The social worker was a man in his early fifties and he was jaded and tired with his job. He had seen it all by now and a kid like Bernie was no worse than he had dealt with earlier.

As we stepped into my office he cut straight to the point" so you want to know about the kid right". I just nodded and waited for him to continue. He took a deep breath and started " Okay , so the kid has been alone in an apartment for a week. His mother was sent to jail a week ago and the neighbours assumed she had left him somewhere so they didn't check on him. His mom didn't bother to mention he even existed to the authorities when they picked her up so they didnt know about him either. So the kids been basically living off stale canned food and watching TV for a week before one of the neighbours called us last night and we found him".

I was feeling more and more uneasy as I heard about in what condition Bernie was found but I remained silent and waited for the social worker to continue. After a bit of a gap he spoke again "We spoke to the mother earlier today , shes a heroin addict and she has been in and out of jail and correctional facilities for small crimes for years now. The kid was a trick baby and shes never really cared for him.

I was confused so I interrupted him" I'm sorry if I sound uninformed but what is a trick baby". He almost smiles and replies " I keep on forgetting there are still decent people left who don't use these kind of expressions. Trick baby is a baby conceived by a prostitute. She doesn't know who the father is. I might as well tell you , there is also a high possibility of child abuse here. We found bruises all over his body and she beat him with an umbrella almost breaking his back"

By now the bile had completely risen in my throat and I couldn't keep my anger back any longer and I choked out " How is she allowed to retain custody. Why don't the courts take him away from her and send him to a loving foster family". He hesitated for a moment and then answered " They might this time as the judge is quite fed up with her actions . She is also considering giving him up because she doesn't want to be stuck with a crippled child any longer"

I asked him " has he had any psychiatric help?". He just shrugged and answered " Our assessment says that hes normal except for being in a wheelchair." At this point I just wanted him to scream at him and say " How can he be okay or normal if his mother beats him with an umbrella". But I controlled myself as he continued to speak " his mother will out be in two months so after he is discharged from here he will be sent to juvenile hall until his mother gets out."

I felt my anger rising again and I blurted out " Cant you find decent people to adopt him". He just shook his head and answered " Not unless she gives up custody and we cant force her to do that. Plus it will be difficult to find a family who would want to adopt a child in a wheelchair." He then said " keep me posted on his progress Dr. Robbins " and left.

As I walked back to check up on Bernie I was seething with anger at what had happened to that little boy and I was finding it hard to calm myself down. However the sight I saw as I looked into Bernie's room made it a lot easier. I saw the love of my love of my life , my beautiful orthopedic surgeon Calliope Torres sitting next to Bernie and tickling him while he laughed. I was amazed at how comfortable children are with her and how she had won the hurt and frightened childs confidence. I was so intent on gazing at the duo that I almost jumped out of my skin when Calliope remarked with her characteristic smirk " Spying on us , Dr. Robbins?"

I just blushed and entered the room and asked Calliope about her findings. She answered " There is a break in his left arm which I am going to set right now and put a cast and heis going to need physiotherapy for his back injury". With that she moved towards Bernie and said " Okay Champ we are going to fix your arm now". Bernie asked with the smallest voice I had ever heard " Will it hurt" I could see Calliopes heart breaking a bit before she answered " Just a little bit , but I will give you a blue cast and even draw you a superman on it". At the sound of that Bernie visibly cheered and even gave a meek grin before saying " Okay". At that point I was paged and I rushed off leaving Bernie in Calliopes care.

Three hours later I was finished with my shift but Calliope still had an hour left to finish so I decided to visit Bernie while I waited for her. `I walked into his room, sat on the bed next to him and said " Hi Bernie". He gave me a small smile and asked" Where's the cop`" I laughed at this and told him " He's not a cop he's a social worker and he left a while ago.".He just pouted and said "Same thing". My heart was melting at how adorable he was. He then asked " do you have kids". I answered " No , except for the ones here at the hospital". He then asked a question I had been asked by a lot of the kids " Do you have a husband." I just smiled and shook my head. Bernie looked surprised and said " Why not , you are pretty". I just answered " I don't have a husband because I have a special life." At that he just nodded and said sadly " so does my mom". After a little silence he sadly added " my mom is in jail". My heart was breaking for him but I just tried to put on a smile and said " Alright little man , I think you should get some sleep". But he caught hold of my hand and said with big blue eyes looking at me " Can you stay a little longer please". I just nodded and tucked him into his bed , then lay down next to him and started smoothing my hand through his hair so that he would fall asleep. He gave me the sweetest smile. I then embraced him and kissed his forehead my heart full of emotion for this little abandoned boy. As I kissed his forehead he just sleepily whispered " Night Momma……….I Love You". At these words my tears couldn't hold themselves any longer……….these were words I had waited my whole life to hear.

Callie walked up to the nurses station looking for Arizona where they informed her that she was in Bernie's room. As she walked into the room she found both Arizona and Bernie fast asleep on the bed. Arizona was looking so angelic and content sleeping there that Callie didn't have the heart to wake her. Callie just gently smiled and pulled a blanket higher over them. She then sat on the chair next to the bed , held one of Arizona's hands in her own and she too succumbed to sleep.