fandom_clinic | FTEC, Friday, September 14

Annette lumbered in on her crutches, looking miserable.

Christian stood up to help Annette to a chair. "What did you do to yourself, sweetheart?" he said.

If he didn't hear the radio, she wasn't admitting to nothing. "I fell," she said feebly. She was wearing sweat pants to cover the bruises on both shins. Except the one from Turtle was super huge and knotty and very very ugly.

"Did you have anyone look at it yet?" Christian asked.

She shook her head. "No, but it's hurting so bad today that I had to come in." Gingerly she reached down and pulled up her pant leg, showing him the bruise on her left shin first, the one from Meg. It was ugly but not too bad. Then she pulled up her pant leg from the bruise Turtle gave her. Annette winced and looked up at Dr. Troy.

Christian crouched down to look at Annette's legs and frowned. He'd seen plenty of abuse in his life, and these bruises didn't look like a fall to him. "Let's get you to an exam room (http://community.livejournal.com/fandom_clinic/384953.html?thread=9038777#t9038777)," he said, standing up. He fetched a wheelchair from the closet and helped Annette sit in it.

For Annette.

The wheelchair was nice and she thanked him for as they headed into the exam room.

"I'm going to need you to take off your shoes and pants," Christian said. "Can you do that by yourself or do you need the nurse to ~~handwavily~~ help you?"

"I can do it, thank you," she said and reached over to take her sneakers off, then standing, she gingerly worked her sweats down and off. She had her cheerleading shorts on underneath so she wasn't embarrassed about undressing in front of him.

Annette looked at the exam table. "I don't think I can get up there if that's where you want me. I'm sorry."

Christian lifted Annette up and set her down gently on the exam table. He pulled up a short stool and sat down in front of her dangling legs. "Okay," he said, taking one of her feet in his hands. "Can you move your foot okay? Go ahead and rotate your ankle if you can."

"Yes, my feet don't hurt." She rotated her right foot, the one he was holding and she winced slightly. "I guess that hurts just a little bit."

"It looks like you have full range of motion, which is good," Christian said, testing her other foot as well. "We should probably take some x-rays just to be sure nothing broken, though."

She nodded. "If you think it's necessary. But Dr. Troy, my left leg is really okay. It just hurts a little bit even though the bruise is ugly." Meg didn't come close to kicking as hard as Turtle.

"We'll just check the right one, then," Christian said. He disappeared to get the portable x-ray unit and wheeled it in, directing Annette to lie back on the table while he set it up over her leg. "Any chance you're pregnant?" he asked.

She folded her hands over her stomach and stared up. "What? Oh, no... no no." She understood why he had to ask but it was still embarrassing.

Christian nodded and took the x-ray, then left the room to develop it. When he returned, he said, "Nothing's broken, but you have a pretty deep bruise. You're going to want to ice it for 20 minutes to reduce the swelling, and keep it elevated as much as possible for the next 24 hours. After that you should apply heat for ten minutes 2 or 3 times a day, and the bruise will start fading." He looked her over, trying to spot other bruises. "Did you get hurt anywhere else, sweetheart?" Her face looked fine, but abusers sometimes didn't like to leave marks in obvious places.

Him calling her sweetheart was endearing and she found herself telling him easily, "The back of my head," because Turtle pulled her hair really hard. "And my arms ache, my ribs too." They had wrestled and fallen to the ground - just minor aches and pains and associated bruising with those. Nothing too fierce.

And Annette realized right then that Dr. Troy might get the impression that she did more than just simply fall.

And Christian confirmed that when he said, "You didn't fall, did you? Who did this to you? You can trust me."

She looked worried. "Confidentially, right? You can't report this to anyone?"

"Right," Christian said, but if it turned out to be her boyfriend or a teacher, he didn't promise to deal with it himself.

"A couple of people. The first I'm not worried about. The second..." Annette seriously didn't want to get anyone in trouble. It was her fault after all. "I don't know what to say about that."

Nothing pissed Christian off like people hitting kids. "You think this person is going to hurt you again?" he asked.

"It's not the first time," she muttered, not meeting his eyes. "But it's probably the last."

"Sweetheart, no one has the right to treat you this way," Christian said, growing more angry at Annette's seeming acceptance of her "abuse."

"I deserved it." He was being far too kind to her. If he only knew...

"What did you do that you think you deserve it?" Christian said.

"Is that a need to know question?" She asked, still laying still. Her leg was throbbing and she felt it clear to her head.

"That's a trick your abuser uses to make you accept what he or she is doing to you," Christian said, pacing a little aggitatedly. "By making you think you deserve it."

Annette groaned and covered her eyes with her hands. She did not want to cry. "I swear to you, I caused this, it was my fault. I truly deserved it..."

Christian decided to back off for now. "Do you have a safe place to stay?" he said. "Someone who can look out for you? You can stay in the clinic if you'd like."

Annette considered that for one whole minute. If she stayed here she could hide from people who hated her right now. On the other hand, she didn't have a roommate and could just hole up in her room as she usually did when she wasn't...being bad.

"My room is safe, Dr. Troy."

"If you say so," Christian said. "All right, I'm going to give you an ice pack to use when you get back to your room, and a heat pack you can heat up in the microwave. Take ibuprofen if you need it to keep the swelling down, and keep off your feet as much as possible, okay?"

[I *just* got this comment, I'm sorry! *kicks LJ*]

"All right, Dr. Troy. Thank you so much," she said, grateful for his help and care of her.

(Oh, no problem at all! :D)

"And if you feel like you're in trouble or you need someone to talk to, call me," Christian said, giving Annette his card with the clinic number and his personal one. "Do you need help getting your clothes back on? Can you get back to the dorms okay?"

Accepting the card, she nodded once. "I will, but I hope this will not ever happen again." Annette looked up at him. "If you could just put my feet through my sweat pants and help me off this table, I can do the rest. And yeah, the crutches got me here okay so I can manage to get back. I just hope the ibruprofen is strong enough. Tur-- er, I mean I was taking aspirin and it didn't seem to help too much."

Christian helped Annette with her sweatpants and put her shoes back on after she pulled them up, then helped her off the table. "Aspirin slows the blood from clotting," he said. "Ibuprofen is better. And I mean it, call me if you need any help. That's what I'm here for."

She thought for a moment about telling him everything, but she thought she had enough people hating her for what she did. Having Dr. Troy look down on her would just bother her too much. Her crush on him at one time had just been too strong; she wouldn't like to see him frowning down on her.

"You're kind, Dr. Troy."

"I don't like seeing kids get hurt, sweetheart," Christian said. "Take care of yourself, all right?"

"Thank you, Dr. Troy, I will." And impulsively, Annette reached over to give him a hug.

Christian leaned in and gave her a hug, patting her on the back. It was a surprisingly non-lecherous hug, coming from him.

And it was very much appreciated. "Anything changes, or I start to hurt worse, I'll come back." She smiled up at him and with her crutches under her arms, headed out of the clinic.

Christian held the front door open for her, then returned to sitting behind the desk, brooding. A lot.

FTEC, Friday, September 14 - Day Shift

After school assembly

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