Part 8 (1/2)

Carrie cherished the happy hug Dana bestowed on her as she made for the treatment room.

'Ah, here she is, my little Sleeping Beauty.'

Dana giggled at Charlie and Carrie felt warm all over at how naturally her daughter responded to him. She only hoped Dana felt the same way after Charlie had injected local anaesthetic into her wound site!

'h.e.l.lo, Charlie,' Dana chirped.

'h.e.l.lo, Sleeping Beauty. What have you been doing to yourself?'

'I felled over. Susie says I never look where I'm going.'

Carrie's laugh was joined by Charlie's warm chuckle. 'Grown-ups are such spoilsports. Not looking where you're going is so much more fun.'

Dana giggled again and Carrie was pleased Susie had already departed. Her daughter looked so small sitting on the big bench, her legs dangling over the edge, her white sandals with red b.u.t.terflies swinging back and forth. Her blonde hair was pulled up into two bunches sitting high on her head, a yellow ribbon around each one.

She looked at Charlie, at the world, with such trust in those big blue eyes and Carrie felt irrational mother's guilt rear its ugly head. If she'd had been there maybe this wouldn't have happened.

'OK, now, I need to have a look at your chin. Do you want Mummy or me to pull the plaster off?'

Dana looked solemnly from one to the other. 'Mummy,' she announced.

Carrie smiled and kissed Dana on the head. 'Fast or slow, baby?'

'Fast,' Dana replied.

Carrie peeled up a corner of the plaster. 'OK, ready...steady...'

'Go!' Dana p.r.o.nounced.

Carrie ripped it off quickly without a peep from Dana. 'Ugh,' she said, looking at the gaping hole beneath. 'That definitely needs fixing.'

Dana nodded. 'Naughty pot plant.'

Charlie chuckled and sat on a mobile stool in front of Carrie's daughter and snapped some gloves on. 'Can I have a look, Sleeping Beauty?'

Dana giggled. 'You can fix it, can't you, Charlie?'

Charlie felt his heart melt at Dana's four-year-old innocence. Her big blue eyes were irresistibly gorgeous. So this was how it would be to have your own child, your own flesh and blood, looking at you like you were Superman. Could he fix it? At the moment he could have slain a dragon for her.

He tilted her chin up and examined the damage. The cut wasn't very deep and only about a centimetre long, but gaped in the middle. It had stopped bleeding. 'I reckon I can fix that as good as new.' The wound edges were straight, which would make for a neat scar.

'Susie says that you sew it up just like Grandma does when she sews my b.u.t.tons back on.'

'Susie is very smart,' Charlie confirmed. 'Open your mouth, sweetie.' Charlie smiled as Dana obeyed instantly, opening it as wide as it could go. Her neat white teeth all appeared to be intact. 'Now, bite down, like this.' Charlie demonstrated. 'Like you're eating a great big steak.'

Dana followed suit. Her bite seemed even enough. He felt along her jaw up to the angle both sides. 'Well, I don't think you did any more damage.'

He glanced at up at Carrie to confirm it. She was looking at him with such an intense stare that he momentarily forgot about Dana sitting in front of him. He momentarily forgot to breathe.

'Charlie.'

Charlie could hear Dana's high voice but Carrie's stare was distracting in the extreme.

'Charlie!' Dana tugged at his sleeve.

'Sorry, sweetie,' he said, breaking eye contact with Carrie. 'Let's get you sewn up.' He stood up and walked over to the tray of instruments he'd prepared earlier, taking deep cleansing breaths. What the h.e.l.l had that look been about? He didn't know what it meant but he did know that he hadn't been able to look away.

When he'd turned around again, Carrie had helped Dana lie back, her head right at the end of the table, and was fussing around, getting her in position.

'OK, Dana,' he said, rolling a trolley towards the bed and dragging the stool around to the head, 'what's your favourite thing in the whole world?' He snapped the light on above her head. It was attached to the wall via a long angled arm.

Dana giggled. 'That's easy. It's my mummy.'

Good choice, kid. 'What else?'

Dana looked at her mother for an answer. Carrie smiled and shrugged. 'Hmm...I think...oh, ding rolls.'

Charlie raised an eyebrow at Carrie.

'Spring rolls. She loves Chinese takeaway.'

'Ah.' He nodded. 'My favourite, too. What do you want to be when you grow up?'

'A ballerina.'

'Ah.' Charlie winked at Carrie. 'So you like to dance?'

Dana nodded vigorously and sighed. 'I love it.'

Charlie double-gloved and Carrie raised a quizzical eyebrow. 'Second nature around here,' he said dismissively.

Carrie nodded. She supposed it would be in a place where drug addicts with who knew what needed regular resuscitation.

'Now.' He returned his attention to Dana. 'I'll do you a deal,' he said, flicking the bubbles out of the syringe full of local anaesthetic. 'If you can lie nice and still for me while I fix your chin, I'll let you dance to my jukebox.'

'What's a dukebox?' Dana asked.

'Jukebox. Like in Happy Days,' Carrie explained.

Dana's eyes lit up. 'You have your very own dukebox, Charlie? Really?'

Charlie smiled. 'Really.'

'I promise I'll keep very still, Charlie, really I will.'

Carrie laughed at her daughter's wide-eyed exuberance. 'Charlie's going to put some stuff into your cut to make it go all numb so you can't feel it when he sews it up. It'll sting a bit.'

'Like what the dentist put in Emmett's mouth?'

Charlie raised an eyebrow at Carrie and then looked back down at his patient. 'Who's Emmett? Is he your boyfriend?'