Work Text:
Lataine POV
I had done everything. I had ‘lost’ the form. I had ‘accidentally thrown it away.’ It had been stomped on, buried in the back yard, and chewed up by my best friend’s dog after dog food had “accidentally” spilled on it. Yet it had still been signed and turned into the school. I guess that’s what happens when your uncle is in charge of the forms. Uncle Emmett had brought the forms to the school, so he knew full well we were getting them and told Alice and Jasper. And Uncle Edward was collecting them, as the school Nurse Practitioner and had given them an extra copy when mine mysteriously went missing. Once again, the adults ganged up on me.
Our school was offering a flu shot clinic for one day. And every student who had returned that dreadful form would be getting a flu shot at no charge. A group of nurses and some of the high school medical program students would be setting up an empty classroom to act as a clinic. Alice and Jasper had decided that I needed the shot, no question about it. Jasper said I got sick enough and didn’t need to get the flu on top of it. “Might as well get it when all your friends are instead of having to go to the doctor’s office later, darlin’,” Jasper had said.
So, all morning I had been dreading when they would call down the sixth graders to get their shots. We would be the last to go. This was something the school did every year and apparently it was always eventful for the sixth graders, as many of them had never been through a procedure without their parents before.
After lunch, which I didn’t eat, the sixth graders were called down to the health classroom. The classroom looked like a mini hospital and it was all too fitting that this is where the clinic had been set up. They sat us in the auditorium to wait and started calling us in alphabetical order by last name. My last name started with a W. I would be here a while. But I saw two familiar faces pulling kids to get their shots: my Uncle Edward, who is employed here after all, and my Grandpa Carlisle.
Carlisle POV
I had promised Jasper that I would make sure I was the one to take care of Lataine. Edward couldn’t give her the shot, as he was giving the nose spray vaccines. I, however, was giving the needle injections. I was about to be one of Lataine’s least favorite people. And worse, I would have to put family ties aside since this was a school. Of course, being that it was Lataine, there was the strong possibility that family ties simply wouldn’t make a difference. She had a certain talent for charming people, one she had likely picked up from her mother.
When I walked to the auditorium to get Lataine, there were only a few sixth graders left. She looked terrified. One of the benefits of her being so far down the alphabet was that she’d be one of the last to get her shot. So, we’d be in the room essentially alone.
When I called her name, she looked slightly relieved. I guess she preferred me giving her the shot if she had to have it over one of the nurses or students that she didn’t know.
She followed me into the makeshift clinic room and I lead her over to my chair. There were screens between each chair so each student would have privacy but it wasn’t much. I had already prepared the syringe and it was ready and waiting on the counter. I bent down so that I was next to her. “Are you alright, sweetheart?”
She shook her head no. “Please don’t give it to me,” she whispered softly. She refused to say the word, as if it was tabooed.
I heard movement on the other side of the privacy screen before the patient and nurse walked out from the makeshift room and out of the classroom. Now left alone, I felt a bit more comfortable showing affection. I rubbed the pads of my fingers up and down her arm.
“I love seeing you, but I hate seeing you sick so often. You need it, angel. It will only hurt for a second and I promise it won’t hurt that much. Like a mosquito bite.”
She whimpered softly and then mumbled “I don’t like mosquito bites, either.”
I smiled. “I know you don’t, love. And I know you are scared, but this is to help you, I promise. I would never do anything to you that wouldn’t help you in the long run. It’ll just be a little pinch.”
She drew in a shaky breath. I stood back up and wiped her arm with an alcohol wipe. I picked up the syringe. “Are you ready?”
She shook her head no. I smiled sympathetically. “If we wait, you will never be ready.”
She whimpered again. “Just close your eyes and don’t think about it. Tell me about your day so far.”
“We had free time in math class. Cuz our teacher didn’t want to go through a lesson and then have to reteach it to half of her classes. So, we drew pictures on the white board. That’s actually what I’ve done most of the day. I’ve drawn crazy pictures and written silly stories.” As she spoke, I quickly slid the needle into the muscle, injected the vaccine, and had it back out again before she was even aware of what was going on. I covered the injection site with a bandage, and she opened her eyes.
“It’s over?” she asked, shakily.
“You’d think we were trying to cut her open,” Edward spoke up, having just entered the room to help reset.
She stuck her tongue out at him. I chuckled.
“Was it as bad as you thought it would be?”
She shook her head no. “I barely felt it. Thank you, grandpa,” she whispered.
“You know I’ll always take care of you, Miss Clarissa Lataine. Now, go back to class and get your backpack. I’m springing you out of here early, sweet girl.”