Arthur tied the bow in Peace's hair as a final touch to her look for the day. Although she was going to the doctor he decided to make her look nice. Her dress was purple today with a blue and red ribbon. She looked cute and simply sat on her bed swinging her legs a little bit. It was the day after her trip to China's house, but now she didn't cry when Francis was around, now she simply stayed by everyone else but him and stayed away from him. She didn't even say good night to the poor man, she simply ran off to her bedroom when it was time to go to bed. This morning she did the same thing, but she did give her Papa a quick hug while he made breakfast. Now the boys were on the bus, so it was time for the doctor's appointment. Arthur wasn't sure what to do, he had a meeting with Switzerland that day so Francis had to take her. Arthur had made sure that Peace was alright with that, but she didn't seem to understand exactly what was going on.
When Arthur went to leave his little girl was sitting in the middle of the garden room coloring in one of her books. He said goodbye to her and she gave him a hug, but she looked sort of afraid. She hid it very well, though and watched from the front porch as her Daddy left in the car. When she went back inside her Papa was watching her from his seat in the garden room, seeming to wait for her to return to her coloring. They had about a half hour before they had to leave, so she could play however she wanted. He sat in a chair and read while she played, just letting her get used to the idea of being alone with him again. Peace seemed to get used to it, but when he got up to start to pack a bag Peace's eyes snapped up to him and she froze. As he moved around in the kitchen she watched him like a hawk and she stayed completely still.
"Are you done coloring," Francis asked squatting in front of the still girl. "Can I see?"
Peace slowly looked down at the coloring sheet and lifted it up to her Papa slowly.
Francis took it from her with a smile and looked at the drawing. It was a picture of a house with five stick figures out front in the yard. The smallest figure seemed to be Peace, and Matthew and Alfred were on either side of her. Next to Alfred was Arthur with a tea cup, and next to Matthew was Francis with what seemed to be a sword.
"Is that my sword," he asked Peace pointing to it and showing it to her.
Peace nodded slowly, her eyes were wide and she seemed afraid, but she still didn't say a word as tears started to form in her eyes.
"Why do I have my sword?"
Peace slowly pointed up with her entire arm , but kept her eyes trained on her Papa.
Francis thought about it, trying to quickly put the pieces together. "Is it because of what happened yesterday?" He watched as Peace covered her eyes with both of her hands as quickly as she could, and balled up a little bit. Francis put the picture down and crawled over so that he was sitting next to Peace and put a hand on her back. "I wasn't going to do anything chéri. I thought that someone had come into the house when they weren't supposed to be here. I didn't want you to get hurt so I was going to use the sword to escort them out of the house. I would never hurt you, not you paix."
Peace peaked through her fingers so that she could look up and see her Papa. He looked hurt, and he looked sad. She put her hands down and hugged his arm with a sad look. Francis smiled down at the girl, she was trying to make it better and he couldn't help but smile at how the little girl tried to fix everything.
"It's time to go to your doctor appointment, sweetheart," Francis told her after he kissed his daughter's blond hair. "We have to get going."
Peace looked up at Francis with a confused look, but allowed him to pick her up and take her to the foyer to put her coat on. She didn't cry or freeze when he buckled her up in the car. During the car ride Francis put on the CD that Peace loved and she smiled and bounced in time with the music. They pulled up to the building and Peace just looked at it through the window, trying to figure out what was going on. Once the car was turned off Francis unbuckled himself and got Peace out of her car seat before throwing the bag over his shoulder and carrying her inside of the building. The doctor's office was full of bright colors, and there were toys and books everywhere. Peace managed to wiggle out of her Papa's arms to go play with the toys scattered all over the floor. She played while he checked in and filled out all of the paperwork that he needed to, and then watched her while they waited to be called back.
When they were called back the nurse understood the situation and seemed to be very encouraging to get Peace to do something. The only problem was that Peace didn't want to do what the nurse said, instead she just held onto her Papa's pant leg and stayed close to him. When he gently pushed her forward and encouraged her to do what the nurse asked Peace did what the nurse said. The first thing was getting her height measured, and as she walked to stand against the wall she looked back at her Papa with concerned eyes, and did what the nurse told her to.
"You're such a big girl," the nurse enthusiastically told her taking the measurement. "You're really tall, I bet that you're as tall as your big brothers, aren't you?"
Peace giggled and smiled at the nurse, and stood on the scale like the nurse said with only one look at her Papa for approval. Francis was the barely had to help the nurse once they go into the room, he just lifted his daughter up onto the examination table and told her that she was doing very well. When the nurse left and they were waiting for the doctor Francis told Peace how well she was doing and how well the appointment was going. Peace simply wiggled in her seat and smiled up at her Papa. The doctor came in fairly soon, but had Francis talk with him out in the hall for a moment. The two quickly went over what was going to happen at the appointment so that they were on the same page, and when they went back in the doctor simply started.
The doctor was wonderful, and after a few minutes Peace seemed to be alright with the doctor. First the doctor did a very simple physical, which went well. After that was the hard things that everyone knew would get tough for the little girl. Francis could still remember when Alfred and Matthew had to get shoots when they were younger, it was horrible for he and Alfred. With the two of them the could barely hold the two down so that the doctor could give them the shoots, but with Peace a lot more things would have to be done. The doctor wanted to do some blood work, so they would need to prick Peace's finger to do that. The nurse came in with the supplies, and had Francis hop up onto the examination table and hold Peace in his lap. France wrapped one arm around the girl so that her left arm was against her side, and he held out her right hand to the nurse. He told Peace that it was going to hurt a little, but it would be alright in a few minutes and he wouldn't let go until she told him to. The little girl's eyes watched the nurse as she put the blue thing to her finger, and to Francis' dismay tears welled up in Peace's eyes. She started to cry a little as they drew the blood, but she just sort of hid her face in her Papa's shirt so that the doctor and nurse couldn't see her cry. When they were done Francis simply hugged Peace until she was okay, but even then she stayed on his lap and refused to let him leave.
The next thing was that the doctor wanted to take a closer look at the scars, and left the room so that Francis could take off Peace's dress so that she was simply in her bloomers. The doctor traced the scars on Peace's back and on her chest. Peace stayed very close to her Papa, she wouldn't even let him get off of the examination table. While the doctor looked at her back Peace was facing Francis and playing with his hands to try to entertain herself. While the doctor looked at her chest and stomach Francis rubbed his daughter's back so that she would be calm. She just looked up at the doctor and watched him, not afraid to openly stare. She knew that if her daddy was here he would tell her not to, but she didn't care. When the doctor was done Francis simply pulled the yellow dress over Peace and made her laugh to help her feel a little better. While the nurse took Peace to go get x-rays the doctor asked Francis to stay behind, and he did without a fight.
The sad and tired look that the doctor had on his face wasn't encouraging to Francis as he listened to what the doctor said, "Why doesn't she speak? "
Francis shrugged, "She's never spoken. I don't think that she ever learned how."
The doctor nodded and scratched something down on a sheet of paper, "I looked at those scars. I believe that they were caused by a knife, or something that resembled a knife. Has she ever showed any fear of knives or anything?"
"Yes, actually. She doesn't go into the kitchen unless Arthur or I are in there, and we found that if she's around while we're using knives she'll watch us as if we were going to do something."
There was a moment of silence before the doctor spoke again, "I think that Peace was abused by her previous care taker, and then was left where you found her to die. I'm surprised that she had lasted as long as you say she did while she was out there. You and Arthur now have legal custody over her, correct?"
"We're working on it, the papers are being processed. We'll be getting a letter about it at the end of the week."
"Regardless of what the x-rays come up with, I want Peace to go to a counselor. She's obviously been through something, and I would like to find out what it was."
While the x-rays were finished up the doctor and Francis set up a counselor's meeting for the next week. When Peace came back the doctor helped her up onto the examination table and bent down so that the two were at eye level. He asked her some questions. Had Peace ever been taught how to talk? Peace nodded yes. Why didn't she talk anymore? Peace frowned and started to tear up, putting her hands on the back of her knees. The doctor looked over his shoulder to Francis, who sighed and nodded. The doctor stood back and Francis took his spot, and told Peace that the doctor needed to check something. The small girl shook her head no, but her father insisted and took off the girl's bloomers and tights while she pounded on the older man's chest. She was set down on the floor again so that her back was facing the doctor, who seemed to see what he needed to. The little girl just started to cry and ducked down so that the skirt of her dressed covered her feet while she wiped at her eyes.
When the little girl calmed down she was sitting on her Papa's lap, who was holding a baggie of Cheerios to keep the girl from starving until they were able to get to lunch. The doctor was explaining the x-rays to Francis. It seemed like both of Peace's legs had been broken at one point, as well as her right arm. That was the worst of it, the two knew that Peace had been hurt, but everything seemed to have healed well. Her blood work came back and they found that she did have some slight problems, but some vitamins would solve that. In the end Peace was healthy and she only needed to take the vitamins, which was good news to Francis. When Francis found out that she needed shoots his face went a little pale, feeling horrible that the little girl would scream at the top of her lungs and cry. It was a surprise when he looked down to see that the little girl was fast asleep against her Papa's arms. She slept through the shoots, and only woke up when the nurse put the last band aid on.
When the boys got home they went straight to their homework. Peace ran between the two rooms with her dolls and animals, she would watch Alfred for a little while and then she would show him something that the doctor did at the appointment today and then watched over her brother's shoulder for a little. Then she would run over to Matthew's room and show him the same thing before sitting down and coloring on the floor by her brother's desk. She didn't seem to mind that she went to the doctor's, and was happy when the two were done so they could go have a tea party in the backyard. It had cooled down so they all put their coats on before they headed out. When Arthur came home Francis was the first one that he talked to. Francis explained what happened at the doctor's office and how Peace had an appointment the next week that her Daddy would have to take her to.
"So the doctor thinks she was abused," Arthur mused while he watched the kids from the garden room.
"It would make sense," Francis explained while he read the newspaper in his chair. "Those scars are very elaborate."
The two were silent for a moment before Arthur spoke up again, "What do you think will come up at the appointment next week?"
"I have no clue, mon ami."
Arthur thought for a moment before going on a search for the pictures that Peace had drawn, maybe there was something the pictures could shed some light on what his daughter had been through in the past.