Living with my greatest fear.

~Chapter 34~

*END OF THE SCHOOL DAY*

Ellie's POV:

As it's the end of the day, I walk to where Grant is to wait for him to finish up and then go to the office.  I think Grant told me this morning that he had a couple of patients booked in at the office after school, so he would have to see those before he fixed my chip. I said that was fine because I could just wait in the staffroom and do some homework whilst I waited for him to finish. Waiting in the staffroom wasn't nearly as bad as waiting in the actual waiting room because it didn't feel like I was at Grant's office.

I got to the medical room and knocked on the door, just in case Grant was still with someone.
"Come in," I heard from the other side of the door. "Oh, hi Ellie! I'm just finishing up with this record and then we can leave. How was school?" He says, smiling at me.
"Meh, it was alright, I guess. My mouth has been annoying me all day though," I say, rolling my eyes.
"I'm sorry, E. I'll check your gums again at the office later and get you another toothbrush. There's not really much else I can do, sorry, E," He says, giving me a sad smile.

*TIME SKIP TO ELLIE AND GRANT ARRIVING AT THE OFFICE*

Grant's POV:

We have just arrived at the clinic and both Ellie and I get out of the car. Before, I would've been amazed at Ellie getting out of the car without me nagging her, but now I've learnt that if she knows that she's not got an appointment with me straight away, she's not scared or anxious because she doesn't think about it.

"Are you going to wait in the staffroom until I'm ready?" I ask, on the way in.
"Yeah, I can do some homework or something. I don't like it in the waiting room."
"Okey dokey. I'll be maybe an hour, maybe a little longer?"
"Okay.."

I go into my exam room and set everything up for my first appointment back in the office and have a quick look at my patient's records. 

*AN HOUR AND A HALF GOES BY*

Grant's POV:

I told Ellie that I'll only be just over an hour but it's taking way longer than I thought it would to get through everyone. I walk into the staffroom just to let Ellie know that it's all taking longer than I thought it would.

"Hey, E." She immediately looks up at me with a scared expression on her face.
"Don't worry, E. I'm quite ready for you yet, it's taking longer than I thought to get through everyone and I just thought I'd let you know. Everything okay in here?"
"Ohhh, okay. Yeah, I'm fine," she says, smiling.
"Alright then, I should probably head back to work then." I say, smiling back.

It's going to be ages until I'm finished with my patients, so I decide to look at Tobey's schedule to see if he's got any spare time. It turns out he's about as busy as I am. The only other option is James, and I know he has some free time now because he's just doing paperwork in his exam room. But, I also know Ellie will hate me if I ask James to step in for me for Ellie's appointment. I decide it'll be too late to fix Ellie's chips after all of my patients so I go to James' exam room and knock on the door.

"Come in," James says from the other side of the door.
"Hey, mate. I don't have much time, but I was wondering if you could do me a favour? It's to do with Ellie.."
"Yeah, sure, mate. What do you need?"
"I was meant to fix one of Ellie's chips today after school and I've been so busy with patients that I think it'll be too late for me to do it once I've finished, so I was wondering if you could possibly step in for me?"
"Yeah, I can do that for you, mate. Does she know?"
"She knows that I'm really busy, but she doesn't know I'm asking you to step in for me, as I've only just thought of it. She's going to hate me for asking you but I really want her to be seen today rather than waiting longer."
"Okay, mate, is she here now?"
"Yeah, she's just waiting in the staff room," I say.
"Okay, cool. I'll go and speak to her in a few minutes."
"Thank you so much, mate."
"No worries," James says, smiling at me.

I make my way back to my exam room to get everything ready for my next patient.

James' POV:

Saying yes to step in for Grant isn't difficult in itself, but I'm just weary about how Ellie will react when she finds out that I'm the one that's fixing her chip.

I finish the bit of paperwork that I'm working on and then have a look at Ellie's file to have a look at where the chip I'm fixing is and if there's anything else going on. As I'm looking at her notes, I see that Grant has just added a section about her gums. It says that if I have time, he would like me to have a look at her gums and see if there's anything I could suggest to help and to get her a new toothbrush.

After I read through her file, I started to set up my exam room so it's ready for when Ellie comes in.

I make sure to cover the tools on the tray with a sheet so she doesn't get anxious about those before she's even sat down. I know that because I'm the one that's fixing Ellie's chip, she's going to be even more stressed and anxious than she normally is because she's scared of me anyway.

Once I've set everything up, I make my way to the staff room to get Ellie.

Ellie's POV:

It's been a little while since Grant came into the staff room to say hi to me but I don't think anything of it as he did say that it would take a whole for him to get through all of his patients. Just as I'm thinking about it, I hear the door open. I immediately put my stuff down and looked up expecting to see Grant, but I didn't. Instead, I saw James.
"Hey, Ellie. How are you doing?" James says, sitting down on the sofa next to me.
"Hi James. I'm alright, thanks, you?"
"Yeah, I'm good, thanks. Grant's told you that he's really busy with his patients, hasn't he?"
"Yeah, he came in a little while ago and told me if could be a while before he could see me."
"Okay. Well, Grant came into my room after he spoke to you and asked me if I could step in for him and see you instead. He said that it would end up being too late tonight if you waited and he didn't want you waiting longer than today to get your chip fixed. Are you okay with me fixing your chip and just giving you a quick checkup?"
"Ummm....I don't really have much choice do I?" I said, practically whispering.
"I'm afraid not really, Ellie. I promise I'm not as scary as you think and that I care for you just as much as Grant does."
"I'm not sure..." I say, feeling my breathing and heart rate increase.
"Ellie, why don't you just follow me into my exam room and have a seat and we can go from there?" James says, slowly standing up and reaching his hand up for me to hold onto.