Chapter Text
Emmett POV
I walked down the hall to the exam room that Lataine had been assigned. I knew she wanted to get through this quickly and I wanted to get her through it quickly. She’d already been through five shots and today was her last one. I was worried about how she was going to handle this. We had pushed her limits very far and I was worried they were to the point of cracking. And now I was going to be pushing them even farther.
I knocked on the door before walking in. Jasper was sitting in a chair off to the side and Lataine was lying on the exam table on her stomach, kicking her feet back and forth. It was a nervous habit of hers.
“You’re almost done. Today is your last one,” I explained as I washed my hands to prepare for the exam. “How are you feeling today?” Tossing my paper towel in the trash can, I approached the exam table and offered her a hand to help her sit up.
“I want this over with and I don’t ever want to go through it again,” she said, not even answering the question. She might have been mad at me too. It was hard to tell.
“I promise, I don’t want you to have to go through it again,” I said, pulling my stethoscope from around my neck. I listened only briefly to her heart but spent a few minutes listening to her lungs from every possible angle.
“You sound healthy Lataine. That means the shots worked. Unlike the first night when you sounded like crap.” I normally wouldn’t talk to a patient like that, but Lataine was my niece so the situation was different. I checked her chart on the computer. Her vitals looked good, so I was ready to move on to the last shot.
I submitted the order on the computer before I hit the red button on the panel on the wall near the door, to page the nurse’s station. Normally, for a visit like this one, I wouldn’t even see the patient; for anyone besides my niece the appointment would have been scheduled with my nurse who would have carried out the brief exam and given the shots. But for Lataine, it was different. I didn’t just call the shots, I administered them too. Whether that made things better or worse, I wasn’t entirely sure, but she hadn’t ever wanted to try it any other way. “Are you ready for this?” I asked her, leaning against my desk as I waited.
“Absolutely not. But I don’t really have a choice in the matter, do I?” she answered. Her eyes were already glossed over with yet-to-be-shed tears. And I felt horrible about it. But this was for her own well-being. I just had to keep the situation light. Another knock on the door told me the nurse was ready, so I opened the door, took the tray from her and then turned back to Lataine. As I got closer to her, Jasper stood up and approached the examining table to stand next to her.
I sat the basket down on the end of the table near her feet so she couldn’t see what was in it. “One dose of Super Soldier serum coming up, Captain America,” I teased as I tugged down her jeans and sterilized the site. “You ready? 3, 2, 1, ouch!” The needle was in, syringe drained, and the entire shot finished quickly and once I had bandaged it, she started to sit up. As she did, she managed a glance at the basket and noticed for the first time that there was still a syringe in it. Not only was I giving her the steroid injection, but I had also had a second vitamin shot prepared. It would be the most efficient way to be sure that her symptoms didn’t return once daily monitoring ceased. She scooted back on the table into the corner, trying to get away from me and Jasper. “No! I don’t want it! I don’t need it!” she cried, shaking her head furiously.
“Lataine, love, it’ll be quick, but we have to do it. I don’t need you getting sick again within the next few days once treatment stops.”
I tried to move her forward gently, but she wouldn’t budge. This was not looking good. “Clarissa please,” Jasper spoke in a calm but stern voice. “You’ve done so well up to this point. This is the last hurdle you need to cooperate for, darlin’.”
She still refused to move from the center of the table. He audibly sighed next to me. “Clarissa Lataine, if you can’t cooperate for Emmett, I will have to help,” he warned. I had a feeling I knew what he was thinking, and as much as I didn’t like it, I knew it was necessary, so I stepped out of his way, giving him room to move. He pushed himself up on to the exam table and pulled her into a tight hug before draping her over his lap, pinning her hands to the small of her back. Her legs were still free to move but I could make do with that. She tried to squirm, but over his lap, she was quite off balance and couldn’t roll over or get up. Jasper had his daughter effectively pinned. She started crying, and Jasper winced.
I cleaned the second injection site, also on her bottom and picked up the syringe. She tried to kick me, but I caught her ankles easily. I didn’t exactly want to use my martial arts and wrestling skills against her, but I had to keep myself safe too. Her muscles were incredibly tense. “Lataine, loosen up babe. It’ll hurt more if you don’t.”
“Remember how to breathe darlin’,” Jasper coached. “In for 8, hold it for 8, and out for 8.” Her hand gripped his tighter, but I could see her focusing as Jasper began rhythmically counting 1 to 8 over again. Her muscles began visibly relaxing. I watched Jasper and as he began another eight count, he nodded at me to go. With a quick poke, the entire procedure was done before he’d even gotten back up to 8. As soon as the needle was out and I had put on a bandaid, Jasper released his restraint on her. I felt terrible. I had never had to have her held down before.
She pulled herself up from Jasper’s lap as quickly as she could and backed away again. I wasn’t sure she wanted my comfort right now, but since the medical supplies were all cleaned up, I put my arms out, offering a hug. To my grateful surprise, she flung herself toward me, gripping tightly around my torso, head tucked into my chest as she sobbed. “Shh. You’re all done. Just let it all out. I promise we won’t let that happen again.”
Lataine POV
As soon as I got home at about noon, I crashed. I woke up at about four-thirty to find Jasper standing in my bedroom. “I was just coming to check on you,” he commented, as I rolled over. I was so sore; I didn’t really want to move. So, I ended up staying on my stomach. He walked over to me and sat down next to me, leaning against the back of my bed.
“I’m mad at you,” I said softly, watching his face. This had been the worst. All of it. Having to have so many needle pricks. Having to let Jas give some of them to me. Getting extras on the first and last day. Being essentially restrained. All of it was awful. And mad wasn’t necessarily the right word, but I wasn’t sure what was.
“I figured you would be,” he said, his face pensive as he began tracing his fingers up and down my arm. “Because of the job I do, I have extensive restraint training. And part of such trainings is learning how to de-escalate a situation and only using restraint as a last resort.” He paused, pulling gently on my chin so I met his gaze. “Putting you over my lap today was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make. But you were fightin’ and you weren’t givin’ in. And though it wasn’t quite restraining, and I did attempt to de-escalate once I had you with me, I’ve still been questionin’ if I did the right thing ever since.” His southern accent leaked into his words. It was funny how sometimes you could hear his southern roots in his speech but other times, you would never know it was there. It did seem to leak through most prominently when he was emotional. So, what he was expressing to me, I knew was sincere.
“But why? Why did there have to be an extra?” I pouted. Hadn’t what I gone through all week been enough?
“Darlin’ I don’t want to have to go through an ordeal like this again anytime soon. And both of your uncles and your grandfather expressed concerns that you could have a relapse.” He shifted his body on to one elbow, so he was now level with me. “I simply took their better experienced advice and went along with it. As you’ve said before, this isn’t my area of expertise.”
I shifted my own body to lay beside him, resting my head in the crook of his elbow. I sighed but didn’t say anything for a moment. “Are you mad at me?” I asked, looking up to see his face.
His face wrinkled. “What reason do I have for being mad at you?”
“Because I tried to fight even though I knew it wouldn’t work. I made things more difficult and kinda acted like a brat.”
He smiled at me. “Darlin’, I’m not angry at you for what happened today. We asked a lot from you. We asked you to trust me to give you the shots when you barely trust Emmett or Edward, we asked you to get one every day, and then we ended up giving you one extra today that you weren’t expecting. That wasn’t a tantrum for the sake of expressing anger, that was a meltdown as a result of anxiety and overstimulation. I am definitely not mad at you for that. In fact, I’m proud of you for doing as well as you did.
“That being said, I am disappointed that you won’t just admit to me and your mom that you are not feeling well. You have to be more responsible. It’s your asthma, I don’t know how you are feeling. And by the time your symptoms are visibly noticeable to me, it’s escalated too far out of your control. I know in a few years you’re going to be ready to be on your own and I’m so scared of how you’re going to handle that. Right now, I can still make the decisions for you when you’re in a rough patch, but one day, I won’t be able to. And I fear you’ll respond out of emotion rather than doing what is logically best for you.” He paused. “I realize you are scared my love, but you have to know that Edward, Emmett, and even Carlisle would never do anything to hurt you.”
“They did this week. And you did too.”
He sighed. “Yes, we did. But darlin’ you have to understand there is a difference between someone really hurting you and someone inflicting a little bit of discomfort that will benefit you in the long term. If anyone ever hurts you and you can’t justify how it helps, then I want to hear about it. Because it shouldn’t happen. But something like shots, every needle prick that caused you pain this week has improved your condition and helped you to heal.”
I sighed. “I hate asthma. I hate it when everyone feels the need to take care of me. And I hate it when you tell them something’s wrong. I don’t want there to be anything wrong but there always is. And I hate it when everyone always fusses over me when I get sick.”
“Darlin’, I know you hate it. I wish there was something I could do about it, but I can’t. The best I can do is get you the help when you need it and use my medical knowledge to intervene early. We only worry about you because we care about you. That is the only reason I go against your wishes and tell one of your uncles that something is wrong. I want you to be healthy as often as possible. And you can’t possibly imagine how difficult it is as a parent, and arguably as an uncle, to provide medical care for your child. But we do it when we have to.
“As far as the fussing goes, all of you kids get fussed on. It’s just for different reasons. I’m sure if you asked, Renessme could reference plenty of times Edward has acted like a helicopter parent and hovered too often,” he said with a smile.
I smiled too. It was good to know I had a family who cared. I knew that not all people my age were so lucky. I had a thought that was continuing to nag at me though, so I summoned the courage to ask, “Am I in trouble for trying to hide my symptoms from you?”
He sat back, considering the question. “I’ll ask you this first. Do you think you should be in trouble? Honestly.”
Now it was my turn to consider. Last Sunday, when everyone had come over and Uncle Edward had first diagnosed me, I had thrown a fit. For that, I had definitely been in trouble. That had been enough to push daddy to spank me a bit. And it hadn’t even hurt that bad. But it had gotten my attention. And it told me better than words could have that I was making a poor choice. But other than that initial treatment, I hadn’t acted out, even if it was tempting. And having had the shots still felt like it had been punishment on its own.
Finally, I formulated my musings into a verbal answer. “I think I was in trouble Sunday. But I don’t think I should be now. Because, until today, I did try to be good.”
The corner of his mouth pulled up in a small grin. “I agree. I think the natural consequences of the situation you got yourself in was enough this time. But Lataine?” He straightened up and his smile disappeared. He was being serious now. “If we end up repeating this ordeal, there will be additional consequences. Understand? You need to take care of yourself.”
I snuggled against his chest as I considered his words. I wasn’t eager to repeat any of what I had already been through. So, I most certainly wasn’t willing to add to that the consequence I knew was implied. Because by stubbornness alone, I had gotten myself in a pretty serious situation. And I guess in the long run, treatments were a lot less terrible than shots.
I wanted to stay mad, especially after the warning that had just been issued. But I found that I couldn’t. He was right, after all, and I believed he was only doing everything in his power to take care of me. I had come to an impasse this week, but hopefully I had overcome the hurdle and wouldn’t need to find out what consequences Jasper had in mind. “I’m not mad at you anymore daddy. I can’t stay mad at you” I admitted.
“Oh, I’m so glad to hear I don’t need to buy back your love. I guess that means I don’t need to rent the Goblet of Fire DVD?” he teased, rubbing my back.
“No! You do still need to rent it! I can’t start Order of the Phoenix until I watch the fourth movie!”
He smiled at my reaction. “Alright, I guess we can rent it. Are you sure you don’t want to watch The Civil War by Ken Burns?” I glared at him. “Alright, kiddo. Ready to venture out of bed?”
I eased myself off the bed and onto my feet, wincing as my muscles moved. I was so achy. “Maybe you can sit on an ice pack,” he teased, already at the door. “And Lataine?” he turned back to face me.
“Yeah?”
“I love you, princess”
I smiled “I love you too.”