"Jane Rizzoli."

Jane flinched at the sound of her own name, and put down the new issue of Hello magazine. She found herself staring into the eyes of a woman her own age, dressed impeccably, with a large smile plastered on her face. Her hair was shaped into perfect curls, and she was dressed in what Jane believed was the latest designed suit. Just perfect, Jane thought to herself. Another perfectionistic happy-go-lucky person. Despite her displeasure she extended her arm and shook the woman's hand politely.

"Jane."

"Hi. My name is Maura Isles. Lovely to meet you."

"Yeah." Jane did not sound too enthusiastic.

"Shall we proceed to my office?" She did not wait for an answer as she turned on the spot and started walking down a long corridor. Maura opened her office door and smiled towards Jane, who quickly eyed the sign next to the doorframe. Dr. Maura Isles, psychiatrist. So she can at least give me some pills? That's an improvement.

"Jane? Would you like to come in?" Maura stood by the group of chairs in her office and gestured towards one of them. Jane obediently entered the room, and sat down in the chair closest to the door. She wanted an easy escape route.

Maura got an alarm clock and placed it on the table between them, and then she placed a package of tissues by the flowerpot in the middle of the table. Jane scoffed. Not like I'll need those.

She saw that Maura noted the noise, and gave her a little smirk. She did not appreciate the situation, and she was not going to pretend for the sake of this one's feelings. She had done plenty of that, and it was not like it got her anywhere.

"So, Jane, you have been in therapy before?"

"Yeah."

"Six times? You also had three different therapists?"

Jane pursed her lips together. "Yes?"

"So then you know how this initial meeting goes. We'll start with some general questions, I'll then ask you a bit more about your current issues and relationships so I can get an idea of what you want from me."

"Sure."

"First of all- Will you or your insurance company be paying for these visits, and have you filled out the form for the meetings?"

"The Boston Police Department will be paying and the form is filled out, like you asked for, Doctor." Jane stared out the window whilst talking. This woman made her feel uneasy. It was something in her demeanour that made Jane feel less snarky than usual, something that made her almost care. That was troublesome.

"Great. So, how old are you and were are you from?"

"30 years, from Boston, my parents- I mean, mother, still lives here."

"So your parents are divorced?"

"No, they are still together, they have a very long distance relationship, my father in a different state and all?"

"I detect some sarcasm."

"Really? How strange." Jane sighed.

"Hm. I assume you are a member of the police?"

"Correct." Jane thought of making yet another remark, but it seemed lost on this doctor, so she couldn't be bothered.

"And what do you do when you're not at work?"

"I… Have a beer down at the pub. Eat whatever's in my fridge. Humour my mother."

"No hobbies? Partners?"

For a moment Jane paused, a flicker of sadness over her pathetic life stung in her chest. She took a deep breath and answered the question.

"No."

"So, Jane, why are you here?"

An image flickered past her eyes. Her hands were cold. The steel of the shrapnel that were lodged into them, pinning her to the ground, were freezing, and- It should hurt. It didn't. She could feel the gravel against her back, the wind blowing past her face, Hoyt breathing against her neck, her heart racing and the bile attacking her throat in waves. It didn't hurt.
"I was attacked."

"Hm. I imagine you are attacked a lot in your line of work? What made you come here now?"

"The Boston Police Department forced me?" Jane shrugged and saw Maura give her a little smirk. She desperately wished she could punch that woman's face in.

"Would you like to try that again? Why are you here now?"

Jane sighed and clenched her jaw. "I had some… panic attacks."
"Okay. Have you felt particularly down or sad?"

"No, I was just almost killed and had my partner find me in the most humiliating position, with a crazy killer attacking me and now I cannot work. Doesn't make me feel down at all, to be frank." She could feel the anger in every single part of her body, tensed up as she was. She just wanted her to stop asking things that she did not want to answer. She wanted her gun back. She wanted to shoot things. That would make it feel better.

"Do you want to be here, Jane?"

"Huh?" Her name made her jolt back to reality.

"You seem angry. Do you want to be here?"

"Do I want to be here? What kind of question is that? Of course I don't want to be here, what kind of person actually likes therapy?"

"I do." Maura smiled. "Talking might seem pointless, but it has been shown in studies that talking about a trauma can actually be beneficial as you learn to have congruent affects."

"What?"

"Congruent affects."

"I heard you the first time. What does that mean?"

"Well, like, being sad, instead of angry when I bring up a trauma that involves typical elements that would evoke sadness in another person."

"So, feel stuff in a normal way then?"

Maura looked confused. "Yes, that was what I just said."

Jane stared at the doctor in disbelief, and in that moment of silence, the corners of her mouth slowly creeped up to form a smile. She carefully giggled, not used to the sound her body produced. She tried desperately to stifle the laughter that followed shortly, but to no avail. Jane bit her bottom lip, and tears formed in the corners of her mouth. This woman was as insane as she was. Completely crazy.

And here she was, laughing for the first time in months. She shook her head slowly, completely baffled that her body still knew how to actually handle humour. The doctor still looked like a doe in the headlights, completely unaware of what she had just said.

Jane was not sure she liked the idea of therapy just yet, but hey, she had just made more progress in a few minutes than she had made with the first counsellor she saw. That had to count for something. Maybe this would also be the first time she would stay for therapy more than two sessions.
Jane sat up, wiped the tears out of her eyes and sighed. She looked the doctor in her eyes, and smiled. "Sorry. What did you ask me?"

She crossed her arms over her chest again as they continued the assessment. Lets not get ahead of ourselves.