Turn Back Time (The Night Shift)

Chapter Ten - Lucky

It was mid-afternoon, when Rick's phone started ringing on the kitchen side. Getting up from the flatpack furniture he was attempting to build, Rick went to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Woah, woah, Drew, calm down. What happened?" Rick asked, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Yeah, okay. Yeah – I'll go get her. I'll bring her to SAM afterwards." Rick told his husband.

"Alright. Yeah. I love you too." Rick said before hanging up the phone. He grabbed his keys and left the house, headed to San Antonio High school. It wasn't long before he arrived and was greeted in the reception area by the head teacher.

"You must be Rick, Taylor's stepfather." The headteacher greeted, shaking Rick's hand.

"Yeah."

"What happened?!" Rick asked concerned getting straight onto the reason he was there for.

"According to Taylor, a boy kept pinging her bra strap. He had been doing it all morning. She told him to stop, but he didn't so she told Mr Lane. He told her to ignore it – something to which we will be speaking to him about. Then he pinged it again and pretty much undid Taylor's bra, so she punched him" The head explained. Rick was furious.

"Where is this kid?" He asked, pulling out his police badge. The headteacher took Rick to the hall where the boy, his mother and Mr Lane were.

"Why don't you tell us the reason why Taylor punched you Kallum." Rick said to the teen, showing them all his badge.

"It was only a joke..." He said quietly.

"What was?" The mother asked. When Kallum remained quiet, Rick stepped in.

"Your son was pinging Taylor's bra strap all morning. She told Mr Lane- " Rick started, before turning to Mr Lane who was the deputy head and Taylor's maths teacher.

"Who told her to "just ignore it"" Rick explained, using his fingers as quotation marks.

"And when Kallum pinged it again – Taylor punched him. To me, it sounds more like I should be pressing charges for sexual assault against Kallum then assault charges against Taylor." Rick said seriously.

"And you –" Rick said, turning to face Mr Lane.

"You told a female student to ignore a male sexually harassing her – when in fact you should have been putting a stop to it." Rick stated. Everyone avoided making eye contact.

"So yes, Taylor should be suspended for being violent but after that, nothing else should be held against her as it was self defence against what could have easily been sexual assault charges." Rick stated. Kallum looked away from Rick.

After speaking to headmaster, Rick collects Taylor from the classroom she had been taken to. Taylor rolls her eyes once she sees Rick walk in.

"Come on." Is all Rick says as he holds the door open and points out of it. Taylor grabs her bag and walks out of the classroom with Rick closely behind her. Neither say anything as they make their way outside to Rick's truck. They get in and once they both have their seatbelts on, Rick pulls away from the school. He starts driving to the hospital as Drew already knows about what had happened and wants to talk to Taylor himself.

"You could have been arrested." Rick warned the teen, not understanding why she was acting out like this, especially after everything that had happened in the last few months.

"You got lucky." He added, once Taylor didn't respond. Taylor stayed silent.

"You really don't care, do you?" Rick asked seriously. Taylor snorted.

"So what if I don't?" Taylor fired back angrily. Rick sighed.

"I don't know why I even bother." Rick he muttered as he focused on driving. Taylor stared out the window and huffed.

"I'm sorry..." Taylor said quietly, as she sniffled, finally letting everything out. Rick glanced at her before he pulled over a minute later. He turned the car off and turned to face Taylor properly.

"Look. I'm not saying I'm your dad Taylor. I would never force that on you. But I am Drew's husband and you are currently living with us; so I do have a responsibility over you." Rick stated reasonably. Taylor didn't turn around from looking out the window.

"We're trying to help you Taylor. Me, your dad and everyone at SAM. Don't push us away." Rick added. When Taylor didn't respond again, he shook his head and turned the engine back on. Rick pulled back out into the road and continued driving to the hospital. When they got there, Taylor got out of the truck and walked inside, leaving Rick still getting out of the truck. Walking inside, Taylor looked around and didn't see her dad. Jordan, Scott and Molly were at front desk.

"I'll be in the break room." Taylor muttered as she walked past Scott whilst Rick walked over to talk to Jordan. Scott looked at Rick and Jordan before glancing at the break room. He closed the chart he was looking at and put it away before he walked over to the break room. He decided to go talk to Taylor as the two had formed a bond over the last few weeks with Taylor spending so much time at the hospital. Seeing Taylor sat on the couch with her headphones in, Scott went to the fridge and grabbed 2 bottles of water. He leant on the back of the couch and placed the water bottle on Taylor's lap. The teen looked up before removing her headphones.

"Thanks." She said smiling slightly as she moved to sit with her legs crossed. Scott walked round and sat down next to her.

"What happened?" Scott asked, pointing to the teens bruised knuckles and the fact that she had been brought in by Rick and was meant to be in school. Taylor sighed before she looked at him. She took a sip from her water before she explained.

"Some kid in my class kept pinging my bra strap. I told him to stop and he didn't. So I told our teacher. He told me to ignore it so that's what I tried to do. When the kid did it again and pretty much undid my bra, I punched him in the face. Hence why Rick had to pick me up..." Taylor explained, muttering the last part. Scott sighed.

"I'm suspended." Taylor added, as she took another sip from her drink. Scott took her hand and examined it.

"It's fine. Doesn't even hurt." She reassured him as she pulled her hand away.

"Well at least you had a valid reason. I'm not saying what you did was right...but you did defend yourself." Scott said aloud. That's when the break room door opened.

"Scott, can you give us a minute?" Drew asked, wanting to talk to his daughter alone. Scott nodded and left. Drew took his place on the couch.

"I'm not angry." He said straight away. Taylor looked up at him.

"Rick told me everything. You defended yourself and your teacher didn't do anything to stop it." Drew began.

"I've been speaking with Rick and we've got a plan. We're going to speak to your school. Get you more support. Me and Rick aren't trying to annoy you. So from now on we're going to talk to you and not at you. But you have to talk to us, or anyone else if this is going to work okay?" Drew told his daughter seriously. Taylor agreed and nodded her head.

"Thank you..." She breathed into his chest as she leant against his. Drew wrapped his arms tightly around her and kissed the top of her head.

"I want to stay here..." Taylor told her dad.

"We're trying to sort it all out. For now you are. But once your mum get's involved it may be difficult...but I promise you. Me, Rick and everyone else here...has your back."

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Ta-da! What do you guys think? Sorry we've been M.I.A. but Chloe's really busy with revision and A-level exams and I'm crazy busy with college work. However all of this is going to change in about a month or so when we both finish for summer. Then we promise after that updates will be back to normal...until then they may be all over the place but we're trying. Love you guys!

Dharma (& Chloe) x