by Twila

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Copyright © 2009 by Twila. All Rights Reserved.

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“Get over here!”

She didn’t hesitate to obey the command and hurried over to stand in front of her father, staring at the floor. She braced herself. She hadn’t braced herself enough because the first slap knocked her to the floor.

“Get up!”

She quickly obeyed again, not daring to rub the awful sting in her cheek. She planted her feet again and waited, still staring at the floor. This time she managed to stay upright. Her face hurt so much and her head was ringing, but she quickly got back into place. The next one knocked her down again and it took her a minute to get back up. It was too long. She screamed when a hand grabbed her hair and jerked her upright.

Another slap to her face.

“Stop that yelling you little piece of shit!”

She bit her tongue as tears ran down her face. After the next slap, which felt harder than all the others, her mind went blank.

When she next awoke, she was lying on a bed in a room with bright lights and white walls. She turned her head slightly and noticed a woman sitting in a chair by her bed. The woman smiled at her.

“Hi, honey. How do you feel?” the woman stood up and gently took her hand.

She looked her over a minute and then whispered, “My head hurts.”

“I know, honey. The nurses couldn’t give you anything until you woke up. I’ll get one to give you something now.”

She watched closely as the woman pushed a button on her bed and waited. A voice from somewhere asking what the woman needed.

“Heather is awake and in pain. Can someone come check her please?”

Heather wondered how this woman knew her name and how she got here, but wasn’t about to ask. She lay there and watched the woman.

“My name is Sarah Foster, Heather. I’m a social worker. Do you know what that means?”

Heather gently shook her head.

“Well, it means I try to help kids who are in trouble. They called me when the ambulance brought you in. Can you tell me what happened, Heather?”

Heather wasn’t about to answer and was saved the trouble when a woman in a white uniform came into the room.

“Well, look who’s awake.”

The nurse smiled at Heather and walked over to gently place a hand on Heather’s forehead.

“How do you feel, Heather?”

“My head hurts,” Heather whispered.

“Okay. I’ll get you something for that. Does anything else hurt?”

Heather just nodded.

“Where, honey?” came the nurses next question.

“Everywhere,” Heather whispered again.

“I’ll be right back.” Heather watched the nurse step out of the room. She looked up to see the woman, Sarah, watching her. Heather relaxed at little when she smiled at her again and took her hand.

“I need for you to talk to me a minute, okay?”

Sarah seemed very serious all of a sudden and this worried Heather.

“It’s okay. I just need to know what happened and then you can rest. Did your dad hit you?”

Heather inhaled and would have stiffen if her body hadn’t already felt so stiff she couldn’t move.

“Please, Heather. You are safe, okay? The police have your dad, honey.”

Heather jumped when Sarah placed a hand on her hair and gently rubbed it. It felt really good to Heather.

“Did your dad hit you, Heather?” came the softly spoken question.

Heather nodded.

“Thank you, honey. A couple more questions, okay? Did he hit your mom?”

Heather hesitated a minute, still enjoying the caresses she felt and then nodded again.

“Is that something he’s done before?”

Heather nodded again.

“Can you tell me how many times? Guess for me?”

Heather tried to shrug her shoulders, but it hurt too much. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, rubbing it for her. “I don’t know,” she whispered instead.

“A lot of times?”

Heather nodded.

“Have you ever been in the hospital before, Heather?”

Heather looked up and around the room. This place sort of looked familiar, but she wasn’t sure. “I don’t know.”

“Okay, honey. Thank you for talking to me.”

Heather’s eyes fell on the door as it opened and she watched the nurse come back in. What she had in her hand made Heather’s heart race.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” the nurse’s voice soothed. “It goes in your IV, not you.”

Heather didn’t relax though until the nurse had placed that needle thing in a box way away from her. She turned to watch the two women and realized that her eyes were doing funny things. The women looked blurry and the lights in the room were spinning.

“It’s okay, honey. You go to sleep.” A soft voice spoke before blackness took over.

Sarah waited until Heather was good and asleep before stepping out of her room and over to the nurse’s desk. Nancy looked up as she stopped in front of her.

“Cute little thing, isn’t she?” Nancy smiled.

“Yes,” Sarah replied, smiling back at her.

“What are you going to do with her now?”

“Leighann and I are taking her home with us,” Sarah said and watched the surprised look appear on Nancy’s face.

“Don’t you two have enough already?”

Sarah laughed at her friend’s teasing. “Maybe if you helped, we wouldn’t have to take them all,” she teased back.

“I can’t help it if Ms. Right hasn’t found me yet,” Nancy retorted.

Sarah grinned again. “Keep looking. She can’t be that far away,” she advised. “When is Tammy coming back? I need to get some stuff taken care of before Heather is discharged.”

“Did I hear my name?”

Sarah turned to watch a tall, dark-haired woman in a white lab coat coming around the corner toward them. Sarah returned the warm smile Tammy was wearing. She turned to look at Nancy and startled. She’d never seen Nancy look at anyone like she was looking at Tammy. Oh boy, girl. You sure pick the difficult ones to fall for.

“Hey, Tammy,” Sarah turned to address the doctor. “I was just wondering when Heather was going to be released.”

“She can go whenever you’re ready. She just needs to rest mostly. I’ve done what I could.”

Sarah watched Tammy lay the chart she’d been carrying on the counter and smile at Nancy. Sarah didn’t miss the blush that covered Nancy’s face before Nancy ducked her head.

“Here you go, Nanc,” Tammy said, smiling.

“Thanks, Tammy.” Nancy took the chart held out to her and stared back at the counter top, engrossed in something.

Sarah tried to hide her grin and managed before Tammy looked her way again.

“So, you and Leighann are going for another one, huh?”

Sarah returned the teasing grin. “Yeah, since we’re the only ones who will.” She regretted those words with Tammy as soon as she saw the pain in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Tammy. I was just teasing. It’s been a long morning. Will she be okay for me to run and get some things done first?”

“She’ll be fine. Now that she’s awake, well, rather was, we’ll keep her medicated and comfortable. Right, Nancy?” Tammy spoke to the other woman again.

“Sure thing, Doc,” Nancy had found her smile.

Sarah watched the interchange with relish. She smiled at both women. “Okay, then. I’m heading back to the office for a while. You have my number and Leighann is home if you need her.”

“Got it,” Nancy said. “See you Sarah.”

Sarah waved and headed out. She had a hundred things that needed to be done, but knew that only a few would get accomplished. She flipped open her cell phone and dialed home as she headed to her car.

“Hey, babe.”

“Hi, love,” Sarah grinned as she walked, feeling better already just from hearing her lover’s voice.

“Is everything set?”

“Almost. I’m on my way back to the office to finish some last minute paperwork and then back here to get Heather. Everything going okay?” Sarah headed to the parking garage as she continued her conversation.

“Almost ready. Want me to meet you at the hospital in a little while?”

Sarah let out a relieved sigh. “Yes, please, love. That would be great.”

“Mrs. Dalton said she’d watch the kids for us until we get Heather settled.”

“Perfect. You think of everything, don’t you?” she whispered lovingly to her spouse. She pushed the button to unlock her car door and opened it, throwing her briefcase into the passenger seat. She scooted in as Leighann replied.

“Just trying to make this as easy as possible for everyone. Have you talked to Ann about time off?”

“Not yet. Did you talk to anyone?”

“Yes. I’ve got two shifts tomorrow and Friday I’m still trying to get covered. After that, I can take a week.”

Sarah let out a relieved sigh. “Thanks, love. I know that’s not easy to arrange. You must have been on the phone all morning.” She started her car and pulled out.

“Not too bad. It helps to work with good people.”

“Don’t I know it.”

“Be careful driving, babe. Call me before you leave your office, okay?”

“Okay, love. Bye.”

To Be Continued....

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