Page 8 of Alexander's Heart

“Yesh, you needs to see my piwate mark, is so cool.”

She’s trying to be brave but I can tell she’s in a lot of pain with her breathy words, and when I raise her hospital gown the site before me is horrifying to see on her little body. The harness marks are extreme with heavy dark blue and red bruising, fucking hell.

“Chief, go get the doctor now!” I boom.

Charlie Chief moves fast, and Charlotte wakes with a start.

“What is it, is she okay?” Charlotte asks in panic.

“Charlotte, come look at these marks, they don’t look good can you tell if they are they worse than before? “

Charlotte rushes around the bed and takes a look, “There’s no spread, but they’re definitely darker in color, yes. Where is Lily? Did you find her?” Charlotte says looking up with tears in her eyes.

I shift my eyes to Alexa, “Not now, I’ll explain later Alexa needs us.”

A team of medical staff rush into the room to check on Alexa,

“Can I lift your cool fatigue gown, Alexa?” I like this dude already, asking a woman for permission shows a sign of respect and good character, even if she is a little girl.

Alexa nods, “Yesh, tis okay, you can looks at my cool X mawks the spot.”

“Absolutely cool, little lady I just need to check how cool, all the staff are talking about and I want to check it out for myself. They also said you’ve been a very brave little girl,” the doctor says enthusiastically.

“I’s twying but needs more medichin, pwease.” My princess says as her little lip quivers.

The male doctor raises her gown, inspecting her torso, and asks her how bad the pain is from one to ten. He’s pointing to a card attached to his jacket, and Alexa tells him it’s a four, and I know she’s holding back, she’s trying her hardest to be brave but that’s not always a good thing.

“Sir, are you Alexander Harrington?”

“Yes, Sir, is Alexa, okay? Or has her bruising started spreading?”

“Yes, she is okay. She has no internal bleeding and the bruising hasn’t grown, see this line here,” he points out a faint line outlining the bruising which I hadn’t noticed before, “this is marked and is still inside the border. Alexa was extremely lucky and was well cushioned in her child safety seat, which I want the brand and model of too by the way. She will be sore for a while and we will continue to monitor her, but what this little lady needs is some pain relief and rest.”

“Can she have some stronger pain relief, Doc? Alexa is a very brave girl and I think she is masking how bad she is.”

The doctor looks at her and asks, “Alexa, I know you’re being a big brave girl for everyone and you have all these big strong men around, but it’s okay to not be so brave sometimes and do need to tell us when the pain is bad, it’s very important.”

“Am I in twouble?” She asks will tears pooling in her eyes.

“No, sweetheart, but it is always very important to tell a doctor or nurse the truth, we are here to help you.”

“I’s huwting bad, my X mawks the spot is cool but it huwts so bad, I’s sowwy.” Alexa starts crying, and I gently stroke her hair as I hold her close.

“It’s okay, Alexa. Can you tell me the real number, I need to give you the right medicine to help with the pain.”

“Se-seven, I’s wants the pain gawn, pwease.” Alexa cries out.

“Okay, Alexa, I’ll give you some stronger medicine to help with your pain and thank you for telling me the truth.”

It’s breaking my heart that she’s been hiding her pain so she appears brave, she’s learning too much from us frog men and I’m not sure that’s always a good thing. Don’t get me wrong I want to raise a brave, capable little girl so she will grow to become a happy, strong, and accomplished young woman but she also needs to learn to listen to her body.

The doctor addresses me next, “I’ll give Alexa some morphine, she needs relief to heal, it will put her to sleep but at the moment that is what’s best for her.”

“Yes, if she needs it, give it to her and thank you.”

The doctor draws up the morphine into the syringe and injects it into Alexa’s IV cannula bung, and I feel her body relax instantly.

“I love you, Princess, Daddy’s got you,” I whisper as I kiss her forehead.

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