Title- Where Little Girls Tread.
Author- Kim
Summary- Lian proves how much strength and determination she really has, when it comes to the important things in life.
DC owns all characters.
Part 4
Carol Drysdon glanced over to her husband Jim as they drove along the highway, "Nearly home." she said, smiling.
"Yeah, I'll be glad to get there it's been a long trip." her husband replied.
Carol turned her head away to continue looking out the window at the familiar scenery that passed by, they were returning home from visiting her parents and as much as she enjoyed spending time with her family, she had to admit that she was looking forward to getting home as well.
A movement on the side of the highway caught her eye, she looked harder..an animal?...No.."Jim stop the car there's a kid out there." she screamed.
As soon as the car had slowed to a stop, she leapt out, running towards the little girl that came stumbling towards her...Catching the child into her arms as the little girls legs finally gave way and she fell, "Bring some water..fast." she yelled to her husband. "It's ok sweetheart I've got you." she reassured the child.
Jim ran up and handed a bottle of water to his wife.."Where the hell did she come from?" he asked, looking around in the distance for some sign of another vehicle.
Lian drank thirstily at the water she was offered before the woman took the bottle away.
"Hey..slow down sweety, it's not good to drink it so fast, just take little sips ok" Carol said.
Lian looked at her, her big brown eye's pleading, "Help my Daddy." she croaked softly.
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"Just ring him and get it over with." Bruce said as he noticed Dick looking at his watch yet again.
"Yeah I will, he's over an hour late, there's probably a very good reason for it, but you never know." Dick said as he punched Roy's home number into the cell phone. He sat for a moment waiting for his friend to answer, only to get the machine come on line "Hey Roy?...Roy you there bud?..if you are will ya pick up please." when his request wasn't answered, he sat back and frowned.
"You don't think he would have stayed and extra day?" Bruce asked.
"No he would have called..He's not at home so I'll try his cell..." Dick was already dialing the number as he spoke.
He waited patiently for the call to be picked up, and when it did he had to stifle his anger when a woman's voice answered, here he was sitting around worrying over his friend, when Roy had merely found himself a woman to keep him entertained, "Uh...yeah hi, is Roy there?" he asked annoyance creeping into his tone.
The woman on the other end responded. "Are you a friend of the man who owns this cell phone?" the woman asked.
"Yeah is he around?"
"Actually he's not, we're not sure were he is at the moment...But you might be able to help out with some things."
"What things? Where's Roy?...and where's Lian?" Dick asked a small wave of concern beginning to rise.
"Lian?..is that the little girls name?..Look Mister, I don't exactly know how to say this, but we found the little girl wandering on the side of the highway, she was very dehydrated and we brought her to the hospital...They haven't found her father yet, but they've got people out looking, it's lucky for us that the little one had this cell phone in her pocket or we wouldn't have even known her name."
Dick stood and pulled out a pen, and began to jot details of the hospital's location down on a napkin as the woman answered the questions he fired at her, "Ok...Look I'll make arrangements straight away to fly there, I'll be there as quick as I can." he said before giving the woman his cell phone number in case they needed to contact him.
"Sounds like there's a problem." Bruce commented.
"Major one, Roy's missing and Lian's in hospital."
"Right... you get moving, I'll call Dinah and she can meet you at the airport..I'll make the arrangements, you just go." Bruce said, as he pulled out his own cell phone.
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Some time later Dick and Dinah walked into Lian's hospital room, they had already thanked Lian's rescuers and been filled in on some of the details of what appeared to have happened. The little girl appeared to be sleeping peacefully as Dinah approached the nurse who was writing observations in a chart. "How is she." Dinah whispered concerned.
"The nurse smiled, "She's doing well, she should be able to go home in the morning."
"Have they found Roy yet?" Dick asked concerned.
"Her father? Yes he was bought in about half an hour ago, I can't tell you any details, just that they appear to have been involved in a motor vehicle accident, the doctors are with him now." The nurse replied.
"Can you direct me to where they are and I'll go and wait until I can find out some information?." Dinah asked.
"No you stay with Lian, I'll go." Dick said.
The nurse gave the required directions, and Dick left the room.
Dinah pulled a chair up next to the bed and sat down, when she looked back at Lian's face she was surprised to find the little girl watching her.
"Hello sweetheart." Dinah whispered leaning over to gently stroke the child's hair.
Lian slowly reached towards Dinah then burst into tears. Dinah picked her up and drew her into a hug, careful not to bump the IV attached to her little arm. "Shhhh..Oh honey don't cry...It's ok shhhh." she soothed as she rocked the crying child.
They sat that way for a long time until Lian's sobs began to ease and the little girl began to talk, "I was scared." she said quietly.
"I know you were honey, it's scary for even big people to be lost in such a big open space."
"No..I was scared that I couldn't help my Daddy...he had a bad owie and he couldn't wake up." Lian began to cry again.
"Baby, it's ok..they've found your Daddy, Uncle Dick has gone to check on him now..It's all going to be fine honey." Dinah whispered, awed at the love the little girl had for her father.
"I was walking and walking and I got sore feet." Lian paused to point out her bandaged feet,"And I couldn't find anyone to help Daddy." she sniffled and cuddled into Dinah harder.
"So you walked all that way to find help for your Dad?" said Dick as he returned.
Lian sat up and offered a weak smile of welcome to Dick before nodding.
"Well sweetheart." Dick said crouching down to look into the little girls face, "You've done a great job...Thanks to you, your Dads going to be fine, he's going to be a bit sore for awhile but he'll be good as new in a few weeks time.
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Roy lay sleeping as Dinah, Lian and Dick entered his room the next morning, He'd suffered a broken arm, and he'd had surgery to pin the break in his left leg shortly after arriving at the hospital, he'd also received 12 stitches to a gash on the side of his head.
"See we told you he was here."Dick said quietly to Lian.
Roy stirred, then looked at the three of them..."Hey sweetheart." He whispered.
Dick smiled, "Hey yourself sweetheart." he joked.
"Shut up short pants." Roy grumbled half heartedly.
Dinah smiled."And we told you he was going to be fine." she said lifting Lian up on to the side of the bed next to Roy's good arm.
Roy reached out and Lian scurried in to lay against his chest as Roy wrapped his arm around her.
A nurse approached and smiled at the two of them, "You should be very proud of your little girl after what she did Mister Harper." She said.
"I've been proud of her every single day since I first laid eyes on her." Roy whispered, as he kissed the top of her head...He knew how lucky he was to have her in his life, he didn't need anyone else to tell him how truly blessed he was.
End 4