User blog:GamerNerd i/The Doctor Is In

So I've actually had this thing ready for like a month now but I've just completely forgotten to put it into a blog here oof. A little backstory on this: I got into a discussion about anti-vaxxers a while ago and... Well, you'll see where I went with it.

Anyway like I said I want to transition to sharing via Google Docs but at this point I think I'll just give the link and copy-paste it since I know Docs links can be a hassle. | Here's the Doc for this story if you want to see it there.

Now for the rest of you plebeians users who would rather not use the fancy new link, enjoy Aidan Takes His Kids to the Doctor V Infinite Triple Deluxe & Knuckles Featuring Dante From Devil May Cry + New Funky Mode.

A Rare Case
Aidan’s phone rang as soon as he’d left the classroom. He got lucky this time. First, he hadn’t realized that he forgot to silence it after recess, and if it had rung even two minutes earlier he would’ve forfeited his exam. Second, the call was from one of his best-kept secrets.

“Damn, Aidan,” his classmate snickered. “Seems like Nadia knew exactly what you were doing to time it that well.”

“Shut up, Colin, at least I know she cares.” He waved off his jeering friends as he picked up, knowing that what he’d said may very well be true. “What’s wrong, Frey?”

Aidan’s future son sounded unnerved, which was concerning in itself. “Dad, Azura’s not feeling well. Normally, that’s something I can handle, but I… Don’t know what to do with this.”

“Not feeling well in… What way? I’m not really qualified to give a diagnosis…”

Aidan heard coughing on the other end. “Well, she’s coughing, obviously. Her head feels warm. And…Wait, don’t.” Frey chastised Azura about something briefly. “There’s something behind her ears that she keeps trying to itch.”

Coughing. Fever. Itching behind the ears… A quick Google search of the symptoms implied that Azura was infected with measles.

Measles? Aidan asked himself. ''Everyone gets vaccinated for that early on. I guess vaccines don’t really prevent diseases infallibly, but still…''

“Frey, I’ll… Call you back. I need to talk to N about this. Keep an eye on your sister, but don’t stay too close. Measles spreads pretty easily.”

“I, uh… Okay, I guess,” Frey stuttered. “Wait, she has measles? How’d you know? Are you sure? Dad?” Aidan had already hung up. Frey pocketed his phone in confusion. “...Wasn’t that eradicated?”

Nadia hoped that she had heard Aidan incorrectly. “Azura has what?”

“Measles. I mean, that’s what it sounds like,” he said on the other end, his voice intermingled with a cacophony of others, “According to Wikipedia, at least. That thing behind her ears must be the start of the rash.”

“And you’re diagnosing a child you haven’t seen in person by using Wikipedia.”

“Do you have a better idea? I’d rather not take my chances warping in and out of here during lunch, people are everywhere.”

“Whatever. What’s your plan?”

“I was hoping you could heal her, because otherwise I’m going to have to drive her to the doctor. Have you ever expelled a virus before?”

Nadia went silent for a while. Aidan heard a body fall on the other end. “Malevolent spirits and poison, yes. Viruses, no. Not sure what’ll happen if I try, especially considering Azura’s… Fluid physical state.”

“...What the heck was that?”

Someone else landed with a heavy metallic clang. “Just some punks trying to bully a poor theater girl,” Nadia answered casually. “Don’t worry about it. Do you want me to try later?”

“N-No. I think I’m going to play it safe and drive her to urgent care or something. Although now that you’ve put the idea into my head, we should probably double check if viruses follow the same rules as possessing demons sometime.” Wood splintered on the other end of the call. “Anyway, I’ll leave you to it. Don’t hurt them too badly.”

“They’ll get what they asked for. Tell me how things go later. Seeya.” Nadia hung up, but not before she managed to get a girl to yelp “uncle.”

Unvaccinated
After school, Aidan excused himself from a club meeting and vanished from the campus, moving into the space between dimensions. He walked through the castle he and Nadia had created only a few years ago: A faithful recreation of King Arthur’s legendary castle, augmented by technology from an equally distant future. Over time, it had evolved to their needs as entirely new wings appeared out of nowhere.

Aidan hurried through one such wing -- having appeared after his future children time travelled like some kind of weird JRPG trope -- and checked one of the two bedrooms. Frey looked up from his guitar.

“Good, you’re in here…” Aidan sighed, looking around at Frey’s collection of film posters that transcended time and space. “Was Azura still doing okay the last time you checked on her?”

Frey strummed gently. “I mean, other than being sick, yeah. I went in a few minutes ago. Nothing seems to have gotten worse.”

“How are you feeling?” Aidan put his hand on Frey’s forehead. It felt normal.

“I’m fine,” he responded, pushing Aidan’s hand away. “Dad, are you sure Azura has measles?”

“No,” Aidan admitted as he dropped his backpack in Frey’s room. “That’s why I’m taking you two to the doctor right now.”

“But…” Aidan was already out of the room.

Aidan gently opened the door to Azura’s room. Colorful splatters of paint covered the walls, floor, and even the ceiling. Birds in a variety of shapes, sizes, and modes of creation hung from the ceiling, suspended by string. Easels, buckets of paint, paintbrushes, pencils, colored pencils, crayons, pens, sheets of paper, pieces of cardboard, and markers lay haphazardly all over the floor. In one corner stood a small pottery studio, its normally blazing kiln cold and silent.

Azura’s bed was a bare mattress as messy as her surroundings that wasn’t even mounted on an actual bed. She claims that it facilitated jumping straight out of bed whenever she’s inspired, but Frey suspected that she was just too lazy to bother with sheets.

Today, she wasn’t going anywhere. Azura lay on her side, coughing into her pillow. Tissues surrounded a trash basket right next to her mattress. Aidan grabbed her hand as she reached to her ear. She turned to look at him. “Father?”

“Don’t,” he said firmly. He checked behind the ear. Sure enough, a rash was forming, right where Wikipedia had said it would. Aidan sighed. “Get dressed, I’m going to take you to the doctor. Try to avoid scratching that.” He turned to leave, but noticed something at the edge of her bed. “Azura… Why-“

“I, um…” Azura blushed and hid in her sheets. “Can I… Can I just change?”

Aidan glanced back skeptically, but went out and shut the door behind him. Frey was waiting. “Does your sister usually sleep in her birthday suit?”

Frey was even more confused than Aidan. “What?”

“Nothing, nothing…” he waved the question away. “You should get dressed too. I don’t know how much you know about your medical records, but I’d assume that you would know better than her. Do you know what were you vaccinated against?”

“Well… That’s the thing,” Frey replied reluctantly. “We weren’t.”

Aidan couldn’t believe his ears. “You… Weren’t?”

“Wait, let me explain,” he said hurriedly. “It’s not because you or mom were against vaccines. You told me before how much you hated people who thought they caused autism or whatever. Azura and I… We didn’t need them because the diseases that were prevented by vaccines were all eradicated.”

“All of them?” Aidan could hardly speak.

Frey nodded. “That’s what they told us.”

“Within a span of… Are you sure I’m not your grandfather?”

“At this point, I’m positive you’re my dad.”

Aidan was silent for a while. He heard Azura’s door open and turned to look. She was dressed in her usual messy denims and T-shirt, but her pockets were filled with tissues. He noticed that Frey was wearing the exact same clothes as usual too and put two and two together. “I should probably wash your clothes sometime. You could be carrying around other stuff too.”

“But these are the only ones we brought with us,” Azura said with a runny nose.

“You can borrow ours. Or mine, at least. Hopefully N will give you something. But that’s for later. Get in the car. We’re going to visit Dr. Morales.”

I Diagnose You With the Gay Sick
Technically, Aidan wasn’t supposed to be driving with children in the car. He didn’t have a full license yet, which also meant that he shouldn’t be driving without an adult. But he figured that he’d be fine as long as he didn’t get stopped, considering that driving was one of the least dangerous things he’d done in the last few years.

The group reached the medical center without issue. Nothing abnormal happened, which itself was pretty abnormal. Not that Aidan was arguing.

The receptionist recognized him as he walked in. “Aidan!” she said, with some surprise. “It’s unusual to see you here without an appointment. Or your parents.” She sized up the two children following him. “And who are those two?”

“They’re… Cousins,” Aidan lied. “I’m babysitting some cousins. One of them got sick and I’m not really qualified to give a diagnosis. Mom and dad are both at work, so I don’t really have much of a choice.”

The receptionist nodded in understanding. “Go ahead and sit down. I think Dr. Morales will have an open slot soon.”

Frey and Azura looked around at the waiting room awkwardly. Aidan couldn’t tell why; it was just a normal waiting room. The old wood and wire toys lay gathered in one corner, next to a small bookshelf of children’s books in various states of wear. A coffee table laid out magazines and periodicals for the adults. As always, the TV had a movie playing that would supposedly please anyone. Today, the movie was the live-action Beauty and the Beast. Despite everything intended to make a patient feel at ease, the twins remained agitated.

“Are you guys okay?” Aidan asked with concern. “Should I be concerned?”

“N-No,” Frey answered hurriedly. “Sorry. It’s just… Out of habit.” He lowered his voice so that Aidan had to lean in to listen. “When you and mom died, we didn’t really want to go to anyone. We didn’t want to put them in danger too. So we ended up… You know.”

“In the castle?”

Frey shook his head. “We didn’t know about the castle. We were just on our own. And whenever we thought we’d found a safe place, something always-”

“Aidan?” Azura hushed her brother as a lady in a doctor’s lab coat entered the waiting room. Aidan waved and approached.

“Hi, Dr. Morales,” he said as normally as possible. “I hope I’m not messing up your schedule.”

“Oh, of course not. My next appointment is in half an hour. It’s a slow day today. Come on in.”

Aidan beckoned to the twins as he held the door open. The doctor led the three into an examination room.

“Okay, little one, tell me what’s wrong,” Dr. Morales began as Azura climbed up onto the examination table. Azura scowled at being referred to as “little one,” but Aidan’s eyes were stern. “I’m sick,” she said plainly.

“Yes, of course. But what are you feeling?”

“Um… I’m coughing and my nose is runny. And I feel hot. And my ears are itchy.”

The doctor checked Azura’s forehead and behind her ears. Her face became concerned. “Hm… Well, this is certainly a rare case in the United States. Do you know if you’ve been vaccinated, little one?”

“No, I wasn’t,” she said.

Dr. Morales became even more concerned. “And why not?”

“Well, my parents said I didn’t need them because they weren’t going to do anything.”

“Really? Oh, dear…”

“Yeah, they said it’s because the diseases-“

“The diseases that they think vaccines cause,” Aidan interrupted. Azura’s eyes widened for a moment as she remembered that she wasn’t in her own time. “Yeah… They’re those kinds of people.”

“Aw, I’m sorry little one…” Dr. Morales’ keyboard began clacking. “Well, I hope that your parents change their mind after this.” She turned to Aidan. “I’m afraid she has measles.”

“To be honest, I’d figured as much,” Aidan shrugged. “but I wasn’t ready to put my d- cousin’s life in Wikipedia’s hands.”

The doctor laughed. “As I said, it’s a rare case in the US because the population is largely vaccinated, but…” She shrugged. “What can you do? There will always be unbelievers.”

“Yeeep. So, what can I do? Preferably without needing to give her medicine.”

The doctor’s keyboard clacked some more. “Well, bed rest, obviously. Beyond that, make sure she’s well hydrated. Give her some vitamin A: I’m sure you can look on Wikipedia for a list, but carrots, cheese, eggs… A lot of vegetables and a few proteins have it. And once it passes, see if you can get her parents to vaccinate her.”

“What about me?” Frey asked.

Morales bent over a little and smiled. “You can help your older cousin convince mommy and daddy to get shots for you so that you won’t ever have to get sick with what your sister has. Okay?”

Frey was slightly insulted for being spoken to like a child (even though he was a child), but knew that he had to keep up the act. “Okay.”

Morales straightened herself. “Good. Well,” she turned to Aidan. “I think we’re done here. You did the right thing, coming to me. Do you need me to print something out to remind you of what we talked about?”

“Yes, please.” Morales handed him a sheet of paper from her printer. “Thank you so much, Dr. Morales.”

Morales smiled again. “Any time, Aidan. It’s great to see you mature from a little one just like these two.”

Aidan looked down sheepishly as he stood to leave. “I guess so. Come on you two, let’s go. Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome. Get well soon, Princess!” the doctor called as they went.

The three left the examination rooms. Aidan waved to the receptionist and thanked her as they exited the waiting room.

Going Home
“I don’t like her,” Azura asserted almost immediately after Aidan left the parking structure.

“Why not?” Aidan asked, only half paying attention. “She’s been my pediatrician since I was younger than even you.”

“I don’t like being called little one. Or Princess.”

“Azura, she doesn’t know you at all. She has no way of knowing that you’re much more than your age implies.”

“I know,” she muttered, crossing her arms. “Doesn’t mean I have to like her.”

“It doesn’t, but I’m glad that you at least showed respect. She’s trying to help you, after all.”

“You know, it would be great if you did that with other people back home, too,” Frey quipped.

“Shut up, Frey.”

The boy put his hands up in surrender. Aidan glanced at the two in his mirror and almost ran a red light.

“Now that I consider it, N and I don’t actually know much about your life after we died… We need to talk. Later, though. I’m afraid I’m going to get into an accident trying to piece together some of this stuff.” His phone buzzed. Aidan handed it to Frey. “Take this, I think it’s going to be your mom. What’s she saying?”

Frey squinted at the screen. “Something about her parents? And a… Michael?”

“Who’s Michael?” Azura asked.

“A friend of mine,” Aidan answered. “One of my classmates. Graduated from elementary school with her.” He stopped thinking to make a left turn. “Although why both her parents and Mike…” A thought struck him. “Uh oh. I think I know why… I’m going to leave you two alone for a bit when we get back.”

Azura cocked her head. “Why?”

“Don’t worry about it. Your mother and I… Well, we had a few long-term schemes before you arrived. We kinda lost track of them… I think one went awry.”

Trivia

 * Sometimes, a guy just feels like writing something mundane, you know?
 * I had to do a little research for this story, mainly for what diseases vaccines are actually for and yeah I actually used Wikipedia . I settled on measles since apparently it's very close to eradication (as in, it ceases to exist completely), but other sources state that at least 4 other diseases are close to eradication too. Naturally, I said all diseases would be eradicated within Aidan's lifetime... But hey, I'm writing these stories. | Reality can be whatever I want.
 * Aidan's remark about Azura is exactly what you think it means and is part of a running joke that sort of contributes to but did not specifically originate with AB's special police force.
 * Dr. Morales' name is a reference to | Lt. Morales, the StarCraft Medic character in Heroes of the Storm.