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    I''m


    Lena had just finished with herst patient and was finally about to sip her water when a knock interrupted her peace.


    "Come in!" she called, expecting another patient.


    The door swung open, and the moment Lena saw who it was, her stomach dropped.


    "Mom?!" she blurted. "What are you doing here?"


    "I''m here to see a doctor!" Carol''s tone wasn''t exactly friendly.


    Lena craned her neck, ncing at the hallway behind her mom. "Where''s Dad? Didn''t hee with you?",


    Carol scoffed. "There''s a sign outside that says no men allowed, isn''t there?"


    Lenaughed. "That doesn''t apply to Dad."


    "What, is he not a man?" Carol shot back.


    Lena''s smile froze. Great. Mom wasn''t just here-she was on a mission.


    For weeks now, her parents had been nagging her to move back home. Lena hadn''t budged -she''d even stopped answering their calls. It looked like Carol had reached her breaking point and decided to stage a full-on ambush.


    "Mom," Lena started, trying to sound professional, "I''m at work. If you want to talk, we can do itter, okay?"


    Carol, of course, wasn''t having it. She pulled a registration slip out of her bag and pped it onto the desk with dramatic ir. "I''m not here to chat. I''m a patient now. Paid the fee and everything. No strings pulled, no trouble caused."


    Lena sighed, slipping into her doctor mode. "Fine. What seems to be the problem?"


    Carol leaned in, deadpan. "I don''t feel good. Anywhere."


    "Mom, I''m an OB-GYN. If it''s not my department, I''ll have to send you somewhere else." Lena''s tone screamed ''please leave.


    "Nope. You''re my doctor." She punctuated her statement with a sharp p on the desk, making Lena flinch.


    This wasn''t going to end without casualties.


    Lena sighed. "Mom, you''re holding up the queue. Can we not do this right now? People are waiting."


    And she wasn''t lying. In the five minutes they''d been bickering, the waiting room had gone


    1/2


    from calm to Starbucks-at-8-AM chaos.


    “Then see me first. Problem solved," Carol said, all matter-of-fact, doubling down like the queen of persistence.N?velD(ram)a.?rg owns this content.


    Lena felt the start of a headache. When her mom got stubborn, moving her was like pushing a brick wall uphill. The only person who stood a chance? Aaron.


    Aaron, her mom''s baby brother-20 years younger but somehow the only person Carol listened to.


    Lena grabbed her phone and fired off a quick text:


    [Uncle Aaron, SOS.]


    She''d barely hit send when Carol''s voice snapped, "What are you doing on your phone? Is this how you treat patients? Put it down, or I''ll report you!" Ah, the joys of family.


    Lena sighed, setting her phone aside and missing Aaron''s reply:


    [?]


    "Fine, let''s start with a gynecological exam," Lena said, typing furiously to print out an order form.


    Carol snatched the paper, ring like Lena had personally offended her. "Dr. Lane, how can you order tests without asking my symptoms? Is this how you practice medicine? Over- ordering to pad your paycheck?"


    The way her mom delivered that line? Straight out of a daytime soap.


    Lena''s eyes practically rolled into the next dimension. "Oh, nder now? Careful, Mom, I could sue."


    If her mom wasn''t showing mercy, Lena sure wasn''t about to either.


    "Oh, go ahead and call the cops!" Carol shot back, doubling down.


    Lena leaned on her desk, rubbing her temple with her pen. She was officially done.


    Then her phone started ringing.


    "Can I take this call?" Lena asked, already reaching for it. She didn''t even wait for a yes.


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