Gracie didn't have a lot of stuff that she wanted to take. She took a photo of her and her Mom for sentimental reasons, and her phone, iPod her Mom gave her, earpods and a charger, she packed some clothes a toothbrush, toothpaste and her shower stuff. She found a plastic bag in her room that she put a her pillow and blanket in. Then, she headed downstairs.
"That's it, you're not going to beg me to stay?" Carl asked as Gracie was about to leave.
"Not a chance." Gracie said strongly. "I don't wanna stay here, you treat me like shit Dad, do you really think it's normal to treat your kid like this? Really? To beat them?" Gracie yelled.
"You wanna see what's normal?!" He yelled and pushed her forcefully on the floor. "This is what my Father did to me." Carl said and took off his belt. He started to hit her across the back with it a couple of times until he lost his balance a little and stepped backward to steady himself. "Get out." He said and opened the door throwing her bag and dragging her out on the porch.
She walked out onto the street in pain again. Trying to get her balance back her backpack was pulling on the fresh belt injuries on her back and her ribs were still badly bruised.
She came to a local playground she used to go to when she was a kid and found a tunnel where she lay some of her spare clothes down with her pillow to sleep on and her blanket over her.
As time went on it got colder and colder. It was mid-winter break and there was the usual chicago snow. Tears ran from her eyes as she lay down.
She had no idea what to do she was frozen and almost passing out from the pain, exhaustion, hunger and the cold. She went to her phone contacts and scrolled to Raffy's name, forgetting for a second he was on vacation. She then scrolled to another name.
"If you ever wanna talk about anything give me a call." She remembered Detective Upton saying to her at school a couple of weeks ago.
She pressed on Detective Upton's name and could barely stay conscious.
"Who is it?" Jay said turning to Hailey when her phone rang as they sat on their couch in the evening.
"Upton." Hailey said answering the phone, all she heard were a few heavy, panicked breaths.
"Detective Upton..." Gracie finally managed to get out weakly on the otherside of the phone.
"Gracie! What's wrong are you ok? Where are you?" Hailey said instantly remembering the girl she had been worried about for the last couple of weeks. "Jay we gotta go." She said in the background instantly knowing there was something wrong.
Jay nodded and ran to get the car keys as they left their apartment.
"Playground...off of...off of W 34th Mckinley Park, please help..."Grace said even weaker as she passed out.
"Gracie? Grace? Stay with me honey we're on our way to get you alright?" Hailey said and got in the passenger seat of the car as Jay got in to drive so Hailey could stay on the phone.
In five minutes they were at the playground calling her name out and walking around.
"Gracie?! Gracie?!" Hailey yelled.
"Gracie?!" Jay yelled at the another side of the playground and then saw a sneaker hanging slightly out from the end of the tunnel. "Gracie!" Jay said and ran towards the tunnel.
He looked in the tunnel and saw Gracie lying barely conscious under a thin blanket, with her head on a flat piece of material than was only just raised slightly. "Gracie can you hear me? You're gonna be ok, you're safe we got you. It's ok, it's ok."
"Hailey! Over here!" Jay yelled and picked Gracie up, getting her out of the tunnel. "Alright, I gotcha kid, I gotcha." Jay reassured holding the kid close to him comfortingly as Hailey approached them. "I got her, grab her backpack." Jay said pointing to her stuff in the tunnel.
Hailey got all of Gracie's stuff and they quickly got back in the car. Hailey got in the back and put Gracie's bag on the floor in the car. Jay lay Gracie down across the back seats, her head laying on Hailey's knee as they drove to Chicago med.
"It's ok, we're gonna get you to the hospital ok?" Hailey reassured brushing the hair out of her face comfortingly.
Gracie groaned slightly semi-concious and in pain, her hand on her ribs. Hailey lifted up her shirt slightly, revealing the extent of the bruising on her midsection.
"Ah honey.." She sighed in sympathy and held her a little tighter protectively. "Gracie, who did this sweetie?" Hailey said as she stroked her hair comfortingly.
"D...D...Dad." She managed to gasp out.
Jay quickly shot Hailey a concerned look through the rear view mirror which she shared.
"Please don't leave me..." She said and cried holding her side in pain.
"Hey, I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here, hang in there honey." Hailey reassured gently still stroking her hair back in comfort.
They soon pulled up outside of Chicago Med. Jay got out and picked Gracie up off of Hailey. He walked over to a gurney with her in his arms and laid her down. Will immediately came out of med to help the girl.
"Will this is Gracie she's 14 years old. We found her in a playground in McKinley Park, she's been beaten and left out in the cold. We know her she's a good kid, she helped us out when we gave a talk in her high school a couple of weeks back." Jay said and followed the gurney inside along with Hailey.
"Alright let's get her warmed up..." he called to some of the rest of the hospital staff. "Don't worry we'll take good care of her." Will relayed quickly as the gurney was pushed into the treatment room. "April..."
"I got her." April said immediately knowing what Will wanted her to do.
"Gracie, can you hear me?" Will said in a calm but louder voice to try and get a response.
"Mmmhmm." Gracie replied barely awake and in pain.
"Alright my name's Dr Halstead, I'm gonna help you, don't be scared ok? You're gonna be just fine. " Will responded in a gentle, reassuring tone. "I need a full blood work up, check all vitals. It looks like that cut on her lip could do with cleaning up but don't get the ice on those bruises until she's warmed up. Gracie I'm just gonna listen to your chest ok?". He put the stephescope to her chest and listened.
"Ok good, that's good you're breathing normally so probably no punctured lung, but we'll get a chest x-ray just to be sure. I'm gonna feel your belly now alright?". The teen nodded in response as much as she could was shocked at what he saw but tried to remain calm in front of Gracie who was still weak but mostly conscious.
Will was appauled by what he saw when he lifted her shirt to feel her abdomen. He had seen some kids that had been abused in his time as a doctor in ED and it never shocked him any less. Seeing how some people treat kids was horrifying, every time. Gracie's ribs and abdomen were littered with bruises at various healing stages.
"Alright, I'll be right back ok?" He said, lightly squeezing her shoulder after briefly examining her and walked towards Jay and Hailey who followed him out of the room so they didn't have to talk in front of Gracie.
"Someone beat the hell out of this kid." Will said pulling the door to Gracie's treatment room across most of the way so she couldn't hear them. It was unlikely she'd be able to anyway as she was semi-concious still due to exhaustion and being so cold, but they just wanted to make sure.
"She said it was her Father." Jay said as Will nodded.
"Makes sense...the pattern of bruising is on several different places on her abdomen and ribs and is at various healing stages. Which shows that its someone she sees on a regular basis. You get the son of bitch?" Will asked.
"Hailey text Voight on our way here. Ruzek and Olinsky got him they're questioning him now." Jay said and Will nodded.
"Good, hey look if you need someone to testify about her injuries, I'll be first in line." Will said.
"How could he do this? She's just a kid." Hailey said.
"I gotta finish checking her out." Will said and went back into the room followed by the others to carry on examining her for injuries.
"Ahh..." Gracie winced in pain with tears in her eyes as Will checked one of the many bruises on her abdomen.
"Sorry Gracie, not much longer now sweetie. We're gonna give you some meds they're gonna make you feel a little sleepy, but they're gonna make you feel a lot more comfortable alright?" Will comforted.
"Gracie." Hailey said letting her know she was there.
"Hailey? You're here still?" Gracie said and Hailey came by her side and held her hand.
"You bet." She said giving her hand a squeeze.
"Please don't leave." Gracie responded weakly.
"We're going nowhere, do you remember Jay and I finding you in the playground?" Hailey asked and Gracie nodded as much as she could.
"I'm so sorry this is all my fault...I should have told you...and...and I shouldn't have riled him like that." Gracie said taking a few breaths, a little panicked.
"Hey listen to me. This...was not your fault, you understand?" Hailey comforted and Gracie just nodded again absently, still in shock. "Try and get some sleep ok?" Hailey said quietly and Gracie nodded.
"Hailey?" Gracie asked just as Hailey thought she may try to sleep.
"Yeah."
"Will you stay with me?" She asked feeling like she was acting like a little kid but she felt as scared as one at that point.
"I not leaving this hospital, I promise. If I'm not in the room when you wake up it will just be that I've gone to talk to one of the team." Hailey said and put a hand on her arm comfortingly.
Gracie closed her eyes and eventually fell asleep. When Hailey was satisfied she was comfortable and was going to stay asleep for a little while she left the room and saw Jay outside the door.
Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed this chapter. I will update again soon! Thanks for reading :) EQ