"So Adrienne…" Ben's birth name slipped easily off his mother's tongue and he shuffled away from her protectively, a heat rising up his throat to his face. "Oh baby, don't try to get away from me" She moved around his bed to the other side, "We need to talk like grown-ups"
Ben nodded defeatedly, trying to keep eye contact with her, and to hide the shakes of fear that kept coming.
"Now Addie, I hope you haven't been telling porky-pies about yourself… You know you're going to have to stop all this 'I'm a boy' crap sometime?" She pitched her voice condescendingly, making Ben wish a doctor would come back soon. Dr Keogh had promised.
"And you most certainly better not have told them about me and Alex" she continued.
Ben turned his head to the emergency button, just a little out of reach, but his movement caught his mother's eyes.
"Don't move again unless you want trouble" she hissed, "Alex and I have already discussed taking your dignity away, why is it that no matter how much we take from you, you still can't behave? You'll never be good enough!" The warning tone in her voice was rising and Ben tried to block it out.
Dr Keogh will be here soon, Dr Keogh will be here soon, Dr Keogh will be here soon…
"Adrienne!" Miss Chiltern snapped, pleased when her child jumped and flinched, a whimper rising in his throat "Stop flinching like I abuse you for God's sake…" she sighed.
"I'm sorry mum" Ben whimpered, trying to stop the tears threatening to escape, he wasn't allowed to cry, it was a bad idea to cry. Why couldn't his body conform to her standards?
"Ah Miss Chiltern" Rita entered cubicle three, followed by Dylan, "I hope we haven't interrupted anything, but it's important we check Adrienne's vitals and you get these forms signed for us please!" Rita smiled at her gesturing out of the cubicle.
"But I want to stay with my daughter!" Julia retorted, the protective mother act back on immediately. It still surprised Ben, even now, that she could switch her personality so quickly without falter.
"Ah yes, we understand that, it's only natural" Rita smiled again, "But we really need you to speak to our head of department, Ms Connie Beauchamp who can talk you through psychology and aftercare. It's all really unavoidable I'm afraid"
Rita wasn't going to let Julia get past her, so she put forward an attitude impossible to be argued with, forcing Julia to follow her.
"Right Ben" Dylan began, drawing the curtain around the bed, "I need to talk to you about relationships with your family please" he didn't sile fully, but his eyes were warm and welcoming and Ben felt his shoulders relax within seconds.
"Here" he held out a roll of paper and Dylan took it, unrolling it before glancing across to Ben once more.
"It's okay to cry Ben" Dylan reassured him, nodding at the tears that sat on the edge of his eyes.
"A-are you?"
"Yes. Absolutely sure" Dylan affirmed, turning his head back to the paper to read it.