When I Fall

By Dr-Mara-Weaver

Summary, Disclaimer etc. can be found in Chapter 1.

Rating: PG-13. The rating's for language (as you might have noticed in the last chapter), some intense violence, and some mature subjects. If you don't think you can handle it, don't read it.

Author's Notes: Wow! I'm absolutely amazed with all of the reviews I've gotten. I'm glad that everyone is enjoying the story so much. I'm sorry that Kem and Carter are married (*vomits*) but it works, trust me. This second chapter, like the first, revolves around Ella, Elizabeth, Doug, Carol, Susan Doug. The next chapter will re-introduce some of the other characters. Keep the reviews coming!

"That was Mark's daughter?" Doug asked, in shock.

"Yeah." Susan replied, discouraged. "Ella. She's fifteen."

"FIFTEEN?" Carol exclaimed. "And she gets away with language and behaviour like that?" Susan sighed.

"Don't judge her until you've walked a mile in her shoes."

"What?"

"Doug, Carol, there's a lot that you don't know. Not only about Ella, but about everyone. About this hospital, about the staff … it isn't going to be easy for you to hear."

"Tell us." Doug said indignantly. "But start with Ella. Mark would die a second death if he knew he had a daughter like her."

"Alright." Susan hesitated. "Let's go across the street and get something to eat. Doc's burnt down years ago, but Ike's is there now."

"Oh shoot! The kids!" Carol exclaimed. In catching up with Susan, the two had forgotten about their three kids, who they had left sitting in the admit area.

"Can you call your mom to pick them up?" Doug asked his wife.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll tell her we'll pick them up tomorrow." Carol excused herself to the phone and Doug and Susan went to see the kids. Tess and Simon were sitting alone in the waiting area.

"Kate went to the washroom." Tess explained to her father. "Thanks for taking so long, by the way." She commented, adding the customary eye roll.

"Did you find Uncle Mark?" Simon asked. Doug hesitated, then sat down next to his son.

"Actually," he sighed. "We just found out that Uncle Mark died a few years ago and we had no idea."

"Oh Daddy, I'm so sorry!" Tess said sympathetically. "How did he die?"

"He had cancer. But I did find your Aunt Susan." He added brightly, obviously not wanting to discuss the subject further.

"Hi!" Susan smiled. "Nice to meet you guys. Love the hair, by the way, Tess. You've got style!" Tess smiled.

"Thanks." She turned to her father. "Where's mom?"

"Well, she went to call your Grandma. Your mom and I need to go out for dinner with Susan and talk about some adult stuff, so Grandma's coming to get you."

"Aww … Dad. Come on. Kate and I are sixteen. We don't need a babysitter!"

"No, but you haven't seen Gammy in ages. What's keeping your sister anyway?"

Kate Ross entered the washroom. There was only one other stall occupied.

"Crap." She cursed. She had just noticed that she had started her period a few days early and had a lovely red spot on the back of her pants. She fumbled around in her purse for a tampon without success and couldn't find a quarter for the machine either. She took a deep breath, and cautiously knocked on the wall to the adjoining occupied stall. She didn't know who was in there, but she was desperate.

"Excuse me," she said quietly. "Do you happen to have a tampon?" No one answered and she thought that she was out of luck, but then she heard the rustle of a purse and a hand holding a tampon under the stall wall.

"Thanks so much!" Kate said gratefully.

"Whatever." A young voice answered.

As Kate was washing her hands, the door of the occupied stall opened, and a girl who looked to be about Kate's age came out. She looked like she'd been crying, as her dark black eyeliner and mascara had run. She was wearing angry black clothes along with the heavy goth-like make up.

"Hey." Kate said kindly. "Thanks so much. I'm Kate Ross." She smiled.

"And I care because…?" the girl questioned rudely. Kate looked hurt.

"Sorry." She said, drying her hands. "I was just trying to be friendly." She started muttering to herself about how people were much nicer in Seattle. She turned to leave.

"Wait," the girl said. She sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm Ella. Ella Greene." She held out her hand and Kate shook it warily. "Didn't I meet you at the vending machine about an hour ago?" Ella continued. "Although I think you were blond and dressed like a fucking hippy." Kate laughed.

"No, that was my twin sister Tess. She has an interesting sense of style." Ella took a cigarette out of her purse and lit it. Kate pretended not to notice.

"Someone in your family sick or something?" Ella asked between puffs.

"No, my parents used to work here, before we were born and they moved to Seattle. Now we've just moved back and they've been rehired."

"Doctors?"

"My dad's a pediatrician and my mom's a nurse."

"Ah."

"What about you?"

"Yeah, the people who call themselves my parents work here. They're surgeons."

"Oh." Kate sounded confused.

"My dad worked down here in the ER. But he died when I was a baby. I like hanging out down here 'cause there are still some people around who knew him. Like Dr. Lewis and Dr. Lockhart. They're great." She sighed. "And my half sister, my dad's daughter Rachel, also works down here. She's a med student, but my mom hates her, so I'm not supposed to talk to her, but I do anyway. Long story. Anyway, my bitchy mother and her husband are surgeons and work upstairs." Ella laughed dryly. "And I have no idea why I just told you all of that."

"I asked?" Kate supplied. Ella actually smiled at her. Kate could see her icy exterior beginning to melt. She could see there was a story behind this angsty girl, but she really liked her. She had guts.

"I like you, Kate Ross." Ella said, as if she had read her mind, and smiled again. Kate smiled back, and was about to make a comment when the door of the washroom opened. It was Tess. As much as Kate loved her sister, she had rotten timing and was always stealing her thunder. She was afraid Ella might like outgoing Tess more.

"Kate, what the heck are you … Oh. Hi." She threw a disapproving look at Ella, who was still smoking, and eyed the cigarette with disgust. "This is a hospital. I don't think you're supposed to be doing that in here."

"Why the hell do you care?" Kate looked back at Ella and saw that, although her worries about Tess were unfounded, the ice that had melted from Ella in the last five minutes had reappeared instantly. She obviously wouldn't get along with Tess at all.

"I don't." Tess said, matching Ella's nasty tone, then turning to face her sister. Ella rolled her eyes and left, without saying goodbye.

"Come on Kate. Grandma's waiting for us outside." Kate was about to follow her sister out the door when something caught her eye. It was Ella's purse, still sitting on the counter. She grabbed it and ran after Ella, ignoring her sister yelling after her. She managed to catch up with Ella just outside of the hospital.

"Ella!" she called. The girl turned around.

"What?"

"You forgot your purse."

"Oh, thanks." Kate handed the purse to Ella.

"And I just wanted to apologize for my sister. She's rather judgemental."

"Oh, no worries." She smirked. "I get it all the time."

"Well … I think you're pretty cool and I was wondering if you could show me around sometime." Kate looked at the ground. She had never been very good at making friends. Ella laughed.

"That sounded like a bad pick up line." Kate blushed bright red.

"I'm so sorr…"

"Hey." Ella patted her shoulder. "I was kidding. I'd love to show you around. I'll meet you here tomorrow."

"Cool! How does 1:00 sound?"

"Sure. See ya tomorrow!"

"Bye." Ella walked away towards the El and Kate towards her grandmother's car.

"What were you doing talking to Miss Jerk, Queen of Gothness?" Tess asked her sister, with scorn.

"Just because she wears dark clothes and make up doesn't mean she isn't nice. She's actually a really great person." Tess rolled her eyes.

"Right.

"Ok, Susan, what in the world has been going on at County that you're so reluctant to discuss?" Doug asked her. The three were sitting at a table, sipping drinks.

"Where should I start?"

"Start with Ella." Carol said firmly.

"Ok, fine. But remember, you asked." She sighed. "As you now know, Mark died fourteen years ago. Ella was only a year old and Elizabeth was distraught. She moved back to England for a couple of months, but came back. About a year later, Elizabeth met this surgeon, Dr. Eddie Dorset who came to County on an internship from somewhere … Denver maybe. I don't quite remember. Anyway, they had an affair, but she found out that he was married. She was incredibly embarrassed and absolutely furious with him. He left. The following year, he came back and apologized for being such a jerk. He said that he truly loved her and had split with his wife because he couldn't stop thinking about her and he begged her for another chance. So they started dating again. Ella was almost five at this point … maybe if she had been younger and hadn't been told about Mark things would have been different, but she hated Eddie Dorset right from the moment they first met. Unfortunately for everyone, Elizabeth didn't listen to her daughter's judgment. She married him after they'd only been dating for eight months. Ella was so angry. I've never seen a five year old sulk so much at a wedding."

"Wow."

"That's not even the half of it. So one day, after they'd been married for about three years, Ella was eight and a very precocious eight. She still hated Dorset, but tolerated him to a certain extent. But one day, she came into the ER with a fractured wrist. She said she broke it falling off her horse at riding. Two months later, she broke her jaw, also falling off her horse, and six weeks after that, she dislocated her shoulder, this time, by falling off of her bunk bed. All plausible excuses. But she kept coming back with a variety of injuries every few months until she was twelve, which was when she started to rebel. Elizabeth also came in a couple of times, with some equally strange, but serious injuries. She was always wearing heavy make up, which didn't quite cover bruises on her face. At one point, when she was doped up on painkillers, Ella admitted that her stepfather was hitting her and her mother. That was all the proof we needed, we had all suspected that the two of them were being abused, so we convinced Kerry to call Family & Children's Services. They investigated and found nothing wrong. But Dr. Dorset thought it was Ella who called FCS. From the limited information Kerry and I have been able to drag out of Ella, which isn't much, as Ella has pretty much closed off since the FCS incident, Dorset has turned Elizabeth against Ella. The goth look and the insolent behaviour are just Ella's way of distancing herself. She's really a sweet kid, so much like Mark … but she has to act so tough …"

"Oh God."

"Believe it or not, that's not all. Rachel, Mark's daughter with Jenn, is a third year med student here. She's tried to get custody of Ella twice now, but without solid proof that she's being abused; the courts see her as being better off with Eddie and Elizabeth. Ella's been forbidden by Elizabeth to see Rachel, but she doesn't listen."

"Elizabeth doesn't see anything wrong with her relationship with this guy? Or with her relationship with her daughter?" Carol asked. "She always seemed so sensible to me."

"Dorset's slick. He has her wrapped around his little finger. And more than just her, he's also Chief of Surgery. Anspaugh thinks he's great. Elizabeth says, quote 'He just has a bit of a temper.' Unquote. Only Ella saw through him at the beginning. Now, a lot of us do, but we can't convince Elizabeth. She's withdrawn from us."

"Battered Spouse Syndrome." Doug sighed. Susan nodded silently.

Ella Greene stubbed out her cigarette on the porch and sighed. She opened the door of her house and braced herself for the storm.

"ELLA DORSET!" her mother's voice came from the kitchen. Ella tried to sneak up the stairs to her room, but was caught by her stepfather, who was waiting on the stairs.

"Get into the kitchen right now, you impertinent brat!" He grabbed her shoulder hard, and pushed her into the kitchen.

"Where do you get off?" Elizabeth yelled. "You were rude and ignorant on the phone, you refuse to get a ride home from you father, and then you don't come home." Ella scowled.

"One, you changed the plans. You were supposed to drive me home. Two, he's not my father, my father's dead. Three, since when do you care how and when I come home, or even if I come home at all."

"You ungrateful bitch!" Eddie screamed, turning red.

"You're grounded for the rest of the summer." Elizabeth said, her voice icy.

"You really think that I care? And by the way, my name is Ella Greene. I wouldn't let this bastard adopt me when I was five and I haven't …" she was cut off by a hard slap across her face, delivered by her stepfather, hard enough to send her flying across the room. She took the opportunity to run up to her room, not letting Elizabeth or Eddie see the tears well up in her eyes. She locked the door, and leaned against the inside tiredly, hoping he wouldn't decide to follow her, or take his pent up rage out on her mother. Ella hated being rude to her mother, but she was so in love with Eddie … she was brainwashed. Ella had escaped. Her mind was free and her body, for now, was only a little sore. No such luck for Elizabeth. Ella heard her mother's whimpers as she was smacked against the wall.

"I'm so sorry!" Elizabeth cried. Ella turned on her CD player and blasted the music, trying to drown out the horrible sound. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She saw a small, tired looking figure, her mascara and eyeliner running down her face, and an angry red mark across her left cheek.

"That'll be a nice bruise tomorrow." She sighed, checking up on her stock of cover up. She lay down on top of her bed, and pulled a frayed photo album out from under her pillow.

"Bye Mommy!" Ella, aged five waved to her mother, crying, as she went out of town for a medical conference. Her stepfather-to-be, Eddie Dorset, was staying with her, for the few days her mother was going to be out of town. Ella had to try and like him, as he would be living with them soon.

A few minutes later, as Ella sat on the couch trying to calm herself by watching her favourite movie Annie, she saw Eddie bringing a familiar box down the stairs from her mother's room and out to the garbage. She followed him outside.

"What's that?" Ella asked, innocently going out to see what he was throwing away. Then, she recognized the box as being full of her father's, who had died four years earlier, belongings. She saw her blankie, that he had given to her when she was born, and he photo album, filled with pictures of him in the box.

"What are you doing with my things from Daddy?" she cried.

"You and your Mommy have me now, you don't need all of these reminders of him. He's dead. I'm your Daddy now!"

"You'll never be my Daddy." Ella cried passionately. She loved hearing stories about her father, Mark. Eddie grabbed her and shook her hard, until her head spun.

"Brat," he muttered, shoving her aside as she whimpered.

Late that night, a wiser Ella had snuck out to the garage to rescue her father's possessions. She had hidden the box in the back of her closet, except for the blanket, and the album, which she kept under her pillow. To her knowledge, he mother had never noticed that it was missing.

Back in the present, Ella opened the album. She smiled as she turned the familiar pages. She was looking for a specific picture though, and found it quickly. She smiled. There was a subconscious reason why she had asked Kate Ross to wait. She liked Kate; she was nice and seemed interesting. But there was the photo. It was her father, Mark, holding twin baby girls. It was labeled Mark with Doug & Carol's girls: Tess and Kate. Ella traced her father's face with her finger, and eventually fell asleep staring at the picture.

"Miss Katharine is getting a tour of the city by the queen of Goth. She'll probably get to see the graveyards of Chicago!" Tess mocked.

"He doesn't sound at all like the naïf med student we all loved to mock." Doug sighed.

"No, he doesn't."

"He's already missed eleven days out of forty of him summer course. If he misses anymore, the academy is going to kick him out." Carter said. "He's not sick."

"I'll talk to the Academy." Kem replied.

If you like it, if you don't like where it's going, let me know by pressing that little button and REVIEWING!

Thanks J