It had been a little over a month since the incident with her fiance, and the time since Dr. Ryan had referred Wes and Travis to a different therapist. Although the scenario had never been quite out of the question when it came to the two detectives, it still had been just as mind blowing when it had come. Now she was left to question every possibility in order to come up with some conclusion to why it had happened. Even now, that possilibity had remained one of the most elusive in her career; right along with what had caused Wes to pull his gun on Travis.
Although Travis and Wes were partners with extremely different personalities, they both held more similarities and secrets than they were willing to admit. That being said, she wasn't sure she would ever find out the answers to those pressing questions that continued to stand in the back of her mind.
Then another Saturday rolled along, and she felt that hope return while waiting in line at the store. Wes' familiar soft spoken voice echoed back towards her as he thanked the red headed cashier for her help, and she watched as she slipped a card into his bag and he pinched the bridge of his nose as he looked over at his former therapist.
He raised his hand in greeting, she waved back hoping to see how things were going. Instead, she was interrupted by a little girl hiding in the rack of clothes next to her. "Who was that?" The little girl inquired innocently as the bell sounded over the door. She was probably no older than four, with short black hair that framed her oval-shaped face.
"Someone that I know." Dr. Ryan looked up to see Wes fleeing to the store exit, then sighed as she looked around the store. "Where is your mother?"
"Over there." The little girl looked unconcerned as she pointed towards the far corner of the store. "At least she she was there a minute ago."
"How about you and I go find her, shall we?"
"Okay." The little girl shrugged, taking her hand and squeezing it tightly.
When Monday finally rolled around, it seemed like the weekend had just come and gone. Wes and Travis were in the breakroom, filling up on their share of coffee for the day.
"I take it you had another fun filled weekend at the hotel?" Travis quipped, taking a sip of his coffee.
Wes did not look amused as he held the coffee pot in hand. "No."
"No? Please don't say you're resorting to one worded answers. I don't think I can stand the silence from you either."
Heading back towards their desks, Wes looked up again. "Actually, I was going to say I haven't drank my morning coffee yet." He took a small sip, not hiding his expression of disgust as he set the mug to the side of his desk, while reconsidering why he had started drinking the hot liquid in the first place. "I'm not sure why we didn't just stay out of Dr. Ryan's business in the first place."
"That before or after we decided the guy leading the case wasn't doing a good enough job, so we took the liberty of finishing the case for him?" Travis inquired, settling into his chair.
"Just remind me of the consequences the next time we have the bright idea to do something stupid." Wes muttered, scanning over the file in front of him. Travis as following at a slower pace as his gaze wandered around the office.
"Speaking of bright ideas, here comes one now." Travis pointed to their boss, a plump, middle-aged man with a slight temper. "I'm pretty sure that's not his happy face either."
Wes sighed as he watched Captain Sutton stand at his door before returning back to the file at hand. "No, that would be his concerned expression, only reserved for when he's worried about something."
"Or someone." Travis tapped the pen against the palm of his hand. "And I think I can guess why."
With such a long weekend and a rocky marriage to boot, Captain Sutton knew by now that he had spent too many hours around the office lately. So nothing should have surprised him, until Dr. Ryan unexpectedly interruped his Monday morning.
"Dr. Ryan, what brings you by?" He questioned as she closed the door behind her. She wore a turquoise colored dress and black pumps; her usually style when she meant business.
"I'm glad you asked. " She shot him a gentle smile as she took the seat in front of his desk. "I was hoping to have a chat with Travis and Wes."
"What did they do now?"
"Actually, nothing. Now that things have cooled down a bit, I was hoping to sit down and discuss what happened last month."
Sutton glanced down at his watch with a considering look. "As of earlier they were working on a case, but they should be back by now. I take it there's not invitation for them to return to group therapy?"
"I am getting the distinct feeling that the new therapy sessions aren't going very well."
"You would be thinking right." His expression immediately darkened as he leaned forward in his chair. "I probably shouldn't be saying this, but since we're about to go out in the bullpen to have a sparing match, I have some information you should be aware of."
"I'm listening."
"Good, because you're pretty much the only one who has been able to get through to those two." His eyes directed towards the upper part of the bullpen. "You remember when I first ordered Wes and Travis to group therapy, how things were pretty tense between them?"
""Yes, I remember that moment quite well, actually."
"Although I'm thankful they're still getting along, Wes has been putting in more hours than I can count. I'm not sure the last time he got a decent amount of sleep. Travis has been himself, minus his usual perkiness."
"You think this has something to do with what happened last month."
He nodded adamantly, casting looks toward the direction where Travis and Wes' desks were located. "I'm beginning to think this has everything to do with what happened last month. Believe it or not, they were happier when they were having daily group sessions."
Wes sighed and pulled his vibrating phone from his pocket. "Whatever you're thinking about doing, Travis, don't do it."
"I wasn't going to." Travis held his hands up in the air in surrender. "I just want to know why she's here."
"It can't be anything good." Wes stated, pocketing his phone as he grabbed his jacket that had been sitting on the back of his chair. "That was Jonelle. She has the test results on our latest case. We should probably think about getting down there soon. Travis, are you even listening?"
"I hear you loud and clear."
"Besides, there are many reasons why she could have stopped by, but I don't think we're one of them."
"Would you like to make a bet on that?" A smile tugged at the corner of Travis' lips, then faltered when he realized his partner in crime was already halfway across the room. He threw a shrug over towards Dr. Ryan and Captain Sutton before following Wes towards the elevators. "You know you're wrong about why Dr. Ryan is here."
"I never said I agreed about that." Wes defended, impatiently pushing the up button on the elevator. "I merely stated that Dr. Ryan talking to us might not be one of the options."
"Then why did you run?"
"I didn't run, Travis." Wes defended, pursing his lips in clear annoyance. "There was no reason to stay and gawk at our former therapist and wonder why she was here. Besides, what were either of us supposed to say? Sorry that we messed up your life? Oh wait, we already said that and it didn't work." He impatiently pushed the at the button, to no avail. "I'm beginning to think this elevator is broken."
"It was working fine earlier." Travis muttered, leaning against the wall. "Try the other one." Wes stepped over the other elevator, only to conclude that neither elevator worked.
"Doesn't that seem a little mysterious to you? That neither elevator works? I don't remember Sutton saying anything about maintenance work taking place in the building."
"Maybe there's a malfunction with the wiring or something like that." Travis stated, as they looked towards the heavy white door that allowed law enforcement and civilians to get to different floors. "Take the stairs?"
"Yeah, good idea." Wes agreed as he started towards the door. "I was kind of thinking the stairs should have been our first option; would have saved us some time getting down to autopsy."
"Except we always take the elevator." Travis reminded him, just as they reached the stairwell. "And there she is. What are the chances she's going to take the elevator?"
"Dr. Ryan is a smart woman. I'm sure she'll figure something out." Wes peered around the door as they watched her walk around the corner. "You're thinking about talking to her, aren't you?"
"Someone should warn her that the elevators aren't working." Travis retreated back down the hall, and Wes reluctantly followed at a slower pace.
"You're like a lost puppy, you know that right?"
"Dr. Ryan, we were just talking about you. What brings you by?"
She shot him a curious look, mostly keeping her eye on Wes. "Since you asked, I was hoping the two of you have a few minutes to talk?"
Travis exchanged a look with Wes that amounted to saying, "I told you so" without having to say anything out loud.
"You came to ask Sutton if you could talk to us?" Wes inquired, concluding to why they had seen her come out of Sutton's office just a few minutes after she had gone in.
"Since you are no longer my patients, I asked Captain Sutton if I could talk to you privately."
"We were actually just about to head down to autopsy." Travis pointed a finger over his shoulder towards the stairs. "But if you give us ten, we'll meet you in the lounge." Wes frowned, not agreeing at all to why Travis would suggest such a thing.
"I'll bite I don't have a session until ten. However long it takes in autopsy, it's critical that we talk about what happened." Both Travis and Wes looked at the clock on the wall in between the elevators and realized that it hadn't reached eight o'clock yet. Must be super important if she was willing to wait, or talk to them for two hours if that was that was how long they needed to settle things.
"I guess we'll see you then."
"I'll be there in a minute." Wes told Travis, as his partner disappeared down the hall, leaving them alone to talk. "I thought it was strange we bumped into each other on Saturday, and now here you are."
She shot him a soft smile. "I'm here because I saw something I haven't seen snce you and Travis entered my group therapy sessions."
"What did you see?" Dr. Ryan opened her mouth to say something, but Wes interrupted her. "Nevermind, I don't want to know. We'll see you in a few minutes."
"Are you going to tell me what that was about, or do I have to guess?" Travis asked as the door closed behind them with a bang.
"You know, as much as I love playing twenty questions, I have a feeling that we're both going to find out soon enough." Wes stated as they descended yet another level. "What's the one reason we got sent to therapy in the first place?"
Travis gave it some thought. "You pulled your gun on me. you really thinking telling her will get us back in therapy?"
"Do you have a better idea?"
"No."
"We've been dodging what happened to Pac Man, what Storm Front really is, and I'm still not sure why I pulled my gun on you, other than you were about to go after Crowl."
"Here I was thinking we would never get out of those therapy sessions with Dr. Van Waal." Travis suddenly looked like a weight had come off his shoulders. "So we tell her everything?"
"If we want to get back in, we will tell her everything." Wes pulled the door open to the third floor, and they walked towards the autopsy room at full speed. "Now come on, we wouldn't want to keep the good doctors waiting."