Her 8 Older Brothers

The Truth

Gio's POV:

I'm not excited about Ari's doctor's appointment today. I have no clue what I will find, which scares me. I click the off button on my alarm clock and shower. After that, I get dressed in my scrubs and head down the stairs to the kitchen. In the kitchen, I'm met with Jack, Nico, and Metias. I smile at Metias and ignore the other two while pouring me a cup of coffee.

-What are you doing today, Gio?

I look at Metias, eyebrow raised.

-Same thing every day. Work.

-Well yeah but is anything cool or special coming up?

-Ari has an appointment today.

-Oh.

I look at him.

-What do you mean, oh?

-I just mean there could be a lot of things you find and it might not be what we're looking for.

I nod my head in understanding. I'm dreading my baby sister's check-up. I grab my keys and head to my car. Once inside I turn on the music and head to the hospital. Parking quickly, I head inside and prepare myself for a busy day. Normally I work from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm but I only work until 2:30 pm today and then Ari is my last appointment after that. I begin my day and by the time it's lunch I'm beat. I check the clock and see it's 1:46 pm. I sigh. One more patient until Ari's appointment. I eat my chicken salad and fruit quickly before getting back to work.

One hour later...

I get a call from Mathew just as I finish up for the day.

-We're here.

-Alright, come on up and I'll bring you back.

I hang up and wait in my office. Once I hear a knock I see Mathew standing with my rather tiny sister. For a twelve year old she looks small.

-Ready, Gio?

I nod my head and lead them to an exam room. Mathew asks what we're gonna check for as Ari sits at the table.

-We're going to check her heart rate, blood pressure, height, weight, arms and legs, and if needed check for injuries in other areas.

He nods at me, as does Ari. I check her heart rate and blood pressure before asking her to step on the scale. Both we're quite high so I can tell she's nervous. Once on the scale I read it: 69 lbs.

-Ariana, you're severely underweight...

She frowns at me, as does Mathew. I measure her height: 4'2. Short but not horrible. I nod at her and she sits on the exam table again. She's in shorts so it's easy to check her legs for any marking. I see a few bruises on her thighs but that's a normal thing for girls. I move to push her hoodie sleeves up but she pulls her arm back.

-Sweetheart, I need to look at your arms.

She shakes her head at me and I look to Mathew.

-Why won't you let Gio see, Ariana?

TW: RAPE and ABUSE

She again, shakes her head. I grab her arm quickly and pull up her sleeve. This may be wrong but she's hiding something for a reason and it could be bad. I look at her arms and gulp. Mathew walks over and gasps. Her wrists are covered in cuts, bruises, and scratch marks. I look to Mathew who looks to Ari. She has tears in her eyes as she looks away from us. I wrote everything needed for this check-up. Ariana shows signs of abuse and I need to do a full body check over.

-Ariana?

She turns to me with a fearful expression.

-I need to do a full body checkover. Or I can have a female do it?