Calum.
I stood in the OR with them observing the entire time, Michael didn't mind- he knew I wasn't leaving her.
"Doctor Hood" I heard a nurse soon speak, making me glance to her.
"Doctor Hemmings is paging you 911 to room 305"
That was Ben's room
I panicked
I promised not to leave her
But I also promised to protect Ben
Michael's voice stopped my internal panicking
"Calum, don't ignore your page, go check on what Luke needs. I have Briley."
Michael has Briley.
I full sprinted to Ben's room, where I walked in to what seemed like a full meltdown.
Luke and Ashton were holding Ben against a wall, security right behind them, a broken lamp on the floor, objects thrown everywhere.
"You did this!" Ben screamed to me.
"You brainwashed her into not needing me! She needed to see me before surgery, what if she dies!" He screamed out.
"Calum, relaxer- now." Luke spoke.
I grabbed the needle he was referring to.
"You're all cowards." Ben spoke through cries.
"Instead of handling this like real men- you drug me!" He screamed out as I stuck the needle into his vein, immediately putting a bandaid over it after.
"We are going to call the police to press charges-" "no." Luke stopped the security officers.
"No charges are being pressed, you aren't needed. But thank you." He finished firmly, making them leave.
The three of us continued to hold Ben until we felt him strength decrease, his screams soon just turning to cries.
"She's never going to love me again" he cried as we helped him to bed, myself sitting beside him as Luke and Ash stood behind me, all of us worried about his mental state.
"She loves you, Ben. That will never change." I assured him.
He cried, making me grab his arm gently, which he jerked away from me.
"I should've stopped him from hitting her." He cried out.
"All those times- I just watched him hurt her, that's what makes her hate me." He cried out.
"Ben, you can not forget that you were a victim as well. You were scared in that home, and so was she. She has never and will never blame you for anything her father did to you. You shouldn't blame yourself either, this was his fault and no one else's." I told him calmly, making him look to me.
"I'm sorry that I get so angry" he cried to all of us.
"I just- I need her to need me, because if she doesn't need me then there's no point in me being here." He cried.
"Don't say that." Ashton spoke before anyone else had the chance to.
"You have impacted all of our lives in such a short amount of time, just like your sister. We all need you, especially your sister. You don't have to apologize for this, we understood your frustration, we all just have to work together to better vocalize our frustrations rather than resorting to violence." He spoke calmly, making Ben nod, wiping his eyes.
"I just- I feel like a burden" his eyes dipped closed before opening again, himself fighting the medicine.
"You are in no way a burden, you are extremely wanted." I finished just before his eyes closed and didn't open.
We hooked him up to blood pressure and heart rate monitors.
"We have to put him on some sort of anti anxiety and depression medicine, and we need to increase his therapy sessions." Luke spoke as he was writing in his chart quietly, us all a bit taken back by what just happened.
"Poor kid" Ashton mumbled, making us all nod in agreement
"I think this will all get better once we have them in a real home."
I assisted Luke with writing his incident reports from the situation and charting the medicines he was given just before Michael paged me.
I ran back to the ER, seeing them bringing a sleeping Briley out, covered completely up, still wearing her hair net and her hand wrapped neatly.
"Everything went great, she's bandaged on her thigh and hand, we will change that every three hours, you know the drill on everything else" Michael laughed out, making me exhale.
"Thanks man"
"I'll meet you in her room after I fill in her chart"
I walked with her and the nurses to her room where they set her up in bed, covering her up completely, making sure she had the correct monitors and such on.
I sat in a chair beside the bed, just looking at her.
The fading bruises on her face and neck
The freckles across her little nose and cheeks
How could anyone hurt these kids?
After about thirty minutes, Michael joined us with a smile.
"Let's wake sleeping beauty up."
We both sat in bed with her, patting her sides and talking to her quietly.
She would give us small facial reactions, little finger twitches, but other than that she was in a deep sleep.
"Come on sweet girl, we need to see those eyes and hear that voice" michael spoke as she shifted slightly, trying to move away from our touches
"Cold" she whined out quietly, never opening her eyes.
"That's the medicine making you cold sweetheart" michael explained to her as I adjusted her sheets on her, making sure they were pulled up.
Soon her eyes opened and she looked more than confused
We talked to her slowly, explaining that everything went good and that she was okay.
"How do you feel?" I asked her calmly, watching her eyes blink as she stared straight forward, seeming zoned out
"I'm hungry"
