You, Me, and Riley

chapter 3

Oh, dear God she is perfect in every way! Now I can tell why Dana said she is a little, but we will never force anyone into age play it is always up to them. As we started eating dinner I couldn't help but smile as I watched how excited she got over her chicken nuggets and smiley fries. It was a risk to pack her that kind of meal but when I saw her dancing in her seat as she bit into her nuggets I knew it was worth it. Dinner went fantastic! She was talkative and happy which I was hoping would make the next part of the evening go by smooth. When dinner ended I lead Riley out to Dana's car and buckled her in the backseat before I climbed into the passenger seat. She was silent on the way to the hospital and when I led her into the ER she griped my hand hard.

"Hayden! What are you dong here?" My co-worker Scott asked as he saw me walk in.

"Hey Scott, this is Riley." I said pointing to the girl who was now hiding slightly behind me. "who is not a fan of hospitals. Anyway, I think she broke her hand a couple of days ago, so Dana and I convinced her to come and get it looked at."

"Oh no, I'm sorry kid! A couple of days though, that's dedication to the cause!" He said looking at Riley with a laugh "I wish I could say that we could get you in quick, but we are super backed up tonight because of a multiple car collision on 96." Scott said to me as he leads us over to the waiting room. "But I'll sign you guys in!"

"Thanks Scott." I said looking down to see Riley nervously chewing on her fingernails as she watched everyone in the waiting room around her. "Let's see what I've got here" I said pulling out my tablet and headphones before I pulled Riley onto my lap. She briefly tensed up before I turned Netflix on and let her pick something out to watch. As the first song of the movie started playing Dana ran in with a new pair of noise canceling head phones for Riley to use and before long she was gone to the world quietly humming along to Moana.

"Scott said it's super backed up tonight, so we could be here awhile" I said looking at Dana. I softly began running my hands through Riley's hair and rocking her back and forth on my knees. "Hopefully my tablet will keep her occupied long enough to make it through the night. The headphones were a great idea by the way."

"Thanks." Dana said with a smile. "I didn't know if it was just the hospital or loud noises in general. I figured if noises bother her she could get good use out of them in other situations."

"Hey, did you notice the medical ID bracelet on her wrist? Has she said anything?" I asked. "I noticed it earlier, I don't know what it's for though the information is on the other side. I didn't push because I knew we would figure it out when we talked to the doctor about her arm. It's something we will have to deal with eventually."

"Be careful Hayden." Dana said looking at me with a sigh "You're getting way to attached way to soon. We have no idea if Riley is even a little let alone if she wants us to be her caregivers." She whispered.

"I can't help it Dana." I said resting my chin on Riley's head. "I know it's stupid of me to get attached but she's—I don't know Dana, I just can't help it."

"I know Hayden." She said with a sigh as she smiled down at Riley "trust me I know."

Riley was almost done with Moana when her name finally got called, "Come on sweet girl." Dana said as she pressed pause on her movie and took the headphones and tablet out of her hands. "No buts." She said as soon as she saw the three-letter word start to appear on the young girls' face. "I promise you will get it back as soon as we get settled in a room."

As we were being led back to our room I watched as Riley nervously rung her hands together. "Hey sweet pea." I said catching up to her. "Remember what I said? We are going to be there the whole time, ok?" She took a deep breath and nodded her head.

"Before we get started." The nurse said, "do we want to administer any pain medications? We have 3 different kinds, the strong one will make you kind of sleepy though."

"That's ok, we'll take the sleepy ones." Dana said.

"But it doesn't hurt that bad." Riley said once the nurse left.

"Sometimes when the nurses have to do the x-rays they have to move you hand in ways that your bones aren't going to like. The pain meds are going to help that."

"Before I give you these meds I see your wearing an ID bracelet are you on any medications that might react with these medications?" The nurse said when she walked back in and showed her the medication name.

"No Ma'am." Riley said nervously looking at the needle the nurse was uncapping.

"Alright then, you're just going to feel a slight pinch. All done! The doctor will be in to check on you guys shortly let us know if you need anything." She said smiling as she walked out.

Riley looked over at us with a sheepish smile as she held up her wrist. "I guess you want to know about this too."

"It wouldn't hurt." I said with a smile.

"I have epilepsy." She said with a shrug. "I have for most of my life I think."

"Wow." Dana said "Is it ahh...do you ahh...how are you..."

I watched her struggle for words before I jumped in. "When was your last seizure dear?"

"It's been awhile." She said with a small smile "Close to a year, which is longer than I've ever gone! I don't know what kind of doctor you are, but I have a list of my medications in my phone if you wanted to look at them."

"I would like that very much baby." I said with a smile as I took her phone from her hand. "But for now, I think someone has a movie to finish." Her face lit up as I pulled my tablet out of my bag and handed it over to her. A few minutes later she was absorbed back into her movie. "How is she so perfect?" I asked Dana as we watched her sing along to the movie.

She nodded with a thoughtful look on her face before she turned to me "How scary is epilepsy?" She finally asked.

"I don't know what you mean by scary, but it's not something to take lightly. She clearly doesn't seem to be fazed by it which if she has never been seizure free more than a year isn't necessarily a good thing. A year isn't very long and she said it's the longest she has ever gone." I got quieter as I said "it's not impossible to deal with though, mothers deal with it every day, it will make the little thing a tad more difficult but nothing major. We will just have to keep up on medications and we would have to take a few extra safety precautions."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Baby gates and carpets on stairs, our glass tables should probably go, no throw rugs, her bed would need to be either lower to the ground or have a side rail. Things that help avoid injury."

"So, it's all doable." Dana said with a sigh. "Totally scary, but doable."