Author's Note: I have the boys living in Carlos' original townhouse. I liked that one! I imagine there is a second bedroom upstairs. Also, I may still include Gabriel in this story. I have yet to process his unnecessary death! Enjoy!
When Elayna woke again, she found herself alone in the small ER cubicle. She removed the cannula and sat up before noticing the IV attached to her hand. Following the line up, she watched the medicine drip from the bag and contemplated how best to remove it. Wrenching it from her hand promised to be painful and messy, while unhooking it from the top of the apparatus meant she would be wandering the streets of Austin with a plastic tube sticking out of her hand. That would not be ideal! Whatever she decided, she needed to hurry. It was doubtful that she would be left alone for long, and she needed to escape before that social worker returned. She was not going back to her most recent foster home, and had no desire to try a new one. Fanciful ideas of that working in her favor escaped her months ago. She was on her own now.
Scrutiny of the tubing in her hand led her to believe that she could dislodge it. She pulled back the tape slowly so as not to jiggle the object stuck in her. Her hand hurt and queasiness blossomed inside of her. She closed her eyes and focused on calming her breathing. She couldn't do this.
The door of the makeshift room opened, startling her enough that her eyes snapped open and the IV flew out of her hand at the same time. She let out a guttural moan, shocked by the pain a small tube could cause, and fell halfway off the bed as TK rushed to her side.
"Hey, hey, hey," he said as one hand covered the blood spurting from hers and the other propped her back onto the bed. "Easy, Elayna. I got you."
She closed her eyes and fell back into the pillows as dizziness and nausea invaded her body. "I'm going to be sick," she said.
"Ok, honey, hang on." He looked around the room and found a pink bin on a counter behind him. Not willing to release her blood leaking hand, he took a giant step back and reached for the pail. "Can we get some help in here," he called out, knowing, at the very least, that Carlos and Ms. Miller were on the other side of the door. He managed to get the bin under Elayna's chin in time for her to push it away and send it toppling to the floor.
"Sorry," she said, struggling to overcome her lightheadedness. "I don't need that anymore."
"It's ok," TK said.
Carlos entered and joined the duo on the opposite side of the bed, laying a hand on Elayna's head. "What happened?" he asked.
Nurse Jessica rushed in after him so TK said to them both, "She pulled out her IV." He handed her off to Jessica and relocated to the foot of the bed while the IV was reinserted and Carlos soothed her.
Within a few minutes, calm was restored to the room, Elayna was settled in bed and Nurse Jessica left the group alone.
"I have to get out of here,"Elayna said.
"They want you to finish that IV and then you can be released," TK said.
"So I need to leave now. Please, you've got to let me go. I'm not going back to that foster home. I swear - "
Carlos interrupted her. "We were thinking," he licked his lip and snuck a peak at TK before looking back at the young patient. "What if you came home with us?"
"What?" Her head swiveled between the two of them. "You guys?"
TK spoke. "Yeah, Elayna, you can come home with us. You don't have to go back to living in abandoned buildings, or that other house. We'll take care of you."
Her eyes rested on Carlos. "But, you're a cop. And I'm practically . . . a criminal."
Calos raised an eyebrow. "Practically? You've been picked up twice for shoplifting. Unless there's anything else you'd like to confess to."
"Stop!" TK said with a chuckle in his voice. "He's kidding. But, seriously, we're foster parents, without a kid."
"You're a kid, without a home."
"Seems like maybe it could work. What do you say?"
"I guess. I mean . . ." She did not know what she meant. She did not know what to think. How was this going to end? She tried to weigh all her options in a thirty second time span. There were not many. Trying to escape and run away was the only one she could think of, but they did not seem like they were going to turn their backs on her any time soon. She would not return to the previous home, and her few times in a group home proved horrendous. This seemed like her best option, for now. They'd have to look away at some point. She could run when they did. In the meantime, maybe she could get some decent food. And sleep. "I guess,"she said.
LSLSLSLSLS
Things should have run smoothly after that conversation, but they did not. Elayna continued to fight against the IV. The oxygen was no longer deemed necessary, but she had been dehydrated and malnourished before her arrival and the doctor was eager to take care of those problems before discharging her. The hour being late, it was decided that TK would stay in the hospital, at her bedside, while Carlos went home to get some sleep and prepare whatever he could around the house for their new occupant.
After leaving the hospital, Carlos returned to the station to tie up loose ends from his shift, then started home. His mind raced with things he needed to do and purchases that needed to be made. Maggie had been unable to provide him with any sort of favorites list from Elayna's file as her previous case manager had quit without warning, and complete information had yet to be transferred. Carlos had an appointment to meet with Maggie the following afternoon to learn more about Elayna's history.
In the meantime, he wanted their townhouse to be welcoming for the young teen and, despite the late hour, began working as soon as he arrived home. He placed an Instacart order for groceries to be delivered the next morning, including basics that he hoped she would like. Then he busied himself deep cleaning the guest bedroom. As a catch-all and the last room ever cleaned, it had been neglected, much like its future occupant, he bemused.
Once the linens were changed, random stuff placed in the basement, and room made in the closet, Carlos went to bed. Sleep, however, escaped him. He laid awake most of the night replaying the day in his head and contemplating those to come. In a few hours, he would drive to the hospital to pick up his husband and foster daughter and bring them home.
AN: Hope you liked it! Please review!
