Ashton
Getting Ava to the hospital wasn't the easiest thing in the world.
She wouldn't eat breakfast, so I had to pack her some food to take. Until Michael and Luke came, she refused to go into their office, and even then, she wouldn't sit and watch some tv.
In the end, we took her to the staff room, where a group of us agreed to check up on her every so often.
"This makes me feel awful," Calum mumbled, the two of us heading to Viola's room.
"She has to have it done though,"
"I know, I would just be so much more relieved if we could calm her down,"
We went into the office and found Viola on the computer, Ava not in the room. Dan was supposed to bring her down, but clearly he hadn't.
"How's your day been?" I asked, smiling when she turned round.
"Nothing special,"
"Do you know why she's not here yet?"
"No, I was about to come to you guys,"
I kissed her, Calum gagging loudly by the doorway. I flipped him off, wrapping my arm round Viola's waist as we went to the staffroom.
I expected Dan to have just overran an appointment, but he was in the staffroom, along with he chief. As I got closer, I saw Michael on the floor, sat next to Ava; she was in tears.
"Calum's gonna clean all the spots you've missed," Dan said, crouching infront of her, "we all miss some spots,"
"But what if something's wrong?"
"There won't be," chief said, "and if there is then we will sort it out,"
"You gonna talk to your dad?" Michael asked, gently brushing his thumb on her cheek. She looked up at the three of us, reaching out for my hand.
"What's all this about poppet?"
"I'm really scared that something's wrong and you can't fix it,"
"We can always fix it,"
"And I don't want Calum to clean my teeth because I don't like how it feels,"
"It's something we have to deal with though, and nothing will hurt you sweetheart," Michael said, "he even cleans my teeth,"
"But what if something's wrong? Or my braces aren't working? Or you hurt me,"
"It won't, but I think we will make this a group effort okay," chief said, "would you feel better if Dan assured nothing was wrong before your appointment?"
She nodded and wiped her tears, giving Michael a hug since he had to leave. I knew she felt bad, because she walked hand in hand with Calum, slowly climbing onto the chair.
"Please can I have a blanket?"
"Of course," I said, going into the back and getting her a pale pink one. I helped spread it across her and held her hand, Viola and Calum stepping out the room.
"You were so great at this last time, so I think we can try that again," chief said, Dan getting a mask and gloves on.
"Be careful,"
"I will be love, you can get some gas after this,"
I held her hand, gently rubbing circles on it as the chair went down. Chief put some glasses on her and she took them off, looking over at me.
"You can wear them, it's okay,"
"I'm just gonna take a look, alright?" Dan said, her mouth opening as she put the glasses on.
"Good job, you get to choose a new colour today,"
"She's gonna go for purple," I smiled, feeling her squeeze my hand.
"They look perfect Ava, nothing to worry about,"
"Thankyou," I said, "let's get this all done,"
"Please can I have a drink?"
As Calum and Viola came in, chief gave her a cup of water. They both put gloves on and she laid back down, sighing heavily. Calum put the gas over her and took her other hand.
"Do you want music?"
"No,"
"Okay, I'm just taking the colour and wire off so that Calum can clean them. Stay still for me love,"
It hurt me to see her flinch every time she unclipped her wire, but her teeth had already changed so much.
"They are looking so much better,"
"How do elastics help?"
"It's going to bring your jaw into the right position. Calum's gonna take over now, okay?"
"I don't want it,"
"Take some deep breaths bub, you don't need to stress," he said, squeezing her shoulders, "no one put a bib on you,"
Carefully, he put on around her then got numbing gel, swiping it across her gums. As he started scaling, she squeezed my hand tighter, moving her head away.
"You can't do that sweetheart,"
"Stay still for us poppet,"
Despite groaning, she complied, getting really irritated when he went to the handscaler. I chose raspberry toothpaste for her, then Cal flossed.
Without hesitation, Viola started putting her wire back in, while Calum took his gloves off and held her hand again.
"That was really good,"
"This purple looks nice," Viola said, gently tickling her chin which made her open wider. As I watched, the two of them had developed silent communication- it seemed to really help Ava.
Any time Ava and Viola were together, it really warmed my heart. With Marcus coming too, we seemed to have found a perfect little family.
"Dad," she whimpered, "dad,"
"Hey, hey, Viola is almost done. We will have to get you a special treat after this,"
Calum started to rub her tummy, Viola putting her elastics on for her.
"I'll show you how to do it later. All done,"
They took the gas off and sat the chair up, Ava's eyes watering.
"You're so brave,"
"I want to call Marcus,"
"Okay, why don't we go home and do that together? You've not spoken to him since the other night,"
She nodded and unwrapped the blanket, letting me wrap my arm around her. Viola came with us and we grabbed our bags, all of us getting in the car.
Viola decided to drive, because her test was this weekend and she could practice if I was here. Ava kept herself busy with a book in the back, so I helped Viola with extra tips.
"I hope I pass," she mumbled, "then I need to save for a car,"
"We can look over the Christmas holidays," I said, even though I'd already bought her one for Christmas. I said that I had booked her train tickets to see her dad, but she was actually driving.
"Stretching it,"
I shrugged and looked back at Ava, holding my hand out to her.
"I'm so proud of you poppet,"
"Okay,"
"Okay?"
"I don't want to talk about it,"
"At home, we're going to give you painkillers and we can call Marcus,"
"Does it usually hurt this badly?"
"I'm afraid so,"
"You take them off when you eat, after tea I'll help you put them back on," Viola said, starting to park the car. I made sure she was safe, then we got out the car, both taking a hand each.
"I'll give you lot of cuddles later," I whispered, kissing her cheek.
"They're long overdue,"
"I know," I sighed.
"I was joking. I'm not blind to the situation around us,"
"Dad, where am I going tomorrow?"
"That's up to to you,"
"I want to go to Sam's house again,"
"Inviting yourself to someone's house isn't really what we do, is it?"
"Oh,"
As we got up to the flat I saw Ava's advent calendar, and she hadn't eaten any all week. I'd remind her in the morning, sure that it would make her happy.
Viola and I set about making tea, making carbonara for us because Ava didn't like it. She was having tomato soup, currently waiting for the painkillers to kick in.
Once the food was cooking, I took her to her bedroom and pulled up Skype on the laptop. After a few rings, he picked up.
"Hey Ava," he said quietly, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Sorry if I made you not like me,"
I wrapped my arm round her and shushed her, gently rubbing her arm.
"Don't be silly, I still love you. I'm still excited to come at Christmas and meet you and your family. It's not long now,"
"When is it?"
"A surprise," I smiled, "but it's soon,"
"I was so scared you would hate me,"
"Of course not. I was scared out of my mind, but I love you Ava. What have you been up to?"
"I got elastics on my braces and it hurts a lot,"
"I had them, they get a lot better after the first few days. Have you seen any friends?"
"Sam,"
"And what did you do?"
She looked over at me, pointing to her jaw.
"They watched some films. We just wanted to call to assure you're not mad at her, but her jaw is really aching so I think we might go,"
"That's fine. I'm looking forward to seeing you Ava, I love you, bye,"
When the call ended, she closed her eyes, resting on my chest.
"You're incredible," she said quietly, "and I... I love you so much,"
"You have no idea how much that meant to me Ava, thankyou,"
"Marcus will get a family too, and it's a good family. And we will move into a house,"
Milo came running through, and jumped onto the bed. He cuddled her chest and she giggled, slowly sitting up.
We ate our tea and Ava got ready for bed, saying goodnight because she wanted to read. That meant Viola and I got time alone.
We mostly got ready for bed then grabbed some cookies and got in bed.
"I've got cramps," she mumbled, turning on Netflix.
"Have you taken medicine?"
"Yeah,"
"Well that's no good," I frowned, going to rub her stomach. She jumped back and I shushed her, kissing her cheek. Occasionally she would shrink back, and turn shy again- I wish she knew how much I adored her.
"It'll feel better,"
"I don't want you to touch my stomach,"
"You think I care how your stomach is?"
"It's not as flat anymore,"
"Well that doesn't matter. Mine's not, is it? No ones is ever that flat,"
"I'm all bloated too,"
"Viola, I don't care. I love your body,"
I kissed her cheek, gently starting to rub her stomach. She took a shaky breath and wrapped her arm around me, closing her eyes.
"I'm so excited for our holiday," I smiled.
"When will you tell us where we are going?"
"Soon,"
"You're such a tease,"
I shrugged and kissed her, cupping her cheek with my other hand.
"I'll order you any clothes you want, or bikinis, or whatever you want to wear,"
"Ash, I can't do that back, and you've already paid for the holiday,"
"I don't care,"
"Ashton, you've spent so much money on me. Please let me spend some on myself, like my own treat,"
"Okay, whatever you say,"
Again, we kissed, then she grabbed a cookie and turned to the tv. Patiently, I waited as she found her programme, which she'd been watching a lot while being sick. I would watch whatever she wanted, just to spend time with her.
"You need to organise Julie to meet up with Ava. What about on Monday?"
"Yeah, the final countdown to Christmas already,"
"Don't get ahead of yourself. I've ordered a bracelet for her to give to Julie, because she felt so bad about not having gifts,"
"Thankyou,"
"I'm taking charge now, and telling you not to thank me. I see Ava as my daughter, and it's not hassle to get her things because I love her so, so much. You have no clue how much you guys make me feel like I'm part of the family, and I couldn't be more grateful,"