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“What if I hit Creature?” Sydney asked.
“Something tells me, you’re not the type of girl to hit a puppy,” Porsche said then pulled her into her arms and hugged her. “Tell Doc everything and if you need me I’ll be out front spinning in my chair.”
“Hey Sydney,” Doc said as she stood just outside the door. “Can you and your dad and I all sit down together?”
Showing a bravery he’d only seen in battle before his daughter nodded and Porsche stepped back with her hands gesturing that she was only a few steps away. There were two chairs for patients as well as the exam table and Mike sat down expecting Sydney to do the same only she crawled on his lap. Doc wore a long white coat over a button down shirt, slacks and the clogs all doctors wore anymore. Nothing intimidating or threatening on the surface as she sat back in a rolling chair and let them come to her. His body, still tense, from the words his daughter had just spoken now added stomach churning gurgles from upset and fear.
“I wanted to talk to you about Sydney. She had a really bad night last night,” he said as she curled into him. “I’m hoping you can help with her dealing with things.”
“Yeah that isn’t unusual with abuse cases like hers,” Doc said and she brought her hands together. “Especially the nature of hers.”
“What ways can you help her?”
“Long term, I have to do play time therapy with her. Get her to talk to me and trust me. Before that we’ll do some stuff down here in the clinic. That’s why I asked for you two to be brought in a room here and not upstairs in my office. We need to do a physical exam and see the extent of the damage done to her private areas and check for diseases.”
He swallowed back his unease unsure of how he could even explain a pelvic exam to his daughter. Then again there was a licensed doctor whose job it was to do that only he wasn’t sure he could be the one to explain to his daughter this was a safe touch. To trust a woman who was a basic stranger all because she had a white coat on. Glancing toward the door he couldn’t help thinking about who was on the other side. Porsche, the woman who moments ago had his daughter open and laughing.
“Since we don’t know the exact date she was last hurt, but we know it wasn’t in the last few days we won’t be able to collect specimens like in a regular rape case.”
“What’s rape?” Sydney asked and Mike stiffened.
“Rape,” Doc began a long discussion with his daughter beginning with a simplified description that opened a flood gate. “Is when a person touches another in way that can hurt or without their permission in places that belong just to them.”
* * *
“Hey Free,” Porsche said as she made a second round of cancelling appointment calls from Doc’s schedule. “It’s Porsche, I’m doing clinic duty today.”
“Lucky you,” Free replied and Porsche could hear the woman moving around dishes in the background.
“Anyway, Doc got pulled into something and she wanted me to reschedule your appointment with her.” Porsche twirled a pen between her fingers even though she should have been looking at the computer. It was a nervous habit she took on when it came to distracting from events or happenings she wanted to be a part of. Not that she wanted to be a nurse during what had turned into a two hour long appointment, but she was worried about the extended time. Then again this was a debriefing of a victim and Doc wouldn’t stop if the patient was moving forward. Time limits were for follow up care. When they had confronted the darkness and the person needed to go home to process all of what had been said to them.
“I’ll just keep my one for next week,” Free said. “I have other things to deal with, Hollywood wants some family time with Ruby and Kidd before we hit the ranch on Sunday, so I’ve got to get the house together.”
“Sounds good,” Porsche said then remembered her other distraction in the form of not being a fly on the wall where she wanted to be. Not just for curiosity or to be the gossip in the know. She genuinely wanted to know if Sydney was okay in there. “By the way, is the good ol’ Sherriff gonna shake his ass for the fire department?”
“Well, he was opposed on moral grounds,” Free explained. “Not the getting naked part, but the fact it was for the fire department, they basically are like siblings.”
“Then you pointed out Doc can love Chief even though he was in the Navy,” Porsche replied.
“Basically and once Onyx was convinced he softened,” Free said. “But they expect Topaz and I to teach them how to tandem dance toBad Boys.”
“Please say one is getting cuffed and the other stuf—” a light tap to her should had Porsche stopping mid word and spinning around to see Nightingale with a mix of annoyance and sadness on her face. “I’ll put Hollywood down for a dance, thanks Free.”
Hanging up quickly she flipped forward and back to face Nightingale completely.
“Hey, can I help you?”
“We need you in the room,” Nightingale said, Porsche glanced behind her to make sure the woman wasn’t talking to another person with more than a band aide one O one training.
“I’m sorry, what?” she questioned as her heart thudded.
“Bugs said you and Syd had bonded, we need that.”
“We do? Me? Are you sure?”
“We have to give an eight year old a pelvic exam,” Nightingale said. “We’re walking a line between comfort and embarrassment. She needs the comfort and Bugs is scared she’d feed off his energy.”
Porsche’s heart tripped along between rapid and heartbroken beats. She’d offered to help and in this case she was torn, but knew she had a way to help out. One that needed to happen. Forwarding the phones to Lil’ Mama’s line in the back she gave her a quick knock to let her know as she made her way into the room with Mike, Doc, Nightingale and Syd.
