Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mia Campbell was 15 when her bonds appeared, two vibrant gold strings leaving her heart and leading into the unknown, a whole decade earlier than they should have. This should have been the first clue that her newest foster home would hold nothing good inside. She tried telling Cathy, her social worker, but she said it was either this or the group home, the idea of going to a group home was terrifying, Mia was a type 1 diabetic, barely surviving most foster homes due to her medical needs, nobody wanted the sick kid. She had been in the foster system since the age of 4 when her mother and father died in a car accident that should have killed her as well, however with nobody available to claim her, Mia ended up a ward of the state of Pennsylvania. So, with a foreboding feeling Mia entered the townhome nestled in the Woods Run Neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

Dave and Eliza were great on paper, foster parents for 20 years, both in their late 50s, good steady jobs, never a bad report, or at least never an official report. Dave is a lawyer and Eliza is a teacher, married for the better part of 30 years, they chose to become foster parents after struggling with infertility. On paper they were awesome, Mia for all intents and purposes should be fine living with them, but with emergence of her soul strings, Mia can’t help but feel terror upon entering their home. She could feel the overwhelming urge to flee, to follow the strings to their ends and be saved, but she couldn’t, there was no telling how far away they were, she had no means of getting to them, no way to survive the journey, and nobody to ask, as Cathy the one person who should be fighting for her right now was damn useless already. She knew that whoever lived at the end of them would be a platonic bond, given her age and the color of her strings, probably parental too considering what number home this was and her distinct lack of effective parental figures in the nine years that she has been in foster care, and she figures that she must be to blame for that, maybe she was just too much to deal with. Maybe she deserves whatever hell she is going to be in with Dave and Eliza, maybe that hell would earn her the reward of good parents, whoever they are.

Michael Rabinovitch or Robby to most and Jack Abbot were doctors, ER attendings at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center or PTMC for short, colloquially known as the Pitt. They have been together for a decade, happily married for 5 years after finally getting their heads out of their asses, as their friend and coworker Dana Evans would say. It took them 5 years of being friends, then best friends to finally move past friendship and straight into marriage, they had been living and acting like an old married couple anyway. Jack finally moved to day shift more firmly, after Samira Mohan became an attending and switched to nights, allowing them to spend more quality time together. It had been during one of these day shifts that everything changed, it was a cold October morning, roughly 10am, 3 hours into their shift when it happened. They were coding a patient when Robby and Jack noticed the golden glow around them. Unable to focus on the glow they shoved it to the back of their minds, to deal with later.

Chapter Text

Robby and Jack

About an hour later, after pronouncing time of death. They finally got the chance to step away and discuss what was happening, nobody outside of the bond could see the string, so they told the daytime charge nurse Dana they needed a moment and stepped into the on-call room to talk.

“Hell of a moment for this to happen, huh babe” Jack whispered to Robby, in awe of the prospect of a new bond.

Robby stretched up and started rubbing the back of his neck, a nervous tic that he had never been able to break. “Man this is a platonic bond, probably a child, what are we going to do with a child?” Robby breathed out panicking. Robby is good with children, other people's children but the idea of having one of his own that he can’t give back to their parents scared him.

“babe we don’t know anything yet, no panicking until we do, yes there’s probably a child at the end of this bond, but its sudden emergence means that child likely needs us, desperately needs us, these bonds don’t appear unless there is a problem, before panicking we need to report this bond to Dana, Kiara, and HR just to be safe.” Jack said calmly, trying to ease the anxiety out of his husband.

“Kiara and HR make sense but why Dana?”

“Dana will kill us if we don’t tell her” Jack laughed

“you’re right, okay you tell Dana, I’ll report it to Kiara and HR.”

“you’re making me tell Dana?” Jack asked incredulously. “She’s your person not mine!”

“Yeah, well Ellis isn’t here so.” Robby smirked, knowing full well that Jack would be texting Ellis very soon.

It was at this moment that both of their pagers went off with an incoming trauma.

It wasn’t until the end of their shift when Shen came in that they had the chance to step away to make their separate notifications, unfortunately for Robby this meant telling Gloria as well as HR.

Jack, being the loving husband that he is he decides to tell Kiara, Dana, and the nighttime charge nurse Lena at the same time. He knew this meant that the entire ER would know by the time he came in the next day, but there were so many birds and so little stones. Might as well let the group chats group chat and make his life easier.

On the walk home he told Robby his plan, Robby did not seem to agree with Jack's plans, he wasn’t sure why the entire ER needed to know their business, however he had to admit the group chats were effective. At least this way he wouldn't have to tell everyone individually.

Both men were secretly hoping that they would meet their third soon and that they were safe. Neither one wanted to speculate on why the bond suddenly appeared, but they knew the statistics of a sudden emergence bond being good at the start was slim to none.

“Kiara told me that we need to make sure that all of our foster certifications are up to date just in case” Jack notified Robby “if our third is a child in need there will be less hoops to jump through but not none, so having our certifications up to date would be best to expedite it when we meet them.”

“They should be up to date, but we can check everything after we eat dinner”

“What are we eating for dinner?” Jack asked

“Hmm. I really want a burger after today” Robby's stomach grumbled as he said it, apparently voicing its agreement with this choice.

“Yeah, it was a long one babe, you know you wouldn't be so hungry if you'd eaten lunch like you were supposed to." Jack chuckled hearing his stomach complaining "I'll door dash it, your usual?”

“So, you’ve said before, Robby grumbled. “Please darling, with fried pickles too”

“you’ve got it babe” Jack looked at him with so much love and a hint of amusement.

Robby couldn’t help but to grab him in the middle of the sidewalk and pull him into a kiss, with both hands on the sides of Jacks neck, kissing him as if he was going to consume him, like he would die without this kiss.

Today had been emotionally taxing, they needed this moment together to ground themselves in each other, this kiss was like coming home.
They broke apart and continued their walk home, knowing if they were together, it would all be okay.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mia

The second clue that there was something wrong in this home was when Eliza went searching through the trash bag full of Mia’s belongings and took all her insulin, syringes, and pen needles and locked them in a lockbox in the fridge, stating that all medications must be carefully monitored or else.

Mia tried to fight them on it. She needed that insulin to stay alive, to keep her blood sugars in range. She luckily had one insulin pen each of long acting and fast acting insulin in her pocket just in case, but those were already half used, they wouldn’t last her very long, unless she rationed them, but all diabetics have heard the horror stories of those that have been forced to ration, the ones that ended up in the ER with DKA in a coma.

“You don’t understand if I can’t give myself insulin throughout the day I will die” Mia cried helplessly.

“You won’t be carrying around needles for drugs in my home, you think I don’t know how this works that I’m an idiot? All you foster kids are the same, delinquent little shits that need a firm hand to guide them.” Dave spoke down to Mia menacingly, towering over her 5-foot frame.

“But I’ll die” Mia pointed out “if I can’t take my insulin I will die, Cathy should have told you I need to regularly check my blood sugar, give insulin as needed, and eat if needed.”

“Cathy said as much, but I’m sure with enough prayer and holistic medicine we can get you out from the thumb of pharma, pharma comes from the devil.” Eliza said in a mockingly sweet tone.
Mia was scared and confused of this dynamic, Dave seemed strict and mean while Eliza tried to seem nice but in an overly religious sort of way.

Mia decided to placate them as best she could and simply asked “may I have some water and go to my room to rest and think, please?”

Eliza seemed soothed by this change of pace, but Dave wasn’t convinced. “You won’t be taking anything up there with you, you will shower and change into clothing we approve first.” Dave orders “no more of these ripped jeans and sweatshirts.”
“I have a lovely jean skirt for you to wear, these pants simply won't do, you can wear the jean skirt to your new school tomorrow.” Eliza seemed excited to be dressing Mia in what she deemed modest feminine clothing. Mia was horrified, but she did what she was told, she took the clothes and went to shower.

“Leave your old clothes outside the door and we will dispose of them” Dave ordered again.

‘He really does like ordering people around’ Mia thought ‘what the fuck am I going to do now’

She quickly took her shower and got dressed hiding the insulin, pen needles, and her blood sugar monitor in her bra where they would hopefully not be found. Luckily, she knew her doses and could change the times to when she wasn’t watched like some common criminal. ‘It would be okay; it had to be okay.’ Mia thought, hoping but not hopeful.

It was not okay tonight though, Dave decided that the clothes that she came in with were to be burned, and Mia reeducated on how to properly conduct herself. Her first punishment was no dinner. Her second was arguably worse.

When Mia finally went to bed, she dug her blood sugar monitor out of her bra and checked her sugar. It was elevated, likely from stress, but she decided against her fast-acting insulin to bring it down since she wasn’t fed dinner. ‘Hopefully it’ll come down naturally,” Mia thought as she laid down, carefully on her side with her back sore from what Dave considered, just punishment for her sins. She still wasn’t sure what those sins were.

Chapter Text

One week later

Mia

The first few days were okay, not good but okay, but a week with these people was too much. Mia wasn’t sure what happened but as the week went on every little thing seemed to set Dave off, as if his patience was worn thin in the week she was there. As his temper grew he decided that Mia needed to be “reeducated” again. She felt like there was nothing she could do right, and to make matters worse she was running low on insulin in the pens that she had stashed, forcing her to ration it, which was causing her blood sugar to rise, making her normal filter slip and let some of her irritation out.   

School seemed to be her only break from them, when she could take her insulin and drink water and try to survive. She thought briefly about telling someone at school about Dave and Eliza, but after Cathy brushed her off, she wasn’t convinced that any adult would help her.

Unknown to Mia, her teachers did notice that something was wrong with her, she was jumpy, constantly fidgeting, seemed to be exhausted, nearly constantly sipping out of her water bottle trying to hydrate herself and making frequent trips to the bathroom. Of course, this led to a phone call home to Eliza, which made her leave work early to pick up Mia to take her home, needless to say Dave was pissed.

--------------------Abuse--------------------

“MIA!” Dave roared as soon as he shut the door upon arriving at home from work.

“She’s in the basement dear.” Eliza told him. “Ready for you to discipline, honestly I do not know why we keep this one around, she doesn’t do anything, obviously she isn’t learning what were trying to teach her. perhaps sending her to the group home would be better for us.”

“Absolutely not! We will reeducate her like the ones that came before her, you will see.”

“Dear I think she may require a heavier hand than the ones before, perhaps the belt?”

“That is a brilliant idea honey, why don’t you take a bath while I deal with her?” Dave said sweetly. “After I’m done we will go to that nice Italian place you love.”

Dave went down to the basement and spent 30 minutes with Mia, beating her with his belt as he saw fit, unfortunately for Mia her insulin pens fell from her bra and clattered to the floor, where he promptly smashed them with his shoe.

“I see you were trying to hide these from us; secrets always get out child.” He sneered.

He left Mia in the basement next to the shattered remains of her lifeline, spilled out next to her.

Mia lay there trembling, in shock, unsure what she was going to do.

Maybe 5 minutes or an hour later, Mia wasn’t sure, Eliza came down to get her.

“You must feel better now, you will learn that this is best for you.” Eliza spoke softly as if to comfort the ache in Mia’s back and soul as she bled onto the floor.

“Now you must clean up and go to bed, no dinner tonight.” Eliza ordered “Dave and I are going out tonight, so you will go to bed.

Mia stood up shaking and dizzy., she could tell that her blood sugar was really high, but she had no way to fix that now, so she followed Eliza up the stairs to get to her room, where she would be safer.

“I left some juice for you on your desk, drink that and go to bed, after you change.” Eliza ordered again.

“Yes ma’am” Mia whimpered to her, before shutting her door.

Dave and Eliza left soon after, Mia could hear the car leaving the driveway.

------------Suicidal thoughts and attempt---------------

‘Juice will bring my already high blood sugar up’ Mia thought helplessly. ‘But I’m so fucking thirsty.’

With that thought, Mia drank the juice quickly. “I need to get out of here” Mia said to herself. She tried the door and found it locked from the outside, so she went to her window and pried it open, before pushing the screen out. “This is a terrible idea” Mia said as she eased her legs out of the second story window.

She tried to climb out of the window, not caring for the marks on her back that pulled with every stretch, she lowered herself as much as possible, gripping the window ledge tightly. “Fuck it” Mia ground out through clenched teeth before letting go and landing in the front yard.

Her legs gave out as soon as she made contact with the ground, her vision whitening briefly as pain shot through her. With no other choice, unwilling to be caught by Dave when they got back, Mia limped to the park down the road. “I just need a bench, or a tree, somewhere to sit, somewhere to hide.”

Third POV

Tired and in pain Mia collapsed on the bench as soon as she found it.

She laid there cold, shivering, her blood sugar rising rapidly, she floated in and out of consciousness for some time. She knew she was truly fucked when she started vomiting, but she had no phone, no energy to get up, she didn’t want to anyway. ‘Maybe it’s better this way’ Mia thought.

Luckily for her a couple was jogging through the park and spotted her on the bench, quickly calling 911, waiting for paramedics to arrive, the looked and didn’t find an ID or anything.

“Jane Doe looks like a teenager. Maybe overdose, we will take her from here” the EMT said while loading her into the ambulance, administering Narcan quickly.

They quickly drove off, headed to the hospital to hopefully get this kid treated.

Robby and Jack

 It was about 9pm, about 2 hours past their shift when Robby and Jack had gotten done eating dinner at their favorite diner when an ambulance came screaming past. Their golden strings following it.

"They're inside that bus babe" Jack said terror on his breath.

"Man let's go!" Robby said jogging after it.

"We don't know where it's headed!"

"The Pitts the closest, that’s the only choice!" Robby yelled.

"Alright then let's drive! The truck is right here!" Jack pointed out

Robby thought about it, it's only a 15-minute walk, by truck it would be five, with that he ran over and hopped into the driver's seat ready to go. Jack followed a little slower, his limp more prevalent than normal.

"Sorry darling, I panicked."

"Yeah no shit" Jack snapped quietly, "Now drive we need to get there."

They quickly drive to the Pitt and park in a handicapped spot near the ER. The ambulance had already been unloaded, whoever their strings led them to was inside being worked on.

"The hell are you two doing back, you left 2 hours ago?" Lena asked upon seeing them enter.

"Gold strings, trauma 2" Robby said simply. attempting to walk over there.

"You’re not going in there, Shen is trying to work on her, you two barging in will help nobody," the other nurse Bridgett said, blocking them with her body.

"Whoever Jane Doe is, she doesn't know you, you don't know her, she’s an unconscious teenager that doesn't need two men she’s never met at her bedside when she wakes up." Lena said sharply. "Either sit here and wait or go to the family room" she offered. “And we will not be telling you anything until its cleared by social services!”

Robby and Jack wanted to argue, but they knew they were both right, they couldn't barge in there, they couldn't treat this Jane Doe, it wasn't their place as people bonded to her.

"c'mon babe let's go to the family room, my leg really hurts, I need you to look at it, please." Jack asked Robby appealing to his helpful nature.

"Shit! yeah, do you need help walking over there? Lean on me." Robby offered, taking Jack's arm and putting it over his shoulder, slouching down to take his weight.

As they walked away Bridget murmured to Lena "Thank fuck for Abbot, I thought Robby was gonna shoulder his way into trauma 2."

“He would have, but he will do anything for Abbot, but as soon as he looks him over we need to watch out for him.” Lena informed her. “Robby won’t give up easily on this, I’m going to call Kiara and see if she can authorize us to tell them what’s going on. Can you call Dana over here to keep an eye on them?”

“Yep, I’ll call her now.” Bridgett replied

Robby helped Jack onto the sofa before kneeling in front of him to help roll up his pant leg to get a look at it.

“I’m sorry I tried to run after her.” Robby apologized “I wasn’t thinking about the truck being faster, or that you couldn’t run on this leg or-”

“I know babe.” Jack interrupted. “I get it, she’s our kid, we may not know her, but she’s ours. maybe next time don’t try to abandon me on the side of the road hmm.”

Panicking Robby stammers out “N-next time? What next time? There won’t be a” this time Jack interrupted him with a kiss.

“Please stop panicking.” Jack said quickly “my leg really does hurt though; can you get the prosthetic off so you can check it.

With a look Jack silenced whatever apology was about to leave Robby’s lips, and pointedly looked down at his leg, which was still being held by Robby.

Robby quickly released the pressure on his prosthetic before removing it and getting a good look at it. It was slightly swollen and red from overuse. He quickly grabbed some lotion from their bag and massaged the stump, helping to ease some of the ache.

“you’re going to need to use some crutches, I don’t think walking on it is a good idea right now.” Robby told him.

“You can get them in a few minutes, lets rest here for a bit while we wait for news.” Jack offered leaning into the back of the sofa. “babe, can you come hold me for a bit, so I don’t spiral.” He asked trying to make sure Robby doesn’t bolt in an effort to get more information.

“Yeah, I can do that, you okay darling.” Robby said softly “we can spiral together” he offered.

They sat there for a little over an hour before news finally came.

Chapter Text

Third POV

“Teenage girl suspected overdose, no ID, found by a couple on a park bench, who called 911. Narcan administered upon loading into the bus, no change. BP 80/50 in field, started a line with normal saline, up to 90/60. Heart rate 145. Afebrile, vomiting and dehydrated upon first look. Left ankle appears swollen and red as well.” The EMT reported upon arriving at the PTMC emergency department.

“Alright trauma 2, let’s get a CBC, CMP, and Xray to the left ankle.” Shen ordered.

He quickly stepped up to the bedside of the gurney, shining a light into the girls’ eyes.

“Hey kid I’m Dr. Shen, you’re in the ER can you tell me what happened?” receiving no response from her, they carefully and rapidly transferred her to the trauma bed. The nurse quickly started cutting through her clothing to get a better look at her, unfortunately this is when she started seizing.

“On her side! Let’s make sure she doesn’t aspirate.” The seizure lasted for about 5 minutes. “Alright push 5mg diazepam!” Shen ordered. The seizure stopped soon after that.

They got her labs back shortly after. “Shen her blood sugar is 820!” one of the nurses announced.

“Alright push ten units’ regular insulin with potassium. We will repeat the blood sugar check in 20 minutes, keep up with saline, and lets add an IV antiemetic as well just to be safe, also get her set up on a continuous insulin drip to get on top of this, and catheter to monitor urine output.” Shen ordered, walking away. They all moved quickly to follow his orders. “I’m also ordering a stat head CT and Xray of her ankle, we need to make sure that she doesn’t have any head trauma, may just be the blood sugar, but let’s check.”

The nurse who started cutting through her clothing finished and they rolled her over to get them from under her, spotting the bleeding welts on her back.

“Shen!” she yelled, “you need to come see this.”

Dr. Shen jogged over and looked at the wounds on her back. “Get these cleaned up and dressed, we need to Xray her torso to check for fractures. I’m going to place a call to CPS and report this, we need to call the police as well.”

Shen walked over to the hub, where Lena grabbed him. “Jane Doe in trauma 2 is Robby and Jack’s gold string, they followed the bus here when they saw it drive by.” Lena informed him. “I’ve called Kiara, she said that we can inform them of her condition, up until Jane Doe rescinds that approval, they cannot make medical decisions for her though until they get cleared by CPS. We need to find out who she is first.”

“Shit, okay we will let them know, after I call CPS and the police. We’ve got severe dehydration, DKA, signs of abuse, and a broken ankle to deal with.” Shen informed her.

About 45 minutes later

 Dana arrived at the ED like a terrified mother. “Where are they?” She asked Lena sharply.

“In the family room, probably climbing the walls.” Lena informed her. “We got authorization from Kiara to inform them on Jane Doe’s condition, but that’s it. CPS is on their way, so are the police”

“CPS and police?” Dana gasped. “It’s that bad?” She asked worriedly.

“Yeah, we’ve got severe dehydration, DKA, obvious abuse, and a dislocated fracture of the ankle, as well as scrapes on her arms and fingers. Looks like she tried to climb out of a window or something and fell.” Lena told her. “You can tell them, if you want, but I would wait for Shen, he will be able to answer their questions.”

“Fuck, that’s a lot. She gonna wake up?” Dana was worried, if this kid didn’t wake, or worse died, she figured she would lose her boys for sure.

“Shen seems to think so, no head injury, but she did seize for over 5 minutes, they pushed IV diazepam, and we haven’t had another since. They did a CT, didn’t see any bleeding on the brain, waiting to see when she wakes to check for neuro deficits.”

“Alright I’m gonna go check on our boys.” Dana said before walking toward the family room.

Robby and Jack

Robby and Jack were exhausted, but too anxious to rest in the family room.  They had no idea what was happening, and neither wanted to speculate. They were sitting in companionable silence, Jack’s head was resting on Robby’s lap, serving dual purpose comfort, and keeping Robby from bolting. They were both mentally stewing in anguish, hoping to hear good news. Their golden string was still steady, still glowing brightly, so they knew she was still alive at least. That was enough for now, until they got news, if Kiara authorized that.

Their heads snapped up quickly at the sound of the door opening.

“Who called you?” Robby inquired.

“Who do you think?” Dana asked. “Do you really think Lena would let you sit in here alone without some kind of support.”

“Hey! I’m right here.” Jack spoke up, sounding offended.

“Honey you’re hardly support, I’m surprised that you’re holding it together yourself, besides you’re one of our boys too, not just your better half.” She looked down at Jack sympathetically.

“Oh, I’m freaking out but I’m doing it on the inside.” Jack said honestly

“Better half? Rude. Anyway, we decided to spiral together here” Jack told her. “but I think we both decided to bottle that and just sit here, so we don’t go to worst case scenarios.”

“That’s fair.” She agreed. “Want me to get you boys some coffee, or tea? While we wait.”

“No, thanks.” They responded together. They sat quietly for about 10 minutes before the door opened again.

John Shen had known Robby and Jack for quite a few years, he certainly didn’t want to be the one to break this news to them, but as their colleague and friend he knew he needed to. So, with a deep breath he opened the door to the family room.

“What’s with the face?” Jack asked panicked as he walked in. “What happened?”

“Somethings wrong isn’t there?” Robby followed. “You don’t normally look so worried.”

“Woah, hold on. Let’s sit and talk.” John replied calmly.

He sat down across from them and took another calming breath.

“First, I was given permission to share information with you, until she rescinds that permission. You may not make any care decisions for her until CPS clears you and we know who she is.” John informed them. “We good with that? Agreed?”

Both Jack and Robby nodded in agreement.

“I’d prefer that as a verbal response.” John told them.

“Fine, yes we agree.” Robby snapped.

“Babe, don’t bite Shen’s head off, he’s just doing his job.” Jack said sternly.

“Sorry, I’m freaking out a bit.” Robby apologized.

With that Dana started rubbing his back comfortingly, and Jack grabbed one of his hands to squeeze. 

“Please continue Shen.” Jack requested.

“Alright. What we know right now is that a teenage Jane Doe was found unconscious in a park nearby, EMS brought her in as a suspected overdose. They administered Narcan in the field, but there was no response. Low BP which was helped with a fluid bolus, and a swollen ankle.” John informed them, pausing long enough for them to absorb it.

Jack was the one to respond this time. “Alright what else. You wouldn’t look this worried over that.”

“I ordered labs and x-rays, but she started seizing, she seized for 5 minutes before we pushed IV diazepam which worked very quickly, there’s been no seizure activity since, and her CT is clear.  We got labs back and found her blood sugar to be over 800, her labs indicate severe dehydration and DKA. We’re treating her with insulin bolus, potassium, and an insulin drip with fluids.” He told them quickly, but calmly to avoid interruptions. “Now I need you both to try to remain calm here, alright?” John asked them.

“Why?” Robby asked, “DKA is bad enough, obviously someone, maybe her is neglecting her health, unless you think this is a new diagnosis for diabetes.”

“I don’t think this is a new diagnosis, I believe that based on our findings with her, that she is being neglected medically.” John was worried about their reaction with this and the rest that needed to be told.

“Someone’s neglecting her.” Jack sounded devastated already.

“We found bleeding welts on her back, and bruises on her arms, in the shape of fingers.” John told them. “We’ve called CPS and the police about suspected abuse and neglect. She has some scrapes and bruises elsewhere, and a dislocated fracture of her ankle, I think she ran away from whoever was treating her this way, as your friend, I’m telling you to be careful with her, normally I wouldn’t speculate on any of this, it’s not my job, but she’s yours.” John was worried about the girl, there was too much at stake here, with Robby and Jack attached to her in this way.

“When do you think she’s going to wake up?” Robby asked worriedly.

“Once her blood sugar comes down and we get more fluids into her, we think the seizure is from the blood sugar. I’m not anticipating any deficits, but you never know.” He answered honestly. “Now unless you have more questions I need to get back out there, I would tell you to go home and rest and shower and everything, but I doubt that would work.”

“We’re not leaving. I think were good, can someone come get us when she wakes up?” Jack requested.

“Yeah of course. We’ll keep you two updated.” John answered before leaving the family room.  

They didn’t truly realize how long it would take before she woke.

Chapter Text

Mia

Sounds came back to her first, steady beeping and murmured voices, then the gross taste in her mouth. Slowly feeling came back to her body, she was in pain, so much pain, but she didn’t understand why. ‘My head is fucking pounding’ Mia thought pitifully. Then she remembered what happened, school, Dave, the juice and her decision to drink it anyway, the window, and the bench, then nothing. When she opened her eyes she immediately regretted it, the lights were blinding. “Fuck” Mia whimpered as she turned her head to the side and shut her eyes tightly, she tried to cover them with her hand, but it was caught in something. She decided to just lay there in pain for a few minutes and just wallow in it, but she heard a door open and immediately tensed up.

“Sweetheart, can you hear me? My name is Bridgett. Can you tell me your name?” The lady asked. Mia didn’t want to answer, she didn’t know this woman, didn’t know where she was.

“Where am I?” Mia asked quietly.

“You’re at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center emergency department. I’m your nurse right now.” Bridgett answered gently.

“Oh.” Mia said. “I’m Mia.” She answered.

“It’s nice to meet you Mia. Can you tell me your last name?” She asked.

“No. Y-you’ll c-call them. They can’t come here. No.” Mia panicked.

“The people that did this to you are not coming here. I need your name to give to the police and social services, I have some people that are anxious to meet you, but we don’t have to worry about that right now.” 

Bridgett comforted her the best she could. “On a scale of 1-10 how much pain are you in?”

“umm 8, I guess, but its fine.” Mia replied.

“Alright I’ll get Dr. Shen to order some more pain meds for you. Can you tell me what year it is?”

“2025.”

“Alright and your date of birth?”

“May 10,2010.”

“15 years old, got it, any allergies to food or medications?”

“No.”

“Can you tell me what happened to you?”

“I don’t want to.”

“I understand, I’m sure this is very scary, waking up in a hospital, in pain and alone, but we are here to help you, and we will protect you. We will get you away from whoever did this.”

“But Cathy said they were my last chance.”

“Last chance for what? Who is Cathy?” Bridgett asked, glad to get some answers.

“My social worker. Last foster, this or a group home. I won’t survive in a group home with diabetes.”

“Mia, sweetheart you’re not surviving with them, with your diabetes.”

“They took my insulin away.” Mia cried. “I was so scared.” She sniffled.

Bridgett’s heart broke hearing this. “What happened tonight?” She asked sitting on the edge of the bed.

“I got sent home from school because I couldn’t focus, I’ve been rationing my insulin. Eliza had to pick me up, she locked me in the basement and told me to pray for healing and salvation.” Mia answered, shuddering and crying harder. “Dave came home; he was so mad. He, he, I don’t wanna say it please.”

“That’s okay, you’re being so brave telling me, we will make sure Dave and Eliza can’t come here alright, I’ll need their last names, to put them on the list with security.”

“How long have I been here? They’re probably looking for me, they’re gonna be really mad.”

“You were brought in at 9:15, it is now 5:26 in the morning. So, a little over 8 hours.”

“Dave’s gonna kill me.” Mia was terrified.

“Dave isn’t going to have any access to you; we won’t let him.”

“Their last name is Smith.” Mia blurted out before she could stop herself. “umm he screamed at me, told me I had to be reeducated, he took his belt off and he hit me with it, a lot all over my back, and he crushed my last insulin pen, it fell out of my bra. They locked me in my room and left me at home alone. So, I climbed out the window and kinda fell and limped to the park across the street, please don’t let them come here, they’re going to hurt me, I can’t live with them anymore, they can’t take me! Please!” Mia sobbed, panicking.

“It’s alright, breathe, lets take a few deep breaths, it’s going to be okay, we will protect you, the police are here waiting to get the report from you to arrest them, and to keep you safe, I can introduce you to our security guard Ahmad, he will help protect you. I’m going to officially report everything you told me, it matches our findings with you.” Bridgett answered. “I’ll go get Dr. Shen and he can come talk to you; I’m going to get your medicine too alright.”

“Oh, okay.” Mia answered sadly. “I don’t want to be alone.”

“I won’t be gone long, but I do have a couple of people that really want to meet you. They said that they followed their golden string here, I can bring them in, if you would like.”

“They’re here? Really? Do they know?” Mia asked quickly. “They still want me?”

“They know, they’re certified through the foster system, they are really nice men. Both of them are attending doctors in this ER.”

“They’re both men?” Mia asked, a little fear in her voice.

“They are, but I promise you, they are some of the best men I have ever known, and I have known them for a long time.” Bridgett reassured her. “Do you want me to bring them in?”

“Okay, yes please.” Mia answered, unsure if she was truly ready.

“I’ll be right back.” Bridgett replied.

Third POV

With that Bridgett left the room and immediately headed for Shen. “Hey, Jane Doe, is named Mia, she is 15, and awake, and in pain 8/10.”

“She’s awake, good. I’ll order morphine. I’ll go talk to her, are you coming with?” Shen asked.

“I need to grab Abbot and Robby. She wants to meet them.”

“Go do that, I’ll have Lena come with me to administer meds.” Shen answered, calling Lena over and headed for Mia’s room.

Bridgett walked over to the family room and took a steadying breath before entering, pausing at the sight of Robby and Abbot sleeping on the couch leaning into each other, while Dana scrolled on her phone.

“They’ve been asleep for a few hours” Dana spoke in lieu of a greeting. “Any news?”

“She’s awake and wants them.” Bridgett answered.

“Good, no neuro deficits?”

“None that I’ve detected.”

“Well fuck that’s good.” Dana replied. Leaning over she patted Robby on the knee, he was the safer option between the two. “Hey sunshine, your girl is awake, time to get up.”  

"Huh? what? what's happening?" Robby mumbled sounding confused.

"Your girl is awake and talking, sunshine, mind waking your husband up?" Dana asked chuckling at the confused look on his face. "I refuse to ever try to wake him up again." she shuddered.

"What? Oh! Yeah, Jack darling she’s awake." Robby said nudging Jack slightly. Jack grumbled a little bit before bolting upright and looking around the room. 

"What’s wrong? Bridgett, Dana, what's going on?" He asked quickly. 

"She's awake Abbot and asking for you two." Bridgett replied cautiously. "You two need to be cautious. She sounded nervous about the fact that you're men, I tried to reassure her that you guys are great but be wary." She warned them. 

"Okay, approach with caution, we know how to do that, we've been trained to do so." Robby answered. 

"Yes but not as fathers, this will be wildly different because you're connected to her." Dana explained. "Being a cautious doctor is one thing, you can shut off the emotional side, as a parent you can't do that, or else you will look like you don't care, but don't smother her either." 

"It's gonna be alright babe." Jack reassured him. "Fate decided she's ours, were the right ones for her, it'll be fine."

"Yeah alright, let's do this." Robby said standing up, ready to walk out toward her room. He took a step before remembering Jack's leg and quickly turned around to kneel on the ground to look at his stump. "It's still a little red and swollen. How does it feel?" He asked worriedly. 

"A little sore, but it'll be fine. I'm walking into that room on my own two feet." Jack answered. 

"What about forearm crutches? We have a set in the truck." Robby offered.

"No babe I'll be fine, let's put the leg on and go." Jack said grabbing the sock and rolling it on. "Hand me the leg please, we need to go." 

Robby reluctantly did as Jack asked, he didn't want Jack to be in pain, but he understood the feeling of needing to appear strong here. 

Jack put his leg on and stood up, ignoring his pain and ready to be there for their girl, Jack came to a realization all of the sudden. “Wait you said she’s awake and talking, has she told you her name yet?”

“She has, but I figured she can tell you that herself, when you introduce yourselves.” Bridgett answered.

“Alright, good plan. Does she know our names?” Jack asked.

“Nope, makes it so you all have to actually introduce yourselves.” Bridgett replied.

“Alright enough chatting, lets do this.” Dana exclaimed as she opened the door to the family room, before turning to Bridgett. “Where did you move her?”

“North 5” Bridgett answered.

They all quickly started heading for North 5. Robby and Jack held hands the short walk across the ED to the room that she was currently being treated in.

Bridgett turned around and mimed taking a deep breath to give everyone a moment to collect themselves before knocking on the door and opening it to walk into the room.

“Hey sweetheart, I’m back with some visitors, is it still okay for them to come in?” Bridgett asked.

Robby and Jack held their breaths for a moment anticipating a rejection from within, when a quiet “yes” came from an obviously timid voice behind the curtain.

They walked in slowly, afraid to make any sudden movements. Bridgett moved the curtain to reveal John and Lena on the other side of it standing next to a bed that held a scared teenage girl, who looked positively tiny on the gurney.

“Hey sweetheart I’m Michael, but most call be Robby, and this is my husband Jack, it’s nice to meet you, although I really wish it was under better circumstances.”

“I’m Mia, umm Mia Campbell.” The girl, Mia, answered quietly. “How do you get Robby from Michael?” She asked with a small smile on her face.

“It’s from his last name Robinavitch, we hyphenated our names he goes by Robinavitch-Abbot, I go by Abbot-Robinavitch, makes it easier at work.” Jack answered. “Sorry, that was probably more information than you needed right now.”  

“Jack Abbot and Michael Robinavitch?” Mia asked. “Were you in the Army?” She asked looking at Jack.

“I was, how did you know that?” He replied.

“I had a photo of you, it’s probably destroyed now, but I had a photo of you and my dad, in your uniforms, I thought I recognized your face.” She answered, sure this was the same guy. “There was a letter in his photo album behind the photo of you guys about you meeting your soulmate, a Michael Robinavitch. That photo album was one of the only things I had from them, it’s probably gone now.”

“Soup. Brian Campbell, we called him soup because of his last name. That was your dad? Wait you’re little Mia? The last time I saw you, you were like 4, I thought it was weird that I hadn’t heard from Soup in so long.”

“He died in a car accident with my mom, when I was 4, I’ve been in foster since then.”

“Oh, sweetheart I’m so sorry, if we had known sooner, we would have tried our hardest to get you.” Jack said sadly, taking a seat at the edge of her bed. “I promise you; we’re not going anywhere now.”

“Really? I’ve been told before that I’m too much, too many emotions, too much work, too much medical, nobody wants me for long.” She said sadly, staring at her chest where her gold strings left.

“I think you’ll find that were too much sometimes too, but we’re prepared to handle your too much, if you can handle ours.” Robby spoke up finally. “Fate chose us to be here for you, in whichever way you want and need, your ours no matter what anyone else has said about you in the past, circumstances have led to you being ours, our child to love and cherish.” He reassured her, tears coming out of his eyes as he stood behind his husband.

Mia looked up at all of the people around her sadly, “I can try, I haven’t had any real parents in so long, I don’t think remember how to be a daughter.”

“Just be you, we can work out the rest later.” Jack answered this time.

“Now, do you feel comfortable telling us how you got here? We know the basics, but we would like to hear it from you, if you’re okay with sharing.” Robby asked gently.

“I’m scared, I think it’s going to make you mad.” Mia replied shakily.

“Not at you sweetheart, at whoever hurt you yes, but not at you.” Jack replied, gently taking ahold of Mia’s shin, rubbing his thumb across her skin gently.

“Okay umm it started with arriving at Dave and Eliza’s house. My gold strings appeared, so I knew it wouldn’t be good.” Mia began.