It's late on a Tuesday night. Doctor TC Callahan is standing at the Nurse's Station going over a patient's test results when his colleague, Doctor Jordan Alexander approaches him.

'There's an entrapment at the construction site by the airport. The patient needs a field amputation, the chopper will be ready in five. Topher is going with you.' Jordan informs him. 'Drew and I will take over your patients here.'

'You got it.' TC nods, have trauma one ready for when we get back.'

~

Ten minutes later, a young girl wearing ripped jeans with fishnet tights underneath, a black bralette, sneakers and a flannel shirt walks into the ER. There is a shard of glass stuck in her left hand and a laceration to her upper right arm which is hidden by the shirt she's wearing. She walks up to the nurse's station where Nurse Mollie and Jordan are standing, talking and hides her injured hand behind her back.

'Hey, guys,' she starts and they both turn to face her, 'is my dad here?'

'Jae, hey, he's out in the field with Topher. He might be a while,' Jordan informs her, 'shouldn't you be at home?'

'I have a problem.' Jaelyn sighs, revealing her left hand and Jordan gently takes hold of her wrist to examine it. 'I also have a cut on my upper right arm.' Jordan looks around and spots Doctor Paul Cummings.

'Paul.' Jordan calls the young doctor over. Paul stops what he's doing and joins them. 'This is Jae, can you take her to curtain 4, do a set of obs and page Scott? Tell him his favourite patient is down here. He'll know you're talking about Jae.'

'You got it.' Paul nods. He goes to lead Jaelyn away but Jordan stops him.

'One more thing,' she says and Paul faces her, 'she's TC's daughter.' Paul looks at the young girl in shock.

'Surprise.' Jaelyn smiles slightly.

~

Five minutes later, Jaelyn is settled in a treatment bay and Paul is finishing up taking her obs when Scott walks in. She has taken her shirt off so that the laceration on her arm can also be examined.

'What have you gotten yourself into this time?' Scott raises an eyebrow with his hands on his hips.

'I was at a rave, tripped and fell onto some glass,' Jaelyn holds her injured hand up, 'and snagged my arm on something as I went down.' Scott walks towards her and gently takes hold of her hand.

'How much have you had to drink?' Scott asks the young girl as he examines her hand whilst Paul examines her arm.

'Only two double vodka sodas.' Jaelyn replies. 'To answer  your next question, I took a tab of E.'

'What's this?' Paul motions to the large mass on Jaelyn's arm. Jaelyn looks at Scott.

'Teaching moment?' She raises an eyebrow at him.

'Teaching moment.' Scott nods and laughs.

'Jaelyn has Neurofibromatosis Type One, NF1.' Scott tells Paul. 'Were you taught about it in Med school?'

'Very briefly. We didn't go into detail.' Paul responds.

'It's a genetic condition that causes tumours to grow on the nerves. Whilst some people get it from their parents, in other people it's a spontaneous gene mutation. In Jae's case, it was spontaneous.' Scott explains. 'It affects each person who has it differently, for Jae, she has a mild but complex case. The tumour on her arm is called a plexiform neurofibroma, a tumour that forms on or under the skin and affects nerve bundles. The vast majority of people with NF1 only have one. Jae has two. The other is on her left flank. She also has cutaneous neurofibromas, cafe au lait spots, and freckling in the armpit.' He continues. 'She travels to Baylor in Houston every so often for check-ups since we don't have any specialists here.'

'Have you thought of getting surgery to remove the big ones?' Paul asks Jaelyn.

'It's not that easy.' Jaelyn chuckles.

'There's a risk that she'll lose sensation and mobility of the area if they're removed, there's also a chance of a haemorrhage should anything go wrong.' Scott says. 'Jae is happy with non-removal for now.'

'They become painful sometimes but I'll pop some Tylenol when they do.' Jae tells Paul. She looks at Scott. 'So, let me guess, I'll need an x-ray to make sure there's no other glass in the wound, you'll then irrigate the wounds and most likely stitch them up, if not, use skin glue.'

'You got it.' Scott laughs. 'I'll order the scans and get Kenny to come and take you up. I'll also get him to start you on some fluids. You want us to call your mom?' Jaelyn shakes her head.

'I'm staying with Dad this week.' Jaelyn responds.

'We'll let him know you're here when he gets back.' Scott tells her. 'Paul, stabilise the glass shard and page me when the scans come back and I'll come back down and help suture.'

'Got it.' Paul nods.

'And you, missus, no causing trouble. You'll already be in deep water with your Dad, you don't need to give him any other reason to be mad at you.' Scott says, turning to Jaelyn.

'Me? Causing trouble?' Jaelyn gasps, acting shocked, 'I would never.' Scott laughs and shakes his head. 'I'll be on my best behaviour. For now. Can't promise anything for when my Dad sees me, though. He'll go ape-shit.'

~

An hour has passed, Jaelyn has had her scans and finished her bag of fluids. Paul and Scott walk into the treatment bay with a suture tray.

'Good news, there's no extra glass fragments in the wounds so we can remove the shard in your hand. It's superficial, no muscles or nerves are involved. I'll suture your hand and Doctor Cummings will suture your arm.' Scott tells her. 'Bad news, for you, your dad is back. He just landed in the chopper with his patient so he'll be a while.' Jaelyn sighs. 'We'll keep him off your back as long as we can but Jordan will be telling him you're here as soon as his patient is stable.' Scott adds.

'I figured she would.' Jaelyn swallows and nods. 'Let's get this over and done with.' Scott and Paul prepare themselves, and Jaelyn for the procedure and sit down. Scott carefully takes the glass shard out and places it into a kidney bowl.

'You ready for the lidocaine and irrigation?' Scott asks and Jaelyn nods. Scott nods at Paul and they inject the lidocaine around the wounds before giving them a clean with sterile water and starting the sutures. As they suture up the wounds, Scott and Jaelyn talk. 'I just wanted to have some fun.' Jaelyn says quietly.

'I know.' Scott smiles gently.

'I was struggling with my school work and I got frustrated.' She carries on.

'Have you spoken to your Dad about-' Scott starts to say.

'No.' Jaelyn cuts him off before he can finish. 'I'm dealing with it. He doesn't need to know.'

'If you tell him, he can help.' Scott tries to persuade the young girl.

'I said I'm dealing with it.' Jaelyn snaps. There are a few moments of silence. 'Sorry, I know you're only trying to help.'

'It's okay.' Scott nods. Jaelyn looks at the laceration Paul is suturing.

'Sutures are too far apart.' Jaelyn tells him. Paul looks at her.

'S-sorry?' Paul stutters.

'They're too far apart.' Jaelyn repeats herself. Scott stops what he's doing, stands slightly and looks at it.

'She's right.' Scott agrees. 'Put them a little bit closer.' Scott sits back down and carries on suturing the wound on her hand.

'Right.' Paul nods. 'Sorry.'

'It's fine.' Jaelyn replies.

'Jae is always up for teaching moments.' Scott says. 'Plus, she's had enough sutures to last her a lifetime, so she's become a pro at noticing when they're not done right.' He adds.

'What's the follow-up for these going to be like?' Jaelyn questions.

'Well, for the arm it's going to be the same old. We'll get you in to remove the sutures. For the hand, we'll assess your mobility after the sutures are removed, and make sure any scar you may get hasn't affected it. I don't see there being any issues though.' Scott explains. 'You already know how to look after stitches and I'm sure your Dad will also keep an eye on them too.'

'Yeah.' Jaelyn nods quietly.

~

Forty-five minutes later, TC walks out of Trauma One, ripping off his gloves as the surgeons take the patient up to surgery. Jordan walks up to him.

'Patient is headed up to surgery. It was a difficult amputation, got a long road ahead of him.' TC tells Jordan. 'How's everything here?'

'Y'know, same old.' Jordan shrugs.

'I'll go and get cleaned up and then I'll take the next patient.' TC replies as he goes to walk to walk towards the locker room.

'About that.' Jordan says and he turns back to face her.

'About what?' TC asks confused.

'Patients,' Jordan informs him, 'Jae is here, curtain four.' TC sighs and runs his hand through his hair. 'She's not that drunk or high, she told Scott she went to a rave and had two vodka sodas and a tab of Ecstasy. She fell and got some glass stuck in her hand and cut her arm. We did some X-rays, no other glass in the wounds so Paul and Scott stitched her up.'

'Right.' TC sighs once more. 'Has anyone called her mom?'

'She didn't want us to.' Jordan shakes her head. 'She knew we'd tell you and for her, that's enough.'

'Okay, well, I'll call her and let her know what's happened anyway.' TC nods. 'Let Jae know I'll be with her in about ten minutes.' He walks to the locker room and gets cleaned up before walking over to the treatment bay Jaelyn is in. She's sitting on the bed talking to Jordan.

'I'll leave you two to talk.' Jordan states before walking off, closing the curtain behind her.

'What the hell were you thinking?' TC asks his daughter, keeping his voice calm.

'I wanted some fun.' Jaelyn shrugs, 'so I went and had some fun.'

'You were supposed to stay home and study for your exams tomorrow.' TC raises an eyebrow. 'You promised me.'

'Why does it matter?' Jaelyn scoffs. 'I'm going to fail them regardless of whether I study or not.' TC sits on the edge of the bed.

'You can do anything you set your mind to, Jae.' TC reassures her. 'You've just got to put more effort into your studies.' Jaelyn ignores him and he sighs. 'You're grounded for the week. You'll come home straight after school, hand over your phone and get on with your homework.'

'And what about at night when you're working?' Jaelyn folds her arms.

'You'll come here and you can sleep in one of the on-call rooms.' TC states simply.

'I'm not a baby!' Jaelyn shouts, getting off the bed. 'I'm seventeen.' 

'This is exactly my point.' TC also stands up. 'You're seventeen and went to a rave, drank alcohol and took drugs and not for the first time.'

'So?' Jaelyn throws her arms open wide. 'The vast majority of teenagers do that at some point.' She continues, dropping her arms.

'Those teenagers don't do it almost every night.' TC tells his daughter. 'You're walking a slippery slope, Jaelyn.'

'You're one to talk.' Jaelyn scoffs, laughing. 'Not that long ago you were getting pissed up almost every day, ending up being put in a jail cell because you got into a fight.'

'Jaelyn.' TC says, his voice thick with warning. 'This is not up for debate, you're grounded. It will be up to your mother whether you stay grounded next week.'

'Fuck this.' Jaelyn mutters, ripping out her cannula. She pushes through the curtains and walks out of the treatment bay.

'Jaelyn,' TC calls after her.

'Screw you.' Jaelyn shouts back as she walks out of the ER. TC sighs and sits back down on the bed. Scott, who was standing at the nurse's station walks up to him.

'You want me to go after her?' Scott asks. 'See if I can talk her down?'

'No.' TC shakes his head. 'She needs time to cool down. I'll call some contacts at the police department and see if they can keep an eye out for her.'

'TC, if she goes back to that rave and takes more drugs-' Scott starts to say.

'I know.' TC cuts him off, nodding, 'But there's not much I can do. No rehab facility will take her without her mom's consent too. The only way I can hope she stops all of this is if she learns from her own mistakes.'

~

A couple of hours later, paramedics Gwen and Silas arrive at a call for a juvenile down in the parking lot of a gas station. They get out of the ambulance and get their kit as the attendant walks over to them.

'What happened?' Gwen asks.

'A young girl came in, she seemed jittery and off balance so I thought she was going to try something, but she didn't.' The attendant starts.

'Can we get to the reason we were called?' Silas raises an eyebrow as the attendant leads them to the patient.

'Right.' The attendant sighs. 'She left the store but collapsed in the doorway on the way out. When I tried to move her, her skin felt hot.' They reach the patient, who is on her side, kneel and roll her onto her back.

'It's Jaelyn.' Gwen tells Silas. He looks at her confused. 'Dr Callahan's daughter.' 

~~~~~~

Here it is! The first chapter! It ended up being a bit longer than I thought but oh well. 

What do you think Jaelyn is hiding from TC?

Let me know what you think!