Chapter 4

A Differential Diagnosis

"The findings aren't anything conclusive or definitive, but the injuries sustained to the child are quite significant in lieu of the explanation provided by the caretaker and the patient so I feel like I need further consultation..."

The nurse relayed all this information to a child protection team she was currently on the phone with. She tapped the end of a pencil against a paper attached to a clipboard she was using to document notes, all according to protocol when possible abuse was suspected on a child.

"So we can have a team out here within the next half hour...?"

"...And you'll bring in the child protection officer and the social worker too?"

She was thankful for the team working quickly this time. There were other times where they tended to be less reliable...

"Okay, sounds good. I'll see you within the hour. Thank you."

She hung up the phone and prepared herself to take the next necessary steps...

Meanwhile on the other side, the Girls and the Professor were essentially none the wiser. Well, mostly none the wiser. The Professor himself felt like something was slightly wrong.

The Professor couldn't really name it, but he got a strange feeling in the bottom of his gut when the nurse finished her exam of Bubbles and suddenly said she needed to make a "phone call" in the next room over. It was probably nothing and he was probably just being paranoid, but he just couldn't shake this really bad feeling.

"I wonder who she's callin'?" Buttercup asked curiously right beside him. Her tone was a lot lighter, and she clearly didn't carry the same suspicions that her older, more jaded father did.

"She's probably calling some special surgeons who can best take care of Bubbles." Blossom suggested. "After all, I don't think just anyone can do an operation like that."

Bubbles still didn't the idea of going through any surgery and she hugged her knees to her chest, whimpering with displeasure as she rested her head against them.

Blossom saw this blatant distress in her sister and worked to set her at ease, rubbing her back in a comforting fashion. "Don't be scared, Bubbles. They're going to put you to sleep first, remember? You won't feel a thing!"

"I know that's what she said but... it still sounds so scary."

The Professor could relate. He had needed to go through a scary-sounding operation too when he came down with a bad case of tonsillitis.

"I know sweetheart, but it's nothing to worry about. I remember feeling scared when I was about your age and the doctors needed to perform a tonsillectomy to remove my swollen tonsils. At first it was scary, but then I got a special medicine that helped me sleep called "anesthesia". I didn't feel any pain during the operation at all and before I knew it, I had woken up in the recovery room with my parents right beside me. Then I got to have an ice cream after my throat stopped being so sore."

He hoped that this story (entirely true, and occurring when the Professor was around the age of 10) would help to relieve some of Bubbles's stress, and to his great pleasure, it seemed to do just that. Bubbles finally began smiling again and she didn't look so scared. Hearing that her daddy had gone through something similar to what she was and that he'd ended up fine helped to greatly put her at ease.

"That's sweet, Professor!" Blossom commented, smiling at the relayed experience.

"Yeah, I hope I get swollen tonsils too." Buttercup stated longingly. "Then I could have all the ice cream on the planet when I finally got better!"

The Professor chuckled at this and ruffled her hair. "Well, I don't know about that. Tonsillitis really isn't any fun."

"Will I get to have ice cream once I finally get better?" Bubbles asked hopefully.

The Professor smiled lovingly at her. "Of course you will, sweetie. You'll have all the ice cream your little tummy can handle!"

Bubbles laughed as the Professor tickled her and Buttercup expressed mock jealousy at her sister being so lucky before she was reminded of something special that was bulging out of her pocket. Something she'd almost instinctively brought along with her as a present to make her injured sister feel better.

"Oh yeah!" Buttercup suddenly said as she stuck her hand into her pocket. "I brought something good for you, Bubbles!"

"Really?" Bubbles leaned forward eagerly, being careful not to put too much pressure on her lap.

Buttercup smiled as she presented a very purple and familiar toy. A stuffed octopus with a top hat and a perpetually happy smile.

"OCTI!" Bubbles squealed, hugging the doll as soon as it was offered to her. She gushed love for her special little you and she couldn't have been more grateful for Buttercup bringing him for her. Octi always did make her feel better whenever she was scared or sick or hurt.

"Oh thank you, Buttercup! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She hugged her sister tightly and Buttercup returned the hug with a slight rosiness to her cheeks. She wasn't used to so much praise at a single time, but she certainly wasn't complaining.

"Yeah, yeah." She stated as an attempt at modesty. A cool, nonchalant air. "I saw him laying on the floor and I figured you might need him."

"You are the best sister ever!"

Now Buttercup grew more cocky. "Well duh!" So much for Blossom being considered the best sister. Now that title went to Buttercup!

Instead of expressing any form of jealousy at this, Blossom punched her approvingly in the arm. "Nice going, Buttercup." For once, she wasn't being sarcastic.

Yep, this was officially the best day of Buttercup's life. Blossom joined in with the hug that Buttercup was currently giving Bubbles, making it a full-out sisterly embrace and for a while, everything was bliss.

Then the family heard the soft click of a door in the background re-opening and they saw a familiar figure walk through that door.

"I'm back!"

"Hi, nurse!" The Girls greeted her cheerily, having no idea of the events she had just set into motion.

"Oh, hello! It's good to have you back." The Professor greeted politely too. He launched this next question at her with a smile: "So, if you don't mind me asking, what was that phone call all about?"

He didn't think he was being too intrusive with this question. He knew that there were confidentiality issues around certain things in a hospital setting, but if it was anything at all concerning his daughter, didn't he have a fundamental right as her parent to know?

"Oh, it was nothing important." The nurse dismissed, waving her hands. "I just needed to get a few things cleared up."

"Oh, uh... okay!" That sounded innocent enough, right?

"Well, who is this?" She suddenly shifted her attention to the bright new toy in Bubbles's hands.

"This is Octi!" Bubbles proudly declared, holding up the doll for the nurse to see. "Buttercup brought it for me!" She took a moment to grab her blushing sister's hand.

"She did? Well, that sounds wonderful. You seem to have a very caring sister."

Once again, Buttercup blushed at the praise and stopped to sheepishly scratch the back of her head. "Yeah, I do alright."

The nurse clapped her hands together in a decisive manner, then she started laying out her game plan. "So, now that we have that bit of business out of the way, here's what we're gonna do."

She strode over to her current patient and wrapped her arms lightly around her... almost in a protective manner. "Bubbles is going to stay in here with me while we get her prepped for surgery, and you guys are gonna step outside and hang out in the waiting room for a little while until we can fetch you three again. That sound good?"

"Um, alright!" This was all reasonable... right? Still, he had to ask the question, "You don't want me in here while she's getting ready for surgery? It might help put her at ease!"

"No, I think we'll be just fine by ourselves for now, won't we Bubbles?"

Bubbles looked up at her for a moment, as she looked back down at the child with a smile, and Bubbles eventually found her courage and bravely claimed, "Yeah! I'll be okay by myself, Professor! Go ahead with Blossom and Buttercup!"

"Okay, sweetie." The man took the time to wave at her before he left. "We'll see you soon, alright?"

Buttercup waved too, doing a salute. "See ya, Bubbles!"

Blossom smiled supportively at her, being the last to wave. "Be brave!"

Once the two of them were alone, the nurse began to explain exactly what would be happening next. She started with how her patient felt about everything.

"So Bubbles, how are you feeling?"

"Scared..." The child admitted.

"What's making you feel scared?"

Bubbles hung her head and played with one of Octi's tentacles in a restless manner. "The surgery. I know you said you were gonna put me to sleep, but what if something bad happens to me while I'm in the middle of the surgery? What if I wake up while the operation's still going on or I don't wake up at all?"

The nurse expressed understanding for these feelings.

"Oh, I can see how that could make you feel scared sweetie, but things like that are really, really, really unlikely to happen. So small that it's not even worth worrying about. The doctors here know just the right amount of anesthesia to give you so you definitely stay asleep during surgery but also so you'll definitely wake up again after it's all over."

Bubbles nodded her head, forcing herself to believe it. The Professor went through it and he was still here today. He had been a kid just like Bubbles and he ended up just fine.

"Okay. I-I was mostly asking for Octi. He's really worried about me."

"Is he? Well, I think you can go ahead and tell Octi he doesn't have to worry."

Bubbles did just that, telling Octi she would be just fine and he didn't need to worry about her ever leaving him. She took a hold of his bulbous head and made him nod at her.

It was explained to her that she would be changing into a proper hospital gown for the surgery and that they'd need to take her old clothes would be taken for safekeeping.

"Now Bubbles, sweetie," The woman bent down to look her straight in the eyes as she crouched at her level. "I know I already asked you this before but do you think you could you tell me again how it is you got hurt, now that it's just me and you?"

Bubbles didn't know how the exclusion of the Professor or the rest of her family was supposed to make this huge difference, but after scrunching her eyebrows together a bit in a form of confusion, Bubbles timidly recounted the incident that brought her here once again, wondering if she had said or done something wrong the first time.

She had been playing on top of her bed, waiting for her bathwater to be filled. She had been naked at the time she decided to make a leap off the bed with her legs spread wide open on top of her beanbag chair, and she landed in a way that made her rip her lady parts open. There was lots of blood and it hurt very badly.

Heck, even after spending so much time in here, it still hurt pretty bad.

The nurse nodded her head to all of this repeated information, seeming to take it all in acceptingly, but then she asked a question that made Bubbles feel quite confused.

"And are you sure that's exactly how it happened?"

How else could it have happened? Bubbles's confusion only grew more. Was the nurse suddenly doubting her? Why would she do that now when her words were seemingly taken at face value before?

"Yes." Bubbles nodded. She was sure she didn't leave anything out...

"Okay, well I'm glad you could tell it to me again."

Some of the tension left her body, but Bubbles still felt a sense of puzzlement. "But why did I even have to?" She questioned. "Did I say it wrong before?"

"No sweetheart, you didn't say it wrong at all. The only reason I was asking was to make sure I had all the details, and also to make sure that nothing in your original story changed."

"Why would it change?"

The nurse had to be careful in how she approached this. She couldn't say anything that would possibly be seen as coercive or suggestive to the child. This could potentially poison any future disclosure of hers. "I suppose it would only change if there was something you weren't telling me. Something you might've felt the need to hide or maybe didn't feel comfortable sharing in front of your daddy or your sisters."

Bubbles shook her head. "No! I'm telling you everything! I would never lie like that. I'm a good girl and that's naughty..."

"I know you're a good girl honey and I'm not accusing you of lying. I just want to make sure you're safe. That was why I called in some other people."

"Other people?" Bubbles's fist went to her mouth.

Now for the hard part. "Bubbles, do you know what a social worker is?"

Bubbles didn't have a clue. "No."

So the nurse explained it for her. "Well, what's going to happen now is that a very nice lady who works with children and with families is going to come in here to see you and then the two of you are going to have a little chat! She's going to make sure you're safe, happy, and healthy and you don't need to worry at all because this lady is a friend of mine and she will only be there to help you. So does that sound okay?"

That actually sounded pretty nice. In fact, a lady like that almost reminded Bubbles of Ms. Bellum. Ms. Bellum was always helping the girls and making sure they were taken care of. It would be nice to get a chance to talk to another kind lady like that.

The child put on a small, innocent smile. "Yeah. That sounds okay."