Vasovagal Syncope:
A sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure leading to fainting, often in reaction to a stressful trigger.
(not proofread)
...
Gabi turned around and that's when she saw him.
Michael Clifford.
Dr. Michael Clifford
"This doesn't concern you," her father snapped at him. "Let's go, Gabriella."He took hold of her wrist from her mother tightly, feeling like he was crushing it, and began to drag her away.
"It does if she says you're hurting her," Michael interjected. "Let go. Now."
"Yeah? And what are you going to do about it if I don't, pal? This is between my wife, myself, and my daughter so keep your nose out of our business." He turned around and started pulling Gabi along with him, the girl softly whining from the grip he held on her wrist.
That wasn't going to stop Michael from intervening though.
He placed his hand on Mr. Baker's shoulder. "I said let her go."Surprisingly, he complied and let go of Gabi's wrist.
The young girl was quick to dash away and hide behind Michael, her hands grasping the back of his scrubs.
"Shh, hey hey, you're okay I've got you."
"They were hurting me,"she sobbed. "They, they said they did it on purpose."
He turned around and gently hugged her, rubbing her back. "Shh, everything's going to be okay, Gabi."
"This is ridiculous," Mr. Baker chuckled and shook his head. "She is our daughter and we are taking her home. She's already spent far too long in the hospital with you people. Probably being brainwashed no doubt."
"Mr. Baker, with all due respect, after the things that Gabi has expressed today and previously I can not allow her to go home with you."
He was furious. "Are you effing kidding me?! We were cleared by CPS! You can't keep her from us when we are cleared. We don't abuse her."
Now, Michael had not even mentioned the possibility of abuse so for Mr. Baker to mention it all on his own was alarming for him.
"Mr. Baker," he repeated, albeit with a tinge more of annoyance in his voice this time. "I have a job to do. You can take it up with the authorities, okay?"He gently placed his hand on Gabi's back and began to guide her back toward the hospital.
"You're going to regret this, Gabriella!" He yelled to the duo as they walked further away to the hospital entrance. "Watch your back, kiddo!"
"Is he threatening you?" Michael asked once they made it inside.
"No, I don't think so. He's just... you know like that sometimes."
"Gabi, that's not okay."
"He's my dad, Dr. Clifford. My mom too, I love them both but after today I'm just a little confused about everything."
"I heard you screaming that they were hurting you. Is that true? Does that always happen, Gabi?"
Gabi paled and turned to look at Michael. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything, she should've just kept her mouth shut and complied as her parents asked her to. "Um, sometimes but they do love me, Dr. Clifford."
"They can still love you without harming you though, sweetie."
Gabi opted out of responding and instead closed her eyes. She was starting to feel ill, rather faint actually.
She was stressed and sick about the situation with her parents. They were still her parents no matter what they did to her.
She was dizzy and could begin to feel her heart rate increase, her ears were ringing intensely. Suddenly, she felt nauseous as well.
"Gabi? Are you okay? You've gone all pale," Michael commented.
"Yeah... I just need a minute, I think."Her vision was starting to fade in and out. She was sweating.
"Here, why don't you have a seat? You don't look well and I'd prefer it if you were seated."
"No no I'm okay. Honest."
But then, everything for Gabi went black and she fell to the floor.
"Fuck," Michael cursed and knelt next to her, feeling her pulse. It was rapid, but thank god it was there. "You," he snapped his fingers to an intern passing by. "Go get me a gurney. Now."
The intern gulped and nodded. "Yes, Dr. Clifford. Of course sir." The intern rushed off in search of the bed.
Meanwhile, Michael began to gently rub his knuckles on the young girl's sternum to elicit a response from her.
"Gabi? Come on, wake up, hun." He knew that she was somewhat okay considering she still had a pulse, but it would've been nice for her to wake up.
Luck was on their side though, as Gabi softly began to whine and come to. She blinked a couple of times to get used to the light again.
"Hey," Michael smiled at her. "You passed out, hun."
"I- I did?"
"Yes, but it's okay. I don't think it's anything serious, probably just a stress reaction, I am going to take you to the ER just as precautionary though. Check some vitals. Sounds good?"
"Yeah, that's okay. Thanks." Gabi went to stand up but was quickly halted by Michael.
"Nope, I just made an intern get a gurney for you. You passed out and I don't want to chance that again with you walking to the ER."
Gabi nodded tiredly and allowed herself to be helped onto the gurney by Michael and the intern. They brought her to a surprisingly empty bed in the ER, where Michael began to check her basic vitals over.
..
"What happened?!" Luke rushed into the ER cubicle approximately ten minutes later. "You paged me twice? Shit, it's Gabi?!"
"Yes, relax and breathe, Luke. There was a situation with her parents and I took her from them, she just passed out now."
"Well did you do a workup? Labs?"
"No, because I'm betting on it being vasovagal because of the stress from her parents."
Gabi looked over at the pair. "Vasovagal? Is that bad?"
"No no nothing bad," Luke answered with a smile and grabbed her hand, squeezing it. "It's properly called vasovagal syncope. Sometimes it happens to people in stressful situations, it's the body's way of reacting and that's why you passed out."
"Plus you were panicking," Michael added. "So that may not have helped either. But don't you worry, we'll get it all figured out."
Gabi smiled at the two and briefly closed her eyes.
"Well, what happened with her parents?" She heard Luke ask.
"I'm not sure if it's my place to tell. You'll have to ask Gabi for that one."
"Gabi? Did they hurt you?"
She opened her eyes and saw Luke staring at her. She felt a tear cascade down her cheek.
"Yes. They did."
