The Peirce's

Chapter 4 - Ellie's Appointment

Ellie's POV:

We have finished Ty's movie, and everyone has gone to their room to do their separate things before bed. I'm lying on my bed, scrolling through Instagram when I hear a knock on my door, 'that's strange' I think to myself, 'no one ever knocks in this family', "what?" I ask, "hey Elle, can we have a chat?" I hear Cal ask from the other side of the door. "Yeah, come in" I say suspiciously.

My big brother walks in, shutting the door behind him, and immediately scoops me into a hug, "what's going on Cal?" I ask. He sighs and looks at me sympathetically. I get really suspicious because he is never this nice to anyone. "While I was at work today, I noticed you were due..." he whispers. I cut him off, "NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT CALUM, THERE IS NO WAY I AM GOING TO LET YOU DO THAT TO ME" I start screaming, "Hey, hey, shhh. I don't have to do it, I can get someone else" he whispers, trying to calm me down. "nonononono" I cry to myself. By this time, everyone else in the house has heard the commotion and is running up to my room. The door flies open to reveal my other six brothers worried and breathless, "what's going on?" Maxi asks once he sees me sobbing in Cal's arms. I just continue crying as my brothers come to crowd around me in comfort. I pretty much ignore their existence and whisper to Cal, "when?" he looks at me sadly and states, "it's tomorrow... after breakfast". My crying significantly increases once I hear this and all my brothers look at me, concerned.

We all sit in silence, apart from my quiet sobs, until Lex speaks up, "can you tell us what has brought this on?" he asks, in uni he is training to be a psychiatrist, which has proved to be very helpful when I get anxious. "I have an appointment with Cal tomorrow" I stutter as a series of gasps arise throughout the room. It's safe to say, I hate going to the gyno. He knows this and always tries to make my appointments as bearable as he can, but it is just horrible. Eventually, I tire myself out and fall asleep in the caring arms of all my brothers.

I wake up to the gentle nudging of Cal and all the events of last night come flooding back as I start to cry. "Oh sunshine, it will be ok, I'll be as gentle as I can, you know that" he whispers comfortingly (Ash and Cal both call me sunshine whenever they know I'm upset). I nod to him as he lifts me out of bed and carries me into the kitchen. I'm met by all my brothers eating their breakfast. I am sat on a stool at the kitchen island and a plate of bacon and eggs is set in front of me. I immediately push it away because I really am not in the mood for food right now. "c'mon Elle, you gotta eat" Cal pleads, "I'm not hungry" I reply shortly, "Ellie..." Maxi warns, and I shoot him a filthy glare which he does not appreciate. "Ellie, come on you have to eat, you have a big day today" Cal says, trying to interrupt my quickly forming standoff with Max. I quickly take a nibble out of one of the pieces of bacon and look at my brother to see if he is satisfied. He raises an eyebrow at me, but he knows that I am too stubborn to eat anymore.

"Alrighty then..." Cal says as he lifts me off the chair and starts walking towards his car. "NO... CAL... I'M NOT READY... PLEASE" I yell but he just sits me in the car and starts driving. I sit in the car crying, knowing there is no way out of this. "I'm sorry Elle, but it has to be done" he says, "I know" I mumble sadly. Eventually, we arrive at the clinic "come on sunshine" Cal says sympathetically before he carries me inside. It must have been quite a sight for all the ladies in the waiting room – a young doctor carrying a crying girl through the clinic. Most of the women probably would have known Cal as a doctor and been very confused.

Cal plonks me on the bed as I cry, "Ellie, sweetheart... you know all I want to do is help" he says, taking my hands as he sits on his stool. I just continue crying and shake my head, once again showing that I am not ok with this. He sighs and looks up at me, "do you want me to call one of the boys?" he asks quietly. I silently nod my head and he steps out of the room to call one of my brothers. I take this as an opportunity to escape. I get up and sneak out the door and make my way into the waiting room and continue walking to the exit. Of course, not having a plan, I am interrupted. I completely forgot that Cal's best friend Luke works as the receptionist at his clinic. "Hey Elle, leaving so soon?" he asks, smirking as he gets up from his desk and walks towards me, "uh, yeah, Cal had to step out" I say, not completely telling the truth. He takes my hand and looks into my eyes sympathetically, "you're going to be ok sweetheart" he says, and I look up at him, I completely forgot how hot he is. I am snapped out of my infatuation when I see him press a button on the pager on his belt with his free hand before reaching to grab my other hand. We stand there for a second, him holding my hands comfortingly and looking into my eyes. Soon, Cal walks into the waiting room with a disappointed yet understanding expression on his face. My brother takes my hands and guides me back to the exam room as Luke makes his way back to his desk.

"Please sit" Cal pleads with me once we return to the exam room. I look at him pleadingly and when I see that he is not going to give up, I slowly sit myself on the bed but let my legs dangle over the side. He silently sits back on his stool, "Ash is on his way" he says calmingly. I just nod my head and we sit in silence as we wait. "Sunshine, why don't you put the gown on for me so we can get this over with quicker?" Cal asks, breaking the silence. I look to him, teary-eyed but he looks back encouragingly, "ok" I mumble. He hands me a gown and escorts me to the bathroom. When I am finished, I exit the bathroom to find that Luke has replaced Cal and I look at him, confused, "he went back to do some paperwork" Luke says after seeing my confusion. He leads me back to the room and opens the door for me to enter. When I enter the room, I see the senior twins looking at me sorrowfully.

I stand at the door and let nervous tears stream down my cheeks. Ash walks up to me and embraces me sympathetically. I sob into my brother's chest for a few minutes until he lifts me up and puts me on the bed, "no!" I scream. "Hey, relax, you're going to be fine sunshine" Ash says, holding my hands as Cal puts my legs in the stirrups. I start to hyperventilate, and Luke comes into the room and places an oxygen mask over my face. I slowly calm down as my sobs turn to sniffles. "Ellie..." Cal starts, "hmm?" I sniff nervously, "I'm going to start now, if it gets too much just say and I'll stop. I really need you to try as hard as you can to stay relaxed for me" my brother says as a new set of tears fall down my face. "Hey, Elle, look at me" Ash says, holding my hands together and coming in front of me, blocking my view of what Cal is doing. I look at Ash, still crying as he tries to distract me, "are you taking Ty and Jake to the kitchen next week" he asks, and I nod. I go to the local soup kitchen every second week to help out and I have started taking the junior twins because they need to do something other than video games with their time. My thoughts are quickly interrupted when I hear Cal say, "deep breaths for me sunshine" and feel the speculum being entered into me. I cry out in discomfort and Ash takes his free hand and starts playing with my hair comfortingly. "Ok sunshine, this will be a bit crampy, then I'm done though" Cal warns as I feel the cramping sensation. It quickly ends and the ordeal is over. Cal disposes of his equipment and immediately comes to me to join Ash in comforting me.

Exhausted, I let the boys carry me to the car and take me home. I get home and am carried upstairs to my bed, just as Cal is about to leave my room I stop him, "wait" I murmur weakly. My brother turns around and comes back, "I'm really embarrassed about how Luke saw me today" I mutter, "Elle, it's literally his job to help people that are nervous about their appointment" Cal assures, "still" I mumble. "If you really want, I can send you his number and you can say whatever you want to say" Cal says and I weakly nod gratefully. "Ok, get some sleep, then text Luke, you're too exhausted to make any sense right now" Cal chuckles, bending down to kiss my forehead before leaving my room.

I wake up the next morning at about 4:30 and can't get back to sleep. I decide that this is the perfect time to text Luke because I won't get a response straight away. I quickly shoot him a text and am able to get back to sleep.