and she wouldn't wake up." Cruz was going over all her memories from the past 12 hours in her brain and wondering why she just explained herself to a nurse.
The nurse looked at her, sympathetically. "I'm so sorry. She should be fine though. Dr. Nara's a great doctor."
Cruz felt tear welling up in her eyes. "How could I be so stupid?"she whispered to herself. "A normal girl who just went through that wouldn't be asleep." She leaned next to Kaylee. "C'mon baby. Wake up. Please?" she begged.
She sat herself down on the floor, knee to up to her chest. She put her head down and sobbed into her arms, silently.
Cruz must've fallen asleep because Dr. Nara was tapping her on the shoulder and she was opening her eyes, dazed. "How long has it been since you left?" she muttered.
"An hour." He looked at her. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." she muttered. "How's Kaylee?"
"That's why I was going to wake you. She got moved upstairs to PEDS."
Cruz stood up faster than the speed of light. "Whoa." She felt dizzy and held her head.
"Sergeant." He asked, concerned.
"I'm fine. I need to see her. Now!"
"Okay, I figured as much. " Dr. Nara turned to the nurse that was in the room before Cruz fell asleep. "Amy, can you take her up to the PEDS?"
"Of course." Amy turned to Cruz. "Follow me please."
Cruz walked three steps behind Amy out of the trauma room and into the elevator.
Cruz cleared her throat. "Do you know how long its been since she got moved?"
"15 minutes."
"Oh." Cruz nodded.
Finally the elevator stopped on the 5th floor. They got out.
"I'm not sure what room she's in. Hang on." Amy went to the nurses station.
"Hi. I'm looking for the little girl that was just brought up from the E.R. What room is she in?"
"Um... 521."
"Thank you." Amy walked back over to Cruz. "She's in 521."
Cruz nodded and walked away from Amy. She wandered down the hall, glancing at both sides of the hall at the numbers, confused. The numbers kept going up. 511,512, 513, 514, 515, 516, 517, 518 519, 520. The numbers stopped and there was what looked like a custodial room. Where the hell is 521? Is there a friggin vortex separating that room from me? Cruz turned the corner and there was 521. Of course.
The door was closed. Cruz opened the door slightly and quietly. She peered in and gave a small sigh of relief. It was Kaylee, and she didn't have the IV attached to her.
She opened the door more and stepped inside, closing the door quietly behind her. She looked over to see if Kaylee had a roommate. Of course she did. Cruz slid the curtain separating them shut for some privacy. In case I cry. she reasoned with herself. She pulled up a chair and put it right next to the little girl's bed the way her head was turned so Cruz was the first thing she'd see when she woke up and hopefully Kaylee'd be less afraid and know she was safe.
Cruz sat down in the chair and made herself comfortable. She sat staring at Kaylee, trying to give her a telepathethic message to wake up.
She fell asleep again and when she opened her eyes, she saw the eyes of a scared little girl looking at her.
"Kaylee." she whispered.
Kaylee stared blankly back at her. She tried to sit up in bed, but got dizzy and felt pain in her arm and fell back down.
"Are you okay?" Cruz asked concerned.
Kaylee nodded slightly. "Who are you?" she whispered. Kaylee Who am I? Where am I? This is scary! I don't like feeling like this.
Cruz opened her mouth to say something. The amnesia. Dammit Cruz sat up straight and pulled the chair closer to the bed.
"Are you my mommy?"
Cruz I can't lie to this little girl. I can lie to anyone else but not her. I wanna say yes so badly but I can't. "No, sweetie."
"Oh. Who are you?"
"I'm Ritza."
Kaylee made a funny face. "That's a funny name."
Cruz smiled. "Only you call me that. My real name is Maritza."
"Do you know my name?" Kaylee asked innocently.
"Yes. Your name is Kaylee Castillo."
"Do you know where my mommy is? And where we are?"
"We're in a hospital. Your mommy um.." Cruz paused not sure how to say this. ".. your mommy hurt you a lot and she's on her way to jail. I'm a cop."
Kaylee showed a little bit of recognition on her face.
"Do you remember any of this?"
Kaylee nodded and a tear fell out of her eye. "I remember my head slamming into a door and me crying, but it happened again. Someone was yelling in the background, I think." Kaylee almost jumped outta bed, but Cruz gently pushed her back onto her pillow . "Was that lady who hurt me my mommy?"
Cruz swallowed. "I think so."
Kaylee started crying full force. "Why would she hurt me? Was I that bad?"
Cruz almost had tears coming out of her eyes too, but she held them back. She got up from the chair and sat down on Kaylee's bed. "Sweetie, you weren't bad at all. You didn't do anything wrong. EVER!"
Kaylee was crying so badly she couldn't catch her breath.
Cruz pulled her into a hug, watching her arm, and the girl went without protesting. Kaylee kept crying, getting what Cruz was wearing soaked with tears. Cruz pulled the little girl onto her lap and stroked her hair, the little girl crying into her shoulder.
Finally, after about 15 minutes of staying like that, Kaylee pushed Cruz back.
"Why me?" she whispered.
"I don't know. I wish I had an answer more than anything, but I don't."
Kaylee began to cry silently now. "How old am I?" she asked Cruz.
"8."
"Oh." Kaylee paused, the tears stopping. "Am I in school?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Can I read?"
"I think so, you read a menu before when we were in a diner, or at least I think you did."
"Have I ever been to school?"
"I don't know, but it's never too late to start."
Kaylee wrinkled her nose. "But I'll be 8, and with little kids!" she exclaimed.
Cruz couldn't help but smile.
Kaylee looked down and noticed her arm. "What happened?"
"I think it was your mother."
"You mean the lady that hurt me?"
Cruz nodded.
"That's not a mother. A mother isn't someone that hurts you. A mother is someone that cares about you, and loves you and does everything to make sure you don't get hurt." Kaylee explained.
Cruz nodded.
"Is it gonna be okay?" Kaylee asked referring to her arm.
"Yeah. You just haveta wear that for awhile. I'll sign it for you. Do you want that?"
Kaylee nodded.
"I'm gonna go get one of those special pens okay? I'll be right back."
Kaylee nodded and got herself under the covers again, careful of her arm.
Cruz left the room.
Kaylee looked around her room, scared at being alone.
Cruz walked down the hallway from getting the pen thinking. I should really ask her if she wants to live with me. No Ritza, you can't do that. That's putting yourself out there, and just saying 'come hurt me now.' You gotta drop hints without actually saying anything. Ask her what she wants me to write. Satisfied, she walked back into Kaylee's room.
Cruz shut the door quietly and looked at Kaylee. She was lying in her bed, looking all alone in the world. She is all alone in the world. Maybe I'm all she has. I don't think I've ever been someone's everything before.
Kaylee looked at Cruz.
"Got the pen." Cruz said.
"Kay." Kaylee moved her arm and Cruz walked over to her bed, sat down and looked at Kaylee.
"What do you want me to write?" she asked.
Kaylee shrugged. "Be creative."
Cruz thought. Dammit. She didn't go for it. Arite. Let's see, how about Kaylee, I hope you feel better soon, I'll be here with ya all the way? Yeah, that's good. Now how should I sign it? Love or from Ritza?
While Cruz was thinking, Kaylee, was looking at her, wondering what was taking so long.
Finally Cruz got the pen in a writing position and began to write. Kaylee tried to lean over and see what she was writing.
"Hey! No peeking."
"Okay." Kaylee lay back against her pillow waiting for Cruz to finish.
It seemed to take forever to Kaylee, but really, it was only a minute or two.
Cruz cleared her throat. "Kaylee, Chica, you betta get better soon, 'cause I hate seeing you in a cast! I'll be here with ya all the way! Love, Ritza."
Kaylee looked at Cruz.
Cruz Oh god, please like it, please, please, please!
"You're really gonna stay with me?" Kaylee asked.
"Of course."
Kaylee was really happy. "I don't know what it is, but since I opened my eyes, I feel safe and I feel connected to you." Kaylee paused. "That may sound kinda dumb..."
Cruz stared at Kaylee. "You don't remember, but I said the same thing to you not that long ago."
"Really?" Kaylee sounded surprised.
"What? Didn't think I was the caring type?"
"No. I didn't think you were the mommy type."
Cruz Did she just say mommy type? Does that mean...?"
"Kaylee, we had this talk awhile ago. Do you wanna live with me?" Cruz was practically holding her breath.
"Yeah." Kaylee looked down, embarrassed .Kaylee couldn't tell if she was mad or pissed off. Kaylee Like she's gonna wanna take care of me. Face it, your mother beat you, there must've been a reason, and I'm sure Ritza sees that reason too.
"I'll be right back." Cruz jumped off of the bed and ran out the door.
Nice going Kaylee, you scared her. Kaylee was yelling at herself in her head.
Cruz was running down the hall looking for a doctor. Where the hell are the frickin doctors? She rounded a corner and almost ran right into a man.
The man helped her steady herself.
"Are you a doctor?" Cruz asked.
The man shook his head.
Cruz What good are you? Get outta my way! and she was off again.
She decided to go down to the ER and talk to Dr. Nara. She went to the front desk and asked where he was.
"Curtain 2." The desk clerk responded a little confused.
Cruz turned around and walked away from the desk, trying to figure out where that was.
The desk clerk probably sensed her confusion and yelled out to her, "Go to the left and then straight."
At least I didn't haveta ask. Cruz followed the directions and found Dr. Nara talking to a patient.
She marched right up to him and pulled his arm. "I need to talk to you, now." she said.
"I'm with a patient."
"You think I can't see you? It's about that little girl."
Dr. Nara sighed. "I'll be one minute." he assured the patient and followed Cruz.
"What?" he snapped.
"How long is it gonna be before she can come home?"
"She'll probably have to stay one night for observation." He looked at Cruz suspiciously. "Why?"
But Cruz was already out of the room. She ran through the entire ER and instead of waiting for the elevator she ran up about 6 flights of stairs. Exhausted, she stopped for a minute and then she walked back to Kaylee's room. She closed the door and looked around the room. Something's missing here. Shit! Kaylee! Where the fck is she?
Cruz ran out of the room and down the hall. How could a 7 year old get out without anyone noticing?
She got to the nurses station. "Did you see a little girl walk out of here?"
The nurse nodded. "About 5 minutes ago. She was crying. I asked if she was a patient and she said no."
"And you believe a 7 year old?"
"She didn't have a bracelet on."
"Damnit." Cruz turned around. She took out her cell phone and called the precinct.
"5-5 precinct."
"She's gone."
"What? Cruz? You lost her?" Swersky wasn't happy.
"She walked outta the hospital crying."
Swersky sighed. "Tell them to lock the hospital down. Cruz, we need this girl."
"I'm aware of that." I need her too.
Cruz turned back to the nurse. "We need to lock the hospital down."
TBC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, ppl! Another cliff hanger, this shouldn't take long tho cuz summers here! Yay! No school! REVIEW!