Almost 40 minutes later, Owen is arriving at Chicago Med. He walks up to the ER check in desk where Nurse Leah is.

'Hi, my daughter, Avery Strand, was brought in not that long ago.' Owen tells Leah. Leah looks down at the computer for a few moments before looking back up at Owen.

'Her doctors are expecting you.' Leah nods. 'If you wait here, I'll go and let them know that you've arrived.' Owen nods and steps back whilst Leah walks off to find Will and Dr Charles. A few minutes later, the three of them walk out. Learn returns to the desk whilst Dr Charles and Will walk over to Owen.

'Owen.' Dr Charles shakes Owen's hand. 'This is Dr Will Halstead, he's also been treating Avery.'

'How is she?' Owen questions as he shakes Will's hand.

'We're going to go to a private room and talk to you about what's going on before we take you in to see her.' Will tells him. 'My brother, you would have met him, Detective Halstead, would also like to speak to you.'

'Okay.' Owen nods.

'Follow us.' Dr Charles states. Owen follows them to a private room where Jay is waiting and they all sit around the table.

'We found Avery at a Barnes and Noble.' Jay starts. 'She had to be sedated in order for us to bring her to hospital.'

'She has some self-harm cuts. They've all been clean and dressed and the ones that were deep have been closed.' Will explains the medical aspect. 'We're keeping her sedated, especially since we've placed a feeding tube.'

'We're going to be moving her to the psychiatric ICU shortly, however, there are some tests we would like to do with your permission.' Dr Charles adds before nodding at Jay.

'Before we were alerted about Avery's location, myself and Officer Ruzek were at the motel she had been staying at. We were shown some CCTV footage.' Jay starts. 'I don't want to go into the full details of what we saw but it leads us to believe that Avery was sexually assaulted.'

'Are you sure?' Owen asks quietly. That it was her on the footage?'

'Yes.' Jay nods.

'We'd like to do a rape kit and swabs to test for STDs.' Will informs him.

'Yeah,' Owen nods, 'yeah, you can do that.'

'We will get a nurse to do that right away and then you can sit with her.' Dr Charles informs him. 'Once she's on the psychiatric ICU, your son, his boyfriend and Avery's friend can come and see her, but only for a short period of time.'

.

A few hours later, Avery is settled on the psychiatric ICU. T.K., Carlos and Jason are just arriving and approaching the nurse's station. Owen sees them and so he walks out of Avery's room and joins them.

'T.K.' He states. The three of them turn to face him. 'She's over here.' He motions towards her room.

'How is she?' T.K questions.

'She's sedated and has a feeding tube. She had some cuts which have been dressed.' Owen informs them. 'Dr Charles wants to lighten the sedation tomorrow to speak to her.' He adds. 'We can stay for two more hours and then you guys will have to go back to the hotel.'

'What about you?' Carlos asks.

'I've been given permission to stay with her.' Owen replies. 'A nurse is going to bring in a fold up bed for me.'

'We haven't updated anyone back home yet. We wanted to see how she was first.' Jason says.

'Good idea.' Owen nods. 'We'll start with your mom and Megan but give it about an hour. Spend some time with her first.'

.

An hour later, in Austin, everyone is at Sharon's house. She invited everyone from the 126 for dinner as a distraction. She's about to dish up when her phone rings. She takes it out of her pocket and answers it, seeing that it's Jason.

'Hey, Jase.' She answers. 'Anything?'

'They found her.' Jason tells her and Sharon sighs with relief. 'We're gonna call around but we thought you and Megan should be the first to know.'

'Jase, that's great! Everyone's actually here,' Sharon replies, 'I invited them over for dinner. How is she?'

'Give me a sec.' Jason says. The line goes silent and a few moments later, Jason speaks again. 'Owen said take the phone to everyone and I'll update you all together.'

'Got it.' Sharon nods. She walks into the front room where everyone is sitting and they all look at her. 'Jason is on the phone.' She takes it from her ear and puts it on speaker. 'You're on speaker Jase.'

'We found her.' Jason announces. Everyone sighs with relief whilst Megan covers her mouth with her hand. 'She's safe. Physically, she's fine. She's on the psychiatric ICU, sedated and has a feeding tube. She did self harm whilst she's been here but the doctors aren't worried about that. She'll be kept here for three days and then she'll be transported to a secure psychiatric facility in Austin and admitted there straight away.'

'Have you seen her?' Megan speaks up.

'Yeah.' Jason replies. 'We've spent the last hour with her, we have another hour before we have to leave but Owen is staying with her.'

'Has she said anything about what happened?' Megan questions.

'She's sedated.' Jason sighs. 'I think they might be planning on keeping it that way until the psychiatrist speaks with her.'

'Okay.' Megan replies sadly.

'She'll be okay.' Jason reassures her. 'She's got a long mental recovery ahead of her, but she'll be okay.' He adds. 'I've got to go, we haven't got much longer with her until T.K. and myself have to leave.'

'You'll update us everyday?' Judd questions.

'One of us will, yeah.' Jason replies. 'Bye.' Everyone says goodbye and the line disconnects.

.

It's been a couple of days and it's the day that Avery is due to be transported back to Austin. She has already been told about the admission to the psyche facility and the fact that due to her being a flight risk, she would be sedated and restrained until she is admitted and in a room. Owen has kept quiet about what happened to Avery at the motel, knowing that it's her story to tell, not hers. Over the past couple of days, she has only spoken to Owen, Jason and Dr Charles, leaving T.K. frustrated. T.K. is sat in Avery's room beside her bed whilst Owen, Carlos and Jason finish packing at the hotel.

'Come on, Ave.' T.K. pleads. 'Please,talk to me.' Avery picks up her phone and loads her text to speech app. T.K. watches as she types.

I am talking to you. The robotic voice relays. Just in a different way.

'Ave, I want to hear your voice.' T.K's voice strains. 'I thought we'd lose you, so please-' He's cut off by the robotic voice. Avery had been typing whilst he was speaking,

I want to be left alone now.

'Okay.' T.K. nods, giving in. 'I'll come back once Carlos, dad and Jason are back.' He stands up and walks out of the room. He sees Dr Charles standing at the nurse's station, observing, so he walks up to the doctor. 'I don't know why she won't speak to me.' T.K. shakes his head, tears filling his eyes.

'It's a trauma response.' Dr Charles replies. 'She had an argument with one of her best friends before she came here, right?'

'Yeah.' T.K nods.

'It's my thinking that she won't talk to you because she's scared of an argument happening between you two.' Dr Charles responds. 'Either that, or she just doesn't have the mental energy to talk to a lot of people right now.'

'Right.' T.K. sighs, nodding. 'I'm going to go and get something to eat, give her some time alone before we have to leave.'

'Before you do, I've already spoken to your dad about this but I think you should know too.' Dr Charles starts. 'I've been looking through Avery's files and have noticed she's never been investigated for the reasons behind the psychosis, her symptoms point towards bipolar so, I've spoken to one of the psychiatrists at the facility Avery will be going to to pursue a diagnosis.'

'That's good, right?,' T.K. asks, 'it means we can support her better?'

'Yes, I believe so.' Dr Charles nods. 'Avery is already aware that that's going to be happening. She didn't really react to it, she just gave me a small nod when I told her. It's important that we don't keep anything from her regarding her care, it could hinder her recovery.' T.K. nods in agreement. 'Anyways, I'll let you go and get something to eat. I'll contact you if something happens.' T.K. nods and the two go their separate ways.

.

A few hours later, Avery is being prepared for the Med-evac transport back to Austin. The nurses finish off pushing the sedation through the IV line and slip the restraints on to her wrists and ankles. Owen looks on, distraught.

'I know it's harder to see than being told,' Dr Charles says from beside him, 'but this is for her own safety.'

'I know.' Owen nods quietly.

'Is everyone ready?' Dr Charles questions, looking at the nurses.

'Yes, Doctor.' One of the nurses nods. Dr Charles looks at Owen.

'Yeah.' Owen replies. 'Jason, T.K. and Carlos are waiting by the elevator.'

'Let's go then.' Dr Charles nods.

.

Four hours later, they are arriving at the psychiatric facility, Safe Haven. A facility under the same company as Safe Spaces, the rehab facility Megan has been to. The Med-Evac lands on the heli-pad and the nurses get Avery out with Owen, T.K., Jason and Carlos jumping out behind them. They're wheeled to the elevator where a middle aged woman and a woman in her twenties are waiting for them.

'Let's get inside the elevator and I'll introduce myself.' The woman shouts. 'Thank you.' She nods at the nurses. They nod and run back to the Med-Evac as Avery is wheeled into the elevator. They all get in and the doors close.

'My name is Dr Alice Braun, I'm one of the psychiatrists, I'll be overseeing Avery's care.' Alice introduces herself. 'This is Emma Hawthorne. She's a nurse here, she'll be one of Avery's 1:1's, which I'll explain in more detail when we go over the admission paperwork.' She explains. 'I can only
go over that paperwork with immediate family so whoever's not immediate family, you'll have to leave I'm afraid.'

'That's fine.' Carlos nods alongside Jason. 'We,' he motions at Jason, 'were gonna leave anyways.' The elevator comes to a stop and the doors open.

'You can come with us to the room Avery will be in, just so you're familiar and then I'll escort you out since my office is near the main door.'

Half an hour later, Owen and T.K. are sitting with Alice. Carlos and Jason have left. Emma and a couple of other nurses are getting Avery settled into her room.

'So,' Alice starts, 'I assume Dr Charles at Chicago Med gave a brief overview of what would happen here?'

'Yeah.' Owen nods. 'Some more evaluations, trying her on new meds, intensive therapy.'

'And a bit more, but I won't go until the full details to start of with. It will be way too overwhelming. I'll have a meeting with either of you every week, this can be in person, on the phone or on zoom, whichever works best for you, and go over the plan for that week.' Alice explains. 'To start off, I think it's best that this first week or so she's here, she has no visitors. It might seem cruel given the situation, however, it will give her chance to settle and adjust to what's going.'

'I think that's fair.' T.K. nods slightly.

'Of course, one of the staff will always be in contact to give you updates and you can call for an update whenever you want.' Alice continues. 'This first week will be primarily focused on getting Avery settled and working on a care plan. I'll have to do a capacity assessment before that. If she's deemed to have capacity she can have full say in her care. Diminished capacity she can have part day and you'll be able to give your input and I'll put in my input. We'll make best interest decisions for her depending on the situation. No capacity, she won't have any say and the whole care plan will be put together during a meeting with myself, you two and a few other doctors and nurses here.'

'When will that assessment be done?' Owen queries.

'Tomorrow.' Alice tells him. 'I will call you with the results and we'll go from there.' She adds. 'Onto the next thing, this is the most secure unit she's been in. Everywhere is accessed by a key fob. It also means that what she's allowed to have with her is different. I'll give you a list and you can pack accordingly. Even though she'll be here for a couple of months, only pack enough clothes for about two weeks as we do laundry for the patients once a week.' She finishes, handing Owen a piece of paper. 'I know from her files, she likes to read so you can bring some books for her, a kindle and change them as and when necessary. We do have a library that patients can access too.'

'That's good.' Owen nods. 'I think knowing she'll still be able to read will help her adjust to being here.'

'We want every patient to feel as comfortable as they can whilst they're here, since not only is it a secure facility, it's a long term one. Minimum is two months here.' Alice tells him. 'Now, the 1:1 I mentioned. Not every patient has or needs one, however, given what's happened and Avery's past, it was decided that she does need one. It will be reassessed every week and she'll have the same two people, Emma who you met in the elevator, and Lily Madden, who is another nurse here. Myself and those two nurses will be your main point of contact.' Owen and T.K. nod, taking in what they've been told. 'Let's go through this paperwork and then you can see her again before you leave.'

.

An hour and a half later, Owen and T.K. are walking out of the facility. T.K. let's out a deep breath.

'How you holding up?' Owen asks him, putting a hold on his shoulder.

'I'm worried.' T.K. admits.

'Me too, son, me too.'

~~~~~~

Finally got this chapter done!! It's been a tough month! Hopefully I'll be updating again soon!!

Let me know what you think!

Much love