I'm not a doctor so I apologise if information is incorrect in this chapter.

PS: I don't know why but my chapter formats seem to be getting mucked up in the app (Random spaces, italics etc) Not sure how to fix it sorry!

Charlie POV

The houses and trees are moving swiftly past the window of the car, I am sitting in the passenger seat with Jude in the back and Stef driving. We are on our way to the local hospital, my heart is racing a mile a minute, I let out a breath that I only just realised I have been holding in. In some ways I am glad I said yes to seeing a doctor, at least this way I can get some proper medication to help with the pain but I am still absolutely dreading having to walk into another hospital. I honestly do believe Stef when she says she is going to stay with me the whole time but I still can't shake the anxiety that is currently flooding through my mind. I hate hospitals.

We pull into the car park and Stef finds a park that is as close as possible to the entrance. Jude is the first who jumps out, he quickly makes his way over to my door and helps me climb out of the car. Stef walks over to us "Alright, you ready love?" I give Stef a nod before we make our way to the entrance doors. It's pretty quiet in the reception area, only a couple of other people are sitting down waiting to be seen, Stef tells me and Jude to take a seat before she walks over to talk to the woman behind the desk. Jude sits down to my left "How are you feeling now?" He asks me "I'm okay, it's not too bad at the moment" I reply. Stef makes her way back over to us with a clipboard in her hand "Someone should be free to see us soon" she tells me with a smile "Okay" I say. Stef takes the seat on my right "We just need to fill out these forms before we are seen, it's just all your basic information and a bit about your medical history" I stare at the clipboard in Stefs hand, shit I didn't think about having to write about my medical history, I know I have already told Callie but I wasn't ready for everyone else to find out and pity me. Stef hands me the clipboard and I start to fill in the form, it's easy at first but I have to ask Stef about her address and phone number. The next set of questions is now about my medical history, I read over the questions a few times before I decide to circle no under the question Do you have any existing medical conditions?. I mean I am better now so what does it matter if they know about my heart or not and I'd rather not talk about it again. I hand the form back to Stef in which she takes it up to reception.

The next twenty minutes move fast, Stef has been reading woman's magazines next to me and Jude has been talking to me about his favourite video game Vainglory. Our conversation is interrupted by a womans voice "Miss Charlotte Jacobs" I look up to see a woman, maybe in her late thirties, she is tall with curly blonde hair, Stef stands up straight away and I follow suit. We walk over to the woman who instantly greets us "Hi, I'm Dr Smith but you can call me Tori and you must be Charlotte" she looks towards me and I nod my head, I am glad I have a female doctor, it makes me feel a little bit more comfortable being here. Stef introduces herself and Jude to Tori, she shakes all our hands before we follow her to the exam room. Dr Smiths exam room is small, it has a desk, a few chairs and an exam table. Tori asks me to sit down on the exam table which I do with a wince, that hurt more then I thought it would. After I sit down Tori begins to talk "I'm sorry it took a while I was looking through your medical file and there was a fair bit to look through before I brought you in here" I gulp, I didn't expect them to have my records but I guess I don't know much about how the medical world works. I look over to Stef and Jude who are standing near the end of the exam table, they are looking worriedly at both the doctor and me. Responding to Tori I nod my head "I called your specialist to have a talk as well" she continues trying to connect her eyes with mine but I try my best to avoid them "after I have done your exam I'd like to talk to you about it, if that is okay?" Dammit, this is not going the way I wanted it too, I want to say no but I don't think that is an option so I just nod my head. Stef now looks like she wants to burst, I know she must have a thousand questions but I'm glad she seems to be keeping quiet at the moment. Tori instructs me to lie on my back which I do with a struggle "Now I hear you might have an injury on your abdomen" I nod my head again, I realise I haven't said a word since I met this doctor but she doesn't seem very bothered by my not talking. She asks me to lift up my shirt which I do anxiously "that's great Charlotte, now if it is okay with you I am just going to press down slightly on a few areas of your stomach?" She asks me, once again I nod my head. She starts off at the bottom of my stomach which doesn't hurt too much but as she moves up the pain worsens, it's when she presses just under my chest that a slight scream escapes my lips, my vision starts to get blurry and I try to push her hands away. I look up to Tori who has a crease in her eyebrows "I'm sorry that must have hurt Charlotte, you definitely have a few large hematomas and I am suspecting three broken ribs but I can't be certain until we get an X-ray done. I don't believe there is any internal bleeding or serious damage" Tori says as she looks between Stef and I "but it might take a little while before you feel your body being fully functional again" I nod "Now I'm going to prescribe you something for the pain and also a mild anti inflammatory to help reduce the bruising and swelling. I will also organise for you to get an X-ray completed this afternoon just to have a closer look at those ribs and make sure I haven't missed any other damage. Now if you want to hop down off the exam table and take a seat down by my desk we can talk a bit more about my conversation with your specialist". As I move my body off the table I can begin to feel my heart racing again, what is Tori going to say? what do I say? I know I was supposed to go for regular visits once I came off the medication to make sure everything was okay, visits in which I haven't been to in years. I take the seat closest to Tori's, Stef sits on the chair next to me and Jude leans up against the wall where I can just see him in the corner of my vision, there are not enough chairs in this place. Tori opens up a document on her computer "Okay so before I fill in your prescriptions let's have a chat" she turns her chair so it's facing me "How are you generally feeling? other then your obvious injuries" great now I actually need to talk "Umm fine" I say "So since your last appointment which was.." she looks through her notes "a few years ago now, when you first came off your medications which were.." she does some scrolling "Acebutolol, Dyrenium and Amlodipine" damn they actually know everything, it's now that Stef finally seems to burst at the seams "Why was Charlie on these drugs and why does she have a specialist?!" Stef says looking between Tori and I, I link eyes with Stef for a second before I look down "I'm sorry, I thought you would have known about Charlottes medical history" "I haven't received her file yet, I will be getting it tomorrow" Stef says, I can still feel her eyes on me as well as Judes. Tori shuffles in her seat a bit "Charlotte do you mind having Stef and Jude in here for this conversation?" I think about it for a second "It's fine" I say, I mean they are going to find out tomorrow when they read my file anyway "Okay, Do you want to tell them about your condition or is it okay for me to give Stef a quick debrief from what I have on your file?" "You can" I say, still not looking at Jude or Stef, I know Jude is probably going to take this conversation hard like Callie did. Stef moves forward in her seat as Tori starts to tell her my medical history, "Charlotte has a condition called Bicuspid aortic valve disease. She started to develop symptoms when she was five which ended up resulting in three open heart surgeries over the course of a year. The reason for so many surgeries was due to other smaller complications arising, all of which were fixed after the final surgery" I am still avoiding all eye contact and looking down at my hands whilst fidgeting with my fingers, suddenly Stefs hand embraces mine and she gives it a squeeze. I instantly feel a sense of comfort, a sense of belonging, I look up into Stefs eyes and what I see surprises me, I don't see pity but rather reassurance, she then gives me a smile which only solidifies that reassurance. Tori continues to scroll through my details "Now it says here you came off your medication three years ago and that was the last time you were seen by anyone, is that correct?" "Umm yeah" "Under your notes it says you were supposed to been seen once a month for the first year and then six monthly after that if everything was going smoothly" I look down again, I knew this would come up "I called Dr Travey, your initial specialist and he was very surprised to hear you were here today. Talking with him he would like to see you as soon as possible, due to you not having been to any of your appointments he said it is in your best interests to see him for some thorough tests to make sure your heart is still doing it's job correctly" Stef is the one to talk now "How soon does Charlie need to see Dr Travey?" "He said he can squeeze Charlotte in for an appointment Monday morning at 9am" Stef looks at me "I think it's really important for you to go love, is it okay if I take you?" the only reason why I never made it to any of my past appointments was due to my foster parents either not having time to take me or generally not being bothered so it's a shock to hear Stef asking to take me "Umm sure" I say "Great, we will be there Monday 9am". It suddenly dawns on me that I might not even be with the Fosters on Monday, that's four days away, why is Stef making this commitment when she doesn't even know where i'll be. I let go of Stefs hand and pretend to scratch my nose, I need to stop accepting this comfort, it might not be here for much longer.

The rest of the appointment involves Tori filling out my prescriptions, giving details for the X-ray and my appointment details for Monday. Stef thanks Tori and we make our way back to the car. The rest of the afternoon consists of going to get an X-ray which confirms that I have three broken ribs but that's all thankfully. Stef ran into the local pharmacy where she picked up my prescriptions and we stopped at a drive through to get burgers for lunch, Jude said to not tell Lena because she doesn't like the family eating fast food, I smiled at this but I wasn't really in the mood for talking so that's the only reply I could muster up. After we ate our burgers in the car and disposed of our evidence we headed back to the house.

Walking in the door I suddenly realise how tired I am, today was a busy day. I am sitting on the living room couch with Jude on the armchair near me, the TV is playing a movie but i'm not really paying attention, my eyes are suddenly feeling so heavy. Stef walks into the room and hands me some of the pills prescribed to me today, I take the pills and down a half glass of water before I curl up under the blanket I used last night, my eyes start to glaze over and a few minutes later I am fast asleep.

Stef POV

I just got off the phone to Lena, I filled her in about the events of today, she threw me so many questions most of which I didn't have an answer. I could tell by the tone in her voice that she was as surprised and worried as I am. What a crazy day, I did not expect to find out Charlie had a heart condition. Having a medical condition is one thing but thinking about Charlie having to go through all of that whilst being in foster care absolutely breaks my heart. Charlie hasn't talked about what happened at the doctors office and i'm not going to push her, poor girl fell asleep within twenty minutes of getting inside the house, she must have been exhausted.

Jude walks into the kitchen and breaks me out of my internal thoughts "Hey Bud, you okay?" Jude takes a seat at the table and shrugs his shoulders "Yeah.. I guess" "What's on your mind?" "Hmm.. I just, It didn't even cross my mind that we would find out that Charlie had been sick when she was younger. I remember her being perfectly fine before she was taken away" he looks sad and confused, I walk over and give him a hug "The doctor said her symptoms started later on love, so there was no way for you, Callie, your mom or dad to know she had a problem" "Yeah, I guess you're right. I just wish she had someone with her when it all happened she must have been so scared" I give him another squeeze "Well she has us now, that's better then nothing" I say giving Jude a big smile in which he smiles back in reply "How is she anyway? Still asleep?" "Yeah, still asleep. She hasn't moved an itch" "How about you get some homework done now, then you will be free to do whatever you like this afternoon huh?" Jude hops off his chair "Yeah okay. I'll bring it down here" "Sounds good bud". Hopefully with Jude busy doing homework and Charlie asleep I will have some quiet time to think about what I want to do about this whole situation, obviously Lena and I will have a talk about it this afternoon but I am still so confused about what to do. I want Charlie to stay, I want to be able to support her but I don't know if it's even possible and I need to think about what Brandon told me last night too. All I know is that I need to decide by lunchtime tomorrow before our meeting with Tim.