Living with my greatest fear.

~Chapter 35~

James' POV:

I really hope that after this, Ellie won't hate me as much as she does at the minute. I never wanted Ellie to hate me, but I can see why she does. I was always the person Grant would get if Ellie wasn't being cooperative because she would listen to me but not Grant. Maybe Ellie will see that I'm not angry and I do care about anyone, especially Ellie, when they are sitting in my chair.

We approach the door to my room, and before I open the door, I turn around to Ellie and give her a soft smile and say, "I promise you, we will take this at a pace you feel comfortable with and that I do care about how you feel, okay?"

She doesn't make eye contact with me but nods.

"Shall we go in, so you can settle and get started?"

"Okay.." She whispers.

I open the door and walk in, keeping the door open for Ellie to walk in.

"Just take a seat, anywhere will do for now. I just want you to feel comfortable." I say, as I go over to my computer and sit down on my rolling stool.

I quickly re-read over Ellie's notes, just to remind myself again. After that, I turn to Ellie, who is sitting on a chair by the dental chair, and start to ask her some questions as I haven't had her for a checkup or anything in a while.

"I'd like to just ask you a few questions, if that's okay with you?"

"Mhmm.."

"Okey dokey. Do you feel any pain where your chip is?"

"Yeah, it's been hurting all day."

"Okay... Have you told Grant it's been hurting?" I say, typing in her records.

"Mhm, I told him this morning and he gave me a couple of paracetamol and then it was still bothering me at school so I went to him and he looked and said something about my gums but I can't remember what, he gave me a couple of paracetamol then as well," she says, looking over at me.

"Okay, I'll have a look then. Has there been anything else bothering you, that you haven't told Grant about?"

"Ummm...no..? I don't think so.... I mean the back of my mouth hurts kind of.."

"Can you point to where you mean for me?"

She points to where her wisdom teeth would be.

"Okey dokey. That's probably your wisdom teeth trying to come through. I'll have a look at those as well." I say, typing everything up on her records, so Grant can see what has happened.

"Do you think you can come and sit up here for me now, so we can get started?" I say, standing up and patting the dental chair.

Instead of saying anything, she just walks over and sits on the chair. Whilst she's getting comfortable, I get a mask and a pair of gloves.

"I'm just going to lower the chair now, okay?"

She nods.

As the chair is going down I put my mask and gloves on and turn the light on and position it towards Ellie's mouth.

"Okay, Ellie, when you're ready, can you open for me, please? I'm just going to look with my fingers right now, nothing else."

Slowly, she opens her mouth. She doesn't open her mouth very much, so I just lean my hand down on her chin so she opens a little more.

"Thank you, sweetheart. I'm just looking at your gums, around your chip and the back of your mouth."

As I'm looking around Ellie's mouth, I can see what Grant means about her gums and how it is causing her to be in pain. They are quite inflamed, probably from the way she is brushing. I move further back and start looking at where her wisdom teeth will come through. Carefully, I lightly press on the back of her gums to see how close they are to the surface. As I'm doing so, I see and feel Ellie flinch, suggesting that she felt pain from it.