***
Flashback
“Lucy, calm down! Stop kicking,” I told her as she thrashed in my arms.
“Okay, Lucy. I won’t take your blood,” Doc told her. Lucy slowly calmed down, yet her heart was racing a million miles an hour. I dragged her back up so she was sitting on my lap, my arms locked around her. Ryker hated bringing her, and this time Ace and I offered to try and pin her down. Seeing her scared always angered Ryker, making him want to smack the doctors trying to help her.
“I want to go home, Tyson. Take me home, please,” Lucy cried, looking up at me. We tried to explain everything. The doctor wasn’t even wearing her coat this time, but nothing helped; she wanted nothing to do with them once she knew they were doctors.
“They just need to do some tests, Lucy. I promise they won’t hurt you,” I told her, but she started crying, shaking her head.
“No! No!” she started screaming when the doctor once again tried to approach her.
“Calm down,” I told her, but she didn’t.
“I will be back, okay? I have a surprise for you, Lucy,” Doc told her.
“I wonder what it is?” I asked her, knowing it was Ace. Lucy looked up at me, but only fear shone in her mutated eyes.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you. You trust me, don’t you, Lucy?” She nodded, chewing her nails, and I kissed the side of her head.
“Do you trust Ace?” I asked her, and she nodded again.
“Where did Ace go?” she asked, and I pulled her fingers from her mouth when she started making her nails bleed. She was terrible for it. She would chew the tips of her fingers until they bled sometimes. I didn’t even think she realized she did it half the time. It was a nervous reflex she had, same as chewing on her shirt sleeves. The door opened, and I heard her heart rate pick up, and she started thrashing when the figure stepped into the room in a lab coat.
“Stop, Luce. Look, it is only Ace,” I told her, holding her tighter. She stopped thrashing, looking over at my brother in his lab coat.
“You’re not a doctor,” Lucy laughed.
“I am. I have a badge, see?” he said, tapping the badge on his coat that said Doctor Awesome. I rolled my eyes at him.
“No, you’re not,” she giggled, and the doctor stepped in behind him, her eyes going to the doctor. But she sat down in her chair, observing.
“I am today. I get to be your doctor,” Ace told her, pulling a stool over and sitting in front of her.
“See? It is just Ace,” I told her, and she nodded, looking over at the doctor who handed a tray to Ace. He placed it on the bed beside Lucy, and she looked at it.
“So, can I be your doctor today, Lucy?” asked Ace while grabbing some gloves and putting them on.
“Are you going to stab me?” she asked, looking at the needles on the tray.
“What about if I stab Tyson first to show it doesn’t hurt?” Ace asked her, and I glared at him. He knew I hated needles, and Ace smirked at me. Lucy nodded, looking up at me expectantly, and I fought back a growl, but Ace didn’t wait for an answer and instead shoved my shirt sleeve up as Lucy watched.
“You scream or flinch, I will kick your ass,” Ace mindlinked me.
“You couldn’t have volunteered Doc as your test subject?” I mindlinked back.
“No, I want to watch you sweat. Now hold still. I would hate for the needle to snap off in your arm.” He laughed. “Don’t worry, that only happened once,” he added through the link, and I turned my face away, staring at Lucy instead of what he was doing.
Surprisingly, he was actually gentle—well, as gentle as a needle could be.
“See? He didn’t cry, and we know what a baby Tyson is,” Ace told Lucy while handing the vial of my blood to the doctor. She turned around, putting a label on it while Ace told Lucy to hold the cotton bud on my arm, and she did.
“Now, which band-aid should Tyson have?” he asked her, and she picked a little pink one. Ace stuck it on my arm.
“See? Didn’t hurt, did it, Ty?” Ace asked me.
“Nope, not at all,” I told her, and she nodded, bouncing on my lap before offering her arm to Ace. He rolled her sleeve up before putting the strap on her arm and grabbing a fresh needle.