Emily’s World: The Dentist

Completed: 9/29/06

Rating: G with PG-13 insinuations

Summary: Emily's first dentist appointment doesn't go at all smoothly.

Author’s Notes: Although these are stand alone stories, they should be read in order.

I walk into Emily’s room and she’s sitting on her bed in her socks and jeans, no shirt, with her hands folded neatly in her lap. She looks up at me and smiles sweetly. This is going to be ok.

“There’s my big, brave girl. Almost ready?”

She tilts her head a little bit. “I’ve decided I don’t want to go,” she says in a calm rational voice. Or… maybe it’s not going to go ok.

I take a deep breath and nod slightly. “I know you don’t, Sweetheart, but you have to.”

She shakes her head slightly. “I think we should negotiate another year.” She said negotiate? That means she knows this is serious…

“Big kids have to do big kid things.” I hold her shirt out to her. “Put this on please.”

She looks at it for a few seconds, and then looks back at me inquisitively. “How about just fifteen more months?”

“There’s only twelve months in a year,” I say with a smile, waving the shirt I’m holding out for her.

“Not thirty?”

I shake my head and smile. “Thirty days in a month.”

“Oh… How about…” she sticks her thumb in her mouth and chews on her nail. “Nine months?”

I sit down next to her and pat her leg. “We’ve talked about this; you’re going today.”

“Mommy…” she whines.

I shake my head; Josh might get away with it, but she does not. “No whining,” I say with a smile. “Now please put on your shirt.”

She stands up and mopes around her room, chewing her bottom lip and looking at the floor. Then she stops in front of me and shakes her head. “No.”

My eyebrows raise and I stare at her. “Excuse me?”

She crosses her arms over her chest and stares at me as hard as she can. It’s not threatening now, but she’s got Josh-like potential on this. “I’m not going,” she informs me.

The shock in my eyes turns to anger and my voice turns from sympathetic to stern. “Yes ma’am, you are.”

She stomps a foot and juts out her chin in defiance. “No I’m not!” she shouts.

I’ve always hoped you’d never have to see me spank my child, but it’s about to happen, so close your eyes if you need to. “You just lost television for a week,” I calmly tell her.

“I don’t care!”

I take a deep breath before grabbing her by the arm and pulling her to me, then manhandling her shirt onto her while she does her best to keep her arms crossed.

“I’m not going!” she screams.

“You scream one more time and you lose all your Barbie’s for a week too.”

‘Ahhhhhhh……….”

**********

Twenty minutes later we’re driving through town. Emily’s in the backseat clutching onto Bobo and crying silently, which is better than the gut-wrenching sobbing which was occurring five minutes ago.  And no, I didn’t spank her. She threw a fit, yes, but this is huge to her. This is the dentist. I might as well be torturing her. I didn’t have it in me to spank her on such a traumatizing day.

“I promise you it’s not going to hurt,” I say quietly.

She turns her head and looks out the window, as stubborn as her father. Her father, who had a last minute meeting and got to miss out on this morning’s festivities. Bastard. Truth be told, it’s probably for the best. He would’ve caved. Or hidden in the bedroom and beat himself up about what a horrible father he is. But I’m still going to blame him for all of this.

“Daddy’s meeting us there,” I say, trying to cheer her up. She doesn’t reply or turn her head, just wipes her nose with the sleeve of her shirt and continues staring out the window. It’s official; she hates me.

When I park the car, I look back at her in the rear-view mirror, dreading what’s to come. I grab a few tissues from the center consol and get out, opening the back door for her. She turns her head the opposite direction and sniffles.

When we get into the office, I give the receptionist Emily’s name, then I set Emily in a chair and I sit in the one next to her. She’s eyeing the toy corner where a few other children are playing. “You can go over there and play with them if you want to,” I say gently. She turns her head to the front, but doesn’t reply.

I’m a horrible mother.

**********

I walk into the dentist’s office with ten minutes to spare. I had to leave my meeting early, but missing this appointment would’ve meant no sex for me for weeks. Possibly months.

But we’ve prepared for this. Six books, a video, three sit-down family talks… we even bought her a battery powered toothbrush to get her used to the feeling. She wasn’t excited about the dentist at first, but for the last several days, she’s been ok.

So imagine my surprise when I walk into the waiting room and see her tear-streaked sad face and her tiny arms circling her favorite stuffed animal. Donna taps her arm and Emily jerks it away but then looks up and sees me standing here. She jumps up and runs full speed for me and I bend down and scoop her up and hold her to my chest.

“Please don’t make me go,” she whispers into my neck. Oh Lord, I’m never going to make it through this day.

“Baby…” I whisper back. I look at Donna and she gives me a sad smile.

“Please Daddy. Please.”

I can feel her tears on my neck and I turn around to face the wall where no one can see my face while rubbing her back and shushing her gently. “It’s gonna be ok, Munchkin.”

She hugs onto me tighter and I feel Bobo against my back. “Let’s run away,” she whispers again. “We can live in New Hamper with Grandpa Jed and Mommy will never find us.”

I take a deep breath and swallow the lump in my throat. Should I be heartbroken that my little girl wants to run away or relieved that she wants to take me with her? I move my hand up from her back to stroke her hair. “But she’d be sad and lonely forever. You don’t want that.”

I feel her shake her head against my neck and she’s quiet for several seconds as she continues crying on my neck. “I don’t want to go,” she whispers a minute later.

“I know, Baby.”

She pulls back a little bit and looks at me, her eyes lit up the slightest bit. “You could kiss her on the lips. She always says yes when you kiss her on the lips.”

I chuckle lightly, but realize my mistake immediately. For the last three weeks I’ve let Donna be the heavy on this. “Sweetheart,” I say, kissing her forehead. “It’s not just Mommy who thinks you need to go to the dentist. It’s me too. We decided this together.”

The look she gives me is one you’d give to a traitor. Her lip starts trembling and I have to take another deep breath, closing my eyes for just a second. She pulls her arms away from me and hugs Bobo to her chest like he’s her only friend. I’m five feet from the door and I’m tempted to make a run for it.

“Emily…”

“I’m scared,” she whispers, still looking at Bobo.

I nod just a little. “I know you are. But you don’t have to be. Mommy and I would never let anyone hurt you.”

She looks up at me with tear-filled little eyes and I look over at the door once more before reminding myself that she’s five, she’s pulled four of her own teeth and she doesn’t let us help with brushing at all. We have no idea what’s going on in there. It’s time. As hard as it is, as horrible a father I feel, it’s time.

I pull her closer to me as I turn around and walk towards Donna. I sit in the chair Emily was in and hold her while we wait. While Emily’s perched on my right shoulder, Donna rests her chin on my left.

“I thought you were gonna bolt,” she whispers as she brings a hand over to Emily’s back and rubs it lightly.

I kiss the top of her head. “So did I.”

**********

Ten minutes later we’re ushered into the room where Emily’s teeth will be cleaned. There are pictures of Bugs Bunny and other cartoon characters on the wall, all holding toothbrushes and smiling. Emily’s unimpressed. Liz, the dental hygienist asks her how she is and she mumbles ‘fine’ while keeping a death grip on Josh’s hand. When he sits down in a chair in the corner, she climbs directly back into his lap.

“Sweetheart, I need you right up here,” Liz says, patting the chair Emily needs to be in.

Emily shakes her head and buries it in Josh’s shoulder.

Liz looks at me and I smile helplessly before looking over at Josh. He looks like he’s going to be sick, but he stands up and carries her to the chair. When he sets her down, she looks up at the ceiling with a resigned face and quivering lips.

Liz glances at me again before looking back at Emily. “We’re just gonna take some pictures of your mouth for now.” She puts an x-ray mat over Emily’s body and holds something up near her mouth. “I need to put this in your mouth, Emily,” she says quietly.

Emily quite visibly clenches her jaw and my breath hitches. Josh runs a hand down my arm and steps up to Emily’s chair, leaning down to talk to her quietly.

“Emily, open your mouth.”

She refuses to look at him, but obeys, and Liz very carefully places the little square things into her mouth. Liz tells her to close her mouth again, which Emily does quickly, and a few seconds later the first, and easy, part is over.

“If you open your mouth again, Sweetheart, I’ll take those out.”

Emily opens her mouth and Liz takes the film out and leaves quietly. Emily sits up a little bit and looks at Josh hopefully. “Am I done?”

He shakes his head. “Not yet.”

She leans back in the chair again and closes her eyes, and Josh comes and stands next to me. He leans against the wall and I move in front of him and lean back against him as he holds me around the waist and rests his chin on my shoulder. He’s taking deep breaths and I’m starting to worry that we’re both going to need counseling when this is over.

Dr. Powers comes in a few minutes later and sits on a stool next to Emily. “Hello, Emily.”

She opens her eyes slowly and looks over at him. “Hi,” she says pathetically.

“Emily,” I say cheerfully. “You remember Dr. Powers, right?” We met with four dentists and let Emily choose her favorite before making this appointment. She liked him because his hair was ‘crazy like Daddy’s.’ She doesn’t look over at me, but she nods.

“Do you want to see the pictures we took of your mouth?” Dr. Powers asks her with a smile.

There’s a pause before Emily nods slightly. “I guess,” she mumbles.

Dr. Powers holds out the x-rays. “These are your teeth,” he says as he points to the x-ray. “Do you know what those holes are?”

“Where I don’t have teeth?” she asks quietly, sitting up just the slightest bit.

He nods and smiles at her. “That’s right. Four holes. You’ve lost four teeth.”

“I pulled them out all by myself,” she says with a hint of pride.

“I know, you told me. That’s very brave.”

She starts to smile, but then shrugs and looks pathetic again.

He points to something else. “Do you know what that is?”

She shakes her head.

“That’s the new tooth growing in. And guess what?”

“What?”

“You don’t have any cavities.”

“That’s cause Mommy makes me brush every day,” she says in a sad voice as she turns to look back at the ceiling. “Even if I’m not going anywhere.”

“That’s very good,” he says as he puts the x-rays on a table behind him. Then he looks back at her and smiles. “Now… can you open your mouth for me?”

Emily shoots one more pathetic look at Josh, clearly begging him not to make her do this.

“Dr. Powers,” he says, stepping out from behind me. At this point I think it’s over. He’s caving. We’re out of here. I admit to you only to being relieved. “Emily’s still a little nervous. Maybe you could explain to her what you’re going to do.”

“Sure,” Dr. Powers answers, looking at Josh for a few seconds before looking back at Emily. “Emily, what if I clean a few of your daddy’s teeth and you watch? You’ll see… it’s not bad at all.”

Her eyes light up and she nods.

“But… I don’t…” Josh starts before I stop him mid sentence.

“That’s a great idea, isn’t it Josh?” I ask pointedly. He spins around and looks at me with a dropped jaw and I raise an eyebrow. “I think it would really help Emily to see that it doesn’t hurt. Don’t you agree?”

**********

I give Donna an evil glare that says she’ll pay for this later, which isn’t at all true and doesn’t even phase her, then I plaster a smile on my face and turn back around to face Emily and the dentist from hell. I briefly contemplate grabbing Emily up out of the chair and making a run for it, but Emily’s hopeful eyes stop me.

“You’re just stalling,” I say to her with amusement in my eyes.

“Please, Daddy?”

I nod. “Ok, but then you’re getting up here and getting your teeth cleaned and not complaining about it. Understand?”

She nods back at me. “Unless it hurts. Cause you said you’d never let anyone hurt me. So if it hurts you we can leave. Right?”

“Em…”

“Trade Daddy spots, Em, and you can watch,” Donna says, coming to my rescue. “I’ll pull a chair up for you.”

Emily smiles for the first time all day and kisses my cheek, then holds up her arms and lets Donna pick her up. I sigh and sit down in the chair, wondering how it is I got roped into this. Why don’t things like this ever happen to Donna?

The dentist picks up the scraper thing and tells me to open my mouth. “What are you doing?” I hear Emily ask him. I glance to my left and see that her face is very close to me. Very close.

Dr. Powers starts scraping tarter off my front teeth while talking to her. “People get something called tarter on their teeth, and toothbrushes can’t get it off. So I scrape it off with this. It sounds really loud, but it doesn’t hurt.”

“It doesn’t sound loud.”

“To your daddy it does.”

Emily leans over and gets right in my face. “Does that sound loud, Daddy?” I nod a little. “Does it hurt?” I shake my head, because I’m smart enough to know that even if it does hurt, admitting it is not an option.

“What does it feel like?”

“Take your fingernail and scrape one of your teeth,” Dr. Powers says to her. “It feels like that, mostly.”

She scrapes her front tooth with her little fingernail. “Ok,” she says, nodding at the dentist as if it’s ok to continue doing this to me.

“Uh… Mr. Lyman…”

Oh shit. Here it comes. “Huh?” I mumble around his hand in my mouth.

He pulls the scraper thing from my mouth. “Has it been a while since your last dentist appointment?”

I close my eyes briefly. “I was supposed to go a few months ago…”

“Five,” Donna adds.

I glare at her before looking at the dentist. “But we’re campaigning, and I’m really busy, and…” I trail off.

“Well you have a rather large cavity. Have you noticed any sensitivity?”

Yes. “Uh…”

“Josh!” Donna exclaims.

“I want to see Daddy’s cathivy!”

“It’s fine,” I say, defending myself. It’s not fine; it hasn’t been fine for weeks.

Dr. Powers shakes his head and puts his scraper thing back towards my mouth. I open as Donna scolds me in public. Not that it’s the first time, but still…

“Turn your head towards your daughter, Mr. Lyman.” I do and I feel him poking my tooth.

“Ow!” Fuck that hurt!

Emily’s eyes widen and her mouth drops open. Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

“I…” I pull my mouth away from the doctor and quickly hold up my right hand. “I uh… hit my hand on the… uh…”

“Tray,” Donna finishes for me while simultaneously giving me a look of death.

“Yeah.” I shake it a little as if it hurts and Emily relaxes a little.

“Are you alright?” Donna asks, playing along even though we both know I’m in deep shit when we’re alone.

“Yeah, it just…” I rub it with my other hand and Emily reaches over and pulls it to her mouth, kissing it quickly.

“There. All better.”

I can’t help but smile at her. “Thank you, Baby.”

“You’re welcome.” She looks back at Dr. Powers. “Can I see Daddy’s capity now?”

“Cavity,” Donna says.

“Sure you can,” Dr. Powers says as I dutifully open my mouth again and tilt my head towards Emily. What am I, a science experiment? “Do you see that black spot between these two teeth?”

“Kind of.”

“That’s your daddy’s cavity.”

At that, Emily takes my face in her hands and yanks me closer to her, peering inside my mouth as though looking for buried treasure.

“I see your casity, Daddy,” she whispers to me.

“You need to see your dentist about that right away, Mr. Lyman,” the dentist says to me.

“Oh, he will,” Donna says sternly.

“Does that mean Daddy doesn’t brush his teeth?” Emily asks.

“Hey!”

Dr. Powers chuckles. “No. It just means he needs to be more careful with his brushing.”

She nods a little. “Mommy kisses him, right on the lips. Can she catch his cavisy?”

He chuckles again and holds the brush in front of my mouth. “No, she can’t catch his cavity. Mr. Lyman, open your mouth please.”

I sigh and open my mouth.

“What are you doing to him now?”

“I’m cleaning his teeth. I’m just going to do a few to show you what it’s like.”

“Is it loud too?”

“To your Daddy it is.”

Emily leans down to me again. “Does it hurt, Daddy?”

“No,” I mumble around the instrument in my mouth.

A minute later I’m done, thank goodness, and I stand up. I smile hesitantly at Donna, who raises her eyebrows and shakes her head as if reminding me that she’s mentioned my need to go to the dentist about ten times in the last few months. Even without speaking she says ‘I told you so.’ It’s a gift she has.

I look at Emily. “Ok, kiddo, your turn.”

Her bottom lip juts out a little, but after a few seconds she nods and climbs back into the chair. “Can I hold my mommy’s hand?” she asks in a tiny voice that’s impossible to say no to.

“Of course,” Donna says, stepping up to the chair and holding Emily’s hand as I remind myself that it’s not a contest. She loves us both and sometimes she chooses Donna and it’s ok. Besides, she chooses me more often, so I’m still the winner.

“Ok, Emily,” Dr. Powers says to her. “Open your mouth please.”

**********

Emily has a death grip on my hand when Dr. Powers starts scraping tarter off her teeth, but after a minute it relaxes and I look down at her. She blinks slowly, leaving her eyes closed for a second.

“Emily,” Dr. Powers says to her. “There’s a little tarter on your back teeth. That means you aren’t reaching all the way back to them every time you brush. Can you try harder on that from now on for me?”

She looks at him and nods her head, then looks forward and blinks again.

He looks up at me. “She’s using toothpaste with fluoride?”

“Yes. It’s bubblegum flavored, but it has fluoride.”

He smiles and takes the scraper from Emily’s mouth. “That’s fine. Do you like bubblegum, Emily?”

She blinks twice quickly and then looks at Dr. Powers. “Not really. But it’s pink.”  His eyes widen a little; he’s probably never gotten that answer before. “Are we done?” she asks hopefully.

He smiles. “We’re done with the scraping. Now I’m just going to clean them.”

She takes a deep breath and looks at me. “Am I doing good?”

“Yes,” I say, kissing her cheek. “You’re doing great.”

Dr. Powers starts again and so does the blinking. About the third time I see it, I look up and see Josh blinking at her. I watch him for a minute. He blinks twice slowly and then three times a little faster. I look down at Emily and she does the same thing. I grin and look back at Josh.

He blinks twice, then pauses and blinks twice again. I look at Emily, who’s giggling a little bit and blinking back at him. He’s such a doofus. An incredibly sexy doofus who’s an incredible father and husband, but a doofus nonetheless.

“Ok Emily, you’re all done,” Dr. Powers says a few minutes later. She’s mid-blink, so it takes her a second or two to grasp what he’s saying, but then she looks over at him with a surprised look on her face.

“Already?”

“Yep.”

Her mouth opens wide and she looks at me. “I’m all done.”

I laugh at little bit. “I know. I heard.”

She climbs down off the chair and runs the three steps to where Josh is standing. He bends down and scoops her up. “I’m all done.”

“You are?” he asks in mock surprise.

“Yes! Wasn’t I brave?”

He grins at her. “You sure were.”

“I was prolly the bravest kid in the whole wide world!” How quickly we forget…

“Emily, make sure you brush your back teeth really well, ok?”

She looks over at Dr. Powers and smiles at him. “I’ll brush them super duper good.”

“Perfect.”

She looks back at Josh. “I sat super still, Daddy.”

“I know you did.”

“And look at my teeth, Daddy. See how clean they are?” She opens her mouth wide.

“That’s really clean.”

“I know. Me and Dr. Powers did it!”

“Hey Kiddo,” I say, resting my hand on her back. “Are you ready to go?”

She looks over at me. “Yes.”

I hand Bobo to her and the three of us walk out of the room together as Josh takes my hand in his free one.

As we walk down the hallway, Liz comes towards us with a Polaroid camera in her hand. “Emily, I need a picture of you.”

Emily looks at her, mildly surprised. “Why?”

Liz walks us over to a wall of pictures. “This is the ‘No Cavity’ wall. If you don’t have any cavities, your picture goes up on the wall.”

Emily’s eyes light up. “I get my picture on the wall?”

Liz nods at her. “But if you get a cavity… it comes down.”

“I won’t get one!” she shouts while squirming out of Josh’s arms. She turns to me and smiles. “I get my picture up on the ‘No Cavity’ wall.”

“I heard,” I say with amusement in my voice.

“Not Daddy though,” she says as she stands in front of the ‘no cavity’ sign.

“Hey!”

“Sorry Daddy, but you have a cavity. I saw it.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Suddenly you know how to say the word ‘cavity’?” She shrugs and smiles for the camera.

**********

When I get home from work, Donna and Emily are on the couch reading a book. I kiss them both on the head before going into the kitchen for a beer. It’s been a tough day. “How was school today, Kiddo?” I ask as I walk back into the living room.

“I was late,” she says without looking up. “Cause of the dentist.”

“Yes,” I chuckle. “I know.”

“I missed art class,” she says, finally looking up at me. “It’s my favorite.”

I smile at her. “I know that too.” I look at Donna then. “And how was your day off?”

She grins her sexy grin. “I got a pedicure.”

My eyes widen. “I’m going to need to examine that later.”

“I thought you might.”

I walk over and sit down on the couch where Emily proceeds to climb into my lap. Donna leans over and kisses me before standing up. “It’s been a tough day. How about pizza for dinner?”

“Yay!” Emily yells.

I mimic her and Donna tries unsuccessfully not to smile at me. She starts walking towards the kitchen and, as usual, has the last word. “I’m making a salad to go with it and everyone’s having some.”

Emily and I give each other yuck faces. 

“No yuck faces,” Donna yells from the kitchen.

“She knows everything,” I say quietly to Emily.

“I know, she told me. Guess what?”

“What?”

She smiles widely. “I got an A+ on my spelling test! And I got two stickers; a star and a happy face! Wanna see?”

“Sure,” I say as she hops down and goes to her book bag. I don’t understand the importance of stickers in Kindergarten, but two is apparently better than one.

She brings the paper back to me and I study it. I think one of the stickers is for her handwriting, which often resembles her mother’s but is actually legible in this case. “Good job. Should we hang this on the fridge?”

“No. I’m going to send it to Grandma Lyman. She said her fridge it bare and needs things on it.”

“Ah… good idea. Maybe you could draw her a…” I trail off as Emily shakes her head. “No picture for Grandma?”

She looks down at the floor and mumbles, “I lost my art supplies for a week.”

Oh… “I see.”

She kicks at the leg of the couch. “And my Barbies. And TV.”

I lean forward and pull her in between my legs. “When did that happen?”

She bites her lip and looks somewhere near my tie. “This morning. I was mean to Mommy.”

“You were?” I ask quietly. When she gets in trouble with one of us, it’s her job to tell the other one. It’s a house rule.

“Yeah,” she says nodding. “I was bad.”

“What did you do?”

She looks up at me. “I didn’t want to go to the dentist, so I yelled and said no and pulled my ponytail out of my hair and wouldn’t put on my shirt.”

“I see,” I say with shock apparent in my voice. She’s ornery sometimes, but never just downright bad. “Did you apologize?”

“Yes,” she says nodding. “Mommy said I was just really scared, but that I have to member…” she stops suddenly.

“Remember what?”

“That…” she squishes up her nose and looks up at the ceiling, then looks back at me. “I don’t member.”

I laugh. “You forgot what you were supposed to remember?”

“I’m supposed to member…”

“That Mommy and Daddy know…” Donna says, walking back into the living room.

“What’s best for me!” Emily shouts looking over at Donna.

“And that…”

“You’ll never let anyone hurt me.”

Donna nods and winks at her. “Go upstairs and put on your pajamas, please.”

Emily kisses my cheek and walks towards the stairs. “Should I brush my teeth too?”

“I think we should wait until after supper for that.”

“Ok,” she says with a smile. “I love you, Mommy.”

“I love you too, Baby.”

Once Emily’s gone, I look at Donna and grin. “So you had a rough morning?” She pouts and nods, walking over and sitting on my lap. I chuckle and kiss her temple. “Poor baby.”

“Hey,” she says, hitting my shoulder. “At least we made it. You would’ve had her half way to your mother’s by now.”

“President Bartlet’s.”

“President Bartlet’s?”

I nod and smile. “If she ever runs away, that’s where we look first.”

“Not CJ’s?”

“Well… after CJ’s, of course.”