A/N:
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NOTE: This chapter was edited on March 4, 2017
Fitz felt as if he'd just won the lottery. He was finally speaking with Olivia Pope, the clinical psychologist.
"Dr. Pope speaking. I'm sorry but I'm booked for the next six weeks except mornings at 8:00 am."
"Dr. Pope, I'm a single parent I have two kids, my son Teddy is 18 months old and my daughter just turned five and the soonest I can drop her off at school is 8:30 am."
"I'm sorry, Mr…"
"Grant."
"Mr. Grant, I wish there was something... the best I can do is put you on a wait list pending my soonest cancellation."
"No exceptions?"
Olivia took a deep breath. Most parents were happy to be bumped up to the top of the wait list and did not persist beyond this point. "The only way I could make an exception would be if :
1) You and your child are moving to a foreign country within the next six months OR
2) Your child has an IEP meeting scheduled within the next two weeks."
Fitz thought about it. Neither option applied. There was no way he could let this opportunity slip away.
"I guess we'll take option number one," he said.
Olivia raised a brow. She pulled the receiver away from her ear and stared at it as if willing it to help her make up her mind.
"Please…" Fitz pleaded. "My son…I don't know what else to do. I refuse to believe there is no hope for him…and that's pretty much what we've been told by every professional we've consulted."
That certainly made it easier for Olivia to decide; there was something in his voice that resonated deep in her soul. This was her chance to make a difference in a child's life.
"Did you say he's 18 months old?"
"Yes, we've tried ABA therapy but it's not helping much. I'm looking for a second opinion…well, actually, Teddy's already been seen by three different psychologists. "
Jane poked her head in Olivia's office, pointing at her watch. Olivia nodded seeing that it was already
"Okay. Tell you what. I will have Jane give you a call tomorrow morning with a day and time for this week. Most likely it will be after 5:00 pm. Normally, we close at five but sometimes we make exceptions."
"Yes, that will be great!"
Olivia smiled. Mr. Grant sounded elated. "She will also be mailing you a parent questionnaire. Please answer all questions, especially where we ask you to list your child's strengths. The more detailed your answers the better. You'd be surprised at how many parents leave it blank or answer with a truncated sentence, "she paused for him to process the information, especially if he was taking notes.
"Both you and Teddy's mother need to answer the parent questionnaire." For a fleeting moment her mind dwelled on the fact that in her experience it was the child's mother who made all the necessary appointments. "Ideally, both of you would be present the day of the evaluation. Also, bring all written reports by every professional you've consulted. My secretary will be calling you with a day and time as soon as we receive the questionnaire," she spoke the last three sentences rapidly, her tone signaling she was getting ready to end the conversation.
"By mail?" He asked, his voice deep and penetrating. "No fax?"
Olivia smiled at that. "Yes, you may also fax them." She glanced at the digital clock on the wall which said it was five minutes past five. Jane was still standing there, looking at her curiously.
"Thank you, Dr. Pope," he said sincerely on Teddy's behalf, his heart soaring. Yes, there was still hope for Teddy.
….
Four days later…
As it turned out, a time slot had opened at 4:30 pm and Fitz was given first choice. He was told that the evaluation would take at least an hour.
Fitz arrived with Teddy at the learning center at 4:20 pm.
At 4:25 Olivia still hadn't call Teddy and Fitz in for their appointment. Although unbeknownst to them, Teddy' evaluation had already began.
Part of the standard evaluation protocol consisted of observation of the child and the parent in the waiting room.
Olivia sat behind her desk where she had unobstructed view of the waiting room outside her office.
For a few minutes, she continued watching Fitz trying to re-direct the child but it was not working. The noise was getting unbearable, and Olivia noticed that another parent in the waiting room was getting increasingly irritated by the noise.
At last, Olivia decided to call them in. By then, Teddy had stopped banging the wooden block against the water fountain.
"Theodore Grant," Olivia called, standing to the side of the entrance to her office.
At once, Fitz stood up. He was dress in slacks and a button-down blue shirt.
Olivia offered him her hand in a business like fashion. "Dr. Olivia Pope."
With a smile, he took her hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you. I'm Fitzgerald Grant."
Olivia thought he was the most attractive man she'd ever met. A feeling of warmth ran through her as they shook hands.
It was over all too soon. Next thing she knew, Fitz had turned back to Teddy who was still standing by the water fountain.
"And this is my son Teddy," Fitz said. He was now trying to get Teddy to come with him but the latter now wanted to bang the wooden block against the wall. "Teddy, please, come."
Both Olivia and Fitz waited; Teddy acted as though he hadn't heard a word.
Fitz huffed out of breath. Then, in the next moment, he picked up Teddy and carried him to Olivia's office.
Even though Teddy wailed in complaint at being whisked away so suddenly, he soon found something of great interest in Olivia's office: the light switch which was located to the right of a large window which offered a magnificent view of the city of Los Angeles.
"Hey, teddy," Fitz called.
Teddy ignored his father and dashed to the light switch and flickered the lights back on and off, a total of ten times.
"My office is the only one with the light switch within reach of little ones," she smiled.
Fitz gave her a questioning look.
"This is purposeful," she moved to the low to the ground rectangular table by the large window and motioned for Fitz to sit across from her, unconcerned with the fact that Teddy continued to play with the light switch.
"Teddy, you're really into light switches," Olivia said warmly.
"And ceiling fans."
Olivia smiled. "We don't have any ceiling fans at the moment…but put in a request and we'll see what we can do about it" she said straight-faced.
Fitz returned her smile.
"Teddy, come and play with me," Olivia said as she pulled out a wooden puzzle with knobs out of a large duffle bag and set it on the table.
She noted no eye contact, zero response to his name.
Teddy was a beautiful child, the type that elicits what biologists call ' the cute response' from adults. Perfect skin, petite nose, domed forehead, small lower jaw. Moreover, Olivia thought he was particularly adorable with his light brown hair plastered down on either side of his head and those cute puckered lips.
After a minute or so and seeing that Teddy was not going to cooperate, Fitz asked Olivia for a book. "I forgot to bring one, believe it or not. It's the only thing that works though."
Olivia handed Fitz a small board book titled The Runaway Bunny.
As luck would have it, it was Teddy's favorite book.
"Teddy, time to read," Fitz called, tapping the book lightly on the table as to get the boy's attention.
Teddy turned around. Fitz picked him up and sat him on his lap and did not balk.
Olivia smiled, impressed. What's more, she also noted that Fitz held his child in a warm manner, radiating a kind of unconditional acceptance that was quite refreshing to see.
In the beginning, Teddy seemed content with listening to his father read while seemingly following along in the book. Yet within a minute or so, he became restless and refused to let his father keep turning the pages. Then, he grabbed the book and flipped the pages back and forth repeatedly.
Fitz tried once again to get him interested in the book, but Teddy wiggled out of his father's lap.
Sensing the beginnings of a tantrum, Fitz gave him some space. Teddy found the nearest corner and sat on the floor to continue flipping the pages of the board book and drop it to the floor. He would then continue to pick up the book and drop it repeatedly.
It was at this point that Olivia asked Fitz about Teddy's mother. She had been under the impression that she would also be filling out the paperwork and perhaps coming to the assessment as well?
"I'm sorry," Fitz began rather apologetic. "I should have mentioned it over the phone."
Olivia nodded encouraging him to continue. Yes, she'd read in the paperwork that he was divorced from the child's mother. But there was no other information about her.
" We got divorced a few months ago. I have custody of the children. Mellie doesn't really know him or his routines so I thought it would be useless for her to complete the parent questionnaire… or to come to this evaluation. "
That really piqued her curiosity. In all her years of working at Kaiffer, she'd never had a mother not come to the evaluation.
"Oh, so she doesn't spend any time with Teddy during the week?"
Fitz shook his head to indicate no. It was clear that he didn't want to discuss this any further.
"Ok." She grabbed her pen to take some notes.
Olivia loved working with families and their special needs children.
If she had to be honest with herself, it was in the advocacy field where she truly felt she was making a difference in the lives of young children. But then again, she only took a few cases here and there as the hours interfered with her 9 to 5 job.
During the second hour of the evaluation, Olivia engaged Teddy with a variety of objects and conducted a series of tests.
At last, she sat back down and talked to Fitz about her findings. At this point, Teddy sat quietly in the play area of her office with a variety of different age appropriate toys within reach.
Fitz wasn't at all surprised by the diagnosis. He'd heard it time and time again. It was in the top three most dreaded disorders heavily plagued by stigma and misconceptions.
Autism spectrum disorder.
Yet he refused to think of it as a catastrophe, he had not given up hope.
He focused on her face as she went on to explain her findings. She was definitely the most beautiful woman he'd ever met. He was captivated. Everything about her was breathtaking; her flawless skin, the shade of her nude lips so natural yet not overly natural, and her gorgeous brown eyes so expressive and enchanting.
Oh, and her voice… kind yet self-assured had the power to put his soul at ease. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something about her that made him want to listen to her voice all day and never grow weary.
"Don't get me wrong though, I do believe wholeheartedly that recovery is entirely possible," she went on, her eyes wide with conviction, "with the right type of intervention the earlier the better," she reiterated.
Yes ! Good Heavens, yes!
There was hope.
Fitz smiled the widest he had smiled all day. Finally, someone other than himself believed in Teddy's potential!
He glanced over at Teddy who was now happily entertained with a large sized spin top.
His beautiful little boy, regardless of his level of functioning at the moment, had as much potential as any other child to become anything he wanted to be. From this point forward, Fitz decided his number one goal would be making sure to leave no stone unturned when it came to providing Teddy with the best chance at a happy and productive life.
No, she was not in the business of treating patients on a regular basis, she told him. That's not what Kaiffer's Learning Center was about. "Here we evaluate and prescribe medications whenever needed. We do follow-ups once a year or more often if necessary," she glanced over at the report from CARD's. "Therapists here at Kaiffer primary rely on Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) for the treatment of autism." Personally, she preferred the combination of methods endorsed by Autism Speaks but she was not in charge of policy.
"I've done my research, Dr. Pope. Still, I'm not sure which is the best treatment?"
"Hmm... I don't see anything in the reports about Floor Time?" she inquired. Seeing his blank look response, she went on to explain that she liked the floor-time approach of entering the child's world by engaging into the activities that the child enjoys and following the child's lead. "There's this other therapeutic approach called SON-RISE which is similar to Floor Time." She paused, letting her words hang. "In my opinion, SON-RISE opinion. It requires the greatest investment in terms of time but it's well worth it."
Fitz leaned forward, a glimmer of hope sparkling in his gaze. "Great. When can we start?"
"We don't offer that here at Kaiffer. Our ABA therapists will work with your child three times a week in two hour sessions. " She clarified.
Fitz cocked his head, he had assumed he would choose the best approach, "I thought you said that the SON-RISE offered the best treatment. Are you telling me that Kaiffer's therapists will not even consider other approaches to therapy?"
Olivia looked almost apologetic as she started jotting down some information in her notepad. "Here's the website for SON-RISE and phone number," she handed him down the piece of paper in a decisive motion. "There are some great testimonials on their site."
Their fingers brushed and for a second, she felt the shock of his touch along the length of her arm. Her eyes widened as she contemplated what this meant. She'd never experienced anything like this in real life, only in the romantic novels that she'd read when she was seventeen.
A heavy silence fell between them. In the background, Teddy continued to play with the spin top, never growing tired of the same activity, lost in his own world.
The contact had been brief and incidental, yet he felt the jolt sizzle in his veins. Incidentally, this jolt gave him the energy to push forward. "Dr. Pope, If you were to work with Teddy as a therapist outside of Kaiffer, would you employ the SON-RISE approach?"
Olivia hesitated. "Well, let me put it this way: If Teddy were my own child, I would employ the SON-RISE approach almost exclusively."
"I think that you're the best therapist for my son, the best therapist my son and I could hope for. " he stated holding her gaze.
His words were decidedly forward, but he that doesn't try has no chance of winning. He only hoped that the timing had been right and that she would at least consider his request.
For a moment, he glanced over to the rug Teddy who continued to play with the spin top and flap his hands about his face, completely unaware that his whole future was at stake.
"Mr. Grant…I don't do in-home therapy," she started in a calculated professional tone. "In addition, Kaiffer discourages forming relationships with patients outside of regular contact hours," she went on pursing her lips, reflectively. "It's definitely out of the question."
Fitz cocked his head, his expression unfazed by her stark refusal. "If that's your only objection, I will cancel our Kaiffer plan effective immediately so that there would be no conflict of interest." This way Teddy would no longer be considered her patient by the standards set by the big HMO.
She gave him a small smile. A glance at the clock told her it was nearly time to call it a day. "Mr. Grant, I don't think…"
"Dr. Pope," he quickly cut in, "Don't say no without at least giving it some thought. I'm not asking for you to quit your job…I'm only asking for whatever time you can spare to work with my son…in turn, needless to say, I'm prepared to compensate you for your time…whatever you think it's fair, no questions asked," for a moment, his gaze shifted to Teddy. "I desperately need your help. I work full time, Teddy's mother is not available to help…he has no one but me and I'm not even there during the day," he went on his voice taken on as a desperate plea. "You have no idea how many nannies I've had to let go 'cause none of them seem able to deal with Teddy's behavior. I don't have anyone else I can trust to work with my son, no one else who truly cares. I don't know what else I can do." He concluded, his eyes meeting her gaze, decisive and unrelenting.
Olivia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. This was the first time that a parent had made such a request. Even though it seemed outlandish for her to consider it (she didn't see patients in their home, she worked 9 to 5 conducting evaluations and writing reports), her sense of humanity also told her that the least she could do was to consider it…
Perhaps this was the opportunity she'd been waiting for, the opportunity to make a real difference in someone's life…
She took a deep breath. "I just…" she clucked her tongue ever so slightly as to give herself extra time to think. "I'm not sure that this kind of arrangement would be the best…"
"I'm only asking for whatever time you can spare," he reiterated, his eyes taking on a sense of quiet urgency. "If all you can do is an hour after work and weekends, then I would be the most grateful," he leaned forward, placing his forearms on the table. His fingers came so close to hers as she sat across from him that made her wonder what would happen if she slipped her fingers into the curve of his? Might they tighten? Might he even lift her hand to his mouth and kiss it? She hadn't moved in what seemed like a full minute. She could scarcely breathe.
Hmm…perhaps she could just do a few sessions. Parent education was the key component of the SON-RISE program. At the very least, she could this, she could provide her guidance and expertise.
He caught her that way, looking up to meet the intensity of his blue eyes.
Just like that the air was charged with electricity.
She shook her head, chastising herself for allowing herself to entertain romantic feelings about a patient's parent.
Then, after what seemed like an eternity, Fitz's hand retreated to his pocket to pull out a business card out of his wallet. "Please think about this. Call me with any questions, any time," he said in that deed baritone voice of his, nothing less than enchanting.
Her lips curved into a smirk. "So when are you moving?"
Fitz cocked his head. Huh? "Moving?"
"Yes, that was one of the exceptions…remember our phone conversation?"
He could almost slap himself for not catching on sooner. He smiled back his best 'I just got caught with my hand in the cookie jar smile.'
Of course, they both knew he was not really moving out the country.
She lowered her eyelids just so.
There was this sweet tension in the air.
"Okay, I'll think about it," she said at last.
After a moment, she looked away at just the right moment stopping short of being overly flirtatious. "It was nice meeting you, Mr. Grant," she took the card that he had placed on the table and walked over to her desk on the other side of the room, needing to put some physical distance between them, and incidentally avoiding any chance of having to shake his hand in farewell.
