Living with my greatest fear.

~Chapter 40~

Grant's POV:

"Alright, E, lay back onto this cushion when you're ready," I say, as I guide her shoulders down.

Slowly, she lays back into my lap. I just look down at her and smile. I decided to try and make her as comfortable as I can because we're not at my office so I don't have another patient. Before I do anything else, I just gently stroke my thumbs up and down her cheeks. Eventually, I got a smile from her.

"Do you think you're ready for me to have a quick look, princess?"

"Umm...I guess so...it won't hurt, right?"

"It may be a little uncomfortable, E, but it shouldn't hurt. I'll try and make it as good as I can for you, okay?"

"Mhmm...okay..."

"Okey dokey, baby."

I lean over to get my gloves and mask. As quietly as I can, I put my gloves on and then my mask. After that, I lean over to the table to get my mirror.

"Are you gonna use the pointy thing...?" Ellie says, shakily.

"Don't worry, baby. I might use it but only if I have to, okay? You're going to be fine," I say, stroking her cheeks again.

"Oh..okay. Just tell me before you do it..please.."

"Of course I will, sweetheart. Open for me when you're ready, E," I say, holding my mirror above her mouth.

Slowly, she opens her mouth.

"Thank you, princess," I say, smiling down at her.

Before I go straight back to her wisdom teeth, I quickly look round the rest of her mouth just to see if there is anything else that is causing her pain. I don't find anything that I don't already know about - just her gums looking a little inflamed in some places.

"I'm just going to look at your wisdom teeth now, E, okay?" I say, taking my mirror and fingers out of her mouth so she can respond.

"O-o-okay..just be careful, please..." She says, shakily.

"Princess, I promise you that I'll be as careful as I possibly can be. I want you out of pain, I don't want to put you in more pain than you already are," I reply, stroking my thumbs on her cheeks. "Open for me again, baby."

I move further back and start looking at her wisdom teeth on her left side. They don't look too bad, but I think they might just be starting to push their way through. Next, I look at her right side; these look more inflamed but still not impacted yet.

Once again, I take everything out of her mouth and push my mask onto my chin.

"From what I can see right now, it just looks like your wisdom teeth are trying to push through. I don't think they are impacted at the minute, but they will ache for a few days," I explain to Ellie.

She just nods.

"Can I get up now?" She asks me, quite confused.

"In two minutes, I just want to ask and show you something first, okay?"

"I-i-i guess.."

I lean over to the table and pick up a bigger hand held mirror for Ellie to hold. I just want to quickly show her her gums and possibly see how she brushes her teeth.

"Can you hold this for me, E? Just move it so you can see your mouth in it."

I decided to take my mask off because I'm not doing a procedure or anything like that.

"I just want to show you your gums. It's not to make fun of you or to embarrass you, though. I just want to show you so you can see what I see but also what I mean when I talk about it, yeah?"

"Umm..okay..I guess. As long as it won't hurt.."

"It may just feel tender but it won't hurt," I say, smiling down at her.

She nods.

"Okay, baby, can you open for me, please?"

She does. "Thank you, E."

I lower her bottom lip, so her lower gum is exposed. Slowly, I run my finger along her gum.

"Can you see this bit of your gum, baby?"

"Uh-huh."

"Okay. You can see that it's pretty red too, right?"

"Mhmm.."

"Yeah, so this bit of your gum is irritated and inflamed. It's pretty warm too. Up by your canines, on the top of your mouth, are a bit like this too. One way to solve it is to get you a toothbrush that has softer bristles and possibly a new toothpaste. However, I don't know whether this is down to how you brush your teeth or not. Do you feel like you're possibly brushing too much, or have your gums just been sensitive recently without you brushing them a little too hard?"

I move everything out of her way so she can respond to me.

"I think they've been sensitive anyways but I don't know..."

"That's fine, E. Maybe I'll get you a new toothbrush and toothpaste from the office, but I can also see how you're brushing your teeth later on? Only to see. I won't judge you for it, okay?"

"Okay, I guess.."

"Okey dokey, E. You're all done now," I say, smiling and taking the mirror from her.

"Thanks, Grant." She says, smiling back.

"I love when you smile, princess. You have a really pretty smile; you should show it off more often,"I say, continuing to smile.

I can see she starts to blush, which only makes her smile more.

a/n ~

hii! omg i'm so sorry! i keep saying i'll post more regularly, but honestly i've been so busy. i hopefully will have more time now, so updates should be more regular!

let me know what you think to this chapter and let me know if you have any ideas for future chapters!

~jess :)