Isolation [COMPLETED]

1.8 Safe

She woke up to the ringing of a cell phone. "I'm sorry," a female voice said, "I forgot to put it on silent."

Lennon opened her eyes but all she could see was a bright shining light above her, she lifted her arm to shield her eyes and a sharp pain shot up from the inner part of her arm.

She let out a low moan as her eyes began to focus, she could now see that she was lying in a hospital bed, an IV was in her arm and she felt her head pound with pain with ever beat of her heart.

She looked at the person that was sitting in her room and recognized that it was her social worker, Ms. Robinson, who had been her worker since she had first been in the system, at the age of five.

The nurse that was also in the room came over to the bed and checked on Lennon's vital signs. "Our little patient is finally waking up I see," said the nurse as she smiled down at Lennon, "You gave us a scare there for a bit, we were starting to wonder if you would ever wake up."

"Can I get you anything?" She asked looking caringly at her, checking her bandaged head. "Some water would be nice," Lennon said dryly, she felt like she hadn't had anything to drink in days.

The nurse smiled and nodded, she grabbed a plastic cup from a cabinet and brought the glass over to her after filling it with water from the sink. Lennon choked on the water as she tried to drink it too eagerly.

Ms. Robinson had walked up and taken a place standing beside the hospital bed. "Hello Lennon, how are you feeling?" she asked with no real emotion behind it.

"Like I got hit in the face with a glass bottle" Lennon responded sarcastically. "I'm sorry about your accident, but I have a few questions if you feel up to it," Ms. Robinson asked opening up the folder that she held in her hands without waiting for Lennon to respond.

She pulled a pen from her purse and started writing down information before she started to speak.

"Why did you throw a bottle at Mr. Bardwell?" she asked Lennon while looking up sternly placing her pen down.

"What?" Lennon asked trying to sit up in her bed. "I've spoken with Mr. and Mrs. Bardwell and they both told me that you started throwing bottles at Mr. Martin after he questioned you about skipping school," Ms. Robinson said.

Lennon looked confused at the woman standing in front of her. "What all did he say happened?" she spat at her social worker holding in her anger.

"Well, I spoke thoroughly with your foster parents..." Ms. Robinson said while looking back down at her paperwork.

"You know, I think the fact that he tried to kill me, makes it safe to say that they are no longer my foster parents," Lennon said looking puzzled at her social worker.

"Well," Ms. Robinson said, "There will be an investigation, held by the police and by the social services department before any decision can be made."

"I won't go back." Lennon said as seriously as she could, looking Ms. Robinson in the eyes through gritted teeth, "If I go back there, he's going to kill me."

Ms. Robinson looked apologetically at Lennon, and then continued, "Do you think you might be over exaggerating a bit?" Lennon's eyes widened and looked at Ms. Robinson, "If you send me back, I will run away," she said looking as serious as she sounded, "I'll never go back there."

"Well, for the time being you don't have too, you will be put into the temporary custody of Ms. Fitzsimmons, but Lennon, understand that this is only temporary, at least until the investigation is complete. I can see that you are upset, so I will just finish the questions whenever you feel up to it, okay?" she said finally forming an apologetic look on her face.

"Wait, Ms. Fitzsimmons? Who is that?" Lennon asked questioningly. Just then the door to her hospital room flew open and Spencer came barreling in with a huge smile on her face.

"Hey! You're awake! Finally! I thought you were going to be sleeping for forever!" She said carrying a bag containing fast food from what Lennon could see from the recognizable logo.

"Oh my god you're a life saver! I will kill someone for one of those French fries!" Lennon said smiling. An older woman came into the room as well; she had to be Spencer and Sam's mother because she had their same caring smile.

She wore a light blue and purple jumpsuit which looked to be made from silk, like something from another time era, refusing to go into the closet and die along with all the fashion from that time. She had an oversized purse that had crossword puzzles, candy bags, and what looked like crochet and yarn, overflowing from it.

She smelled like oatmeal cookies, which instantly made Lennon feel comfortable and at home with her, something Lennon wasn't used too. The woman had salt and pepper colored hair which set in perfect tight curls on her head, and her pale face was perfectly made up with pretty, soft pink and pastel colors.

She looked like she could be the perfect grandma. Her big pear earrings matched her perfect white teeth, and the matching necklace that she wore just made her look like the total package of what a grandmother should appear.

Spencer smiled and looked over at the woman and waved for her to come over to the bed. "Momma, come meet Lennon." Spencer said warmly. "Momma, this is Lennon, Lennon, this is momma Laura," she said smiling.

"Well, you just call me Momma Fitz," she said touching Lennon's shoulder in a motherly way. "Darling you are freezing! Who do we have to buzz around here to get you some warm and cozy blankets?" Momma Fitz said looking around the room, her eyes stopped at the social worker. "Um, let me see if I can find someone," Ms. Robinson said poking her head out the door to ask a walking by nurse, then came back and silently stood beside the bed.

"Now, don't you worry, Momma Fitz is going to take you home and get you healed right on up child," she said with a big smile and a compassionate nudge. Lennon felt a flush of excitement wash over her as she felt her lips turn up into a large smile. "Really, you guys are going let me come and stay with you?" Lennon squealed with excitement.

Spencer looked at the social worker that was busily trying to get all of her papers in order and back into the manila folder and rolled her eyes. "You told her already? I wanted to tell her," she said with a look of disappointment on her face.

"Yes, I felt it would be best if I told her, she was getting stressed thinking she had to go back to live with the Bardwell's," Ms. Robinson said not looking up from her work of organizing her belongings.

"Those loonies need to be locked up for what they did to her," Spencer said looking at the ground and not making eye contact with Lennon, but she was too lost in her thoughts to notice, she after all had been through a traumatic experience.

"Well, she won't have anything to worry about for a while, she will be safe with us," said Ms. Fitzsimmons, brushing a strand of Lennon's hair away from her face, looking at Lennon with sympathy.

"The thing is, she's safe now, and that is all that matters," she said putting her hand under Lennon's chin and lifting her face, looking Lennon in the eyes as she spoke to her as if silently reassuring her.

"Yeah," Lennon spoke softly smiling back, "safe." She said out loud as if she was trying to reassure herself.