Living with my greatest fear.

~Chapter 43~

Grant's POV:

I park the car in my space at the office and look over to Ellie and see that she's clearly very nervous about this week.

"Hey, E, are you okay? Is there something bothering you that you haven't told me about?" I ask, holding her hand.
"I'm fine, don't worry." She says, not looking up at me.
"I will worry, E. It looks like something is really
bothering you... Is it because you're here?"
"Mhmm...." She says very quietly.
"Look at me, baby," she does, "There's absolutely nothing in there - person or equipment - that will hurt you. You know that. I just want to know what's bothering you so maybe I can do something about it..?" I say, rubbing my thumb across her hand.
"I don't know, Grant.."

Ellie's POV:

I don't know whether it's just because I'm here at Grant's office or because there's actually something wrong, but I feel sick and my mouth is aching. Again. I feel like I can't catch a break right now. I tell Grant that it's nothing but I'm not sure it is nothing.

"Talk to me Ellie. Tell me what's up," I look over to him, sadness laced across my face.
I just sigh.
"Is there something up with your mouth?"
"I don't know..that's the thing... I feel sick..."
"Aww..princess... I know you won't want to, but do you want me to see? Just quickly? We're here before anyone else so I can do it really quickly without anyone knowing..?"
"I don't know... It's scary, the dentist is too much and too scary and I can't, Grant, I really can't," I say, almost sobbing.
"Baby, baby, baby. You've done it so many times before, so many times. Plus, it's only like a little checkup! You're getting so good when I give you a checkup. We don't have to do it in my exam room if we go in now and we're quick."
"I can't, Grant. It's too much," I say, almost shouting at Grant.

I know it's not fair on Grant for me to get angry with him but I can't help it. It's so overwhelming for me.

"Hey, Ellie, please don't shout at me. Just take a minute to calm down and then we can talk about it more. We don't really have much time, so we'd probably have to do it in my exam room.."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to... Can you just see really quickly? Like with nothing and just look?"
"What do you mean, Ellie?"
"Just with nothing.."
"Like here?"
"Mhmm...."
"I can't look here, E.. Let's just go into my exam room and I'll look super quickly or do you want me to look later? At the end of the day?"
"Oh, yeah, can you look later instead?"
"Of course, princess. Make sure you tell me if anything hurts more, okay?"
"Mhmm..."

Grant gives me a kiss on my forehead and then we both walk into the office.

*15 MINUTES LATER *

Grant's POV:

It's just turned 8:30am, so everyone's coming in now.

Ellie and I have been sat in the staff room whilst I have been telling her my schedule for the day. Today we'd decided that it'll be a good day to do staff checkups as none of us have many patients today.

Just as we finish talking about that Tobey and James walk in together.

"Morning guys, how are you doing?" I say to them.
"Morning Grant, morning Ellie! We're alright, thanks mate," Tobey says, smiling when he saw Ellie.
"Hey, you two!" James says, Ellie just smiles at the both of them.
"I best get my room sorted for the day, do you wanna stay here for a bit Ellie or do you wanna come with me?" I ask Ellie.
"I'll stay here for a bit.."

I leave and make sure I'm all set up for my first patient at 9am.

Tobey's POV:

As Grant leaves, I put my bag down and take a seat next to Ellie.
"Hey, poppet. How are you? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!"
"Hi Tobey. Meh, I'm okay, I guess."
"Are you sure? You don't seem okay..?"
"Mhmm..."
"Poppet, what's up? Have you told Grant?"
"Kind of.. Not really..."
"You can tell me, poppet. Just between me and you."
"My mouth hurts... I think it's my wisdom teeth..." She says, sheepishly. I wrap an arm around her back and hug her gently.
"You didn't tell Grant?"
"No... I don't like someone looking in my mouth..."
"I know, sweetheart, but you gotta tell him if something's up. He can fix it."
"He said he's gonna look later..." She says, her voice breaking.
"Ellie, if it's hurting you this much, I think you should get someone to look at it now... Can I see? I don't have a patient for an hour.."

Ellie's POV:

I trust Tobey more than I used to but I don't really want him to look..
"Are you going to tell Grant..?"
"How do you mean? That I've looked?"
I nod.
"I'll have to put it in your notes, so he'll see and I should really tell him anyways..."
"Oh.."
"Ellie, he'll know anyways. He'll probably want to look for himself too, but I think it needs to be looked at now.."
I shrugged. I don't know whether I'd prefer Tobey or Grant to look at my teeth. The fact that they're both dentists means that I don't want either of them to look at my mouth.
"Let's go to my room and I'll have a quick look, yeah?"
"Do you have to..?" I whisper.
"Yeah, I do, poppet. Would you rather Grant looked?"
"I don't know. You're fine, I guess..."
"Awesome, poppet. Let's go and we can have a look."

Tobey's POV:

I lead Ellie into my room and I quickly wipe everything down and put some things out on the tray like a mirror and explorer.

Afterwards, I sit on my stool and log into my computer to load up Ellie's records.

"Have a seat, poppet. I'm just going to read your notes from last time and then have a quick peek, okay?"

She perches on the edge of the chair and I just let it slide because I know she's probably freaking out about the whole thing.

Since Ellie has been here quite a lot recently, her notes are quite full. I just read her last update, which surprised me because Grant mentions a check up being done at home. Normally, he tells me when he does a checkup at home or whenever Ellie has a checkup or treatment.

From reading her notes, I gather it's probably her wisdom teeth trying to erupt and that's causing her the discomfort.

"Alright, Ellie. Do you want to sit back for me?"

Slowly she does.

"Thank you, poppet. Would you like to see if I can get Grant in here or not?"

She shrugs.

"Okay, we'll see how we go."

I get a mask on and get a pair of gloves out, lay the chair back, move the light over her mouth, get my loupes and then put my gloves on.