Learning to Be Little Again(7)

“I need a urine sample from you,” he said, handing me the plastic cup.

“Okay.” This was another part about the doctor’s office I was not a fan of.

“The bathroom is two doors down to the left. When you’re finished, just put the cup behind the small door in the wall. I’ll be able to do an analysis on it quickly and have the results in about twenty minutes. Would you like to wait in my office after you’re done, or go back out by Mark?”

“I’ll wait in your office.”

“Alright. My office is right across from the bathroom. Would you like me to tell Mark to wait in there with you?”

“Yes, please.” I was about to leave when I remembered I was still holding my teddy bear. I can’t bring my teddy bear to the bathroom with me. “What should I do with the teddy bear?”

“I’ll take him and he’ll be waiting for you in my office,” he said, grabbing my bear and giving me a wink before he turned and walked down towards his office.





Chapter Four





After Juliana walked to the bathroom, I quickly ran into my office and placed her teddy bear on one of the seats across from my desk. Then I walked out into the waiting room to talk to Mark.

“Hey. How’d it go?” he asked, standing up and putting his cell phone in his pocket.

“Overall, the experience went fairly well. She got scared a few times, but we worked our way through it.”

“How bad is she? I know that she lost weight, but that won’t have permanent effects on her body, will it?”

The concern in Mark’s voice touched me. On the outside, he acted like the typical tough cop, but on the inside, Mark was the biggest softie. He could never stand to see someone that he cared about hurt.

“I’m not sure yet. I’ll have to run tests on her blood. But, I think that it’s clear to see that the stress from her last relationship is taking a huge toll on her. She is severely underweight, she has a low grade fever, and she looks exhausted. I’m guessing that she’s also is anemic and has multiple vitamin deficiencies.”

“We can fix all that right?” he asked, rubbing both of his hands through his hair.

“Yes. With a healthy diet, getting plenty of sleep, and some exercise, she should be back to a healthy weight range in about three to four months. I would also highly recommend that she see a therapist or at least talk to someone who will help her cope with the situation she was in.” As I said that last sentence, a part of me strongly wished that Juliana would choose me to be that person to talk to, to help her get through all of this. I knew that I could help.

“Thank gosh,” Mark said, sitting back down in the chair and putting his head in his hands.

I sat down next to him and put my hand on his shoulder for a moment. I felt bad for Mark. He was the one who had found Juliana and who had taken care of her these past several weeks. It had to be very hard for him to see her like this. “Yes. She’s in for a long road, but something tells me that she will be able to do it. Listen, I just ran out here quickly because she wants you in my office with her when I tell her about her test results. I have to run and do them now,” I said, standing up.

“Okay. Thanks, man, for doing this. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem. I’m glad to help her,” I said as I turned and began walking towards my lab.

As I was walking, I couldn’t help but remember how much fear was in Juliana’s eyes when I was examining her. The entire time I tried to be completely professional and not scare her off. But the entire time, all I wanted to do was bundle her up and take her home where I could give her the attention she needed. Hopefully, someday I would have the right to do that for her.



* * *



I walked into Robert’s office to see Mark sitting in one of the chairs across from Robert’s desk, playing with his cell phone.

“Hi, Mark.”

“Hey. How did the appointment go?” he asked, closing the game and putting his phone in his pocket.

“Pretty good.” I took the seat with the teddy bear on it, placing the bear in my lap and giving it a slight squeeze when I knew Mark wasn’t looking.

“You okay, Juliana? The appointment wasn’t too much for you?”

“I’m okay,” I said, honestly. When we first got here, I was terrified of Robert. But, after the way he’d treated me, I was really starting to like him. I knew in my gut he wasn’t a bad guy.

Mark and I talked for several minutes until Robert came in.

“Thank you for waiting,” he said, carrying what I assumed were my test results and sitting down in his desk chair across from us.