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Jasper POV
The phone rang and I waited for someone to answer. I was hoping they were home. I knew that Renesmee had to go to a friend’s house this morning to work on a project, so I was really hoping that Edward was home by now. On the third ring, Isabella answered. “Hello?”
“Bella, this is Jasper.”
“Oh hey. How is my favorite brother-in-law?” Despite my current anxiety, I couldn’t help but snicker. I was her only brother-in-law.
“I’m doing well, and Alice is great too. Clarissa is the one I’m worried about. Is Edward there?”
“Yeah he is. Hold on one minute.”
I knew Clarissa would not be happy that I had called Edward. She openly admitted that Edward and Bella were her favorite aunt and uncle, but I also knew she was scared of doctors. Edward was no exception to that fear, even if he wasn’t actively working in a doctor’s office. After a minute or so of the sounds of shuffling around in the background, I heard Edward’s voice through the receiver. “Jasper? What I can do for you?”
“Edward,” I greeted. “I believe Clarissa is having an asthma flair up. So far, we’ve got it under control, but she’s struggling, and I’m worried about her. I hate to bother you on the weekend, but with Emmett out of town, I don’t know if I should take her to the ER or just keep giving her the albuterol here.”
“I’ll come check her over, see how she’s doing. If her medicine isn’t working she may need something else. I’ll run by Emmett’s office to grab some supplies and be there in about half an hour,” Edward answered.
“Thanks Edward, I appreciate it.” I hung up and headed up the stairs to my daughter’s room. Alice had left a few minutes ago to get a few things from the store for Clarissa, she was low on her nebulizer medication and we usually gave her caffeine to relieve some of the inflammation as well.
“Daddy, did you wanna see my peak flow?” she asked as I came in the room holding out the meter for me to see. It read 250. It was supposed to be above 350. “I did it twice. The first one was lower, like 225.”
I sighed and sat down on her bed. I pushed her hair out of her face. “That’s much lower than it should be, darlin’. I called Uncle Edward. Your nebulizer treatments aren’t doing enough and if he can do something for you here, we won’t need to take a trip to the ER.” I could see the look on her face that said she was going to argue. “Clarissa Lataine don’t even try to argue with me. You know I will win.”
She huffed and sat back on the pillows, pouting.
Edward POV
I hoped that Lataine was okay. My niece had problems with her asthma quite frequently. For a few years, she had been relatively healthy, but when she changed buildings at school, leaving the newer lower elementary suite for the older upper elementary building, her dormant condition had started to flare up again. So, after a pit stop by the clinic to pick up the supplies I might need but didn’t have on hand, I was on the road to my sister’s house.
Though they weren’t blood related, Lataine reminded me of Bella in so many ways. For one she hated seeing a doctor because she hated the thought that needles might be involved. Like Bella, she was also clumsy. Not quite as clumsy, because she was very graceful when she was dancing and she practically lived at the dance studio 24/7. But between being equilibrium challenged and having a history of respiratory illness, she ended up seeing doctors a lot.
I pulled into the driveway of my sister’s house, noticing Alice’s car was missing. I pulled my bag from the backseat before climbing out of the car. Bella came around to my side of the vehicle, keys in hand. “I’m gonna go pick Nessa up. She just texted me and said she was ready to leave. I’ll be back in about 20 minutes.”
I nodded, and wrapped my arms around her in an embrace, kissing the top of her head. “I love you,” I whispered. She wrapped her arms around my neck and stood on her toes so that I could quickly peck her on the lips.
I walked up the porch steps and knocked on the door. Jasper opened it. “Hey, thanks for coming so quickly. Clarissa is up in her room; I’m going to stay down here for now. She behaves better when I’m not there.”
I chuckled at his admission. “Anything else I need to know?”
“Her peak flow average was 238 about fifteen minutes ago. I’ve had her alternating albuterol and duo-neb treatments every three hours.” I nodded, clapping him on the back before heading to the stairs.
Climbing the steps two at a time, I made my way down the short hallway to Lataine’s room. Her door was open, but I knocked anyway. “Hi. You can come in,” she said softly.
I crossed the threshold, and sat down on the edge of her bed, placing my bag on her nightstand. She was sitting back in bed, reading Among the Hidden for probably the tenth time. “I think daddy is overreacting,” she said without looking up from her book.
I didn’t reply yet but gave her time to finish the section she was reading. After a moment, she closed the book and shoved it under a pillow to look at me. “That may be true, but if your peak flow meter is reading 238, it’s better to make sure,” I said, running my fingers through her hair.
She sighed. “Yeah, I know.”
I pulled my stethoscope out of my bag. She sat up straight as I put the ear pieces in my ears. “Deep breaths.”
“I know the drill.” I moved the stethoscope around her chest and each time I moved it, she would take in another breath. I pulled her hair back and then moved the stethoscope around to her back. “You’re wheezing and your breathing is shallow. It doesn’t sound like the albuterol is doing enough for you.”
I could tell by looking at her face that she knew what I was implying. “Please don’t, Uncle Edward,” she pleaded with me in a whisper. She had been through this enough to know that a round of steroids usually started with an injection. “Rather now than in the hospital later,” I replied gently, taking her hand and stroking my finger across it. “I will take care of you, my love.”
She whimpered. I knew this was going to be difficult for her. She had a very low pain tolerance on top of a slightly irrational fear of needles. “Shh, sweetie. Do you want me to have Jasper or Alice come up? They can hold your hand.” She nodded, but didn’t say a word.
I walked down the stairs and was bombarded by my twelve-year-old daughter which meant that Bella had returned. “Is Clair ok?” she asked. I smiled at the concern of my only daughter. Lataine and Ness were very close in age and had a really close relationship. Because of our unusual family situation, they were much like siblings.
“She will be fine,” I consoled, as Bella, Alice, and Jasper walked in from the kitchen. “But I do need to see at least one parent upstairs for a moment, if that isn’t a problem.”
“Might as well not have her mad at both of us,” Jasper volunteered, separating from the group to follow me back upstairs. He had likely come to the same conclusion on his own, but he knew exactly what I was planning to do as soon as he saw the look on his daughter’s face. Nothing else gave her that look of anxiety.
As I prepared the things I would need, Jasper sat down on the bed and Lataine moved to sit beside him. I had always picked on Jasper, calling him an empath because of his nature. He could sense how people were feeling when no one else could and that was the reason why he made such a brilliant psychiatrist. Even now, I could see her relaxing ever so slightly. “You know I would never do anything to hurt you unless it’s intended to help,” he whispered. “It’s just one shot, darlin’. One little pinch and you’ll be done.” As he talked, he squeezed up and down her arms, applying pressure to sooth her anxiety.
I pulled on a pair of rubber latex gloves, not out of necessity, but out of habit. I kept my tone light as I gave her directions. It was just something she had to do; it didn’t have to be a depressing ritual. “Alright girlie, I need you on your tummy for me.” She rolled over, resting flat on her stomach, her head in Jasper’s lap. I tugged her shorts and underwear down and cleaned the site for a dorsogluteal injection. “Okay, my love, pinch on the count of 3.”
Jasper ran his fingers through her hair, while she gripped his hand in hers for dear life. “1, 2, 3.” On 3, I quickly stuck the needle into the muscle, injected all the medicine, and removed it. “Good job, sweetheart,” Jasper and I both said in unison. “Jinx.”
“Jinx to the power of infinity!” Jasper exclaimed triumphantly, as I sealed the injection site with a bandage. She giggled at us and I was glad to see that she was no longer in pain.
Carefully, she rolled off the bed and once she was balanced on her feet again, she wrapped her arms around my neck. “Thank-you for taking care of me. Even if I complain, I appreciate it.”
I smiled. “I know you do. You’re so much like Bella in that way. But it couldn’t have been too bad, you didn’t even cry.” She smiled in silent agreement. “By the way, Nessa’s downstairs. She’s been worried about you.”
She squealed in excitement, and without another word, ran down the stairs. We followed her to find her wrapped in an embrace with Ness. “As soon as you’re up to it, Clair we just have to go shopping.” God, she sounded like my sister. She noticed me looking at her. “I said when she’s better, gosh Dad.” She hadn’t even left the tween years yet; my daughter was gonna give me a run for my money as she got older.
I chuckled. “Thanks for taking care of Lataine for us, big brother,” Alice said coming over to hug me.
“Anytime, little sister,” I said hugging her. “Just get some rest Lataine, and Jasper, make sure she keeps taking her medicine like she has been, fill the script for prednisone twice a day, and she should be feeling better in no time.”
“Then we can go shopping?” my daughter asked hopefully, as both girls looked up at me with puppy dog eyes, something they had learned from my lovely little sister.
I addressed my daughter particularly. “As soon as she is better, you can go shopping, yes. But for now, she needs rest and you, Miss Nessa, have chores to do.”
Jasper POV
After Edward, Bella, and Nessa had left, I took a seat on the armrest of the couch, where my daughter had plopped herself. She was lying on her stomach, staring at the television, which was now running Lizzie McGuire re-runs. “Hey, my sweet.”
“I really hate it when you call Uncle Ed or Uncle Em and tell them I’m sick,” she sighed.
“Well, rather get only one shot now than to end up in the hospital with many, right?” I asked sitting down on the bed.
“That’s pretty much what he said,” she said sighing, propping herself up on her elbows to turn her attention to me.
I chuckled. “I’m just happy I don’t have to take you the hospital. I can minimize your anxiety by having them come here. And none of us would ever do anything to hurt you, my dear. You can be mad when I call your uncles, but I won’t cave to you. I don’t want you sick.” As an afterthought, and more to myself, I muttered, “And I want to keep you out of the hospital where none of us have jurisdiction.”
She giggled at that.
“I love you, Clarissa,” I said, leaning over to kiss her on the forehead.
“I love you too, daddy.”