Author's Note: Written for kyoko-minion on tumblr, who asked for a couples therapy drabble for Kurt and Jane. Set mid-season 3, with spoilers, obviously!
Jane walked into the therapy room to find her husband already sitting uncomfortably opposite Dr. Karen Sun. No other members of the team were present for whatever this briefing was supposed to be. Maybe they were still on their way? But there were only two chairs apart from Dr. Sun's.
The door swung automatically closed behind her as she crossed the room. As always these days, the sight of Kurt Weller made her pulse rate increase—right before her heart filled with lead and sank into her stomach.
"What's going on?" she asked uneasily, sitting down beside Kurt.
"I don't know. I thought you'd arranged this."
They both looked at Dr. Sun for an explanation.
"I assumed one of you had booked this session with my assistant. Couples therapy, the note on my system said."
Kurt and Jane gave each other startled glances, just before realisation began to sink in.
"Rich Dotcom," they said in unison.
"Do you want to shoot him, or shall I?" Jane added.
Kurt got up from his seat. "Sorry to have wasted your time, Dr. Sun. We don't need therapy. We're fine."
A sceptical noise had escaped Jane's throat before she could realise she was about to make it. They were not 'fine'. She got up from her chair, though.
"It doesn't seem like your wife agrees with you, Agent Weller," Dr. Sun said calmly.
Kurt turned to stare at Jane. "That true?"
"We're not fine right now. You know we're not. But therapy probably isn't the way to fix it, I agree with you there. I know your track record with therapists."
"Since you have the hour booked and you clearly have some undercurrents of tension going on in your relationship, why not sit back down for a moment and talk about this?" Dr. Sun suggested.
"My track record with therapists? The last therapist I saw before Dr. Sun got here was a terrorist mole you recruited into your mother's organisation. I think it's understandable I'd be a little reluctant to open up these days."
"You know that wasn't me! How dare you?" Jane demanded, sitting back down heavily. After everything they'd been through, he was going to stop making distinctions between who she was now, and what she'd done as Remi? That stung.
"Okay. That wasn't you. But you ran out on our marriage for two years and slept with another man while you were gone."
"Sit back down, Agent Weller," Dr. Sun interjected.
Reluctantly, Kurt obeyed, even as Jane protested, "I thought I was never going to see you again! I was trying to protect you and Bethany from being killed when I left. Anyway, while I was gone you met my daughter, who I didn't even remember existed, and you thought you'd accidentally killed her, but you kept it a secret for months when you got back!"
"I was trying to save you the heartache. And your brother was the one who engineered it so that I thought I'd killed Avery. You should take it up with him. Maybe if you'd just shot him when you had him in your sights after we stopped Shepherd, none of that would have happened! We could have been happy together, Jane."
"You know how much I regret not shooting Roman now—you know it. Why are you bringing all this up again?"
"Please, both of you, just take a breath. I'm here to guide you through this, so you don't fall back into the pattern of just arguing and storming off without resolving anything."
The unhappy couple were both silent.
"Now, I'm sensing a lot of hostility and blame from both of you, and it sounds like there have been some traumatic events in your relationship recently. Separation, misunderstandings, secrets, infidelity, problematic family members… None of that is easy to get over. The most important things in a marriage are love and trust. Would you both say that you have those things?"
Jane searched her emotions as she gazed at her husband. Things were far from perfect. They'd agreed to get back together after she'd left him over Avery's assumed death, but the relationship had taken another blow as she'd confessed her affair with Clem. But she loved Kurt fiercely. She would die for him. And though she had some worries about trust in their personal lives, in the field, she trusted him with her life.
"I still love you. More than anything," she confessed quietly.
Kurt took her hand. "Me too. Losing you would be the worst thing that could ever happen to me."
"But trust…" Jane trailed off, unable to meet his eyes.
"When we're out there working, there is no situation where I wouldn't trust you to keep me safe. But emotionally, at home… I have some concerns."
"Me too," Jane murmured, slumping further down in her chair.
"It seems clear to me that you both want your marriage to survive. That's a great starting point," Dr. Sun said.
Neither of them bothered to explain to Dr. Sun why her words made them exchange nostalgic smiles. They'd keep that part of their relationship just between them.