"I'll be alright, it's just a thousand cuts."

It has been a few hours. Maddison has had her scans and tests which have all come back clear. However, they want to keep her in a bit longer for observation. She's back in the ER with Emma, Mikey, and Adam sitting around her bed.

"Did you manage to get hold of my mom and dad?" Maddison asks Adam.

"No." He shakes his head.

"I tried too," Emma tells her. "No luck."

"They're probably at work," Maddison says quietly.

"I can get some officers to go get them and bring them here?" Adam offers. Whilst Maddison's mom, Kristina, works as an editor at a publishing house in Naperville, her dad, Marcus, works security at a mall.

"It's fine," Maddison mutters. Despite the fact that they're loving parents, Maddison doesn't have the best relationship with them.

"You need them here, Mads. You're a minor. You need them here to be discharged. Or family, at least, or they'll get DCFS involved." Adam replies.

"What about Uncle Hank?" Maddison questions. "He's pretty much family. He used to work with my dad before he had his back injury. Plus, in the past, if my parents are available and he is and he's here, they've discharged me."

"Mads." Adam sighs and shakes his head.

"C'mon." Maddison groans. "He's is pretty much my uncle."

"Fine." Adam gives in. "I'll be right back." He stands up and walks out of the room.

"Voight will be here in a heartbeat." Emma points out.

"I know." Maddison nods. "I just wish my mom and dad would do the same."

"Your mom and dad love you," Mikey assures his best friend.

"Yeah, but I'm driving them crazy. I have been since I first got arrested. They don't know what to do anymore." Maddison replies, sighing. "They probably figured I'd gotten arrested again when they saw Adam calling and decided to let me sit in a cell and think about what I've done."

"Why don't I call them?" Emma asks. "They'll know then that you weren't arrested and something else is going on."

"It's fine. Thanks, though." Maddison smiles slightly.

"Let me know if you change your mind," Emma replies and Maddison nods. Adam walks back into the room.

"Voight is just finishing up some paperwork then he'll make his way over," Adam informs Maddison. "Once he gets here, I've got to head back to the district but I'll check in on you later."

"Okay." Maddison nods.

.

Half an hour later, Voight walks into Maddison's hospital room. In the past half hour, Emma and Mikey have gone home, at Maddison's request, so it wouldn't get too crowded in the room.

"How you doing kiddo?" He asks.

"Tired." Maddison smiles slightly.

"I'm not surprised. From what Adam told me, you had one hell of a seizure." He walks to the side of the bed. Maddison shrugs.

"I'm going to get back to the district. I'll call you later, Mads." Adam informs the young girl as he stands up.

"Okay." Maddison smiles at him. "Thank you for staying with me."

"Of course." He smiles, ruffles her hair, and walks off.

"Hey!" Maddison shouts after him and she fixes her hair, running her fingers through it and smoothing it out with the palm of her hand. "I take it you tried to get hold of my parents too?" Maddison looks at Voight once she's sorted her hair out.

"Yes." Voight nods, sitting down. "I got through to your mom. She'll be stuck at work until late, and so will your dad."

"Figured as much," Maddison mutters. "They're always working late. Probably so they don't have to deal with me."

"Maddie, you know that's not true." Voight sighs.

"But it is." Maddison presses. "Every time I'm arrested or have a medical issue, they work late. Those two things happen very fucking often. I've been doing a lot of shit myself since I was 14. My own washing, cooking, shopping - I might as well get emancipated. I have enough money saved away from doing art commissions online. When I turn 18, I'll get the money I've made so far from being Adam's CI. I can do that, right? Apply for emancipation? Move out?"

"You could." Voight nods. "But at what cost?"

"What do you mean?" Maddison asks confused.

"Well, your routine will be thrown off which will make you frustrated and you'll be more likely to do something bad. If you have a seizure, who's going to help if it's a bad one? What are you going to do when you run out of money?" Voight voices his concerns. "It might seem like a good idea now, but this is a permanent thing. You have to think long term."

"I didn't think of that." Maddison looks down.

"I'm not saying that you shouldn't do it. It's up to you." Voight reassures her. "I'll always be around to help when you need me, and so will Ruzek and your friend and his mom. Take some time. Do some research. Sit on it a little before jumping into anything."

"Yeah, okay." Maddison nods, looking back at him.

"I spoke to Will on my way in, I explained that your parents will be working late. He's happy to discharge you soon since I'm here now." Voight says.

"Good." Maddison sighs.

"You can come back to the district with me, we'll grab something to eat on the way, and you can get started on some homework." He tells her.

"I just want to go home. Do I have to go to the district?" Maddison raises an eyebrow. "Or is this a no-arguments kinda situation?"

"No arguments." Voight laughs, shaking his head. "Even though you've been here for a few hours and they're not worried, you know you still need someone to keep an eye on you after you've had a seizure as long as the one today."

"Fine," Maddison relents, "but only if I can pick where we get the food."

"Where are you thinking?" Voight asks. "Let me guess, it's either KFC or Wendy's."

"Wendy's." Maddison nods with a massive grin on her face.

.

An hour later, Voight and Maddison are walking into the 21st District. They're both carrying bags of food from Wendy's. Since they were already there, they bought food for everyone else in Intelligence as well as Trudy.

"Hey, trouble." Trudy smiles. She glances at the clock before looking back at Maddison and Voight. "Not at school today?" She questions, knowing that there's still over an hour and a half left of her school day.

"I had a seizure this morning. It was a long one so I had to go to Med." Maddison explains. "My mom and dad are going to be working late so Uncle Hank said I had to come here with him since I need someone to keep an eye on me."

"Feeling any better?" Trudy questions.

"Yep." Maddison nods. "Tired but I got homework to do."

"Do you want to go wait by the gate? I've got to talk to Trudy about something." Voight tells Maddison. She nods and walks off.

"What triggered the seizure?" Trudy asks Voight once Maddison is standing by the gate.

"According to Ruzek, she got dress-coded for her top. One of her safe tops, which the teacher knew about. Maddison went off on one, stating obvious things, like her shoulders shouldn't be a distraction and that if the girls' shoulders are a distraction, then so are the boys' biceps." Voight starts and Trudy chuckles softly. "It escalated and she stood on a table chanting. The teacher tried to touch her. Maddie warned her not to, that she knew what would happen if she did. What does the teacher do? Try and pull her down from the table."

"Jesus Christ." Trudy shakes her head. "I'm assuming this is the woman Halstead brought in earlier?"

"Yeah." Voight nods. "Maddie stormed off to the library where she had the seizure. Halstead and Ruzek wanted to know what happened, her friend Mikey was about to explain when the teacher came in insisting that she be the one to explain and proceeded to over-react about what happened. Maddie wouldn't leave if the teacher was still there, the teacher refused to leave so Halstead slapped some cuffs on."

"Eventful day for her." Trudy states.

"Sure is." Voight agrees. "Severide and Casey also witnessed what happened. They were giving a talk to her class."

"Hell of a way to meet Maddie for the first time." Trudy laughs causing Voight to laugh too. "Anyways, what did you need to speak to me about."

"Maddie wants to apply for emancipation. I already know she's not going to get the full emancipation but she'll be able to get a partial one. She'll need proof that she can support herself beyond what she earns from her drawing. I'm going to speak to the DA about getting the records for her CI account. If they need witnesses to say she's mature though,-'

"You want me to be one?" Trudy figures out.

"Yes." Voight nods. "You've known her a long time. That will come in handy."

"Done." Trudy nods.

"Appreciated." Voight smiles, rapping his knuckles on the desk. He walks away from Trudy and joins Maddison by the gate that leads up to Intelligence. "Come on then." He buzzes up into Intelligence and motions for Maddison to follow him.

.

It's later that evening. Maddison is arriving back home after being dropped off by Adam. She walks through to the front room where her mom and dad are waiting for her.

"Hi." She says quietly as she places her bag on the floor.

"Heard you had a seizure today." Kristina, her mom, states.

"Erm, yeah. It was a pretty long one. Uncle Hank picked me up from the hospital and took me to the district for a little bit." Maddison nods. "It happened after-"

"Hank told us how it happened." Marcus, her dad, cuts her off. "The seizure wouldn't have happened if you'd have kept your emotions in check."

"I tried." Maddison swallows. "I really tried, I promise."

"Well," Marcus sighs, standing up, "you obviously didn't try hard enough."

"I'm sorry." Maddison looks down. "I'll try better next time."

"No, you'll do better next time." Marcus raises an eyebrow as he stuffs his hands into his pockets. "What do I always tell you about your emotions?"

"That when I show my emotions it makes me appear weak. If I appear weak it makes me an easier target." Maddison replies. Kristina stands up and walks over to her daughter.

"Honey, look at me." She starts and Maddison looks up. "We're not hard on you for no good reason. We're hard on you to keep you safe. To stop people taking advantage of you."

"I know," Maddison nods, her voice barely audible, "but what you're doing to keep me safe, why does that include you hurting me?"

"Sweetie, it's the only way you'll listen." Kristina puts her hand on Maddison's shoulder.

"But it's not, I promise." Maddison's eyes widen as she shakes her head. "I just struggle sometimes, it's the Autism. I can't read social cues, I get sensory overload, and I struggle to regulate my emotions. I'm trying. I promise. Just give me a chance to -"

"Enough!" Marcus shouts, cutting her off. "Stop being an attention whore and own up. It's all on you, you don't have Autism. That's just an excuse for parents who don't want to raise their children right. We only took you to that doctor because Officer Ruzek kept insisting and then got DCFS involved when he deemed we were taking too long. If it wasn't for the stupid law that would have been struck from your chart the moment that doctor thought he could get away with giving you a faux diagnosis. The only person to blame is you." Maddison bites her lip to keep her from saying anything more, looks to the ground, and nods. "Now, get up to your room. I'm sick of the sight of you already." Maddison picks up her bag, turns around, and walks up to her room. She closes the door, chucks her bag across the room, and breaks down crying. Sinking to the floor, she brings her knees to her chest and starts rocking back and forth as she slams the bottom of her hands into her head like she did at the hospital.

"Pain, pain, I need the pain." She whispers to herself. "Too many feelings, it needs to stop." Pain is one of the only things that helps her. She knows it's not healthy, but she's not been given the opportunity to learn any healthy coping mechanisms. It helps bring her back from whatever emotion she's feeling at the moment and makes her feel something different. When what she's doing doesn't work, she starts biting her hand, hard. "I want it to stop." She sobs. "Why won't it stop?" She stops rocking and biting herself to crawl to the corner of her room where a whicker basket is kept. She takes the lid off and pulls out a weighted blanket. She swaddles it around herself and sits cross-legged, biting her nail and the skin around it. "Please stop. Please stop. Please stop." Frustrated that it's not working, she groans and puts her head in her hands, looking down. After a few moments, she lifts her head, threading her fingers through her hair as she does. "Fuck it." She mutters. "It's the only thing that will work." Not having the energy to stand up, she shrugs off the blanket and crawls over to her desk. She opens the bottom drawer and rummages around until she finds a Stanley knife. Once she's pulled it out, she slides the blade up. She takes her top off, revealing the already scarred arms, presses the blade on her upper arm, and drags it across the skin multiple times. Taking deep breaths, she watches as the blood rises to the surface and the pain builds until the only thing she can focus on is that and not the abuse she's just faced.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 3 is finally here! I have a new laptop so I can write much more now! 

Abuse can come in many forms. In this book, I wanted to touch on emotional abuse. Disabled people are more likely to experience abuse due to their vulnerability. I want to touch on this in this story as it's so often ignored and/or people don't believe them when they come forward. Rest assured, Maddie will get her happy ending. 

Let me know what you think!