Five minutes later, Jay and Adam are arriving at the Barnes and Noble. Ambulance 61 has just pulled up. Gabby Dawson and Sylvie Brett jump out. The security guard and an employee are waiting outside. Adam and Jay walk over to them whilst Gabby and Sylvie get the equipment out of the ambulance.

'I'm Detective Jay Halstead, this is Officer Ruzek, we're with CPD Intelligence.' Jay introduces the pair of them as they shake hands with the security guard and employee.

'I'm Elliot, this is Marcy.' The security guard introduces both himself and the employee.

'You called and said you had a positive sighting of Avery Strand?' Adam asks.

'Yes.' Marcy nods. 'As soon as she came in, Elliot recognised her and alerted all staff to keep an eye on her whilst he called you guys.' She explains. 'She's currently sitting on the floor in the young adult section looking through some books, one of my colleagues is keeping an eye on her, though we haven't approached her.'

'No, that's good.' Jay nods. 'If you'd have approached her she probably would have taken off.' Gabby and Sylvie join them with their equipment bags.

'We also asked all other customers to leave and all other employees to stay out of sight. I figured it wouldn't be fair for her to have an audience.' Elliot informs them. 'She seems oblivious to that though.'

'What's the plan?' Gabby asks.

'Myself and Adam will attempt to talk her into coming with us voluntarily. We do authorisation to section, sedate and use restraints if needed.' Jay tells them. 'If she doesn't come voluntarily, we'll have to sedate her there and then.' He turns to Gabby and Sylvie. 'So both of you will have to approach her from the opposite side to us. If either of us says the word "red", you two come in and sedate her.' He then turns to Elliot. 'If she does make a run for it and runs out of the store, we're giving you authorization to restrain her, assuming you have restraint training?'

'I do.' Elliot nods.

'Let's go then.' Jay nods. Jay, Adam, Gabby and Sylvie make their way into the store and make their way to find Avery. As soon as they find her, they slow down and Jay motions for Gabby and Sylvie to go to the other side. They nod and quietly do so. 'I'll try first.' Jay whispers to Adam. He takes his gun out of his holster and hands it to Adam before slowly approaching Avery. Like Elliot said, she's sitting on the floor flipping through books with her backpack still on her back. 'Avery?' He starts. Avery's head snaps up to him.

'No.' She shakes her head, fear lacing her voice, as she scrambles to her feet. 'No. Don't hurt me. Please.'

'Avery, we just want to help you.' Jay assures her. 'Why don't we go to the hospital and get you checked over?'

'No.' Avery walks a few steps back. 'You're going to hurt me.'

'I promise you, all we want to do is help.' Jay repeats.

'"We"? Who's we?" Avery asks, clearly scared and distressed.

'Just some friends.' Jay replies. 'We'll take you to the hospital and get those checked over.' He motions to the cuts on her arms.

'Nuh-uh.' Avery laughs slightly. 'I know what you're trying to do.' She points at him. 'I'm not going anywhere with anyone.'

'Avery, if you don't come with us, we'll have to sedate you and take you that way.' Jay says more seriously.

'You can't do that.' Avery scoffs. 'Beside, how do you even know my name? I'm not from around here.'

'I know.' Jay nods. 'Do you recognise me?' Avery looks at him for a few moments and Jay sees the realisation dawn on her face.

'You're a cop.' She says quietly. 'You pulled me back from the street the other day.'

'See, we just want to help.' Jay tells her.

'I don't want help.' Avery shakes her head slightly. 'I don't need help!' She says loudly, becoming more distressed. 'I just need space.' She walks back a few more steps.

'Those cuts are looking a little red. They might be infected.' Jay says, using the code word. With that, Gabby and Sylive come rushing from the side whilst Jay runs to Avery and holds onto her.

'What the- get the fuck off of me!' She tries to fight him off. 'Please,' fear creeps into her voice again, 'please don't hurt me.' She continues to struggle as Gabby injects the sedative into her upper arm. 'Ow! What- no! Please don't!' Tears stream from her eyes. 'Please, I'll do whatever. Don't hurt me.'

'It's okay.' Jay says softly, loosening his grip as Avery slowly stops to struggle with him. 'Your dad, brother, his boyfriend and your  friend will meet us at the hospital.' Avery's eyes flutter shut. Gabby helps Jay slowly lower Avery to the floor.

'I'll go and get the gurney, it's already prepped with the restraints.' Sylvie states as she walks off.

'You okay, Halstead?' Gabby asks Jay, noticing he's just staring at Avery.

'Erm, yeah.' Jay nods. 'It's just-this girl's history, it's-' he shakes his head.

'I know.' Gabby sighs. 'Voight gave us the run-down over the radio. It must be hard, being so young and going through so much shit. In such a short time too.' Sylvie returns with the gurney and Jay notices they've got the hard restraints instead of the soft restraints. 'Dr Charles gave the go ahead for the hard restraints. Avery's friend warned him that if the sedation wears off in the ambo, she may try and slip the soft ones.'

'Right.' Jay nods.

'We may have a bit of a problem.' Sylvie states. 'Intelligence and a couple of patrol cars are outside. It attracted a crowd. They're doing everything they can to get people to move on but it's not working.'

'Bring the ambo around the back, we'll take her that way.' Gabby tells Sylvie. 'We'll get Avery on the gurney, radio to let me know when you're there, get the security guard to come in so he can take us to the back.' Sylvie nods and walks off as Jay turns to Adam.

'Bring our car around to the back too, I'll ride in the ambo, you can follow us to Med.' Jay tells his partner. 'Update Voight too.'

'Sure.' Adam nods and walks off.

'Let's get her on the gurney then.' Gabby tells Jay once he's facing her again.

.

When Ambulance 61 pulls up at Chicago Med, Dr Will Halstead and Dr Charles are waiting for them in the ambulance bay.

'She won't need much medical attention.' Dr Charles tells Will as Sylvie jumps out, runs to the back and opens the door. 'She's got some cuts to her arms that may need some skin glue. Your brother found a sharpened toothbrush in her bag, so that's probably what she used.' By now, Gabby and Sylvie have gotten the gurney out of the ambulance. Avery is still sedated.

'Where are we going?' Sylvie asks.

'Treatment six.' Will tells them. 'It's all prepped.'

'Great.' Sylvie nods. They start taking Avery into the ER with Dr Charles walking alongside them. Will goes to follow them.

'Will.' Jay calls after his brother. Will turns around. 'Come over here a sec.' Will walks over to his brother.

'What's up?' Will questions.

'Before we got the call about where she was, Ruzek and myself were at the motel she was staying at. The desk clerk showed us some security footage. Last night she was on her way back into the room when she came across some guys. They pushed her into a different room and she came out a few hours later with her clothes torn.' Jay tells him. 'When I was restraining her so Brett and Dawson could sedate her, she was asking me to not hurt her, that she'll do anything if I don't hurt her.'

'Right.' Will sighs and rubs his face. 'Dr Charles has already deemed her medically incompetent, she's seventeen, so we can't really do a rape kit and do tests for STDs without telling her dad what happened. I'll tell Dr Charles what you told me. I better go in.' Jay nods and Will walks into the ER and to the room where Avery was taken to. By now, she's been transferred over to the bed, restrained and hooked up to the monitors. Dr Charles is standing by the door with April Sexton, one of the nurses. 'Thanks.' Will nods at Gabby and Sylvie as they leave. April, Dr Charles and Will walk into the room and close the door behind them before pulling the curtains over.

'I'll contact her father once she's settled a bit more.' Dr Charles tells Will.

'Good idea.' Will nods as he walks to the bedside, puts some gloves on and examines the cuts. 'Some of these will definitely need some skin glue, maybe a couple stitches. April, when you get her changed into a gown, examine for any other injuries. I'd also like some x-rays to see if anything is in the wounds before closing them.'

'Got it.' April nods.

'Take some blood too, run the full lot, include a tox screen. We need to see where her nutrient levels are at so we can set up an NG tube for a feed and a tox screen to see if she's taken anything.' Dr Charles adds.

'That brings me onto the next thing.' Will states. 'Jay pulled me aside before I came in.' He goes on to tell them what Jay told him.

'The blood tests we're running should pick up any STDs if she has contracted any, however we would need parental consent for the genital swab and rape kit.' Dr Charles says. 'When her dad, Owen, gets here, we'll give him some time to sit with Avery before talking to him about it.'

.

Half an hour later, Avery has been changed into a gown, April found some more cuts that just needed dressing. Avery has had her tests and x-ray, with the x-ray showing no foreign objects in the wounds, Will is closing the wounds that need to be closed whilst Dr Charles calls Owen.

*At the nurses station*

At the nurse's station, Dr Charles is on the phone, waiting for Owen to pick up. After a few rings, he gets an answer.

'Hello?'

'Mr Strand, it's Dr Charles.' Dr Charles starts.

'Have you found her?' Owen immediately asks.

'We have.' Dr Charles nods. 'She's here at Med in the ED. I know you came with your son, his boyfriend and Avery's friend, but right now, I think it's best that you come alone, just until we get her settled in the psychiatric intensive care unit, which is where we'll be keeping her on a hold.'

'Okay. I'll be right there.' Owen replies.

'We can send an officer or one of the detectives from Intelligence to come and collect you if you want?' Dr Charles offers.

'No, it's okay. I need the time to prepare. I've never seen her this bad. The hospital is only a ten minute walk away from the hotel we're staying at anyway.' Owen responds. 'I'll see you soon.' They both say goodbye and hang up. Dr Charles walks into Avery's room and sees that Will is just finishing dressing Avery's wounds.

'Dad is on the way.' Dr Charles informs his colleague. Avery starts to stir. 'Push some more midazolam. You know what, start a midazolam infusion. Keep her sedated, she'll need to be sedated for the feeding tube anyway.' Will nods, grabs a syringe of midazolam that he'd prepared and administers it. 'I told her dad to come alone. That way we can talk to him about what happened, get consent for the tests we need to do and he can prepare the people he came with.'

'Who did he come with again?' Will asks.

'His son, T.K., Carlos, he's T.K.'s boyfriend and Jason, who's Avery's best friend.' Dr Charles replies. 'Jason has seen Avery in states like this more than her dad and brother so they decided he should come.' He adds. 'Plus, they said she'll be more likely to cooperate when he's with her.' He chuckles. 'Have you read through her history?'

'Yeah.' Will nods, sadly. 'I caught up whilst she was having her x-ray. No kid should have to go through what she's been through.'

'Her dad thinks it's going to be harder for her to come back from this.' Dr Charles.

'I don't even know her but from reading all that, I don't blame him.' Will shakes his head. 'Jay dropped off her bag.' He points to Avery's bag which is on one of the chairs in the room. 'He had to go back to the district to do paperwork. You want to look through it.'

'Yeah.' Dr Charles nods. 'It might give me a better idea of where her head's out.' He walks over to the chair, picks up the bag and sits down. He places the bag on his lap and starts going through it. 'There's about three sets of clothes, underwear, pyjamas, a kindle, some chargers and her wallet.' He says. 'He takes the wallet out and sees a receipt sticking out. Seeing it's from the motel she stayed at, he pulls it out and looks at it. 'She booked a room for two weeks and according to P.D, she checked out early. She didn't pack enough for two weeks.'

'Rush packing?' Will suggests.

'Most likely.' Dr Charles nods. 'Her dad told me he was getting her admitted to a psych facility in Austin and Avery didn't like that. With her emotions all over the place, she decided at the last minute to run away.'   He carries on. 'We'll need to have her awake and alert for part of her hold here before going back to Austin so that I can evaluate her. They're prepping her a room in the psychiatric ICU since she's a flight risk, it would be harder for her to escape and I don't want to keep her restrained the whole time she's here.'

'Sounds like a plan.' Will nods. 'Did her dad say how long he'll be?'

'He just said that his hotel is ten minutes away but that he also needs time to prepare. So, he'll probably be here in the next half hour.' Dr Charles says. 'You've got other patients you need to see and I need to go check up on her room upstairs. Page me when the dad is here but don't let him go into her until I'm back down here.'

'I'll make a note on her chart.' Will nods. 'I'll get security to come and sit in here on a 1:1.'

'Good thinking.' Dr Charles smiles and nods. The two doctors leave a room, waving over a security guard as they do. The security guard walks over to them. 'This is Avery Strand, she needs to be on a 1:1, her father, Owen Strand is on his way. He's not to see her until both myself and Dr Halstead have spoken to him.'

'You got it.' The security guard nods and walks into the room whilst Dr Charle and Will go their separate ways.
~~~~~~~~~~~

So they've found Avery!! This is the start of a long and hard recovery for her. How will she cope?

Let me know what you think!

Much love