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~~ The Find~~
"Clear" Chris called as he checked the room to his left. He then watched down the hall as fellow agent and best friend Buck checked the next room in a long succession of rooms that connected to this particular hallway.
"Clear" Buck
The team had been selected to make a random search of a palatial mansion complex in a southern suburb of Denver. The complex was owned by Simon Gerreux a flashy arms dealer from Quebec, Canada. The man was an enigma hard to track down and in order to find him they had to go where he had been. This particular mansion had been rented by Gerreux for the past two years but he had recently moved on leaving only a hand full of guards. The man never got rid of anything and so it was decided to search the complex for clues as to his new whereabouts and further the act of getting an agent inside the operation. The visible guards had been gathered up and were being watched by members of team three while team seven and team six searched the premises.
Buck opened the second last door before the turn off. It opened with surprising ease the two men carefully made their way inside.
"Shit" Buck said as he saw the small form of a young girl lying on a mat near the door. The young girl tried to push herself away as he neared. "It's alright darling." He said stepping closer. The girl only tried to push herself further away which was proving difficult due to the large infected cut on her left leg.
Buck reached out for her.
"Get away from her!" a small voice called before another child appeared at Buck's side and bit down hard on his arm.
Chris grabbed the child and pulled her off Buck. The young girl pulled away and kicked Chris hard on the shin before turning and helping the other girl up and the two slowly struggled out into the hall and then down it.
"Nathan, Josiah, Ezra get over here." Buck said into his radio
"Wait!" Chris said going after the struggling girls "We're not going to hurt you." He said as he watched them slow down even more even he knew it was not out of choice.
"That's what the other man said." The older one said as she lost her grip on the younger one who sat down on the floor. The older one stared to cough. She tried to pull the younger one up only to fall to a sitting position on the floor coughing harshly.
"Nathan where are you?" Chris said in to his radio the girls were both trying to get up. "We're Law enforcement, police officers with the ATF." He said as he slowly walked towards them not wanting to scare them more.
"Where's your badge?" the younger one asked. She too had a cough though hers was not as harsh.
Chris eased his hand into his jacket and pulled out his badge as he continued forward. The older ones cough became even harsher and more phlegmy. Chris noticed her wipe something brownish from her mouth and wipe it on her black pants.
The two looked at the badge coughs suppressing a bit as Nathan ran around the corner.
"Chris what the…"He trialed as he saw the two young girls. "Aw, hell"
The older one noticed his bag that Buck had told him to bring when he saw the girls fall.
"Are you a doctor?" She asked the coughing stopped but her breathing was wheezy.
"Not a doctor but a paramedic, I help people before the doctor." Nathan said as he slowly walked towards the two.
"Rose has a bad cut on her leg. I tried to fix it like a mommy but it's not working." The older one said as Nathan saw the cut.
"Ok. I'll take a look at it." Nathan said as he knelt down beside them. "What's your name?" He asked the older one as he started to inspect the cut on Rose's leg.
"Ginny." She replied
"Do you know how long the cut has been like this Rose?" Nathan asked Rose shook her head Ginny coughed "How long have you had that cough?"
Ginny shrugged as Nathan touched the cut Rose flinched.
"You're hurting her!" Ginny said
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to but I have to give that cut a good look." Nathan said "Chris could you call an ambulance?" The leader nodded
"And how old are you two" Nathan asked
"I'm six." Rose said
"I'm eight" Ginny replied
Ginny coughed again really hard again she wiped something from her mouth with her hand and then wiped it on her pants. Her wheezing sounded worse and her breathing changed.
"Ambulance will be here shortly." Chris announced
Nathan nodded as her watched Ginny. He took out his stethoscope.
"Ginny I'm just going to place this on your back ok?" Nathan asked Ginny nodded. Nathan did and listened.
"Ginny sweetie are you having trouble breathing?" he asked the young girl nodded as Ezra and Josiah came down the hallway perpendicular to the one they were in.
"Gerreux's men are all rounded up and no one's… Oh Lord!" Ezra said rounding the corner and seeing the two young girls.
"What the?" Josiah
"Ginny and Rose are residence of this room right here" Buck said indicating the room to his right. Ezra and Josiah peeked in to see the 5x5 room no windows two mats with small torn blankets on the floor and a grungy toilet off to the side.
"My God" Ezra exclaimed as Chris asked Josiah to go lead the ambulance crew.
"Mr. Wilmington are you bleeding?" Ezra asked.
"Yes." Buck replied
"What happened?" Nathan asked still by the girls who had moved closer to each other.
"She bit me." Buck said indicating Ginny "Well I guess Chris and I scared them when while we were searching the rooms. And I guess Ginny thought we were going to hurt Rose"
The others noticed that Ginny and Rose were watching Buck and Chris with wary eyes.
Josiah led the paramedics down the hall
"Hi, Nathan." The one said
"James, Ben" Nathan
"What have we got?" Ben
"Two females one eight years old probable pneumonia with a possible partial collapsed lung, and one six possible first stage pneumonia and a serious infection in her left leg." Nathan said as the two men started to work on the girls who just kept a watchful eye on them.
"We'll take the eight year old and send another rig for the six year old." James said
"NO!" both girls said grabbing on to each other’s hands.
"Can you take them together?" Nathan asked
"Yea sure, I don't see why not" Ben
"Are you coming with us?" Rose asked as both looked at him
"Would you like me to" Nathan asked both nodded. "Ok I will" Nathan said picking up Rose and Ben picked up Ginny the two still held on to each other’s hands as they were taken out to the waiting ambulance.
~~The Feeling of Protection~~
At the hospital the staff had a hard time treating the two girls as they cried whenever the medical staff tried to move them into separate rooms. Finally the doctors ignored the pleadings and moved them each into their own trauma room. Nathan stood outside and watched through the windows of the rooms. Rose called out for Ginny and Ginny for Rose. Once in a while they would call out for Nathan, the nice man that helped them.
Chris and the others were milling around the hospital all wanting to hear how the young girls were. Josiah had called Nettie Wells over at child services. Nathan watched as the girls cried themselves to an unconscious state as the doctors kept working.
Every once in a while Nathan would catch a bit of the conversations as it floated out into the hallway.
'The infection is deep. Right into the bone. We have to get her on antibiotics fast and let's try to find out how far it has spread.'
'The right lung is partially re-inflated but we have to watch for re-collapsing, no, no breathing tube. I don't want to sedated her or scare her more.'
Two hours latter Nathan found himself sitting between two beds on the third floor of the children's hospital. Ginny's lung was up and working again and the doctors had her on medication to fight the pneumonia. They also wanted her under close observation. Rose's leg was severely infected, and the infection had spread to the bones of her lower leg. The doctors were unfortunately sure that the young girl would lose her right leg below the knee.
Nathan looked up as Chris entered the room (the others had headed to the office to try and track Gerreux); the team leader looked at the two sleeping children in the beds. Chris gave Nathan a quizzical look upon noticing the oxygen mask over Ginny's face, and not a ventilator to regulate her breathing.
"She was agitated enough when she got here and with her being so weak they didn't want to drug her to put a breathing tube in her so they gave her a mask with a promise from her that she won't touch it unnecessarily." Nathan.
"Ginny Amberley, eight years old has been missing from Tallahassee for the past three years. Rose Morgan, six years old she has been missing from Boston, she has been missing for two years. Chris said sitting down by Ginny.
"Have you contacted their parents?" Nathan asked
"Ginny's parents were killed last year and Roses parents were killed four months ago. From what we could gather from Gerreux's papers that were found at the mansion. The girls were kidnapped and held for ransom Roses parents went to the cops and were killed for it. Ginny's father was a police officer and so when he couldn't come up with the money Gerreux had them killed." Chris said as he watched the two sleep "Gerreux won't kill children so….."
"He leaves them to die." Nathan said. Chris nodded. "I can tell he did feed them but not much. They are both malnourished but not too malnourished it's like he only cut down on the food a while ago."
"Keep 'em healthy till the parents pay or but when they don't or when he has his men kill the parents. He just lets them slowly die." Chris sighed "I mean look at the conditions they were living in. The rest of that place was immaculate but that room it was a mess…How are they?"
"Stable." Was all Nathan could really say "We have to keep an eye on Ginny's breathing her lungs are probably going to be scarred, but they won't be able to tell till the pneumonia clears up and they can get a better look on the x-ray's and MRI's. And Rose……"Nathan trailed off "They're not going to be able to save her lower leg."
"Shit." Chris said
"Junior at home?" Nathan asked referring to Vin the nine year old boy that Chris had taken in two years ago.
"Yea, Buck went to pick him an' JD up from school, Mary stopped and picked up Vin on her way home from work." Chris said
"You can go home, you know. Vin'll be missing you since we've been so engrossed in this case."
Chris nodded as he stood "You going to be OK"
"What? Oh yea Rain's going to drop by with some food later." Nathan said
"Alright Nathan, you take care."
-----------------
It was a few hours later when Rain arrived. The two girls were sleeping again. Nathan was still sitting between then but now he held on to one of their hands.
Rain smile as she entered
"They were up a while ago and were scared so I offered a hand to hold. They fell asleep again but I don't want to let go in case they wake up and are scared again."
Rain's smile grew "Why don't we switch I'll take over the comforting and you get something to eat." She said indicating the bag she had brought.
Nathan nodded and they did. Nathan ate in silence for a while before he looked up at his wife.
"Nettie Wells was in earlier. They dug into the records; they don't have any living relatives." Nathan said
"No grandparents, aunts, uncles." Rain asked. Nathan shook his head "Oh my."
"I know we've been trying to have a child of our own but Rose is going to need a lot of care when she is released, and not many people can handle a physically disabled child. Also Rose and Ginny won't go anywhere without each other. I know they're eight and six…"Nathan trailed off "And I know they are white. So we’d have a life time of people asking if they were foster or adopted.."
"If you'd like we can take them in." Rain said
"Nettie said we could even adopt them if we wanted to." Nathan
"Then it is settled we'll call Nettie in the morning and tell her we will adopt them" Rain said then she smiled "They will be our daughters."
Nathan smiled as well, the girls stirred, Rose stared up at Rain.
"Who are you?" She asked
"My name is Rain. I'm Nathan's wife."
"I'm Rose and that's" she said sleepily
"I'm Ginny." She said lifting the mask and cutting rose off.
"Ginny you promised the doctor you wouldn't move that." Nathan said
"Sorry." She said putting it back on with a yawn. As they both drifter off to sleep again.
"When are they doing the surgery?" Rain asked after a few moments.
"Since her pneumonia is not as advanced as Ginny's and that the antibiotic is keeping the infection out of the surrounding bone, they believe they can do the surgery in two days." Nathan
"How long will they be in here after that?" Rain
"Rose at least another week, though they'll probably keep Ginny here that long as well just to keep an eye on her. It's going to be hard during the surgery. They'll be in separate rooms" Nathan said "And from what we can gather these two haven't been apart in over two years."
"Are you going to stay with them?" rain
"I want to, Chris said I can, but if they're in separate rooms and on separate floors."
"I'll be here as well. We can take turns with each of them." Rain
Nathan smiled again. That was why he loved this woman
~~The Day That Had to Come~~
The doctor entered the room. The two young girls were sitting up and eating. He smiled he had never seen anyone so grateful and happy to eat hospital food.
"Good morning Dr. Colbert." The girls said
"How are we feeling today? He asked
"My leg hurts." Rose
"I know." The doctor said as he sat down next to Nathan between the two girls. "Has Nathan told you what we have to do tomorrow?"
Both girls got real silent and stared at their food.
"Do you really have to do it?" Ginny spoke first.
"The infection is really bad and it made the bones sick, and we don't want that to spread." Dr. Colbert
"I tried to fix it." Ginny said as she started to cry. "I did what mommies do but it wasn't working. I tried, I'm sorry." She said as she started to cough.
Dr. Colbert leaned over and put her oxygen mask back on.
"Just breathe slowly Ginny. I know you tried and you did a very good job. The infection was just too bad even for a mommy to do anything for it. But if it wasn't for you Rose would be a lot worse."
"Is it going to hurt?" Rose asked.
"I'm not going to lie to you," the doctor said "After the surgery yes it will hurt, but during the surgery you won't feel anything, you'll be asleep."
"I'm scared." Rose
"I'll be there; I can hold your hand." Ginny said
"I'm afraid not." Dr. Colbert said "We can't have any visitors in the operating room."
"But I can see her after right?" Ginny
"Yes. You will be in separate rooms, but you will be able to see each other."
"Not in the same room!" Rose
"Rain or I will be with you." Nathan said
"O.k." The two girls said in defeat
"So tomorrow morning a nurse and an orderly will come and get you ready o.k." Dr. Colbert asked Rose.
"O.k."
"And Ginny since you've been doing so well with that mask we are going to switch you to this neat little oxygen thing that just sits at your nose. It'll still help you get better breaths and you'll be able to talk without moving it. Also tomorrow while Rose is in surgery we're going to take you down for some more pictures of your lungs to see how things are coming along. Have you had any more trouble breathing?" Dr. Colbert
"No but my chest and stomach hurt form coughing." Ginny said rubbing her abdomen.
"I'm not surprised with all that rough coughing you've done. It's probably your muscles complaining but we'll check that out tomorrow as well o.k. I will see you both tomorrow." The doctor said standing.
"Bye Dr. Colbert" the girls said in unison as the doctor left.
"For tomorrow is it o.k. if I go with Rose to the operating room and her new room, and Rain stay here?" Nathan asked. The girls nodded.
"I can finish telling Rain about the petting zoo. I fell asleep last night before I could tell her about the goats." Ginny said
"I know she was wondering why you don't like them.' Nathan said as they heard a knock at the door. The three looked up to see Chris and Nathan standing in the doorway each holding a box.
"Can we come in?" Chris asked.
"Sure." Nathan said, the two men entered "You two remember Mr. Chris Larabee and Mr. Buck Wilmington." The girls nodded
"We come bearing gifts." Buck "JD and Vin made them."
"Who are JD and Vin?" Rose asked
"Vin is my son and JD is Buck's son" Chris said.
"Oh"
"How old are they?" Ginny
"Vin is nine and JD is seven." Chris said "They wanted to come but they had school so they wanted us to bring these to you." Chris said as Nathan gave the girls the boxes.
The girls opened them inside were cowboy hats with beads, fake jewels, and feathers glued onto the hat bands.
"One of the first things we ever bought JD and Vin were cowboy hats." Buck said "They figured that you each needed a hat so we went and got you each one."
"But JD and Vin said they weren't girly enough so they did the decorations." Chris added.
The girls smiled as the put them on.
"So I take it you like them." Nathan smiled
"Yes thank you." They replied
------------
The next morning a nurse and an orderly came into the room and Rose was made ready for surgery. She and Ginny cried as Rose was wheeled out of the room. Rain sat on Ginny's bed and held her as Nathan walked down the hall holding on the Rose's hand.
"You can't come in either can you?" Rose asked
"No I'd only be in the doctor's way but when you come out and wake up I'll be right beside your bed waiting." Nathan
"O.k." Rose said tears still in her eyes.
Nathan let go of Rose's hand as the orderly pushed her in to pre op. Nathan watched through the door's window as the final prep was made. Rose was wheeled into the OR. The doctor who would be performing the surgery went in next. Dr. Colbert came and stood beside Nathan.
"The surgery is going to take 2 hours if you would like to go and sit with Ginny, a nurse can come and get you when they are almost done." He said
"Thanks Doc." Nathan said "I think I should go fill in Ginny."
Nathan turned and headed upstairs.
He entered the room and found Rain still sitting on the bed holding Ginny who was still sniffling.
"Is she done?" Ginny asked
"No they just started." Nathan said "Rose will be in there for two hours."
"Then I can see her right?" Ginny
"You might not be able to see her right away she'll sleep most of today away but I sure you'll be able to see her tomorrow." Nathan
"Oh, O.k." Ginny said holding onto Rain even tighter.
"You have some stuff to do later today as well. Nurse Amy said she'd be coming soon to take you down to the x-ray and MRI place." Nathan said
"Then you have your breathing test with Dr. Roberts." Rain
"I know." Ginny said still with sadness.
"But before that why don't we play a game of checkers?" Nathan asked.
Ginny smiled. "I'll win."
"Oh I don't know I've been practicing while you've been sleeping." Nathan
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Nathan entered the room. Rose lay in the bed still asleep. Even under the blanket you could tell that she no longer had the lower part of her right leg. The amputation was made at the knee. They had hoped to only take the mid-calf down, but once in decided that the entire lower leg had to go. This way they were confident that all the infected bone was gone. Rose was still being administered antibiotics to prevent a new infection from forming.
Nathan sat down in the chair beside the bed. They would be moving Rose out of post op to a room in a half hour. Rose fidgeted in the bed. She gave a small pain-filled moan as her eyes half opened. She searched the room eyes settling on Nathan.
"Leg hurts."
"I know sweetie it will for a while." Nathan said as he watched tears form in her eyes.
"It hurts."
"I'll get the nurse and she'll get something to help." Nathan said pushing the call button with one hand as he took Rose's hand in the other "Just squeeze my hand"
Rose did hard.
"What is it?" The nurse asked.
"Her leg is really hurting." Nathan
"I'll go get some painkillers." The nurse said heading to the nurse's station. She administered the medication in the IV as Rose drifted off to sleep again.
------
Rose was having a bad time with phantom pains. She would wake up in the middle night crying. Nathan would sit and talk her back to sleep, sometimes sitting on the edge of the bed and holding her till she cried herself back to sleep.
Because of this the doctors were not letting Ginny come up to see Rose. They said it was because Rose needed her rest and that they didn't want Ginny to get scared by seeing Rose in so much pain.
This however was backfiring because overt the next three days and nights Ginny was a wreak. She cried when she was awake and at night she'd wake up screaming after having a nightmare that Rose was gone forever. Rain and Nathan knew they had to do something.
~~A Permanent Home~~
Finally on the fourth day Nathan insisted that the doctors let Ginny and Rose see each other. The doctors also worked on getting the two another room together.
The fourth day was also the day that JD and Vin came to visit. The four got along famously. The girls told tall tales and the boys told the girls about stuff they were doing in school and how summer vacation was only two months away. Vin invited them out to the ranch and JD wanted to take them to a movie.
Buck and Chris told Nathan how the team was working on getting a man inside Gerreux's operation and that's why Ezra and Josiah hadn't been able to stop by yet.
The next day the girls were moved into a shared room. Lunch was being served and the two were eagerly waiting on their sandwiches, when the nurse came into the room.
"Mr. and Mrs. Jackson there is a phone call for you at the desk it is a Nettie Wells."
"We'll be right back." Nathan said as he and Rain stood. The girls just nodded as they lifted the covers on their meals.
"Ham!" They excitedly announced.
"Green Jello." Rose said with a smile.
"You can have mine." Ginny said sliding it along the table between the two beds using the stick JD had brought her.
"Thank you; you can have my rice pudding." Rose said using the stick Vin had brought her to push the pudding over to Ginny.
"Thank you" Ginny said as Nathan and Rain entered and sat down between them.
"What's wrong?" Rose asked.
"Nothing's wrong." Nathan said "But Rain and I have some good news."
"What?" The girls asked
"Well, first off Dr. Colbert and the other doctors think you two are making excellent progress and so you get to leave here in three more days." Rain said.
"We leave?" Rose asked "We don't live here."
"Hospitals are only temporary stays." Nathan said "You only stay a short time then you get to go home."
"We don't want to go back to that room." Ginny said "It's a bad room."
Earlier in the week Rain and Nathan had undertaken the heavy task of tell the two young girls what had happened to their families.
"No you won't have to go back to that room." Nathan said.
"But where will we go?" Rose
"What would you say if we told you that you would both come home to live with us?" Rain asked smiling.
"You make green jello?" Rose asked.
"Yes I can." Rain
"And pudding?" Ginny
"Any kind you want." Rain
Rose and Ginny looked at each other than at Nathan and Rain.
"So what do you say?" Nathan
"Yes." They replied
------------
Three days came and Nathan and Rain were helping the two get dressed. Mary had graciously came and measured the two and then went out and bought a few outfits each. Rain was holding off till they were both fully better till she took them on a shopping spree.
Nathan helped Rose into a simple sundress and a runner. Ginny was dressed in a nearly matching outfit, the dress was a different color (and she had two runners). Rain brushed out their hair. Ginny and Rose smiled then put on their cowboy hats.
"A perfect touch" Rain
"I really like this dress Mommy Rain." Ginny said
"Me too Mommy Rain." Rose
Rain paused and smiled she felt herself tearing up it felt good to be called mommy.
"Daddy Nathan is Mommy Rain alright?" the girls asked.
Nathan beamed he like being called Daddy.
"Mommy Rain is just very happy you're coming home."
The others had all pitched in back at the house to pull together a room for the two, and JD and Vin had helped Mary pick out some toys for the girls. Nathan looked up as two nurses entered the room each with a wheelchair.
"Are you two fine young ladies ready to go home." Nurse Amy asked
"Yes!!!" Both said
"Why did you bring wheelchairs? Rose asked "I can walk out on my own; the doctor said I'm excellent with my crutches."
"I can walk too." Ginny said "I don't start coughing anymore after three steps."
"Hospital rules." Nurse Kathy said "Now that mom and dad have signed you out you have to ride down to the car in the wheelchairs."
"Oh"
"We can always have a race to the elevator." Nurse Amy said with a smile
Ginny and Rose smiled
"I'm going to go get the car; I'll meet you out front." Nathan said. The girls nodded as Nathan left and Dr. Colbert entered.
"Well girls, I just came to say goodbye and to give your mom all your medication." The doctor said handing Rain a bag with the girl's medication. He also gave Rain a card with the dates of Roses first rehabilitation/physiotherapy appointment. Meanwhile the nurses helped the girls into the chairs and wheeled them out into the hall.
"Are we going to have a race?" the doctor asked as the girls were lined up.
"Yes." Rose said
"Why don't I start it for you? Ready one your marks get set go!"
The nurses not wanting to run in the halls walked quickly to the elevators and tied. Rain and Dr. Colbert laughed as Rain went to join the girls to wait for the elevator.
-------------
By the time they reached the house the girls were ready to burst. They oohed and ahhhed as Nathan pulled into the driveway.
The excitement grew as they were led inside and given the tour of the first floor, then upstairs. Nathan and Rain smiled as the girls marveled at the size and cleanliness of the bathroom and the fact it had a shower that was connected to a bathtub. The both promptly decided they wanted bubble baths later.
Ginny and Rose were taken aback at their room and inspected every little thing on their bookshelves, dressers and nightstands. They both paused at a small table with two chairs.
"What's that?" Rose asked pointing to a large bucket of plastic blocks on the table.
"Those are Leggo blocks you build stuff with them." Nathan replied.
"How?" Ginny asked
"Like this." Nathan said kneeling down by the table and demonstrating.
"Cool." Both girls said as they sat down in the chairs on either side of Nathan.
"I'm going to start dinner." Rain said
"Yea, Ok." All three said
Half an hour later when Rain went to get them for dinner she found all three of them hard at work on a Leggo castle.
-------
The four sat around the dinner table, the girls happily eating. Rain was glad to hear the although they liked the food at the hospital, the girls said that her food was 'much more better'
"When can we see JD and Vin again?" Rose asked
"Mary might bring them over this weekend." Rain
"Is Mary Vin's Mom?" Ginny asked
"Yes she is." Rain
"Did Aunt Mary and Uncle Chris adopt Vin like you did us?" Rose asked "because he doesn't look like them."
"Yes Chris took in Vin two years ago, and then Chris and Mary got married last year." Nathan
"Oh, ok' Rose said. "Why aren't Uncle Buck and Uncle Chris coming?"
"Or Uncle Josiah and Uncle Ezra? I like them when they came to see us two days ago." Ginny said
"They're busy at work. That's why Uncle Josiah and Uncle Ezra could only stay for a short time. They have a big job to do." Nathan
"Are you supposed to be doing the big job?" Ginny asked
"No I get some time off so I can be at home.' Nathan
"You don't want to be at work?" Rose asked
"Nope, I'd rather be right here at home with my three favorite ladies.
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Later on Ginny and Rose were each tucked into their beds.
The next morning Nathan came up to get them for breakfast. He paused at the door and stopped Rain who was on her way down. Rain looked inside and smiled. In the middle of the night Rose had hopped over to Ginny's bed and the two were now sharing it, pillow blanket and all.
Nathan smile as he watched his two tattered little angels.
The end