Family is Forever (Sequel to Running on Insulin)

Part 38

Tyler POV

"She's not answering," I relayed to Jake and my wife. "She called Brendon, and she spoke to him for a second, but now she's not answering him."

"What did she say?"

"Sarah?  What did she say?" 

I listened while Sarah asked Brendon what Sam had said.

"She said she thinks she did something stupid and then when he asked what she meant, she said our names and that we knew. Then she went silent," I relayed to Jake and Jenna.

Phyllis had gotten hold of the dispatcher and told them they had to get in contact with Samantha's bus. That there was a medical crisis aboard.

I held Jenna. Phyllis put the dispatcher on speaker while he tried to contact the bus. We listened in.

"Bus 25-18, Columbus to LA, Charlie, do you copy?"

The dispatcher called a couple of times until a voice came over the radio and thus the speaker phone.

"This is 25-18, dispatch. I'm having a medical emergency here on my bus. I'm gonna need medical assistance."

"Charlie, what's the nature of the medical emergency?"

"I have an unaccompanied minor here, who is unresponsive. She's had a seizure," we heard.

"Charlie, can you describe the minor?"

"Female, about 12 or 13. Maybe. Brown hair, white, pretty pale right now. She's wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. Grey winter coat. Blue hat.  She has a backpack with her. It's red and white."

"It's her," I said to Jake. He nodded.

"Charlie, check her left wrist. Is there a medic alert bracelet?"

We had given dispatch all this information. 

"10-4. Kid is diabetic."

"Charlie, that's Samantha Joseph. A runaway from the Columbus area. Stay where you are. Police and medical are on their way to your location."

"Aww shit," Charlie said over the radio. "I didn't know. Hank didn't say."

"Hank didn't know. It's okay. You're not in any trouble. Treat the girl gently. Make sure she's comfortable and monitor for further seizures. She's probably got a low blood sugar. Do not give her anything by mouth if she's unconscious. Let the paramedics take care of her."

"10-4," he said. "I'll stay at this 20. Mile marker 72, just outside Terre Haute, Indiana," he said.

"Noted. Will relay to emergency services.  Thank you Charlie."

"10-4."

We knew where Samantha was. Sort of. And we knew she was being taken care of. But until we could see her, we wouldn't know how okay or not she was.

Jake said we'd drive out towards the scene and connected with the emergency services in Terre Haute. Jake spoke with the police who were nearly at the bus. It would take us four hours to get to Terre Haute. They told us that Samantha would likely be taken to Union Health, one of the local hospitals with a Pediatric unit.

We found that Jake really couldn't drive fast enough for our liking. But we knew he was doing the best he could. We just wanted to get to Samantha.

Jake was talking to the Terre Haute police off and on during the drive. They were updating him constantly.

About a half an hour into our drive the police said they'd gotten to the bus with the paramedics and had Samantha. She was unconscious, pale, shallow breathing. They'd taken her blood sugar and it was 32. Critically low. They would be rushing her to the hospital in Terre Haute and that's where we'd meet her.  Apparently a social worker would be meeting us there as well. Thank goodness we had Jake with us to vouch for everything Sam had been through.

We willed the time to go faster, but the clocks don't listen to the wishes of parents.

After what seemed forever, the four hour drive was at its end as we pulled in to the Union Health Emergency Department parking lot.

Jake and Jenna and I ran into the department, and were greeted by two police officers, who stopped us at the door.

"We're here for our daughter. Samantha. She was brought in off of a Greyhound bus?" I said.

"The runaway?" The taller of the two asked.

"Yes," I said, cringing at the word.

"You'll have to wait here until Child Protective Services has been in to assess her and have spoken to you," he said.

"You don't understand," Jenna pleaded. "She's been through so much. This isn't a typical runaway."

"Sorry, ma'am. It's protocol," he said.

"Officer," Jake said. "I'm with the Columbus PD. There's so much more to this story."

Jake explained what had happened in the past month to the officer, and why Sam may have run away.

"While I can appreciate that this case is not typical, I have an unconscious teenaged runaway who has crossed state lines. And evidently, it's you two she's running from. While I don't doubt that you are good people and your daughter's issues stem from years of abuse, I still have to follow protocol. And protocol says CPS needs to assess and speak to you."

"But, she's unconscious. And she's going to be scared and upset when she wakes up," I said.

"CPS will check her out, if she's still unconscious when they come to do their assessment, they'll come talk to you and make their decisions then."

"Is there any way we can get CPS to come talk with us now? Or soon?  Samantha is really pretty fragile. She just started speaking to us a few days ago after her kidnapping. And we couldn't get her to leave the house until Christmas Eve. Imagine how she's going to react when she wakes up in a hospital, surrounded by strangers." Jenna said.

"I can see what I can do about getting CPS to come talk to you as soon as possible. But I can't make any promises."

"Understandable," I said.

"For now, you guys can take a seat over there, and CPS will come find you," the officer said.

We went over to the seats in the waiting room and sat down. I held Jenna's hands.

"Could we lose her?" Jenna asked me. "Could CPS take her from us?"

I looked at my wife's beautiful face and into her gorgeous eyes.

"No way," I said. "Once we explain what's happened, and Samantha wakes up, we'll be fine."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Jake said. "It looks bad that right after she was kidnapped, she ran away from you."

I looked at Jake incredulously.

"I'm not saying that's what's going to happen. Just that it's a possibility to consider."

Jenna looked at me with tears in her eyes.

After everything, we could still lose her.