Chapter 57

"What do we've got?" Sienna runs out to the ambulance bay, her two residents following closely behind her.

"Twelve year old GSW to the abdomen" The paramedic reads the stats of the boy while they get him into the ER

"Get him to 4" Sienna instructs and within a split second they get him to the room.

"Let's move him, on my count. One – two – three" They get him off the stretcher onto the hospital bed. "Get me a portable X-Ray" She demands. "Right away doctor"

While she's busy treating him, Sharon walks in to the room.

"Doctor Roberts, can I have a word?" "I'm a little busy here" She doesn't look up from trying to treat the boy. They are on their way to an OR, so she can remove the bullet but first she has to drain the blood and stop him from bleeding out on her table.

"I'm just going to say it, the police wants to detain the patient."

"Well they are going to have to wait, he's going with me to the OR right now."

Sharon sighs, "They want to keep him detained in the OR"

Sienna glances at Sharon, "No"

"Let's get him to an OR, Sharon, he's harmless at this moment. He's not being detained by handcuffs in my OR, I refuse, and I'm sure his mom would too." She tells the chief in passing. The woman sighs with a nod, "You go do your thing. I'll handle the police."

As they roll the boy out to the OR upstairs, two police officers she doesn't recognize stops her.

"This man is a criminal. He needs to be cuffed at all times with a police officer close by."

"I don't give a shit what he did. He's a patient – he is my patient, and no police officer will be in my OR." She pushes past him.

"Miss" The officer grabs her arm. Sienna looks at her fourth-year resident; "Benson, take him up and prep him for an abdominal surgery."

"Yes, doctor" The resident runs up with the patient.

"I'm a doctor, first of all, second of all, you don't make the rules here. This is my protocol, I'm in charge. Now I suggest you get your goons and wait in the waiting room because you're not going with me to that OR" She doesn't wait for a reply and is soon scrubbed in and ready to operate on the boy.

"Alright honey, I don't care what you did, but for now I'll protect you." She tells the 12-year-old boy and then cuts him open.

The boy manages to stay alive even though she almost lost him on the table twice. The bullet slashed through the liver and the boy's spine. He's likely to be paralysed.

The surgery ends in heartache for the trauma surgeon and her residents. She looks up at the nurse, "Please page Neuro to trauma room 4"

"Yes, doctor"

Sienna starts closing him, doing her best to lessen the trauma of this day with stitches and minimal scarring.

When Sienna gets him back to the trauma room, the police are in the waiting area, same as the boy's mom. "You paged?" The Neurosurgeon walks in

"GSW to the liver and spine – bullet hit the thoracic and lumbar" She says looking at the little boy.

Doctor Gideon sighs, "I'll do an X-Ray, but it's likely he's paralysed."

"Thanks" She tells him and strokes over the boy's hair. He's just a kid, could he really have done such a terrible thing so the police had to shoot him?

Gideon comes back half an hour later with X-Rays in his hands. He puts the scans up to show her how severe the damage is to the boy's spinal cord. He's paralysed. If not a quadriplegic.

"I'm sorry Roberts, your boy is paralysed. I can't fix the spinal-cord. I'm sorry."

"Can we try?" Sienna asks. She knows there are actually nothing to be done, you can't magically fix paralysis.

"You know the answer to that. I'm sorry Roberts" He squeezes her shoulder and walks out to attend to other patients. Sienna sighs as she looks at Andre. I'm so sorry honey, I'm so sorry"

She walks to the waiting area. The mom, accompanied by likely a daughter, stands up when she walks in. Sharon is hovering next to her.

"Doctor, how's my boy?" "The bullet hit your son's liver and his spinal-cord. He lost a lot of blood in the operating room, but we managed to stabilize him. He's not out of the woods yet, and I'm very sorry –" She stops to grab the woman's hand, "The bullet hit his lumbar and thoracic spine. The Neurosurgeon did X-Rays, and your boy is paralysed. I'm so very sorry ma'am"

Sienna can feel her own heart break by watching the mom trying not to break down.

"They say my boy tried to break into a house, but it was my house. He forgot his key, he always forgets his key, and they said he was trying to break in! We live in a good neighbourhood, and they thought he was an intruder. I-I-I was at work, doctor, I was at work. If only I made sure Andre had his key before school."

"No, this is not your fault. These are trigger-happy cops that don't follow protocol. This is not your fault." Sienna feels tears bubbling to the surface, "I'll keep you updated ma'am. I'm sorry I don't have better news for you."

She hears the woman's hysterical cries and tries her hardest not to break down herself.

The police officer has the audacity to grab her arm again as she walks to Maggie's station. The nurse glares at the officer. Sienna holds her own as she pulls her arm harshly out of his reach.

"I swear, if you touch me one more time I will make your life hell."

"We need to question Andre when he wakes up"

"You mean, if he wakes up."

"What you said to that mom, we're not trigger-happy. We had to respond, if he broke into your house, you would have wanted us to stop him"

"I wouldn't want you to shoot a 12-year-old boy, ever. Point is, he climbed into his own window after school. You didn't stop to ask questions, you just shot – why? Is it because he's black?"

"You don't know how police matters work"

"That's where you're wrong." Sienna looks at him, "I'm married to a detective, I know how it works. You stop to ask questions. You try to get him down that window without shooting him. You ask him to surrender, to show his hands. You search his pockets for a damn gun. Any idiot knows that, so why don't you?"

She walks away as Maggie follows her, she's aware of the officer's eyes on her but she doesn't give a shit. He shot a boy, an innocent boy, he doesn't deserve to be a cop. He gives Antonio; Voight; Jay; Hayley and all the others willing to offer up their lives for America a bad fucking name.

"How's that boy doing?" "He's paralysed but stable" Sienna shakes her head, "God Maggie, how are we supposed to sleep at night if this is what our police do?"

"I wish I knew." Maggie sighs, "I really wish I knew."

The day goes on, Andre is still in stable condition but has yet to wake up. The officer that shot him is still in the waiting area.

She has just finished her 15th consultation for the day, it's almost New Years Eve, which means people tend to get in more trouble than they usually do.

Atwater and Ruzek walks into the ER and walks immediately up to Sienna.

"Hey Si, how's that boy doing – Andre Evans?"

"He's paralysed from the waist down, but stable. He hasn't woken up yet, which is unusual at best but we're monitoring him closely. I'm actually on my way to him now."

Atwater nods, "Can we come?"

"Sure" Sienna says, "But I need to know if you're on that cop's side, or on Andre's"

Ruzek takes a deep breath, "Commander wants us to run point on the shooting. We're on the victim's side – always, which is Andre."

"Good" She motions for them to follow her.

"Doctor Roberts, his heart rate has increased" Her resident tells her, "Pulse is now 56"

Sienna smiles brightly.

"What does that mean?" His mom asks, she's holding her boy's hand tightly.

"It means he's a fighter Miss Evans. It means he's healing"

The mom cries loudly in relief, "Oh thank God. Wake up boy, wake up."

"Miss Evans, this is Officer Ruzek and Atwater, they are here to ask you questions. I promise, they are the good guys."

Andre's mom smiles slightly at the blonde doctor and looks at Kevin and Adam.

"My boy forgets his keys, no matter how many times I've asked him to make sure he has it. He always forgets it. This morning I was in a hurry to get to work, and rushed him. He forgot his keys – called me after school to tell me he forgot the keys. He told me he'll just get into the bathroom window I know is always open. I didn't think anything of it – I mean, it's his house – it's my house. I wouldn't expect him to stay outside for three hours until I get home. An hour later I got a call from the hospital to tell me my boy has been shot. The police didn't contact me the moment my boy got shot, they waited Lord knows how long before the hospital ended up calling me."

Ruzek puts a sympathetic hand on the distraught mother's shoulder. "We are on your side here Miss Evans, I promise you the two cops that did this won't get off scot-free"

Miss Evans frowns, "I work hard for my kids, I have only a boy and my older girl. I'm a legal-secretary. I get good money. I made sure my kids don't know gang life and violence so I made sure to live in a good neighbourhood even though I barely have money to spend on myself. I don't care – it doesn't matter. My kids come first. The cops thought he was breaking into a nice family's house, but it is my house. Please make sure they know that."

"We will, ma'am" Atwater says. "We will."

**

"Hey baby" She spots Antonio leaning against her car hours later. It's already past 11pm, the day ended better than it started with Sienna saving a mom of three kids. She gives him a smile and leaps into his arms.

"You have no idea how good it is to see you"

Antonio strokes her back and buries his head in her neck. "Gerry – the officer that shot Andre – had a disciplinary hearing. He's being stripped off his badge and gun. Won't ever be a cop again."

"He should be put in jail"

"I know that" Antonio says. "If it was up to Hank, and me, and the team then yes he would have been put in jail. But it's not."

Sienna sighs and kisses Antonio softly, "At least Chicago can sleep tonight. Thank you for being a hero to this city, for not being a rogue cop. Thank you"

He kisses her again, "Let's go home baby girl."

"Home sounds really great right now."

**