Growing Together

Chapter 15

When the doctor comes, Emily is sitting in a bean bag on the ground and just staring out of the huge windows, at the city. She finds it relaxing like I do. I didn't even recommend watching TV or anything to her, I just told her to sit down and that if she wants more food she can ask us. Now she's sitting and eating an apple.

"Hey," V smiles and hugs the woman our age. Emily looks up rapidly and comes to us, sitting onto the couch next to me and snuggling herself into my side. I sigh and move my arm around her.

"She's a doctor. Is it okay if she looks at you and sees if you're healthy or not?"

She looks scared, so Jug helps me a bit. "We need to get a certification that you've been hit in order to get you away from your dad."

"What's that?" she asks, face half out of my shirt.

"It's like a paper from a professional doctor that says you've been mistreated."

"What's mistreated?"

"Abused."

That word she does know. Jug gets up to greet the woman we've both seen a few times, but I just give her a sad smile, the small girl next to me hiding her face into my shirt again. "Alright," the woman, Hannah, sighs knowing the situation already.

She packs her stuff open, taking out a notebook and some papers with things she could check her heart beat and blood pressure with. "Your name is Emily, right?" she asks carefully. Emmy nods inside my shirt, not daring to look at her and show her bruises. "Could you tell me how old are you?"

She gulps and turns her head out. Hannah is careful not to let her emotions onto her face, so Emmy relaxes, not needing to see a horrified reaction again. "Six," she says quietly.

"Alright, when's your birthday?"

"August 7th."

"Do you have any teeth that have come off already?" Hannah asks.

Emmy smiles at that a little, showing her the two lower front teeth than have come off. Finn has these two half grown back and the high ones missing while Dash has new ones down already and the two higher ones missing as well.

"Do you go to school?" Emmy nods as an answer. "Which grade?"

"First," she says.

"Alright, could you stand up for me?"

She looks at me for a moment before sliding off the couch and standing in front of Hannah, her shoulders raised up a bit, feeling scared probably. Hannah touches her cheek gently, looking at the bruises and then writes it all down. "Do you know if you've ever broken a bone?" she asks. Emma shrugs. "Can you lift your shirt up a little?" she asks, taking the stethoscope to listen to the small girl's heart beat.

I sit up better, needing to see if she has the same bruises on her stomach or even if she has some scars. Emily shakes her head. "Why not?" Hannah asks softly. She just shakes her head again, climbing back to the couch next to us and hiding her face into my shirt, holding onto it.

I drop my head against the back of the headrest just as I hear both Jug and Ronnie sigh. The girl must have bruises or scars on her stomach that she doesn't want for anyone to see or know. Hannah seems not to know what to do now, because she's here for exactly that; to write down every bruise and scar she has from a possible abuse. We can see some scars on her arms anyways, but no bruises. It could just be what everyone has.

"Emmy," I say in a while. She doesn't move but I know she can hear me. "We need to know if you have bruises or not," I say.

"Why?" she asks with a small voice.