Title: Ashes to Ashes
Rating: T
Summary: AU. As a young agent, Peter goes undercover to break up a prostitution ring and rescues a chid named Neal.
Spoilers: None
Warnings: contains druguse and nonexplicit references to noncon and childabuse
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The EMTs arrived only moments after Miller left the room and immediately gave the boy something to stop the seizing. He was as still and pliant as a rag doll as they loaded him onto the gurney and rolled him away.
Peter had wanted to go to the hospital with the kid, but he had to go back to the office. There were paperwork and debriefings that he needed to take care of. He also wanted to write his report while the details were still fresh in his mind to ensure that the most accurate evidence was available for court to put these bastards away for life
Peter was writing his third version of what exactly he had observed in the hotel room and was on his fifth cup of coffee-flavored water when he felt a hand clap him soundly on the back.
Peter turned around (his movement may possibly have been better described as jumped, but in his defense he had been devoting ALL of his attention to his paperwork over the past four hours) and saw Hughes towering over his own hunched form. Only the slight upturn of Hughes' lips indicated that he noticed Peter's jerky movements.
"Go home, Burke," Hughes said, his amused tone sounding strange when paired with such a solemn expression.
Peter nodded. "I will, sir. I just need to finish…"
"No," Hughes sternly retorted. "Now. You did good today. So go get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow." And with a final warning look, Hughes walked back towards his own darkened office.
Peter snorted and stretched, feeling the strain of his sore back from leaning over his desk so long. He looked at his watch. It was nearly one in the morning and Peter was exhausted. But he did want to find out about the kid. Last time Peter saw him, he was… bad.
Peter just needed to check on him.
Forty minutes later, Peter finally arrived at the hospital. He grimaced as the smell of antiseptic and illness hit him the moment he walked through the automatic doors, but he still made his way up to the exhausted looking women working in the nurse's station.
The nurse looked up as he walked up to her desk. "May I help you?"
"Hello, My name is Peter Burke," he responded, holding up his FBI badge. "A group of children were brought in by FBI agents this afternoon and I wondering if you could tell me about one of the boys. I don't know his name, but he was around ten. He had a seizure and…"
The nurse's bored face crumbled in sympathy. "Oh yes, Johnny. That poor dear," she murmured as she typed on her computer.
"Johnny?" Peter questioned.
The nurse blushed, glancing up from her computer. "Unlike the other children brought in today, we haven't been able to locate the family or medical records for him. So we've been calling him John Doe…. Johnny." The woman looked back down at her monitor. "He's in room 316. Dr. Yu is up there right now with him. You can go speak to him."
Peter nodded his thanks and quickly walked to the elevator
He approached room 316 just as an aging man in scrubs and a white lab coat exited the room. Peter sped up in order to catch him before he disappeared down the corridor. "Dr Yu," Peter called to the doctor's retreating back.
The man stopped and turned around. "Yes"
"Uh… hello, sorry. I'm Agent Peter Burke," Peter said, stopping in front of him. "My colleagues brought the kid in Room 316 and the others in today."
"Right," the Doctor responded, momentarily glancing at the clock on the wall before turning back to Peter. "I believe we already sent in our preliminary reports from the children earlier tonight."
"Uh, yea…. No," Peter stammered, trying to think of how to phrase what he was trying to say properly. "I found… umm… the kid. I just want to know how he is doing?"
Dr. Yu studied Peter for a moment and then nodded, looking down at the clipboard in his hand. "The boy's in stable condition. He has three cracked ribs, a sprained wrist, and extensive bruising covering most of his torso and lower body. He had a second seizure two hours ago and was having difficulty breathing, so he is on a ventilator right now. This is just a precaution, though, and he is already breathing on his own again so we will probably take him off the ventilator in the morning. We believe he had been given an overdose of heroin mixed with something impure, which caused the seizure. We'll know more when the tox screen comes back." The doctor paused, lowering his clipboard, and looked Peter directly in the eye. "As I'm sure your probably already aware of, there is also evidence of not only physical, but long term sexual abuse."
Peter had already figured as much, but he still flinched when he heard the doctor say it out loud. "Do you know how long?" he asked, clearing his throat once he realized how strangled he sounded.
Dr. Yu shook his head. "No. Unfortunately, there is no way to determine that."
Peter nodded, looking for the first time into the darkened room where he could just make out a tiny silhouette on the bed. "Can I see him?"
"Visiting hours are over," the doctor stated. Peter opened his mouth to protest, when the man continued. "But, Agent, you can sit with him for a few minutes."
Peter thanked him and the man nodded wearily, walking slowly through a door that read 'Personnel Only.' Peter walked into the room and stopped when he saw the tiny form lying on the bed in the middle of the room. The dark bruises Peter had noticed before now stood out in stark contrast to his almost translucent skin. His chest slowly and rhythmically expanded as the ventilator pumped air into him, which was the only movement coming from the still little boy.
Peter collapsed into the chair next to the bed and studied the kid's features. It was just too much. He was so… small. Peter was not naïve to how the world worked. He had heard stories of many horrendous crimes while he was in the Academy and even had some firsthand experience during his short time working for the FBI, but never like this.
Never with an innocent kid.
He slowly took the little hand into his much larger one and gave it a gentle squeeze.
He fell asleep that way, sitting guard next to the boy's bed for the rest of the night.
A/N: Thank you so much for the amazing feedback! It was such an inspiration! The next chapter will be much longer and will be posted very soon.
Thank you everybody