Yet another very long chapter, I don't know why I did this all as one to be honest. I'll be updating my other Fanfics tonight hopefully.

Enjoy x

Grace was standing with a medical file in her hands, talking to Ana, Christian, Elliot and Taylor; all of them looking tired and anxious, standing next to the window partition into Jess's room.

'Jessica Alyssa Radliffe-Cole, 16 years old, been in an out of care for years...she's currently listed as a runaway from a care home...' Grace glanced over back into the room, eyes full of sadness

'...three broken fingers, a cracked rib, a black eye, lost two teeth, her lip had to be stitched back up, three more sets of stitches over her body, she's covered in bruises and there are a fair few old injuries, let's just say this isn't the first time the poor girl has been in hospital with these types of injuries'.

Grace glanced over again in to the room and the other four all followed her line of sight through the window into the hospital room.

She was lying on the bed, tubes and wires snaking over her body, which was basically black and blue, her arms lying on the white sheets. Her hand was in a splint with bandages over it, one of her closed eyes was heavily blackened, and she had a tube down her throat.

What Christian saw immediately was the scratches all over her arms and slightly on her face. He glanced at his mother 'Where are the scratches from?'.

She sighed and shook her head 'it's called road rash, it's caused when someone falls against the road, the friction causes those marks…they dropped her off outside the hospital, they probably thought she was dead'.

Elliot looked physically sick 'They beat a sixteen year old girl, thought she was dead and then dumped her on the street in front of the hospital?'. Grace nodded and Elliot took a deep, steadying breath

'I need a drink, Ana?'. She nodded and followed him down to the canteen area, Taylor excusing himself and moving off, leaving Christian with his mother.

'Mum…this is my fault' she looked confused 'what do you mean?'. 'They saw me talking to her, they probably knew what I was doing…I was trying to help her…Me and Elliot tried to help her and she ends up like this…it's my fault'.

Grace tipped her sons face towards her, noticing that he was too distressed to flinch at the contact, her eyes were serious and staring at him

'Christian, this is not your fault, this poor girl has been through more than most people could manage in a life time, at least she's here, she's safe now. You've got to make sure you don't blame yours-'.

Grace was cut off by a coughing, spluttering noise from inside the room, moving quickly into the hospital room.

Jess opened her eyes slowly and was coughing and spluttering against her breathing tube, looking panicked. Grace stood over her 'no, no, stop, it was to help you breathe, stay calm'.

They could hear how fast her heart rate was on the machine and Christian leant over her too 'Jessica, it's me, Christian, we met before, remember?'.

She nodded ever so slightly and he nodded back encouragingly 'okay, this is my mother, she's your doctor, you need to calm down, your heart is going very fast and when you do, she can take out the tube in your throat'.

Jess gripped Christian's hand suddenly as the tube was removed, retching slightly after. She glanced at her hand and immediately let go of Christian's, looking confused and disorientated.

Her voice was cracked and quiet 'I…what happened?'. Grace smiled kindly 'you were attacked, but you're safe now, okay? No one can hurt you here; my two sons have been worried about you. You're lucky you've got them behind you, Jessica, you are safe, okay, but you need to rest now, we won't let anyone hurt you again'.

Jess nodded vaguely and within a minute, she was fast asleep.

Hours later, Jess half woke up and glanced over sleepily at the chair beside her bed, seeing Christian reading a newspaper 'you're still here?'. Her voice was quiet and croaky but he nodded, glancing up 'of course I am, I'm staying here'.

She looked relieved and nodded, drifting off again in complete exhaustion.

She slept for close on two days on and off, only waking up intermittently, sometimes looking a little worried and then simply falling back to sleep, looking relieved when she'd seen Christian or Elliot, one of them always beside her, typing on a laptop or snoozing beside her.

Grace assumed she was suffering complete exhaustion, she had run away from care yet again about five months before, and since then she'd broken several fingers. Her x ray had brought up a plethora of old, healing injuries along with the ones she had now.

Grace was talking to Christian and Elliot in her office a few days later whilst Ana was on her way from work.

'She is healing well, which isn't surprising for a girl with her medical history, it reads like a woman who's been in a decade long domestic abuse situation, it's awful'.

Elliot nodded, sighing 'poor girl never really had a chance did she?'. Grace half shook her head 'I don't really want to contact Child Services until she is better healed, judging by the amount of times she has run away from care homes, them getting involved is only going to make things worse in her recovery'.

Christian sighed 'so a care home is where she's heading? There's no one to take her in?'. Grave shook her head 'I haven't read all her file yet but from the sounds of it no, she's got another two years in the care system'.

Jess woke up again and found herself alone in the big white room. She didn't like that she was alone, and felt herself start to panic slightly, hearing her heartbeat increase on the machine she was attached to. It was as she looked over herself and her broken, beaten body covered in wires that she really began to panic.

This was a private room...how the hell was she going to pay for this? And she had nowhere to go, she literally didn't have a single person that she could turn to in the whole world.

Stiffly and uncomfortably, Jess pulled the wires out from her hand, and the pads off her chest, wincing as she moved her bruised body and swung her legs out of the bed.

Jess was glad that she'd not been given a hospital gown that showed off her arse, and swiftly pulled on the purple dressing gown that was slung over a nearby chair.

She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she had to leave.

Feeling stiff, achy and sore, Jess began to wander down the corridor slowly, trying to draw as little attention to herself as possible, not meeting the eyes of any of the doctors, nurses, visitors or other patients. She was walking with a limp, her side incredibly sore and she assumed she had cracked a rib or something.

Jess wasn't even aware that she passed Grace's office with the huge window, not even aware that Christian, Grace and Elliot were in there. It was when she got a little further down the corridor and she turned absently to look to her left that she suddenly stopped.

It was a window in front of a dark room, which meant the glass acted as a mirror, showing the 16 year old just how battered and bruised she was, the stitches, busted lip, swollen cheek and black eye making her knees go weak.

All of the memories of the brutal attack by Colin- the strip club manager- and two of his flunkies came rushing back to Jess, remembering it in patches and flashes, right up until the point where she had passed out from the pain.

Jess collapsed and felt someone take her weight, stopping her from hitting the floor. She tried to speak but a voice in her ear soothed her 'it's okay, Jess it's okay'.

She recognized the voice and felt herself relax a little, letting Christian scoop her into his arms with ease. She looked lost and tired as he marched with her back into her hospital room, where Elliot and Grace were still, as Christian was the only one of them that had seen Jess go past.

'She was halfway down the corridor, she collapsed'. Grace looked worried 'well after several days not using your legs, it can be hard to suddenly literally run before you can walk'. Christian nodded 'is she able to leave the hospital yet?'.

Grace nodded 'technically, but I'm waiting a few days before I call Child Protection Services'. All three Grey's saw the panic in her eyes at those words and in Christian's arms she began to squirm, trying to get out of them.

He completely ignored her and shook his head 'no, she's not going back there, look at her, there's a reason to run away this many times...Can't she stay with us?'.

Elliot glanced up 'I've got space'. Christian shook his head 'you're going to Tacoma on Wednesday...Jess can stay with me for a few days, I've got Taylor, Gail and Ana...she can stay with me'.

If Elliot and Grace were surprised about Christian's offer, it was nothing compared to how shocked he was with himself. He might not do hearts and flowers for Ana, but he definitely had a heart.

Let me know what you think

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