Motherhood Lessons²

Survivor

**TRIGGER WARNING: talks of sexual assault**

Ivy holds the girls as Jackson chases the twins and Aurora, "Jacks, babe, we need to get going. Get them dressed, will ya?"

Alexus pouts at her mother, "But mom-"

"No buts. Time to get dressed because you have school. You love school, so can you please just get dressed so we can go?" Ivy pleads with her eldest daughter.

"We'll get dressed mommy! We'll even help Rory," Christopher smiles, tugging his twins hand.

"I'll get Aurora ready and check how the twins are doing. You got the girls?" Jackson kisses Ivys cheek before chasing Aurora into her room.

Ivy chuckles before looking down at the girls in her arms, "Your family's crazy. I'm not much better so you two are kinda screwed."

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Knocking on the door, Ivy sticks her head into Jo's patients room, "Hi."

She looks terrified as she asks Jo, "Why do I need another doctor? Can't I just keep you two?"

Ivy softly introduces herself, "Its Abby, right? Hi. I'm Dr. Shepherd-Avery. Dr. Karev and Dr. Qadri will still be your doctors, but would it be okay if I helped? May I do an ultrasound just to check for internal injuries?" Abby nods so Ivy moves forward, "Okay. Great. Here we go. Let's lie you back. That's it, I got you. Okay, you're almost there. All right. Just gonna open your robe."

Seeing all the bruises covering Abby's body, Ivy has to work extra hard to keep her face polite and soothing, "Now a little gel. All right, you'll feel just a little pressure. There we go. Good job. All right, Abby, you do have a tear in your diaphragm, and it's caused your abdominal organs to move up into your chest. You're gonna need a surgery."

"Fine. Whatever you need to do so I can go home."

"All right, Dr. Karev, can I talk to you outside for a minute?" Ivy points to the door.

"No, no, can you stay?" Abby grabs Jo's hand.

Jo shakes her head, "I'll just be right outside. I won't be more than a couple minutes-"

Abby interrupts her, "Y-you can't- you can't leave, please? Just do the surgery, and then I can go home, and then it'll be over."

Ivy nods, "All right. We'll et them know to prep the OR," she opens the door then turns, "Qadri, come with me," closing the door, "Book an OR, but do not let the nurses or anyone else do an antibiotic prep."

"So we're not operating on her?" Qadri asks.

"Abby's wounds are consistent with someone who's been sexually assaulted, and if that's true, when the nurses prep her with an antibiotic solution, evidence will be erased. So we wait. We wait and give Abby the chance to talk without taking more of the agency than she's already lost. Go book the OR and come straight back," Ivy collects herself before stepping back into the room, "Hey. Are you sure there isn't someone we can call?"

She shakes her head.

Jo asks, "Can we ask you how you got hurt?"

"Does it matter? You said you can fix it, right?" Abby asks.

"Abby, I want you to know that you don't have to tell us anything. We can bring a counselor down for you to talk to," Ivy assures.