Living with my greatest fear.

~Chapter 9~

*THE NEXT DAY*

I had to get up early because I had work, like normal, but I looked at my schedule yesterday just before I finished, and it turns out that I don't have a busy day. I should, hopefully, be finished by three this afternoon. I have to stay 'on-call' just in case an emergency comes in and I have to go back to the office.

When I finish work, I'm thinking of talking to Ellie about the dentist. I know it's kind of weird just springing it on her but I don't want to talk to her about it just after an appointment because she would hate me for taking her to the appointment.

I go downstairs to make myself a cup of tea, my breakfast and afterwards my lunch. I don't know when I'm going to take my lunch break but I will probably have it down at the office instead of when I come back in after work.

As I'm making my lunch, I hear Ellie coming down the stairs. She comes into the kitchen, still looking half-asleep.

"Good morning, Ellie. How are you?"

"Hi, I'm okay. Just tired."

"Does your mouth still hurt from yesterday?"

"Only a bit. Can I have some painkillers, though?"

"Yeah, I'll only give you one if the pain isn't too bad."

"Okay, thank you."

I give Ellie the painkiller and tell her that the pain should just go away during the day and she won't have to take anymore painkillers.

I go back to making my lunch - a chicken salad, as usual.

Once I am finished making my lunch, I go and sit down at the breakfast bar with my cup of tea, and surprisingly Ellie is still sitting there. I go to sit next to her and she asks me if she can have a cup of tea.

"Yeah, of course you can. Do you want me to make it for you?"

"Please."

"Okay, do you want anything to eat?"

"Umm, no I'm not that hungry, thanks though."

"Okay, but just make sure you eat something before lunch."

"Yeah, I will, don't worry."

Ellie doesn't normally eat anything around breakfast time, I don't know how she can't be hungry when she wakes up but I guess a load of people don't have breakfast. I normally ask her to eat something before lunch so she technically has breakfast. She sometimes tries to sneak a bag of crisps or sweets as her breakfast. If I catch her, I tell her to give it to me and I throw her a piece of fruit. I don't really have many sweets and things like that in the house, just because I know what they do to your teeth and they're not good for your health.

The kettle finishes boiling and I make Ellie her cup of tea. I set it down on the breakfast bar.

"There you go, E"

"Thanks. What time are you finishing today?"

"I have patients until about 3pm, then I can leave, but I have to stay available until 6:30pm in case any emergencies come in and I have to go back to the office to help them."

"Okay, can I stay here then, as you're not going to be out that long?"

"Yeah, you can stay here. Don't eat a load of junk food or have any parties whilst I'm at work though!"

"I won't have any parties whilst you're at work."

"You won't eat loads of junk food either, will you?" I say quite sternly. The fewer the sweets Ellie eats, the fewer times she has to come down to my office for a deep cleaning, so really I'm doing her a favour.

"Why don't you let me eat any good things like sweets and chocolate? All of my friends are allowed to eat them."

"You don't like coming down to my office, do you?"

"No."

"Well, if you don't want to come down to my office and have a deep cleaning regularly, then you can't eat a load of sweets and sugary things."

"Ugh, why do you have to be a dentist!?"

"Because I enjoy it, that's why."

"But you don't have to be such a health nerd though!"

"I just care about your health, E, if you want to eat sugary things, then go ahead, but expect to be coming to my office more!" I say, basically giving in to the argument but telling her she would have to come down to my office, somewhere that she hates, often to have her teeth professionally cleaned.

"Fine, I'll do that, if it means I can eat sugary things."

"Okay then," I say, dismissing the conversation. "I need to go to work now, make sure you brush your teeth, like Tobey told you to."

"Yes, okay," Ellie said, probably just wanting me to leave so she could eat sweets without me knowing.

I leave for work. I don't want to make Ellie come to my office more regularly but if she is choosing to eat a load of sugary things then she has no choice.

*15 MINUTES LATER*

Ellie's POV:

I'm so glad Grant finally said I could eat sugary things. Yes, he said that I had to go down to his office more often but I don't really care about that. I just care that I can now eat sugary things and actually be like a normal child and enjoy them.

Grant's POV:

I get into work and set my bag down and put my lunch into the fridge in the break room. I leave the break room and go into my exam room, and start to load up my schedule for today. My first appointment is at 8:30am - just when the office officially opens. I have 20 mins until the appointment, so I start to set up the room and load up my patient's records. It's only a checkup, so it will be fairly straightforward and will be done in no time.

*20 MINUTES PASS*

I get up and go into the waiting room and call out my first patient's name. He's a bit younger than Ellie, but a lot more well-behaved and relaxed when he comes to see me. I've been his dentist for about 8 years, so we do know each other quite well. I think that's why he is relaxed when he comes in. We start the checkup and I check around his mouth for any abnormalities or anything that's different. I can't find anything, so I sit the chair up, tell him that he was very well-behaved and that he and his mum can make another appointment for around 6 months time.

*A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER*

I've taken my lunch break now and I only have one more patient of the day, and then I'm going home to talk to Ellie. I don't really want to talk to Ellie about her fear because I know she won't like me for bringing it up but I want to know why she is so scared of me. I eat my lunch in the break room until about 10 minutes before my last patient.

*10 MINUTES GO BY*

I put my lunch stuff in my bag ready for when I leave and then go into my exam room to clean and get things all ready for my last patient.

*ANOTHER 10 MINUTES GO BY*

I'm all ready to go and get my last patient of the day from the waiting room. I go into the waiting room and call out their name. She's about the same age as Ellie and is also scared of the dentist but doesn't make a load of fuss about anything. She just does what I say and gets on with it. I know she doesn't like it, because we have talked about it before. I know that I shouldn't compare people but I don't get why Ellie is so scared and makes it known everytime she comes down here but then people like Scarlett, the person who I'm with now, don't make a fuss but are still scared. I would have thought it would be the other way around because I'm Ellie's older brother whereas to Scarlett, and others, I'm just technically a stranger who is their dentist.

I give Scarlett a checkup and don't find anything that needs a closer look at so I send her on her way too. They make another appointment for around 6 months time.

I go back into the exam room and tidy away and clean it all up ready for tomorrow.

I lock the door to my exam room and go to the break room to say bye to anyone in there - just Tobey, as it happens. I then leave the office, get in the car and drive home.