As Callie was sitting on the examination couch, Keiran was just finishing making some additional notes on her file. There was a soft knock at the door and nurse Joanna appeared, carrying a metal dish draped with white cotton.

The sight of this made Callie feel immediately nervous. Callie recognised the scene from early childhood. Experience told her that a nurse carrying a metal dish usually meant one thing. Shots.

" The Cyanocobalamin and Calciferol that you requested doctor"

"Thank you nurse. That's all for now"

As an adult, Callie was able to understand that as uncomfortable as injections were, they were given for good reasons. The fear from childhood remained, however.

Callie remembered one particular occasion when she was maybe aged about seven or eight. She had been very poorly with strep throat. The doctor had ordered two injections of antibiotics and it culminated with a screaming and crying Callie being firmly held in place over her mother's knee whilst the doctor painfully injected her bottom, first one side then the other.

"I'd like to give you a couple of shots now Callie. Vitamin D and B12. Your bloods came back showing that you are deficient in these. They will go into your bottom so if you can lay face down on the couch please, that would be great"

Callie felt the blood drain from her face. Her suspicions had been correct. He did have shots for her. Reluctantly, she lowered herself onto the examination couch and turned onto her stomach. As if sensing her fear, Keiran spoke softly to her, his voice calmer than usual and almost fatherly.

"Just turn your toes inwards and relax for me Callie"

The doctor moved behind her and with a gentle touch, he helped Callie position her feet. She heard the now, very familiar sound of the doctor snapping on another fresh pair of latex gloves and then his fingers began palpating the upper part of her bottom, his touch firm and inquisitive as he pressed down in search of a good area to inject.

Callie was feeling really nervous now. She really didn't like injections and, apart from the antibiotics she had been given as a child, she had never had any others given in her bottom. Would these hurt as much? Maybe they would be even worse. Anxiety seemed to flow up the back of her legs like she had molasses in her veins. She hid her face and waited for the pain.

The strong clinical smell of alcohol suddenly filled Callie's nose as something cold and wet was rubbed across her bottom. For some reason, even though her heart was beating nineteen to the dozen, the scent of the alcohol compelled her to look round at the doctor to see what he was doing.

Callie saw that he was now holding up a really large syringe with a very big, long needle and then slowly flicking the barrel. A cold shiver ran through her when the realisation hit. That huge needle was for her!

"Ok Callie, just relax... Sharp scratch coming now"

She felt the sudden bite of the needle as the doctor darted it into her bottom in one smooth fluid motion followed by a build up of painful pressure as he depressed the plunger and the full dose was forced into her muscle, the shock of which made Callie tense and give a soft moan.

"Good girl , one more now..." The doctor said, rubbing her other cheek with more alcohol soaked cotton wool. A trickle of the cold liquid ran down Callie's hip and settled somewhere in her neatly trimmed pubic hair and Callie heard the same rhythmic tapping as the doctor flicked the air bubbles and expelled them from the syringe. She felt his hand on her backside, probing her toned rear and then pulling her skin taught once the target had been identified.

"Sharp scratch again Callie, just relax"

A quiet plaintive whimper fell from Callie's lips as the second needle penetrated deeply and the doctor unloaded a large stinging dose of vitamin D.

A throbbing pulsating heat was now beginning to develop at each of the injection sites as her immune system reacted to the new substance that had been forced between layers of muscle.

"All done for today Callie, you did really well. I will see you tomorrow at 10am" the doctor said as he applied a sticking plaster to each of the injection sites.

Very slowly, Callie got up from the exam couch. There was a warm swollen area on both hips and she felt a dull ache in her joint. Callie got dressed slowly, deciding to go to the pool later on.