Summary ~ Elizabeth deals with the sudden disappearance of her young daughter.

Genre ~ Mark/Elizabeth

Disclaimer ~ The characters portrayed in this story are in no way mine, and I will return them to their original positions once I am done messing with their lives. The characters of Maura, Matthew, or anyone else you have not seen waltz across your TV on a Thursday night are purely of my own imagination.

Need to Know ~ The last episode that applies to this story is April Showers. Everything up to that point happened, but nothing after it did. Which includes the return of Susan Lewis. Mark has had no recurrences of his brain tumor and is going to be fine. Also, Abby and Luka broke up some time around July of 2001.

Feedback ~ As always, feedback is more then welcomed. Please feel free to email me, or Bridget, with comments (good or bad) on this story, another story, or just the site in general to greeneblob707@yahoo.com. If you could please put the title of the story you wish to make comments on in the subject box that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and enjoy!

May 21 was just another day for Elizabeth, and Mark, and all of County General. It was raining on and off all day. It was a little chilly because the sun wasn’t out, and the normal flow of traumas entered the ER. Elizabeth got out of bed that morning just like any other day, dropped Matthew off and day care just like any other day, and drank coffee in the lounge just like any other day. Never the less, Elizabeth couldn’t shake the feeling that this was not going to be like any other day.

At about 2:15 a call came in. Abby answered the dispatch just like she always did with a calm “This is County, go ahead.” Unit 27 was coming in with a MVA. Turns out two cars collided in the middle of a busy intersection. Elizabeth prepared just like all the other doctors. They cleared the trauma rooms and waited for the four victims to arrive.

It was all over in less then a half an hour, or most of it was over anyway. They sent a young girl up to surgery, another straight to the ICU, and Kerry and Chen worked to stabilize another young man in trauma two. Elizabeth was the consult for a bystander who was injured and was working on him in curtain area one. Mark was over in curtain area three working on an elderly man who had suffered an acute MI.

Abby was fiddling with the computer at admit. She had just finished helping Luka stabilize the patient in trauma one. But now the girl was being worked on in the OR so Abby decided to check something on the computer. Just then Doris called out to her. Abby turned around and Doris said, “I’ve got something you should come see.”

Abby closed the screen she was on and caught up with Doris. “What’s up?” she asked.

Doris walked towards her rig and said, “We found her in one of the cars, she is relatively unharmed. She was in the back, middle seat wearing her seat belt. Just a few cuts and bruises. She looks really freaked out. We haven’t heard a peep out of her the whole ride.”

“Well what do you need me for, should I go grab a doc?” she asked while walking.

“No, see, I think she looks familiar.” She said pointing to the little girl.

Abby gasped. “Oh my God.” She said in shock. There in front of her was that little girl. Her red hair tied back sloppily, and her cheeks stained with tears. Her legs were covered in bruises, and she was pretty badly scrapped up. Whether that was from the accident or her ordeal, Abby had no idea. After a moment she choked out, “Maura!?”

The little girl looked up; her face was ghostly pale. “Abby” the little girl said with a mix of shock and relief.

“Oh sweet Jesus,” Abby said. She quickly scrambled into the ambulance and picked up the little girl, who began to cry. She tried to hush her, telling her that her mommy was going to see her very, very soon and that she wasn’t going to be hurt anymore. She hurriedly walked into the ER, with Maura on her hip.

“Randi!” Abby called as she entered the ER.

Randi turned around. Her jaw dropped at the site of the little girl. “Oh my God.” She whispered.

Abby began to speak, but she didn’t even have to finish her sentence. Randi quickly pointed to where Elizabeth was treating a patient in curtain three. Abby walked towards her. She passed Carter who smiled and smile of relief. “Dr. Corday!” Abby said with a smile.

“Just a second Abby.” Elizabeth said, she went back to her work. “So Mr. Johnson, does it hurt right here…”

“No, Elizabeth I think you are going to want to turn around right now for this.” Abby said placing Maura on the ground in front of her. Maura held Abby’s hand, visibly shaken.

“What ever is it?” Elizabeth said turning around. When she saw Maura in front of her she dropped her chart and her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my God!” she practically yelled. Maura then quickly ran into her mother’s embrace.

Elizabeth didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t even know if this was all for real. She was so afraid she was dreaming, and if she was she never wanted to wake up. She stroked her hair and said continuously, “Oh my God, thank you, thank you.” Abby smiled and mouthed to Carter to get Mark. Carter nodded and headed towards curtain three.

Elizabeth broke the embrace just so she could look at her. She was crying fairly hard, Maura was as well. She brushed the hair out of Maura’s face, and whipped the tears from her eyes. “Are you okay?” she asked, her voice shaking.

“Yes mommy, I’m okay.” Maura said. Elizabeth didn’t say anything, she just pulled her in for another hug. “I missed you mommy.”

Elizabeth smiled and said, “Oh sweetie, I missed you too. More than you know.”

Just then Mark rounded the corner. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his daughter. He slowly walked over to where she was. “Maura,” he said quietly.

Maura looked up at her father and smiled. Elizabeth laughed. “Daddy!” she squealed. Mark picked her up and Maura wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. The two didn’t say anything, they didn’t need too. Elizabeth stood up after what must have been several minutes and stroked Maura’s hair as she continued to hug her father.

Most of the staff watched from wherever they were at that time. Carter and Abby stood by admits entrance, Peter smiled from exam two’s door. It was as if the whole ER had come to a stand still, and with very good reason.

“Where was she?” Carter asked through a grin.

“She was in the ambulance that brought in the guy in trauma two. She must have been riding is his car.” Abby said, not once taking her eyes off the little girl.

“She was?!” Carter said shocked, “You mean that guy took her!” he yelled as he pointed towards trauma two.

“Most likely, although the police have to have her identify him.” Abby said solemnly.

“Son of a bitch!” he yelled. He began charging towards the trauma room. Abby hollered after him. Carter burst through the double doors and asked in a very stern voice, “Is he dead!?”

Both Kerry, Jing-Mei, and Haleh, who were treating the man, looked up in shock, as did the nurses. Kerry responded with, “No, his pressures up and we were about to take him to the OR”

“Dammit!” Carter declared.

“John, what is wrong with you?” Jing-Mei asked impatiently.

“This guy kidnapped a little girl!” Carter yelled.

“What?” Kerry asked. “Carter, what are you talking about?”

“He kidnapped Maura, that’s the guy!”

“Oh my God.” Jing-Mei whispered under her breath

“Maura’s back?” Kerry asked, peering out the window

“Yeah, unit 27 brought her in with this guy!” Carter declared putting emphases on this guy

“Dr. Chen, can you, uh, can you finish this?” Kerry asked backing away from the patient.

“Sure,” she said softly. Kerry pulled off her gloves and walked out of the room, Carter soon followed.

“Son of a bitch.” Haleh said under her breath.

Kerry and Carter both walked down the hallway towards the curtain area. Kerry stopped when she saw Elizabeth and Mark talking to Maura. Kerry watched them for a while. The sense of relief she felt watching them was unlike any other she had felt before. “Oh thank God,” she said softly.

Elizabeth sat in the exam room with Maura. They were sharing a cup of ice cream from the cafeteria. Elizabeth was so incredibly happy just to be eating ice cream with her. She never imagined that just that one little thing would mean so much to her. But being there with her was something she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to do ever again. And now that she knew that her daughter wasn’t going to be taken from her, she felt as if she had been given her second wind.

The police talked to her a short while later. They had to question Maura and have her identify the man she came in with as her kidnapper. They also had to find out exactly what he had done so they could know exactly what to charge him on. Elizabeth, Abby, Cleo, and an officer were all in the room while she was being questioned.

Elizabeth sat down on the right side of the gurney, and immediately held her hand. Cleo sat on the other side, for she was the one who would be asking the questions. Cleo had done a physical examination of Maura about an hour before, and the police felt that it would be easier if it wasn’t a stranger asking her the questions. The officer stood at the foot of the bed, and Abby stood behind Cleo.

The officer handed Maura a picture of a man, and Cleo asked Maura in a very calm voice, “Maura, is this the man who took you?”

Maura hesitated a moment before answering. She then stuttered out a very quiet, “Yes ma’am.”

“Okay,” Cleo said, handing the picture back to the officer. “Was he mean to you?”

“Yes,” the little girl said quietly again.

“Did he threaten you at all, can you remember?” Cleo asked

Maura was quiet again. She then softly replied, “Yes.”

“What did he say?”

“He said that if I didn’t…” Maura stopped talking, tears began to form in her eyes. Elizabeth kissed her hand and brushed the tears away, trying to reassure her. Finally, Maura continued, “If I didn’t do what he wanted me to do he would hurt me bad.”

Cleo paused and looked at Elizabeth, who squeezed her daughter’s hand tighter. The officer motioned for Cleo to continue. “What did he do Maura?”

She was quiet again; her face became solemn. She looked at her mother, her eyes wide in fear. She seemed afraid to speak, as if she would be punished. Elizabeth tired to calm her, telling her that everything would be fine, and that it was okay to continue. After what felt like an eternity for both of them, Maura stuttered, “He touched me.” Two tears fell from her deep hazel eyes. Elizabeth took a sharp breath in, Cleo’s eyes raised.

“He touched you? Maura, did he touch you wear you go to the bathroom?” Cleo asked, already knowing what the answer was.

“Yes.” She said, trying to fight the tears. Elizabeth felt like she had been hit by a ton of bricks. She felt violated. When those words left her daughter’s lips she felt a pain deep in her soul, a pain she had never known before. She didn’t want to believe that. When Abby brought Maura in she seemed fine. Elizabeth clung to the hope that maybe he hadn’t hurt her terribly, and that maybe she wasn’t going to have to deal with a large amount of pain. But now, everything had changed.

Elizabeth could hear Abby gasp behind her, and whisper “Oh my God.”

Cleo quietly told Abby to get a rape kit, her voice filled with dread. Abby nodded and slowly got the kit, trying not to let her emotions take over.

Elizabeth didn’t say anything; she couldn’t find anything to say. She just sat on the bed with her and held her daughter while she cried.

Elizabeth waited for Maura to fall asleep before she went to talk with Mark. After she was sure she was sound asleep she crawled off the gurney gently and went outside to admit where Mark was waiting. Elizabeth smiled a slight smile when she saw him. He walked over to her and embraced her. After a few seconds Elizabeth pulled back and wiped the forming tears out of her eyes. “Abby told me what Maura said.” Mark said solemnly. Elizabeth sighed and they walked into the lounge.

She sat down on the couch and Mark sat next to her. She shook her head and said, “Oh God Mark, she’s just a little girl. She should never have had to go through all that. No one should ever have to go through that.”

“No, no one should,” mark said, trying to make her feel better, but failing.

“I just look at her scared face, and it kills me. Her eyes, they are full of fear. And I am so afraid that that fear won’t go away.” They were quiet, then she continued, “While she was talking I just kept thinking about that day at the super market. I just keep thinking about how different everything was before we went.” She paused again, then continued, “All I did was write a check, and in that amount of time someone came and changed all of our lives forever. And God Mark, it only took a second! In one second everything changed. In one second he violated all of us! And that was the worst second of my life!” she sobbed, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Mark stroked her hair and pulled her in closer. He didn’t know what to say to make her feel better. He knew that any words he said wouldn’t take away all the pain she felt; all the pain he felt as well. After what must have been several minutes he spoke. “It will be okay. It will take time, but everything will be okay. And someday Maura, and you, and I, won’t feel as much pain. You just have to give it a while.” Elizabeth looked up in Mark’s eyes. “But right now Maura is safe. And we are going to take her home tomorrow and make her lunch. And play a game, and read her a bedtime story. And then we are going to tuck her in and kiss her good night and know that she is safe. Because she is safe,” he finished.

Elizabeth nodded. She knew he was right. She needed to be patient. Everything would be okay eventually. She just didn’t know if she could wait that long.

Abby changed Maura’s IV bag. The little girl was sleeping peacefully, and Abby was so afraid she was going to wake her up. Abby would always stop and look at her. She was glad she was sleeping, because at least when she was sleeping she didn’t have to worry about everything that happened. But while Abby was changing the bag, Maura woke up.

“Abby?” Maura questioned.

Abby turned around and smiled at her. “Hey, sleep well?” she asked.

“Okay, I guess. Is my mom around?” Maura asked trying to peer out the exam room door.

“She went to check on your little brother, but she will be back very soon.” Abby said cheerfully.

“When can I go home?”

“Not till tomorrow.”

“Why tomorrow?” Maura asked impatiently.

“Well, the doctors need to keep you here and give you medicine. See, why you were away you didn’t get a lot of water and food. And if we don’t give you these things,” Abby said motioning to the IV bag, “then you can get really sick. And we don’t want you to be sick.” Abby smiled

“Well, am I staying in this room?”

“No, some people are going to take you upstairs soon and you will have a much nicer room and there will be other kids around.” Abby said trying to cheer her up. They were both quiet for a while; Maura fiddled with the hair of a doll someone brought her. Then Abby looked at Maura and asked, “Hey Maura, do you still want to be my flower girl?”

Maura’s face lit up as she looked at Abby. “I can still be it?!” Maura squealed.

“Yeah, of course. It wouldn’t be right with anyone else. The dress was made for you!” Abby smiled. Maura laughed and began talking about the dress and asked Abby numerous questions about what she would get to do. Abby laughed and answered her eager questions.

When Elizabeth woke up the next morning in Maura’s hospital room, she felt better then she had felt in a long time. Matthew visited with Maura the previous night, and then Mark took him home. Elizabeth opted to stay with Maura and keep her company over night. She didn’t want her to be alone her first night back.

She was discharged that morning and Mark came to pick them up. Elizabeth happily headed out of the peds department. When she was walking through the ER to the main entrance she ran into Kerry. Kerry told her that the man who kidnapped Maura had a warrant out for his arrest and was recovering from his surgery in the prison section of the hospital. The officials were sure there was enough evidence to put him away for life.

Elizabeth was extremely relieved to hear that and couldn’t have asked for better news. All she wanted was for that man not to be able to hurt anyone ever again. She never wanted any family to go through what she went through.

When Mark pulled up with Matthew in the car Elizabeth sighed and Maura smiled. Elizabeth opened the door for Maura, and she hopped inside. Elizabeth climbed into the front seat and smiled at Mark, who grinned back.

Elizabeth looked back to make sure that Maura was buckled in, and Mark headed home. Elizabeth watched Maura and Matthew through the rear view mirror practically the whole ride home. She knew that not everything was perfect again quite yet. She knew they had a long way to go before everything felt exactly the same. And maybe it never would feel exactly the same. But she didn’t care. Right now she was driving home with her husband, and her two children. And she hadn’t been sure that was something she would ever get to do again. At that moment in time she was grateful for just that. In fact, she was grateful for every moment she had with her family. Every precious second. Because now she knew the value of a second, and she would never take that for granted ever again.

She laughed as Matthew showed Maura the things he had learned since their last time together. Matthew pointed his finger at Maura and asked, “Hey Maura, you want to hear a song I learned!?”

“Sure!” she giggled.

He took a deep breath in, then began to sing. “I know a song that gets on everybody’s nerves, everybody’s nerves, everybody’s nerves. I know a song that gets on everybody’s nerves. And this is how it goes…”

Elizabeth looked at Mark then at Matthew, then back at Mark. Then both she and Mark said at the same time, “Matthew!”

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Epilogue