BREAKAWAY

Chapter Seventeen

Dr Green's POV:

We pulled up outside Pookie's house, immediately seeing a police car and an ambulance pull up behind us.

The policeman busted the door in and tried to run upstairs, but Owen placed a hand on his arm.

"There's a scared, injured, abused girl up there. She doesn't know you, but she knows us, we'll look after her, you just arrest her mother." He said, with his signature stern look.

The man nodded, opened a few doors upstairs. He opened one and pointed at it, before disappearing into a different one. He quickly re-emerged, carrying an unconscious, handcuffed Ms Sorenson.

Owen pushed open Sang's door wider, and he gasped before beckoning me in.

I pushed past him, and immediately knelt beside her, horrified. It looked like a murder scene, blood was all over Pookie, on the carpet, on the mattress, on her phone.

I hung up the call that was still connected before hovering over her back. I wasn't even sure where to start. I was glad that Owen had blocked Kota's view.

"I need a bowl of warm water and a washcloth." I said. Owen didn't move, but I could hear Kota's footsteps going down the stairs as he hurried to get them.

The paramedics walked up behind Owen as I was checking Sang's vitals. Luckily, her pulse and breathing were steady and strong, so no worries there.

I lifted her up onto the mattress to make her more comfortable while I prepared to work.

"Excuse me, medical personnel." One of the paramedics said as she tried to get past Owen.

"No, thank you." Owen said. They looked slightly affronted so I cut in.

"If you could wait in the ambulance that would be ideal. I don't want her overwhelmed when she wakes up, especially with people she doesn't know after the trauma she's endured." I knew she wasn't really comfortable with women after the way she acted in the diner with Erica and Jessica, as well as her avoidance of Kayli Winchester on the rink.

Owen passed me the bowl and washcloth that Kota had procured, and I sipped the fabric in the water and wrung it out before starting to gently wipe the blood away.

Her breath hitched as she slowly started to wake up.

"Hi, Pookie." I said, using a finger to brush a lock of hair away from her face. "You coming back to us?"

Owen moved to sit next to me when he saw that she was waking up. Kota was nowhere to be seen, so I assumed that Owen had made him wait in the car.

I continued cleaning her wounds as I listened to Owen talking to her.

"Miss Sorenson?"

"Mmm?" She asked, her eyes fluttering before shooting open. "Ouch." Her eyes welled up with tears which Owen wiped away when they started to spill over.

"I'm sorry." He said. "Dr Green is just cleaning your wounds, okay?"

She sniffled quietly before nodding. "Yeah, 's 'kay. Wha' 'bout my mother?"

"She's going to prison for a long time, Lovie." He said. My heart melted as I heard him give her a nickname that his Grandma had given him.

"Shut up." He said softly, seeing the look on my face. He was such a poofy marshmallow inside his cold exterior.

Pookie nodded again, and winced as I finished cleaning her last wound.

"Sorry, Pookie. Nearly done, and then we can get you down to the ambulance and put some nice painkillers into you."

"No medicine." She mumbled. "Please no." I was confused, but tried to keep her calm.

"Okay, well we can sort that out later." I soothed. "Owen, could you lift her a little for me?"

Owen and I had gone through this before with others, so he lifted her the tiniest bit so I could wrap some bandages all the way around her torso, while he kept up a litany of soothing words and praise.

"Done." I said softly, after securing the bandages tightly.

"No stitches?" Owen asked, and I shook my head. They were all flesh wounds. Not deep, but broad and plentiful. They had been obviously made by a belt, shown by a buckle shaped red mark on her shoulder blade, that would most likely bruise later.

"Can I give you a piggyback?" I asked Sang, grinning when she nodded. "I don't want to touch your back, that's all."

Owen lifted her onto my back, where she lay, her hands clasped loosely round my neck. She was groggy and I was doing all the work, but she was small and light so I didn't mind.

"Anything from here that you want?" I asked. She sluggishly pointed out some books and a few other things that Owen packed into a bag for her. He also grabbed her duffel bag for hockey, shoving the clothing on the floor into it as well.

I carried her out to ambulance and lay her on the gurney in the back. Owen drove with Kota, so that left me in the back of the ambulance with Sang while the paramedics drove us to the hospital.

"Stay awake for me, come on Pookie." I said, when her eyes started to close. I shone a flashlight in her eyes and thankfully there was only a mild concussion.

I hooked her up to some antibiotics and fluids, and started to prepare the painkillers.

"Are you in pain?" She nodded, her nose crinkling up. "Can I give you some painkillers? They're just going to take the pain away, you're not going to get loopy, I promise."

She nodded again and I hooked her up happily, glad that she won't be in pain for much longer.

I felt the ambulance stop and the doors were thrown open. I pulled her out and wheeled the bed and IV stands into the hospital, where Dr Roberts met us.

"Hi, Sang." He said cheerfully, and she waved tiredly. "Let's get you into a room."

We put her in the private room reserved for our family, where the boys often were after violent ice hockey competitions, and Dr Roberts cleared her for sleep.

It didn't take her long to drop off, but the rest of the boys came piling in five minutes later so there was a round of shushing each other to try to let her continue sleeping.

Pookie looked so tired that I think a hurricane wouldn't wake her.

After watching Sang for a moment, Gabriel turned to me. "What the fuck happened?"