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WARNING: DATE RAPE DRUG is MENTIONED in the following chapter
And then finally Sharon heard her name over and over again: "Sharon? SHARON!"
"I'm here", she said as loud as she could, but knew that it couldn't be louder than a whimper. She just wanted to close her eyes and rest.
Louie, Andy, Amy and Michael and a dozen other officers and two dogs were searching the side of the Hollywood FW. Suddenly one of the dogs got a lead, followed it with his nose and moments later started barking.
"OVER HERE", the police officer with the dog yelled. Andy was the first to run towards the place where the dog had started to bark. It was the only place that was so densely grown by bushes that Andy had trouble getting through the green while making his way down the ditch that he assumed was about two meters lower than the street.
"Sharon, I'm going to yell your name now and you tell me if you can hear me, ok?" Andy asked over the phone.
"Yes", Sharon whispered.
"Sharon?" he kept yelling.
"I can here you", she responded faintly.
And then Andy saw his girlfriend, lying in the dirt with her clothes torn.
"Oh my god", he whispered, squeezing himself through the plants until he finally held her in his arms. Sharon buried her face into Andy's chest and let him hold her tightly. She didn't have the strength to even put her arms around him.
"It's ok, you're safe now. It's going to be ok", Andy whispered.
"Andy?" Provenza yelled.
"I GOT HER", he yelled back.
"Can you get her out of there on your own?"
Andy looked at Sharon questioningly. They looked into each other's eyes for a second and then Sharon nodded. Yes, he would get her out of there.
"Yeah, we'll try", Andy responded. It was unbelievable – Los Angeles was pretty much a desert with very few green. But he couldn't even see the street from down there.
First Andy took off his jacket and helped Sharon to put it on. She wasn't saying a word and Andy was scared that she might pass out.
"All right Sharon, we need to get you out of here now, ok?"
Sharon nodded.
Andy laid an arm around her waist and she gratefully leaned herself on him so that a lot of her bodyweight was carried by him while they made their way out of the ditch crawling.
"Almost there, we almost got it", Andy tried to motivate Sharon, who was getting slower. She let out a groan and stopped moving forward.
"Sharon, look at me", Andy demanded gently and Sharon obeyed weakly, "it's almost over. A few more seconds and you're out of here."
Sharon was as white as a piece of paper and Andy started to worry that she might suffer from internal bleedings that were worsened by him pushing her to move.
"I just…", Sharon whispered but she didn't even know herself what she wanted to say. Her head was spinning and she had to use all of her willpower to keep her eyes open.
"Come on, let's get you out of here", Andy said and Sharon fought against her body until finally they got out.
The team looked at their Captain in shock. She looked like she just came from hell. Provenza and Sykes helped Andy and together they got their Captain out of the ditch.
They laid her on the ground, her head resting on Provenza's jacket. Sharon tried to say something but Andy, who was kneeling beside her shushed her: "Don't talk. You're safe now. The paramedics will be here any second." His last words weren't heard by Sharon. Darkness had already overcome her again.
The paramedics had arrived seconds later and soon she was lying on gurney with an IV in her arm, and oxygen-mask covering her face and with Andy by her side.
Hours later Sharon was woken by the annoying sound of some machine beeping. She tried to open her eyes but the light was still like poison for her eyes.
"Mom", Rusty whispered. He had been sitting on a chair directly by the side of Sharon's bed and now carefully took her hands into his. Andy was sitting on the other side of the bed and gratefully watched Sharon waking up.
"Hi", Sharon whispered in a raspy voice and opened her eyes even though it hurt. She wanted to see her son.
"It's so good to see you awake", Andy smiled. Sharon first looked at Rusty and then at Andy.
"What happened?" Sharon asked, her voice only a whisper and tried to sit up but then moaned in pain.
"Don't move, you have a couple of cracked rips and a concussion", Andy smiled compassionately. Rusty reached for a cup, filled it with water and looked at Sharon questioning. She nodded and so Rusty helped her to get some of the water inside her.
"What happened?" Sharon asked again.
"Do you remember anything?" Andy asked instead of answering her question.
"I… No… no, not really. I remember that ditch. And, uhm, I remember finding my phone. And then you came. But it's all in fragments. Andy, what happened?" Sharon asked one more time.
Rusty looked at Andy while still holding Sharon's hand.
Andy took a breath in, cleared his throat and said: "They found GHB in your system, Sharon. Someone drugged you."
Sharon looked at Andy, unable to wrap her head around what she just heard. She hadn't had the strength to think about anything that had happened but hadn't expected that kind of answer anyway. Then she looked at Rusty as if she was trying to get an explanation from his face expression.
"What?" she whispered, her heart starting to pound a little faster.
"We don't know how yet, but at some point someone put the date rape drug in a drink or something", Andy explained with a sad smile.
Due to her job Sharon knew everything about that drug. Rapists were known to put it in drinks of their victims in bars, clubs or during house parties. It worked like a sedative and the negative effects become more apparent with larger doses like dizziness, vomiting, nausea, memory loss and so on.
"But when? I wasn't… I was just driving home", Sharon tried to remember.
"We don't know that. Don't think about that now. All that matters is that you are safe and we will figure out how this could have happened", Andy knew that the information would unsettle Sharon but didn't want to withhold anything from her. Besides – they needed a statement from her later anyway and it was better if she at least knew what had happened to her.
That moment a doctor entered the room with that reassuring smile only doctors had on their faces. Sharon guessed that he was in his mid-fifties, he was at least as tall as Andy and had a very calm vibe.
"Captain Raydor, it's good to see you awake", he smiled and squeezed her hand for a split second, "I'm Dr. Jones, I have been treating you since you've been admitted. How are you feeling?" he asked.
"A little drowsy maybe, but fine", Sharon smiled. Dr. Jones looked at Rusty and Andy while saying: "Could you give us a moment?"
Rusty was already getting up when Sharon said: "It's all right, they can stay. There's not really anything they can't hear."
This time Andy took her hand into his. He was incredibly relieved that Sharon hadn't closed off yet and hoped that they could avoid that all together. Rusty was a little surprised when Sharon allowed him to stay but she probably knew that he would want to know everything afterwards anyhow so he might as well just stay.
"Well, as you might already know we found a massive amount of GHB in your blood. It's what caused the nausea and vomiting which lead to serious dehydration. We will let the IV in for at least the next 24 hours and then see from there. You sprained two ribs on your left side of the ribcage but luckily didn't break anything. You are under absolute bedrest for the next week, also due to the concussion. From then on your physical recovery should advance smoothly, as long as you take it slow."
"I'll do my best", Sharon smiled halfhearted. She knew she was lucky, whatever had happened she was sure that things could have turned out worse but she hated the idea of staying in that hospital bed for at least 24 hours and then being on bedrest. If she would be alone she would be walking around in 48 hours but with Andy and Rusty around she knew that she didn't stand a chance.
"I know you probably know as much about GHB as I do", Dr. Jones said, "but please consider accepting psychological support. With time it is quite common that you might experience flashbacks from what happened, just small fragments. Those and also the black spots in your memory are very well known for causing panic attacks or to frighten you", the doctor talked until Sharon interrupted him.
"Uhm… I… I", she stuttered a little, having trouble to speak out what was on her mind. She suddenly wished that Andy and Rusty weren't with her right now but she couldn't throw them out of the room now. Besides, they probably already knew the answer to her question.
"Have you done a rape-kid?" she asked quietly. Rusty didn't know where to look and just focused on the sheets that were pretty much the same color as his mother's face while Andy gently squeezed Sharon's hand to symbolize her that she wasn't alone.
"Yes, we did. There were no indications of a rape. There are however bruises on your torso that are unlikely caused by a fall."
"Meaning?" Sharon asked even though she knew the answer.
"Meaning that the person who drugged you or somebody else did violate you, which also may have caused the sprained ribs."
Sharon took a deep breath in and regretted it in an instant – pain shot threw her body, caused by her injured ribs.
"Do you have any other questions?" the Doctor ask kindly.
"Not right now", Sharon answered, suddenly overwhelmed by tiredness.
"You should try to get some sleep", Dr. Jones said before he left the room.
"Are you ok?" Rusty asked.
"Hm", Sharon hummed without opening her eyes. Rusty knew every single hum of his mother, he knew which was good and which wasn't. But this… this hum wasn't good. It was scary.
"Mom?" Rusty asked again, feeling a little lost.
Sharon opened her eyes to look into her son's face: "Rusty, I'm going to be ok. I am not lying to you. I'm gonna be fine. I feel a little overwhelmed right now and quiet honestly just want to sleep a little. But it's going to be all right, I promise."
"'kay", Rusty smiled unsure.
"Emily and Ricky are on their way too", Andy said, he had totally forgotten to tell her before, "they should be here soon."
"Oh they didn't have to come", Sharon sighted. She didn't want to be a burden on her children.
"They know that", Andy smiled, "but nothing could have stopped them."
Sharon smiled faintly before drifting off to sleep.
The next time Sharon woke up, all of her children were gathered around her.
"Mom", Ricky smiled when he noticed that she was opening her eyes.
"Hey", Sharon smiled back, her heart filled with joy for a second. Whenever all of her children were in one room she couldn't help herself but always felt a little overwhelmed with pride and love. But this time reality very quickly caught up with her and she realized that her kids where all gathered around because she was lying in a hospital bed and still didn't know exactly what had happened.
"How are you feeling?" Emily asked. She sat down on the bed and placed a gently kiss on her mom's cheek.
"I'm all right", Sharon reassured, "I think I'm on pretty good pain killers, I feel a little-"
"high?" Ricky finished her sentence.
"Yeah", Sharon chuckled before the pain in her ribs reminded her that laughing wasn't a good idea, even with the pain killers in her system.
"What happened, Mom?" Ricky asked. He sat down on the other side of the bed and laid a hand on Sharon's legs.
"I honestly don't know. I don't remember anything", Sharon sighted. The clearer her head got the more difficult it was for her to accept that the memory of the last night was simply nonexistent.
"But I'm sure everyone is working very hard right now to figure that out", she smiled.
"Do you need anything? Should we get you something?" Rusty asked.
"No thank you, I think I'm fine. Or, actually, if you don't mind – I would love to get out of that hideous hospital gown. Mint green has never been my color", Sharon tried to joke, she couldn't stand her children's serious faces, "if one of you could just grab one of my pajamas next time you're home I'd really appreciate it."
"Of course", Ricky answered for all of them.
"You know that you really don't have to stay. I'm sure you are very much needed at work", Sharon said to both Ricky and Emily.
"We know, Mom. But I think that there's no place we need to be right now than here."
Sharon closed her eyes again.
I hope you liked the chapter! It was a little less dramatic than the others and from now on it will be all about finding out what had happened and how everyone is going to cope with the events. Any thoughts from your parts? Let me know!