Protection

Illness

I turn around and sprint as fast as my legs would permit it. I hear Erin's faint steps behind me, telling me she was gaining on me and fast. I manage to outrun her for a good 10 minutes before she managed to catch up too me. She grabs onto me and I struggle against her. "Amber stop. It's just me. Calm down." A few seconds later, I manage to slip out of her grip but as I attempt to run again, I run head first into Voight. He picks me up and puts me in the car whilst I'm trying to wipe away my tears. Erin climbs in next to me and Voight locks the car, staying on the outside, knowing it would be easier if he just left Erin to help me. "Amber. Honey. What's going on?" I keep trying to pull on the door handle to get out but I couldn't get it open and Erin grabs my hands and has me look at her. "What happened? I just got a call from school saying you threw up all over somebody and ran out of school. Are you okay?" I struggle to get my words out because of how much I was crying. "I-I didn't- I didn't mean too. I just- it wasn't- I'm really sorry!" Erin wiped my tears away. "Honey just breathe. Look. Copy me." She slowly breathes in and out waiting for me to copy her. Eventually, I start to calm down. Erin pulls me into her and holds me close and I hug her. Once Voight saw that I was calm again he unlocked the car and climbed in. He drives us to the precinct and leads us up to the bullpen. "I've got to go because the others are at the scene so I'll leave you too girls here." He leaves and I go and sit at jays desk, just next to Erin's. "You ready to talk about what happened at school?" I look up at her to see her looking at me with concern and not anger like Matthew used to. "I haven't been feeling well since you woke me up. I just didn't wanna say anything cause... erm... last time I missed school cause I was ill... I think you know what happened... I made it through the meeting and first period but all throughout the lesson I was slowly feeling worse so as soon as the bell rang, I rushed out to go to the bathroom so I didn't throw up on anything. A girl in my year stopped me because she... she wanted to talk about... homework. She wouldn't let me leave and I accidentally threw up on her." I look down. Erin stands up and walks around the desk towards me and gives me a hug. "How're you feeling now?" I shrug my shoulders. "Really cold I guess." Erin feels my forehead to find I'm burning up. "Honey you're boiling. Why don't you take your jumper off?" I start to take it off a bit but everybody comes up the stairs so I rush to put it back on. Jay sees me sat at his desk and smiles. "Hey. That's my desk." I go to stand up and his smile drops. "I'm only joking kid. You can stay sat there." I shake my head and walk around to go sit by Erin. I end up sitting on the floor fidgeting with a bracelet that I'm wearing. Voight walks over to me and crouches next to me. "Will said he can see you this afternoon to do that test if you're feeling up for it kiddo." Erin rolls over to us on her chair. "Can it maybe wait for a while? I think she's coming down with something." Erin and Voight look at me and Voight looks concerned. "Kiddo you're sweating. Why not take your jumper off?" I shake my head at him but it hurts my head. Erin stands up. "I think I'm gonna take her home." I shake my head. "I'm okay. Just continue doing your work. It's just a temperature. That's all." Erin looks at me with concern. "Amber I'm taking you home. You need to rest." I stand up in defeat and pick my bag up from under Jays desk. Erin says bye to everyone and we walk out of the bullpen and out to her car. Once we got into the car Erin turned to look at me. "Why did you stop taking your hoodie off when everybody came in?" I look up at her with shame in my eyes. "I just don't like people seeing my arms. You, Voight and Jay have all seen them, yea. But Adam and Kevin and Antonio haven't. I don't want them too." Erin gives me a hug which I happily accept. "Okay, well you go lay down in my room and I'll bring you in some soup. Take your hoodie off and change into some shorts. You need to try cool down." I nod and walk off into Erin's room. I do as she said and change into some shorts and I take my hoodie off. A few minutes later I walk over to the mirror and look at myself. I was right. I gained weight. I look at my thighs to see fiery red marks all over them. I couldn't see the ones on my arms. I know that they are worse. I hear Erin coming towards her room so I go sit down on the bed. I hear a faint knock just before she opened the door. "Delivery." As she is looking down at the food she made for me, I pull a thin blanket over my legs to hide the marks. "Amber you need to take that blanket off of your legs. It'll keep you warm and you need to cool off." I quickly come up with an excuse. "I-I put it on my legs so the food doesn't burn my legs. She agrees with the idea and sits next to me to eat my meal.