Oh shit.
Ben and Iris both took a step back.
Nyx slowly raised her head. Ben wished she wouldn’t look quite so…terrifying…with Lily in her arms.
“Excuse me?”
Koios scowled.
Ben wondered if the Hippocratic Oath applied in this situation. Surely not. He’d be exposing himself to certain death. If anyone understood the exact level of evil that sisters were capable of, it was Ben. Not that his sisters had ever needed to use such evil on him. Dammit,technicallyhe had sworn to take care of the infirm, which clearly applied to Koios. No one of sound mind would challenge Nyx.
“We’re going to exam room four today.”
Both siblings swiveled their necks and locked their cold, dark eyes on him.
Ben shivered. “Or we could stand here. That works, too.”
Lily chose that moment to whimper. Praise the goddess, his niece had come to his rescue. Nyx looked down at her and began to sway back and forth while gently patting Lily’s diapered rear end. She settled again.
“Room four, you said?” Iris asked.
“Yep. Nyx, I can?—”
“I’m holding the baby while you deal with my brother. You’re doing him a favor because I might stab him if he doesn’t cut it out.”
Iris nodded. “She’s not kidding. You know she works at a day care. Lily is in good hands.”
“Lily!” Nyx cooed. “You must be Ollie’s baby girl. Oh, you’re so sweet. Where’s your daddy? Is he here? Auntie Nyx loves your daddy. Unlike her own brother, who is trying her patience.”
“Goddess!” Koios snapped. “I’m going.”
Ben followed the siblings down the hall to the exam room. He stopped to grab the goniometer on the way. The slight delay gave Koios enough time to reach the room first. He’d frozen in the door, staring into the room like he’d seen a monster.
“It’s a weight bench,” Ben said. “It won’t bite.”
“What’s going on?” Koios asked.
“I need to examine you, but I need you to be flat on your back. You can’t lie flat on a regular bed, so we brought in this to assist.”
“I don’t?—”
Ben moved around Iris and Nyx and picked up the gym shorts he’d already placed on the bench. “Please change into these. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“I’m not?—”
Ben turned and walked out of the room. He’d let Iris and Nyx handle the argument. They’d win, and it wouldn’t put him any further on Koios’s bad side than he already was. He stepped into one of the other rooms and pulled up his notes on his tablet.
“Ben! He’s ready,” Nyx called a few minutes later. “Will you grab Lily’s diaper bag? She needs to be changed.”
Ben detoured to the front of the clinic, grabbed the bag, and then made his way to the exam room. When he reached for Lily, Nyx scoffed and took the bag from him. “Deal with my brother. I’ll change her. Trust me. I’m a professional.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind.”
“Positive. She’ll keep me distracted.”
Ben nodded, then hooked his foot under the rolling stool they kept in the room. “Go ahead and have a seat, Koios.”
Koios carefully sat, but he didn’t lean back against the bench. Ben had placed it in an inclined position, which he knew Koios preferred from his earlier time in the clinic.
