Demi's POV
I woke up around the same time the doctor's office opened. Avery was still asleep. I called the doctor's office to see if I could get an appointment for Avery today. She just seems like she isn't feeling well. I want to get her checked to make sure she isn't sick.
I was able to get an appointment in, and it was going to be in about an hour. I decided to go ahead and get Avery up and start getting ready. I went into her room and saw the sleeping little girl. She was so peaceful, like she had no fear in the world as she slept.
I kneeled by her and stroked her face. "Avery," I said softly. She stirred slightly. "Come on, honey, you need to wake up." She scrunched her nose up and yawned.
She rubbed her eyes as she sat up. "My throat hurts," she said in a voice that was almost gone.
"I know, we are going to take care of that. Let's get ready." I helped her out of bed. "I'll be making breakfast. Go ahead and get dressed."
I left her to get breakfast ready. It was just scrambled eggs and peanut butter toast. Avery came in after a while. She looked exhausted.
"I can't breath through my nose," she said with a sniffle.
"We can get that taken care of, too."
"How?"
"We're going to the doctor's office. He can give you medicine to help you."
"I'm not hurt," Avery said. I gave her a confused look. "I only go to the doctor's when I'm hurt really bad."
"Well, you can go when you're sick, too."
"But I'm not sick. I'm fine." Right when she said that, she went into a coughing fit. She held her throat. "Ow."
We finished breakfast, then finished getting ready. I lead a tired Avery out to the car. She fell asleep on the way to the doctor's office. Once we got there, I picked her up, trying not to wake her, but she woke up anyway with a groan. She allowed me to continue carrying her into the building. She was worse today than she was yesterday. I signed us in, then sat in one of the waiting chairs. It didn't take too long to get called back. Avery kept her face hidden in my hair. I could tell she was nervous.
"The doctor will be with you shortly," the nurse said. Once she left, Avery lifted her head.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I'm scared," Avery admitted.
"Of what, honey?" I asked.
"I don't know them."
"They won't hurt you. They're going to help you. I'm not leaving," I explained. She nodded. A while later, the doctor came in, and Avery hid her face in my hair again.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Hilton. Is this Avery?"
Avery didn't speak, so I did for her. "Yes ma'am, this is Avery."
"I hear Avery isn't feeling well."
"Do you want to talk to the doctor so she can help you?" I asked Avery. She just shook her head, keeping her face hidden and her hands gripped my shirt. "She told me this morning she has a sore throat. She also has a stuffy nose, a cough, and more allergies symptoms. I just want to get her checked out to make sure it's nothing too major."
The doctor scribbled notes down as I spoke. "Alright, well if we could get her to sit right up here," she said, patting the bed.
I carried her over to the bed and sat her down. She didn't want to let go of me. "You'll be okay," I whispered into Avery's ear. I got myself out from her grip and let her continue to hold my hand. She didn't look up at the doctor, she just kept her glare at the floor. The doctor did the usual checkup, all the time Avery was as stiff as a board. She barely moved. The doctor checked Avery's temperature.
"She's got a slight fever, 100.3 (F)," Dr. Hilton said. "It looks like she has the beginning stages of the flu. She'll be okay, but I'm going to prescribe antibiotics so it can go away before it gets worse. Come on, sweetie, let's get your height and weight." Dr. Hilton held out her hand, but Avery flinched away from her and clenched tighter to me. I picked her up and followed the doctor. The doctor took the weight and height of a stiff Avery. "Good job, let's go back to the room to finish discussing some things." I held Avery's hand as we went back to the room. "Ms. Lovato, can we speak outside, please?" Dr. Hilton asked.
"No," Avery mumbled quietly as she held onto my arm.
"I'll be right back," I told her. "I promise." She loosened her grip and I left the room with the doctor.
"Alright, just a couple of things. What I mainly want to talk about is her weight. She is very light for a seven year old. She's extremely underweight. Is she eating well?"
"Recently yes. See, I just adopted her, and I don't know how much she ate at her last home. She's a victim of child neglect and abuse," I explained. It killed me to say that. I wanted to believe it wasn't true.
"Oh, I see. Also, her nutrition balance is quiet low."
"We are working on that, too."
"Good. She has no shot records, and she's actually supposed to be up to date on those for school. It looks like she'll need three."
"Okay, we can get that done. She's not going to like it, though."
"No child does, but it's something that needs to be done."
I nodded and we went back into the room. I was nervous for Avery's reaction.
I talked to Avery as Dr. Hilton got the shots ready.
"When can we leave?" Avery asked almost too quietly for me to hear.
"Soon. We just need to take care of one more thing," I answered.
"What is it?" Before I could answer, Dr. Hilton turned and walked towards us with the first needle. "What's that?" Avery asked, her voice shaky.
"It's to help your health," I said, trying to calm her down. "It'll be okay."
"Okay, can we just get Avery to roll up her sleeve?" The doctor asked.
"Demi, don't let her hurt me," Avery pleaded as I rolled her sleeve up.
"It's just a few pinches on the arm, honey, it will be over before you know it," I explained.
Avery's eyes watered up. "What did I do? I'm sorry," Avery said, panicking more and more. I stroked her hair, trying to get her to calm down.
"Don't look at it, honey, look at me," I said, drawing her attention away from the needle.
"Okay," Dr. Hilton said. "On three. One, two."
"Ow," Avery whined.
"Demi, what did I do?"
"Nothing sweetheart," I tried to explain.
"Two more. One, two."
Avery winced again as the second needle touched her arm.
"I didn't mean to do anything bad," Avery cried.
"Avery, sweetie, you did nothing wrong. This is for your health," I said.
"Last one," the doctor told us.
"No," Avery yelled in complete fear as she tried to get away from the needle.
I tried to keep her still. "Avery, we're almost done."
The doctor didn't even count before giving Avery the last shot. Avery broke down in sobs, and tried to get away.
"Hang on, sweetie, we need to clean them and then get you some band aids," Dr. Hilton said.
The doctor used a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol to make sure they wouldn't get infected. She then grabbed some band aids with unicorns on them and placed them on all three places where the needles went in. All the while, Avery tried desperately to get away from the doctor.
"Avery, calm down," I pleaded in a soft tone.
"Okay, we are all done," Dr. Hilton said. I let go of Avery, who jumped off of the bed and hid in the corner away from us. "Here is the prescription, just drop it off at the pharmacy and you can pick it up later."
"Thank you so much."
The doctor left, and I went to Avery.
She flinched at my touch. "Come on, we can go now."
Avery's face was red. "Why'd you let her hurt me, Demi?" She said along with a few sniffles. "You promised no one would hurt me."
"Honey, it's for your health. That's why you don't feel good now. Your immune system isn't strong enough," I explained. "It's not your fault."
"I'm not in trouble?"
"No, of course not. Come one, let's go home. We can get ice cream on the way."
She gave me a slight smile. "Really?"
"Yeah. Come on." I got Avery up and she held my hand as we left the room, there were more people in the hall, and Avery stopped, clutching my hand. "Want me to carry you?" I asked. She nodded and lifted her hands up towards me. I picked her up and she hid her face in my hair as we walked out to the car.
That went well, I thought to myself sarcastically.
Second update of the day! Do you want a third update???