(not proofread)
Luke waltzed into the hospital bright and early the following morning, grasping a coffee cup in his hand. He walked into the attending's lounge to put his stuff away.
"Oh. Hey, Cal," he smiled and waved to his friend, Dr. Calum Hood.
"Hey."
Luke snapped his fingers and pointed at him. "I need you for a consult later."
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. Her name's Gabi Baker-."
"Oh, gunshot girl?" Calum cut Luke off. "Yeah, Ash told me a little bit. And her name keeps floating around here with yours, something about getting attached again."
"God, don't you start accusing me too."
"No not at all, but if you ever need to talk just know that I am additionally trained in psych."
"Yeah, I know. You fucking remind me every day."
Calum just grinned and clipped his identification badge to his scrubs. "So you need me for a consult for Gabi?"
"Yeah. I have suspicions of abuse from her parents."
"Luke, you know that allegations of abuse are serious."
"Yes, I know, Cal. I've never been more serious about this. She has bruises all over her body and her parents had two different explanations as to how she was shot. I'm 99% sure the parents shot her. I've even overheard her dad say he wanted her dead."
Calum sighed and looked at his friend. "That's not normal. Alright, I'll do a consult but if I find nothing to be out of the ordinary then you have to stop this whole attached thing. Deal?"
"Alright then. Deal."
So Luke did the rest of his rounds, saving Gabi until the end so Calum would be able to join him.
"Knock knock," he smiled and walked into the room after knocking on the door. "Good morning. I'm doing my morning rounds of seeing patients."
"Morning," Gabi smiled back. She was looking better this morning, not as pale or exhausted from the events that transpired yesterday.
"This is Dr. Hood, he's a fellow doctor here at the hospital. I was wondering if you'd be willing to talk to him about some things?"
"Yeah, that should be fine.
"Great. I'll just step out so you two can have a more private conversation." With that the younger of the two doctors left the room, leaving Gabi and Calum.
He pulled a chair over and sat next to Gabi. "You can call me Calum if you'd like," he smiled. "So Luke told me a little bit about you, you had a gunshot to your abdomen. Do you mind maybe telling me how it happened?"
"My parents said it was an accident."
"Hm, do you think it was an accident?"
"Yes of course it was. My parents love me." It amazed Calum how rehearsed the line sounded, the monotone, robotic voice coming from Gabi. He believed she was more than likely told to say that.
"What do you think about them? Do you feel safe with them?"
"They're okay," she shrugged. "I don't know what to think about them but I feel safe, I guess. Except for accidentally being shot."
"Listen, Gabi. I'm not going to beat around the bush or anything but some of the doctors here are suspecting you're possibly being abused by your parents, especially since all the stories about how you got the gunshot to your abdomen aren't quite lining up."
"Abuse?"
"Gabi," he paused to look her in the eye. "Now I'm not saying that you are being abused by your parents, but some things have happened that raise our suspicions. So if you are being abused we can help you. All you have to do is tell us."
She paused with her eyes darting around the room and staying silent, avoiding eye contact with him. She was internally battling with herself, he could tell.
"They're not abusive," she finally answered. "They're different. They're strict but they love me."
Her voice said one thing but those damn pleading eyes said another.
Calum knew that there was only one thing he could do at this point. So he thanked Gabi for her time, helped adjust her into a more sitting position and how to choose what she wanted for breakfast, then gathered his things.
He walked out of the room and over to the awaiting Luke, who was pacing. "Well?" The younger doctor eagerly asked.
"You know I can't discuss what goes on in meetings," he sighed. Luke did too, he was beginning to think that maybe his suspicions truly were wrong. Calum grabbed his bicep and continued speaking though, "but call CPS, and don't let her parents see her until they're all interviewed. If there's one thing you're right about, it's that something isn't right."
