"Daddy!"
"Yes, peanut?" Scott yells from the kitchen, where he and Hope are preparing lunch.
They hear the pitter patter of little feet against the wooden floorboards as Cassie hurtles down the corridor.
"I got stung by a bee!"
"What!"
Scott rushes over instantly, taking a closer look at her palm. There's a spot that looks red and slightly swollen, with a tiny black dot in the center.
"Come here, Cassie," Hope calls gently, reaching out as she squats down next to Scott. She brings Cassie's palm closer and uses a fingernail to scrape the bee stinger off. "Scott, can you grab an ice cube from the freezer?" Hope asks while picking Cassie up and seating her on the dining table top. "Ice her hand. I'll get the calamine lotion."
When Hope returns to the kitchen, Scott has Cassie's arm stuffed elbow-deep into a bag of ice, and Cassie's squealing at the top of her lungs, water dripping down her arm and onto the floor as she tries to pull her hand away.
"Scott," Hope laughs. "I said one ice cube. You're going to give her frostbite."
"I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss any spots! We don't know how far the venom spread."
Hope quirks a brow and shares a look of amusement with Cassie as she pats her arm dry with a towel.
"Is it itchy or painful?"
Cassie shakes her head. "It's cold."
Hope laughs again and presses one ice cube to the sting site. After a few more minutes, the redness is still there but the swelling seems to be going down, or at least not getting worse. Hope dries Cassie's hand with a towel again and applies a generous amount of lotion.
"This should help to make it better, but let your dad or I know if it starts to hurt or get itchy, okay?"
Cassie nods, reaching towards Hope to be held.
"Hope?" she asks softly.
"Yes, Cassie?"
"Can you yell at the bee that hurt me?"
Hope frowns, not comprehending for a second, then realises that Cassie thinks she can talk to bees the way Scott can talk to ants.
"Oh, sweetheart," Hope coos, running her hand through Cassie's hair. "I would if I could. It's okay, next time when we play in the garden, we'll play far away from the flowers. Then the bees will leave us alone. Yeah?"
Cassie nods, pressing her face against Hope's neck as she reaches her non-lotion-covered hand out for Scott.