Our Little Hero

𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 | "𝐢'𝗺 𝐬𝗼𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝗼𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥"

A few days had finally passed since Caroline had her port placement procedure. The Halstead family had gone through their new routine everyday they were in the hospital. But now, it was time for them to add on to this new "normal" for them. It was finally time for Callie to begin her chemotherapy treatments. Hailey had left Cosette with Kim, while she stayed with Callie, while Jay had gone home to freshen up for a little while. On the hospital bed, Callie laid, watching a movie on the tv in the room. Beside her, was the stuffed animal that Jay had gotten her a few days prior, after her port placement.

Soon enough, Jay had returned to the hospital, and made his way into Callie's room. "Daddy!" The four year old chirped, as she gave him a big smile. "Hey, baby girl" Jay said, as he gave his daughter a kiss on the forehead. "Were you good for mommy while I was gone?" He asked her. Callie gave him a swift nod of her head, "I'm always good daddy." "Oh, I know you are kiddo" he told her, as he went and sat with Hailey. While Callie watched her movie some more, Hailey and Jay sat and talked with one another, and just embraced the "healthy" version of Callie they had with them right then. Both of them knew that after the chemotherapy treatments started, Callie would most likely get sicker. From side effects, and mostly from the drugs in the treatment as they begin to attack Callie's "bad blood" that lived inside of her.

Hailey and Jay had told Callie that she was sick, but it was rather difficult to have to explain it all to a four year old. So, they told her that what was supposed to be "good blood" in her body, it was actually "bad blood", and that the hospital stay and the new medicine going into her port would fight off the "bad blood" for her. Callie had seemed to understand all of it, for the most part, at least.

Around an hour or so after Jay had arrived, the oncologist made his way into the four year old's room. "Good morning, you three. Are we ready to start some treatment today?" He asked, in a friendly manner. The oncologist knew how scary this type of thing was, not only for Callie, but for her parents as well, so the friendlier he could be, the better. "Ready as we'll ever be" Hailey told him. "Alright. The nurse will be in here shortly to access Callie's port, and get the chemo started. She may feel nauseous after it starts, or just feel rather rotten. Don't let it scare you, it's extremely normal for anyone having chemotherapy." He told them. Hailey and Jay both listened to him, as they both shook his hand before he left the hospital room, to continue his rounds with the remainder of his patients.

Shortly after he left the room, in came the nurse with the medicine and the proper tools to access Callie's port, in order to administer the chemotherapy medicine. Callie saw the needle that had to be used to initially access her port, and she began to freak out a bit. "Oh sweetheart, it's going to be fine. It'll be just a small poke. This way, I can get your medicine started" the nurse told the little girl, but Callie turned her head to both of her parents, tears filling her eyes rapidly. "I want daddy!" She cried, sticking out her arms for him. "Don't poke me, please!" Callie said, as she tried to get away from the nurse with the needle. "Mom or dad, one of you may want to sit with her and hold her still." The nurse informed her parents. Jay made his way over to Callie's bed, as he picked her up, and placed her on his lap. It pained him to have to hold her down the way he did, to restrain her. "Let me go, please daddy!" Callie cried, as the nurse was finally able to access her port. Once the nurse had successfully accessed the four year old's port, she was able to hook her up to the chemo medicine, and hung it up on the IV pole beside Callie's bed. "See? All done with the needle. It will take a bit for the chemo to finish, and then we'll need to do typical labs for her eventually today, as well." The nurse said, before she left the parents with their four year old, who was still in tears.

Jay released the small child from his grip, as he sat her back down on her bed, to let her lay down, if she desired to do so. "You hurted me daddy" Callie said. "I'm sorry baby. I didn't want to, but I had to. So you could get your medicine" he told her. "Why don't you lay back and rest a bit?" He asked his daughter. Callie shook her head, as her blue eyes locked with her father's eyes. "I wanna sit with you daddy. I wanna snuggle" she informed him. Jay then went back to Callie, as he picked her up and sat her down on his lap, planting a kiss on the top of her blonde hair. "Make sure you tell me or mommy if your tummy starts to hurt, or if you feel sick, okay?" He asked her, "I will daddy. I promise" the little girl said, as she went back to watching her movie.

After what felt like ages had passed, Callie's chemo had finally finished. Callie had felt nauseous periodically during the treatment, but surprisingly didn't get sick. The nurse returned to the room to de-access Callie's port, and unfortunately traumatize the little girl. After Callie's port had been de-accessed, Callie simply buried her head into Jay's shoulder, and cried for a little while longer. Hailey and Jay both hoped the port access and de-access would get easier for Callie. They hated watching their young daughter struggle and cry.

Later that evening, after the family spent quality time together, Hailey headed on out for the night, to pick up Cosy, and head home. While Jay and Callie watched another movie, and Callie received all the snuggles she wished for. "Daddy?" Came the voice from the four year old. "What's wrong, Cal? Do you feel bad?" Jay asked his daughter. Callie shook her head, "No. I'm okay, daddy" she said. "I'm sorry for being a bad girl today, daddy" Callie told her father. "Oh Callie. Baby, it's not your fault. You were just scared, and we knew it would scare you a bit." He stated. "Needles can be scary, but mommy and I are so proud of you. You've done so well so far. But what happened today, doesn't mean you're a bad girl, at all. Sometimes scary things happen, which is hard to do. But you did so good, Cal. It's okay to cry. It's okay to be scared. But mommy and I will always be here for when you're scared. I'll hold you in my lap every time you have to get medicine like that, and mommy will always hold your hand." He told her. "We're not going to let anything bad happen to you, okay?" He told her, as Callie nodded, and made sure to give him a big kiss on his cheek. "I love you daddy" Callie told him. "I love you too, Callie girl" Jay told her, as he held Callie until she fell asleep. But, he couldn't bear to lay her down. He wanted his daughter to have the comfort she always would seek for. Jay wanted Callie to know that he wouldn't leave her. And, he knew that she would want to be close by. She always wanted to be close to him. So that's exactly what he did. But, the events that would happen in the following days, really made him hold a bit tighter to Callie.

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Author's Note: Thank you guys for reading! I've really appreciated your reads and votes! Please feel free to leave any thoughts, questions, comments, or anything for me!