Chapter One

It was twelve o clock on the dot. Doctor Adam Jeresey had just punched in for his shift – the overnight shift, the only shift a majority of the doctors hated with a passion - and was the only doctor in the emergency room that had over fifteen years of experience under his belt.

The only patient in the ER was a middle aged woman that had cut her hand while cutting up a late night snack of carrots and celery. She was being taken care of by one of the five nurses on shift for the night and would be released as soon as her hand was stitched up and bandaged.

The emergency room stayed calm and empty for approximately twenty minutes; a record length for this particular hospital emergency room during his shift. Normally the emergency room was crawling with late night partiers, occasional car crash victims, and other similar cases.

"Doctor Jeresey, we have a fourteen year old car crash victim coming in." Adam crumbled the paper cup in his hand and threw it in the bin beside the water tank. He strode over to the receptionist. "It's pretty bad sir, the EMT sounded worried."

"I'll take him in room seventeen." Adam said with a small smile that fell from his face as soon as his back was turned. "Send everyone we can spare, just in case the EMT is justly worried." He missed her sympathetic nod as he strode off to room seventeen to prepare it for his new patient.

The boy was wheeled in fifteen minutes later and with one look Adam knew that it was as bad as he had feared. The boy was in bad shape, grimacing as he was gently moved from gurney to gurney. There was blood and dirt covering almost all of his body. His clothes were ratty and torn. Adam sighed.

"Get vitals on him. Is there a secure IV in him? Good." Adam paused, giving one of the nurses time to hook the boy up to a blood pressure and heart monitor. "How is it?"

"Pressure is a little high." She responded. "Heartbeat is a little fast. Not horribly so, but close." Adam nodded.

"Put him on EDM to lower that." Adam said. He gently placed a hand on the boy's chest, which was rising and falling at an unsteady rate. "And get an oxygen mask on him." He added. He leaned closer to the boy. "Kid? Can you hear me? Can you understand what I'm saying?" The boy groaned painfully. "Get X-Ray online and let them know he'll be coming down. I want pictures of his head, neck, back, chest, and legs."

"The father had been contacted." One of the EMTs said softly. "He wasn't home so we left a message. We were more concerned about getting him here alive." He continued. Adam nodded.

"Get me his number then. I'll call him while the boy's in X-Ray." The EMT nodded and pulled out a pad of paper. He ripped the top piece off and handed it over to him.

"X-Ray is ready." A nurse said. Adam nodded and the last of the boy's clothes were removed.

"Take him up. Put him in room three-seventeen." The nurses nodded and began to wheel him away. The EMT stopped Adam from following with a hand placed on his arm. "Yes?"

"That's William Richardson." The EMT said softly. Adam frowned in concern. "His fathe risn't the nicest of people to deal with…." Adam sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I know he isn't. I'll be sure to document everything for the police then. They know he's been found?" The EMT nodded. Adam shook his head. "You can go then." The EMT nodded and left to return to his ambulance.

Adam left the little room and strode to the phone placed next to the reception area. He picked it up and dialed the number on the pad of paper. It took five tries before he finally got a hold of Jeremy Richards, who answered the phone call with a bored, angry voice that made Adam frown.

"If you're selling things I don't want any. If you're asking for donations I'm not giving any. If you're a family member I don't feel like speaking with any of you." The man said nastily.

"Good thing I'm not any of those things." Adam replied somewhat nastily. He heard the man choke on something so he continued.

"I'm Adam Jeresey from Memorial View Hospital. I don't know if you got the message but your son, William, has been recovered and is being treated here…." That was as far as he got.

"William! When I get a hold of that boy he'll wish he was dead!" The man roared. Adam pulled the phone away from his ear and scowled.

"Your son has been in a car accident. One that killed the people that had kidnapped him." Adam said once the man stopped shouting. There was silence. " I just thought you'd like to know. He'll be in room three-seventeen if you decide to come see him." Adam hung up on the spluttering Mr. Richardson and scowled.

"Adam?" Adam looked up at the receptionist. "Paul from X-Ray told me to let you know that the X-Rays are done. He wants you up there right now for advice." Adam sighed, but made his way up to the X-Ray room where Paul was standing around a pile of X-Rays. William was lying on the x-Ray table, shivering despite the thick blanket over him.

"How bad?" He asked as he came up beside his friend. Even as he asked he saw that two of the vertebrae in the boy's lower back were smashed and pinching the spinal cord. It was a bad injury, but not a fatal one. "Surgery can fix that." He noted.

"I wasn't sure if I should just send him up or not. I wanted to see what you thought." Paul said.

"His knee can also be fixed via surgery." Adam muttered. "But get those vertebrae fixed immediately and when he's recovered from that we'll fix his knee." Paul nodded and motioned to the nurses, who moved William from table to gurney. "Get him up there now. I assume someone called surgery to let them know?" One of the nurses answered in the affirmitive.

"Adam, there's a man out here." One of the nurses poked her head back in. "He says he's the boy's father." Adam nodded and the nurse stepped aside to let the man in. The man surveyed the room with a frown, scowling when he saw his son on the gurney.

"Tell me one thing doctors. Will he be maimed, mangled, crippled, or in any way disfigured?" Adam blinked in shock and Paul frowned. "Well?"

"Would it matter if he was? He's your son for gods sake!" Paul growled. He got a fierce glare in return. "But no. He'll be wheelchair bound for some time but he may walk again." The man scowled darkly.

"Fine then. I will pay all his bills, but he is not my son." The man wheeled around and stalked out the room. Adam sighed and shook his head. His gaze grew even sadder as he noticed that William had been watching, and now had tears streaming down his face before he closed his eyes and turned his head away.

"Poor kid."

"Hear hear."

TBC

Jeez. Why is nobody reviewing? You've making me feel sad…..cuz I can see that people have been visiting this story. (sniffles) Well the next update will be in four days or so instead of three, mainly because I don't think anyone likes the story….and I have a report I need to do.