Finding a Family

Chapter 4

Freddie's POV
"I'm warning you, she's been through a lot. She's looks pretty rough. She has lots of bruises and cuts and her ankle is pretty badly swollen," Alan warned me. "Darling, I'm ready to see her," I told him. The truth is even though I was putting on a brave face, I was quite nervous to meet Hannah. Even though Alan had prepared me, it was still hard to imagine someone that frail and bruised. Alan brought me to her room and on the bed was a little doll curled up in the corner clutching a stuffed elephant. Their was also a man at her bedside talking to her. Her face lit up when she saw Alan but she looked a little skeptical of me. I decided to keep my distance and let her warm up to me while Alan took the lead. "You came back," she said enthusiastically toward Alan.  "Of course I came back, I promised you didn't I?" Alan told her. "Hello again Eliot," Alan said to the man standing next to Hannah's bed. "Freddie, this is Eliot, he's the dectetive that found Hannah," Alan told me. "I just came to check in on Hannah to see how she was doing," Eliot said, "she seems to be doing much better."

While Alan gave Eliot an update on Hannah's progress, Hannah kept looking at me seeming curious about me but also hesitant. Alan noticed Hannah's looks and told her, "Hannah, I'd like you to meet someone. This is Freddie, he's my husband." I was worried about how she would react to hearing that as she's probably never met a same sex couple given her sheltered life. But my heart melted when the first words out of her mouth were, "is he nice?" "Yes Hannah he's very nice, I wouldn't have married him if he wasn't," Alan said with a slight chuckle. Alan motioned me to come closer to her. As I stepped closer I was able to look at her more fully. She was really fragile and bruised but she was also so beautiful. I couldn't imagine how someone could be so cruel to such a beautiful and innocent being. "Hello there Hannah, Alan has told me so much about you and what a brave girl you are," I told her gently. She simply smiled at me nervously.

The four of us went on talking for a while, Hannah was warming up to me and seemed less hesitant around me. Things were going great. The more time we spent with her the more I could see Alan and I as her parents. You could tell how safe she felt around him and how much he had fallen in love with her. I knew that Alan was still on the fence but I was confident that I could erase any hesitations he had.

Eliot told us that he was about to head back to the station when all of a sudden a man and woman burst in. Hannah began to wail and grabbed on to me clinging for life. I didn't know what to do but wrap my arms around protectively. The man had a gun and was yelling, "Hannah, you're coming with me!" "We're leaving right now!" Before I could even register what was happening Eliot pulled his gun out and put himself between Hannah and the yelling man. "Back up," Eliot demanded. "Who are you what do you want with the girl?," Eliot asked. "She's my daughter, I'm taking her!" the man said. I realized these were her parents, these were the people who traumatized this poor girl. I was both angry and also terrified for Hannah. We were all trying to shield her from what was happening; Eliot had his gun to Hannah's father, Alan put himself in between Hannah Eliot and I took my chance and scooped her up in my arms and turned her away from the chaos happening around us.
"Hannah is coming with me!" her father went on shouting. "That's not going to happen," Eliot said back. "Whose gonna stop me?" Hannah's father barked back. "Hannah is hurt, she needs to stay in the hospital," Alan interjected calmly. "I know what's best for my daughter." Hannahs father said back. "You are not leaving here with Hannah!" Eliot shouted at him. The man charged towards us and I heard the sound of a gun shot, Hannah started crying even louder. Eliot had shot Hannah's father in the leg. "You shot me?!?!" he cried pathetically.  "You'll be fine you're in a hospital, you're under arrest " Eliot said as he handcuffed him. "Lady go to the wall with your hands behind your back because you're under arrest too," Eliot said to Hannah's mother. I had completely forgotten about her through this whole ordeal, she was just standing there with a dazed look in her eyes probably high off something.

After Eliot got control of the situation and got Hannah's parents out of the room Alan and I were able to fully turn out attention to Hannah. I put her back down on the bed but still had my arms around her. She continued to cry but Alan and I comforted her repeating, "it's all over, you're safe, they can't hurt you anymore."