"Oh god, of god, oh god,"
Mark kept chanting in his head as he followed the small stripes of blood, it seemed like the blood stripes were droplets which got smudged when someone walked through them. Following the stripes, he reached the attendings' lounge, on the couch he saw the bloodied coat and pants which were discarded. He could hear the shower running in one of the bathrooms and proceeded towards it, the drops of blood left little to the imagination as to who was inside the bathroom.
"Ren, you in there?" Mark asked as he knocked on the door, only to get a small noise in return.
"Come out, Ren, the paramedic told me you had an injured hand, we need to get it checked,"
"It's fine, it's...fine,"
"What happened?" He said as he leaned on the door.
"A few days ago I received a letter from the San Diego police,"
"Okay?"
"I opened it. They need a statement,"
"What statement?"
"They need me to testify against Daphnie Miller,"
"I don't understand, Ren, come out, we'll talk when you come outside, the water is cold,"
"Karl and Daphnie Miller got their foster license when they were 35, they were given the license because there were more kids in the system then there were homes to keep them, many license were given without checking the background of the people," Mark heard the shower stop and he got to his feet to grab a towel from the rack. He wrapped the towel around her before making her sit on one of the beds before crouching down.
"What does this have to do with you?" He asked.
"The Millers were the people whose bedroom I trashed," She whispered.
"Mark, I need-is everything okay?" Addison who had entered the room in search of Mark, they had to discuss the operation of Jane Doe.
"The Millers were the people because of who I was sent to juvie," Renee continued.
"Daphnie Miller, the woman whose outside in the trauma room was your foster mother?" He asked as Addison came and sat beside Renee as she grabbed another towel before drying her hair.
"I was beaten up in that house, my teacher noticed the new bruises every day and called the Child Protection Services on them. They weren't happy. There was a cupboard under the stairs, they kept me there for one week, there were rats in there, spiders all over the place, the food included leftovers. They let me out a week later because the teacher came in search of me, while they talked to the teacher, I went up to their room and trashed it."
"You didn't mean to, Ren," Addison said.
"No, it was on purpose, that was the only way I could get out of that place,"
Daphnie Miller had run away from San Diego after their neighbours complained that she along with her husband were beating the children who stayed with them, the case had gotten complicated and they had dug up all the children who had previously stayed with them to get the statements. She had stayed with them 20 years ago, from 20 years she had tried to bury it now it was being brought up again.
Mark kept glancing at her while he stitched up the injury on her hand, there were cars from under which Daphnie needed to be rescued and in that process, one of the windows broke and it's glasses punctured Renee's hand, though the injury was deep, it wasn't a large one.
"Did she say something to you?" Mark asked.
"No, she doesn't even know who I am,"
"Why did you never tell me about the beatings and everything else, you just told me you trashed the room because they locked you up,"
"It was my past, you were my present and at that time my future,"
Derek was sitting in the waiting room after Bailey had told him to go check on patients, the conversation he had with the man before had given him a little hope. He had his head in his hands when he feels someone sitting next to him and hug him from behind leaning their head on his shoulder. The slightly wet hair was making his scrubs wet, his shoulder shook as he felt them hugging him tighter. They don't say as they keep holding Derek as he calms down.
"She knew how to swim," Derek whispered. Renee remained silent letting him speak, she just kept hugging him.
"I feel like it's my fault, I should have been there for her,"
"Why do you think it's your fault?"
"She kept pulling away, I should have pulled her back,"
"Derek, she's not a kid, I am sure you were there for her because you always are,"
"No, Addison also said that I was never there,"
"Derek, you can only do so much for anyone. You have help yourself before you can help others. Meredith has to help herself before you could help her,"
"Dr Foster,"
"O'Malley? You aren't on scut?" Renee asked when George called her.
"Dr Bailey said we need to work, said it keeps our minds busy,"
"You are my intern?"
"Yeah, Calli-Dr Torres said did some tests on Mrs Miller just to check if there is any damage to lungs or heart or any internal bleeding, I think you should check the reports," He said as he handed her the MRI results.
"There is a tumour of some sort," Renee said after she thoroughly read the reports.
"We'll do a biopsy, O'Malley, we'll try core-needle biopsy first and if the results aren't clear we'll proceed with surgical biopsy. Prep her,"
"Yes, Dr Foster," Renee said when her pager rang.
"George?!" She called after the intern.
"Yeah?"
"Meredith's awake, you might want to visit her first, take your time,"
Standing outside Daphnie's room Renee stared at the woman, she was going to be put under anaesthesia to do her biopsy, the woman and her husband were responsible for a lot of scaring she had. If the biopsy results showed that she had breast cancer, Renee would be responsible for the woman's life, she had to make sure that the woman, who tortured her and many other kids who were placed with their family, was kept alive, was okay.
"Doctor, we are ready," George called her, he looked over to see her staring intently at the woman, there were thoughts swirling in her head, the subtle eye movements indicated the conflict in her head.
"Foster, we are ready," the anesthesiologist said.
"I need a minute," Renee said as she went to sit on one of the chairs.
Renee sat on one of the chairs, she needed a minute to herself, she could see George standing in front of her trying to say something but in all honesty, George couldn't say anything as he didn't know what was going on.
"O'Malley, go check your patient," She heard Richard say.
"What?" Richard asked.
"I just need a minute,"
"No, you need to go in there and not let your personal issues affect your professional work,"
"That woman in there beat me when I was a child and I need to testify against her,"
"Oh, in that case, you could let it affect a little bit,"