I didn't give you my consent | Station 19

24 - Important Conversation

Wow, I can’t believe this story is already a year old (AO3).
I’m doing my best to keep it updated and not abandon it, even though I’ve been short on time lately due to several losses in my family, challenges with my mental health, and university.

I hope you still enjoy it :)
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TW: Nothing explicit except: mentioning rape/ self-harm...
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Carina and Maya held each other for a few more seconds before finally leaving the conference room.

When they arrived in the kitchen, Miranda, Andy, Maya and Travis were already sitting at the table. Ben also seemed to have just arrived in the kitchen. He stood at the worktop and poured himself a glass of water.

Together with Ben, Carina and Maya approached the table and sat down to start the conversation.

Miranda folded her hands into each other and placed them on top of the table:

"It's great that we all managed to sit down together..."

She looked into everyone's eyes for a moment and paused:

"Carina had filled me in on the latest events and finds from this morning, I can well imagine that all of you have plenty of questions and worry about Mila at the same time."

Everybody at the table was deeply emotional at the words, which reminded them of how Mila was currently doing.

Carina and Maya exchanged a brief glance before Carina took a deep breath and felt compelled to say the most important thing first:

"I think the most urgent thing right now is to decide how we can help Mila in the nearest future. She's still asleep from the medication, but from the moment we wake her up... From that moment on, we have to proceed with caution",

she said, her voice calm but with a hint of concern.

Andy leaned forward, elbows on the table, hands clasped tightly. She didn't know much but her biggest concern continued to be the fact that Mila seemed to be hurting herself. The fear that these injuries could eventually end in something catastrophic was too real:

"The bigger problem that I see at the moment is that we don't know how serious the injury is that she must have inflicted. If she has injured herself with a razor blade, we have to treat that! we don't even know where or how serious the injury is. What do we do when she wakes up? Maybe she won't let us help her... I'm really worried that she might do something worse to herself."

Miranda nodded, her face calm but serious:

"It's a tricky situation, no doubt about that. Mila's well-being is the first priority, but we also have to respect her boundaries. We definitely need to ask her later today about the injury she supposedly inflicted. We all know that untreated injuries can lead to serious complications and additionally we need to make an assessment of whether we need to act as friends and family or as healthcare professionals."

Maya and Travis didn't quite know if they should say anything. Vic, on the other hand, sighed and leaned her head back on her arm, which she leaned on the table and ran a hand through her hair:

"Maybe we shouldn't bring up self-harm to her together. I think it would be more comforting for her if people who have already been through situations like this discussed it with her..."

She looked at Ben, Carina and Miranda in particular.

"... She needs us as confidants at the moment, we need to give her as much security and trust as we can. Maybe we should even try to get her to speak out on her own, we can ask her questions, but we shouldn't go up to her and say that we 'know' what she's done."