"Rusty! Come on in," Dr. Joe said as he held the door open for Rusty. It had been a long time, too long since the two had a session. Some of that had been due to circumstance, some due to just life. Rusty smiled at Dr. Joe as he entered, looking around at the room he'd come to know so well.
"You're looking a lot better than the last time I saw you," Rusty grinned at Joe. "To be fair, though, those hospital gowns aren't your color."
Joe chuckled at Rusty's joke; the fact Rusty was even joking with Joe showed the tremendous progress the two had made over the years. Rusty continued.
"Before you start, I don't know, shrinking me," he grinned at the weak attempt at a joke, "how are you?"
Joe smiled at him fondly, proud of Rusty for asking about others, "I'm doing okay. It's one day at a time, something I know you've heard me say about addiction and many other things. I'm still in some pain, but I'm alive, and I'm grateful for that. I'm still doing physical therapy, now down to once a week. It's been a long road, but I'm happy to be alive."
Rusty nodded, "I'm happy you're alive too. Such a horrible thing," Rusty sighed.
Joe nodded, "Yes, it was. I'm grateful your mom and others were there that day, even if some didn't make it. It could have been much worse, much, and I must say thank you for all the hospital visits. I know I wasn't always very talkative, but I'm really glad you stopped by to see me so often."
Rusty nodded, "I'm glad I could check on you. It really hit close to home seeing some of my friends, people I've come to know and respect, hurt and even killed. Plus, you know," he shrugged, "I was at the hospital plenty with Andy there, so it was easy to see you-two stops in one visit."
Joe nodded, "Ahh, yes," he put his hand up to his mouth, "how is the lieutenant doing?"
Rusty shrugged, "Back to work, but limited at that. He's like you though-happy to be alive."
Joe smiled and gestured for Rusty to sit, "Sit, let's talk. Tell me what's been going on. It's been way too long. I was out until almost Christmas, and then the holidays, the backlog, I'm sorry it's now March, and we are just getting together now."
Rusty took a deep breath, "Yeah, I get it. I can't complain; you were shot, but it's nice to get back here. It's like you don't realize how good it is to talk to someone until you can't," he gave a slight frown. "I can talk to you like I can't talk to anyone else. I remember years ago, how I fought Sharon about going to therapy, and now, I see how it can help."
"Well, that's progress," Joe offered a small smile. "Tell me, what's going on. Why don't you update me on your life, and we can go from there?"
Rusty took a deep breath, "I'm not sure where to start."
Joe shrugged, "Anywhere."
"Okay, here goes," Rusty took another breath, "I decided to switch majors, going from journalism to pre-law. I want to study family law. I applied and got an internship with Andrea Hobbs in the DA's office, and I follow her around all day. I'm taking a crazy load of classes to catch up on pre-law stuff. I'm still living at home. Gus wanted me to move in with him. I know he loves me, but I couldn't do it. We broke up. We talked after I got some good advice from Mom. We got back together, but I'm still living at home. I need to pay my own way. Speaking of home, we are still at the condo. Mom and Andy couldn't find a house they liked, well, besides that mold house. They were going to look more, but Andy had his heart attack. The fall was spent with Andy in and out of appointments, complaining about his heart attack. Mom's been worried about him like crazy, but he's finally doing better. They are good. Actually, they are great. Mom and Andy just got engaged. I now have a half-sister; she was born awhile ago. I've gone from being an only child who was homeless to having a half-sister, two adopted siblings, and I guess now two step siblings, if that's what they are. I'm not sure because I have an adopted mom and an Andy-what is he exactly to me? Step-dad sounds weird, almost indicating I had a dad, but I didn't, and he's pretty great, even though I tried to be rude to him for a long time. Ahh, I am looking at law school, but I'm torn because I want to go to a good school, but I don't want to be far from Gus, Mom or Andy. I don't even know if I want to move out of the condo for law school. I don't make any money so I can't really afford anywhere else to live. My mom wants me to come visit her and the baby, but I'm not sure. Gus said he'll go with me, but I don't even know how much I want to be involved right now. Oh, my brother Ricky was just here, and that was cool. We've gone from being awkward around each other to getting along. We ganged up on Mom and Andy getting the ball rolling for them to get married. They both needed annulments, and we helped with that. Ricky dealt with Jack, and I talked to Nicole, who prodded her mom. Huh, I guess that's about it," he shrugged, looking at Joe with a very neutral expression.
Joe, who had stopped writing and was just trying to follow the story, took of his glasses and looked to Rusty, "Well, I can see our session was long overdue. Let's get started. We only have an hour," he smiled.