Chapter 18 #2
“Oh, I forgot.” Chloe giggled. “Well then, what are we waiting for?” She began to sing “Climb Every Mountain” as she tied the bag of lollipops to her harness and followed Master Travis.
By the time they reached camp that had been set up in another clearing, they were all dragging a bit. Tula stumbled over a tent stake, landing on her knees. Deciding that even saying “Ow” was too much of an effort, she just turned to lay on her back.
“Medic!”
Eloise’s yell startled her enough she sat up only to be pushed backward. “No, don’t move. You might have a concussion!” Everly said.
“I hit my knees, not my head,” Tula said.
“First rule of first aid is to immobilize the patient,” Eloise said, dropping to Tula’s other side, the two girls flanking her as if ready to physically lay over her if she so much as twitched.
“What happened?”
“It’s nothing, Daddy. I just skinned my knee.”
“Both knees,” Eloise corrected. “We saw her just fall, didn’t we, Everly?”
“Yep, it’s like when we all go out and Master Derek chops down a tree for Christmas. One moment it’s standing there, the next—splat—it’s on the ground.”
Tula giggled. “First I have a concussion and now I’m a Christmas tree?”
“Don’t move,” her Daddy said.
“Told you!” the Bunnies chorused.
“Daddy, I didn’t come close to hitting my head. I just didn’t see the stake and tripped over it. I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine, you’re bleeding,” Eloise said.
“I am?” When her effort to sit was once again thwarted, this time by her Daddy, she said, “Isn’t there some rule of first aid that says to back up and give the patient room to breathe?”
“Oh, sorry.” Her friends pulled back from where they’d been hunched over her while her Daddy worked on cleaning her knees.
“What’s the prognosis, Dr. Master David?” Everly asked which had Tula grateful she was blocking her view because it allowed Tula to roll her eyes.
“It’s complicated,” her Daddy said.
“It is? Why? Oh sweet jumping jackrabbit, please don’t tell me I broke my legs so badly I can’t feel any pain!” Tula said, for the first time actually feeling her heart beating faster.
“That would require injuring your spine. Complicated in that while your knees are going to ache a bit, they will be fine—”
“That’s not complicated,” Tula cut in with a huff. “What would be complicated was treating me for a cardiac event because you gave me a heart attack, Daddy!”
If the fact both her friends leaned away from her body for the first time since kneeling beside her wasn’t enough of a warning, the appearance of her Daddy’s face sure was.
He wasn’t smiling. His lips weren’t even twitching a teensy bit.
Nope, he had a look on his face that had her bottom clenching.
“As I was saying, your knees will be fine, but the next time you aren’t paying attention to where you’re going could find you at the bottom of a cliff.
Complicated in that if I so much as suspect you’re not being careful of your surroundings, you’ll also have a bottom that will be aching from the spanking I’ll be giving you. What do you have to say now?”
“Don’t doctors take some sort of oath to heal, not hurt?”
“I’m a physical therapist and an EMT, not a doctor, so the Hippocratic Oath doesn’t apply to me. What does is the oath I took when I became your Daddy. The one where I promised to protect you from harm.”
“Who here thinks a spanking just adds insult to injury?” Tula asked, looking between her friends.
“Sorry, Tula, but your Daddy’s right,” Everly said.
“Yeah, and we don’t want you falling off a cliff either,” Eloise said. “We love you.”
Tula sighed. “I love you too, and I promise I will be more careful.”
“I hope you mean that,” her Daddy said as he applied some cream to the abrasions on her knees. “Now, let’s decorate our Tula tree. For ornaments, who shall it be, Elsa or Anna?” he asked, holding up two different Band-Aids.
She giggled. “I have two knees so one of each?”
He chuckled. “I was just checking your cognitive abilities before I marked possible concussion off my list.”
“Sure you were.” She smiled as Eloise and Everly both cooed softly when her Daddy kissed both Band-Aids before gently applying them to her knees.
“Clear!” Eloise shouted as she got to her feet when he’d finished.
Everly giggled. “That’s for heart attacks.”
“I’m having a tummy attack,” Eloise said. “Who’s in charge of supper?”
“The Bears,” Master David said. “I think they’re about ready to start cooking.”
Eloise’s hands went to her stomach. “They haven’t even started? I’ll have wasted away before it’s ready!”
Everly grabbed her friend’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go ask Peggy to share her worms.”
“Yum!” Eloise said, the two ducking under the tent’s rope.
“Thanks for the help,” Tula called after them as she finally managed to sit up. “And thank you, Daddy.”
“You’re welcome, otter.” He helped her to stand. “Who’s Peggy?”
“She’s a chick.”
“There’s a word I haven’t heard in quite a while. Has a camper joined us that I’m not aware of?”
Tula laughed. “No, not a chick chick, Daddy. A chick as in baby chicken. Peggy is Everly’s stuffy.”
“Ahhh, of course.” He chuckled when she whipped her hands behind her at the touch of his hand on her butt. “Hmmm, is someone feeling guilty for being snarky?”
“Um, no, I was just making sure my joints didn’t lock up.”
“Sure you were. Well, I’m just brushing off the dirt.” He ran his hand over her ass and then gave it a pop.
“Hey!”
“Just a stubborn spot,” he said with a grin. “Your butt is fine now.”
“Good,” she said, feeling her face heat.
“This time,” he added which had her flushing hotter and teaching her exactly what the expression “flesh crawling” felt like as her bottom tingled at the unspoken reminder of his promise.
“Gosh, I think I need a snack too! See you at supper!” She caught herself just in time and ducked under the rope instead of running into it.
His chuckle was loud and he said, “I’d be walking carefully if I were you, otter.”
Darn it! She was twenty-four years old and was going to have to learn how to walk all over again!