You Complete Me [Jemily]

And?

TW! mentions of vomit and anxiety

July 7, 2018
Today was one of the hottest days of the summer so far in DC. The A/C in our place definitely works, but somehow it stills feels like there's no cold air to be found. Since tomorrow is Saturday, JJ and I made plans to bring Henry to the pool for the day to cool off after this heatwave. About 15 minutes ago, JJ set Henry down in his room for a nap. She walked back into the bedroom where I was, each of us wearing only tank tops and panties.

She shut the door behind her and I asked, "How does he feel?"

"Well I set up the box fan in his room so hopefully that will help him cool down... I took his shirt off and that seemed to help, too" She climbed up onto the bed next to me as we started to make out.

I groaned when my phone started ringing, "Nooo, leave me alone!" JJ laughed as I leaned over to pick it up. It was one of my nurses so I answered, "Hi, Brookie, what's up?"

"Sorry to bother you, Emily, I know you're off today, but Olive misplaced Bobby Corso's chart... do you remember what he came in last month for?"

"Mononucleosis."

"Yeah, that's what we thought but he's here now with the same symptoms and—"

"Wait? He's back? If he's back then he didn't have mono."

"Should we run another test?"

"Yes and run a test for strep as well, he might just have that."

"Is that all, doctor?"

"No I want you to check his tonsils too, Brookie, and feel his abdomen for a swollen spleen— either of those can detect strep or mono."

"Right away." She hung up and I plugged my phone back into the charger. JJ furrowed her brows, "Everything okay?"

"Meh, yeah. Kid came in last month with what we thought was mono but turns out he probably just had strep. And if he did, then he has it again," I looked up at her, "Everything's fine, let's go back to what we were doing." She giggled and grabbed my face to bring her lips over to mine.

I moaned into the kiss, "Mmm," but my phone rang a minute later, "What the fuck! I'm off today!" I picked up the phone and turned on my nice voice again, "Hello?" It was another one of my nurses.

"Hi, Em, it's Peg"

"Peg, you know I just talked to Brookie? I told her to give Bobby another te—"

"This isn't about Bobby, doctor, it's Abbie Welsh."

"Abbie? What's she in for? I just saw her a few days ago?"

"She's back with the same stomach pain as Tuesday... we can't find anything wrong, Emily, but she really seems like she's in pain"

"What have you checked for?"

"Well she has no temperature so we ruled out influenza, there's no tenderness in her belly so gastroenteritis and appendicitis were checked off, she's only six so it isn't ovulation pains... I don't know what else to do and neither does Dr. Nelson."

"Any problematic bowel movements or vomiting? It could be food poisoning."

"No. She hasn't thrown up or had any diarrhea."

"Is she still there? Can I talk to her?"

"Sure, doctor." While I was waiting for Peg to put Abbie on the phone, I threw the covers off of me and got out of bed. I started to pace around our bedroom with my phone pressed to my cheek and my thumbnail in my mouth, being bitten off. Nervous habit.

A quiet voice came through on the other end of the line, "Dr. Emmy?"

"Hi, Abbie, what's going on?"

"I-I don't know... my tummy hurts"

"Okay, Abbie, is it like an achy pain or an 'I feel like I'm gonna throw up' pain?"

"I-I don't know, b-but I don't have to throw up"

"That's good, that's good, um... Abbie how long has your tummy hurt?"

"I think Monday."

"Did you eat anything on Monday that maybe you haven't tried before? I know it was a long time ago, but try to remember."

"N-No, I h-had cereal for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch a-and we had spaghetti for dinner."

"Who's we, Abbie?"

"M-Me and my... daddy." I saw Abbie about a month ago for something else and she was in the clinic with her mom, who told me she and her husband recently split up. I remember her saying that Abbie didn't see her dad very often, and that she spent most of her time with the mother. I was quiet for a while so Abbie spoke up again, "Dr. Emmy? A-Are you hewe?"

I jolted back up, "Uh y-yes, Abbie, I'm here"

"Are you hewe in the room?"

"The room? What room, sweetheart?"

"The room w-where all the doctors are... in hewe." I assumed she meant my office in the clinic.

"Oh, no, honey I'm not in the office... Abbie, have you been at your dad's house this week?"

"Yes"

"Do you like staying with him?" There was a longer pause than normal. "Abbie?"

"Y-Yeah." I think I knew what was wrong, and I needed to talk to my nurse again.

"Okay, Abbie, you did a great job answering my questions... can you give the phone back to Nurse Peggy?" I waited for Peg.

"Emily?"

"Peg, I think it's anxiety."

"Anxiety? She's six?"

"And? She's still human, she's not exempt from fluctuations in mental health," I walked back over to the bed and sat down, pulling my pants back on, "Keep Abbie and her father there, I coming in"

"You're coming in? Why? If it's anxiety we know what to suggest—"

"I'm coming in, Peg, and I don't have time to discuss it. Just stall and keep them in the office, I'll be there in 10 minutes." I hung up and threw my phone on the bed.

As I was getting the rest of my stuff ready JJ asked me, "What happened? It sounds serious?"

"There's uh... there's a little girl, she's six, who came in a few days ago with stomach pains. We couldn't diagnose anything because uh... it didn't present as the flu or appendicitis or anything like that so we just sent her home," I dug for my car keys in my backpack, "But she came to the clinic again today with the same pains and my staff doesn't know what to do."

"So what are you gonna do?"

"I think it's anxiety-induced nausea, and I think it's because of her father... I'll be back as soon as I can, okay? But I-I have to go make sure..."

JJ nodded, "I know, I know it's okay, Em. Take your time and call me if you need anything." I gave her a quick kiss and then raced out back to the garage to hop in my car. I arrived at my clinic within 10 minutes and got in the elevator right away.