As they were walking back upstairs, the elevator dinged open and a man in a blue suit gave them a nod as they walked by. Both Travis and Wes exchanged a glance. "Just our luck—the elevators are working again."
Travis caught the doors as they were sliding closed. "You really want to get up there, don't you?" Wes inquired. "I'm not finding this any less thrilling than you are. In fact, I'm not sure how we kept doing this for so long."
"Says the person who didn't want to stop and talk to her."
"Now isn't the time to gloat, Travis." Gravity pulled the elevator upwards, and pretty soon they were back on their own floor.
"I'm going to put this on my desk." Holding up paper with the results they had received, Wes began to walk towards the office space. "Why don't you try and find an empty room to talk in."
"You are coming back—"
"Of course I'm coming back. Why wouldn't I? It's not as if this whole thing will disappear if I don't just show up." Wes called over his shoulder as he left.
Travis walked towards the lounge, where Dr. Ryan was checking her phone as he walked down the hall. As soon as she saw him, he immediately put it back in her purse with a confused look on her face. "Where's Wes?"
"He went to put some papers on his desk." Travis reluctantly led her into an empty room.
She nodded, but that didn't ease the feeling that Wes was stalling. "So, I take it that means that the case is going well then?"
"I guess you can say that we're getting there."
Looking quite pleased, she nodded. "Good. From what I've heard from Captain Sutton, it seems like you and Wes are still getting along as partners."
"Yeah. We've been doing well. We've had some pretty tough cases lately—" Running his hand through his hair, Travis sat down in the chair across from her.
She tilted her head to the side. "He also mentioned how busy the two of you have been."
"We've had a lot of late nights here at the office." Travis nodded as the door knob turned. Wes' muffled voice could be heard through the door. "And there he is."
"Nine? Thanks." Wes finished his conversation on the phone, and walked through the door with a smile on his face.
That gave Dr. Ryan incentive to begin."The reason I wanted to talk to you privately, is that I wanted to clear some things up. Both men adjusted in their chairs, physically preparing themselves for what she had in store.
"And we're sorry for what we did." Travis said as he exchanged a look with Wes; not to mention that he looked like he completely agreed.
"Before we get to that—I wanted to clear up what happened, because it's clearly affected you both."
"It's affected you as well." Wes pointed out.
"Yes. . . and I'm dealing with it. The question I want to know… is how you're dealing with it."
"What are we doing?" Wes exchanged a mulling glance with Travis. "We're doing our job—solving cases."
Dr. Ryan nodded a couple times, pressing herself to move forward. "And your sessions with Dr. Van Waal? How are they going?"
Wes rubbed at his chin, while Travis did some thinking of his own. Of course it passed through both of their minds to lie, but even then they both knew by now that she would see right through those lies. They both thought better of those lies—both desperate to gain her trust again.
"Let's just say that Dr. Vanwaal has some pretty interesting methods." Explaining, Wes hoped that she understood what they were getting at.
"In fact yours were more methodical, don't you think?" Travis inquired, looking back and forth from Wes to Dr. Ryan.
"More like sane." Casting his eyes to the ceiling, Wes rubbed at his face tiredly.
"Dr. Van Waal's techniques are much different than mine. But as a therapist. .. you must understand that there are boundaries."
"And we get that now." Travis interrupted her.
Wes added in, hoping that extra measure would help get her to forgive them. "We know it was wrong to stick our noses in your businesses."
Nodding abruptly, she continued. "What the two of you did was very wrong." She paused and her expression softened. "I understand now that you were only trying to protect me, but rest assured—I can take care of myself."
After a few minutes of silence, Wes piped up. "Something just didn't add up when we met your fiance in the office, so when we found out that he was lying—""
"We couldn't let him hurt you." Travis added in helpfully; neither one met her eye when saying that. Instead, they were looking at the other. "And we took the file from right under his nose."
Wes looked on, before snapping out of his own thoughts. "Yeah. Some bright idea that was." His expression grew serious. "But we want to make up for that."
Travis nodded, throwing it all out on the table. "We want to tell you why Captain Sutton sent us to therapy."
"And why I pulled my gun on Travis." Wes added his part in. His expression teetered on uneasiness, but there was a certain burden that seemed to already be lifting off his shoulders as they told her everything. Travis seemed to be a little more at ease as he straightened in his chair.
"Let me get this correct—" Dr. Ryan gazed from one to the other after a few minutes of silence. "You both have been holding onto all of this for the past six months?"
"I don't think we realized how much Pac Man's death had affected us, until we were able to prove that Crowl killed him."
Travis nodded in agreement. "It was basically my word against his, when Crowl told me that he had killed Pac Man."
"Right." Dr. Ryan clasped her hands together. "The good thing is that he is going to be in jail for a long time. So how are the two of you feeling right now?"
"We're good." Travis nodded and looked over at Wes who was nodding as well.
"Yeah. I mean. . . there's nothing better than seeing Pac Man getting justice. He didn't deserve to be killed just because he knew what Crowl was up to." Wes mentioned; a sad tone that couldn't be missed.
"And since we caught Crowl, we both got reinstated and we're both getting accommodations." Travis elaborated, not being able to hold back an accomplished smile.
"They also erased our suspension, that was given to us when we went after him the first time around." Looking just as satisfied as Travis was, Wes placed his hand on the table and caught a glimpse of the time on his watch. "In fact we should probably be getting back. We're supposed to get ready to make a drug bust."
"That what the call was about?" Travis inquired as they stood.
Wes nodded. "Yeah. We're supposed to be there by nine."
"So since you've been reinstated, I take it that means that you're no longer required to come to group therapy." Her calming voice interrupted ]their conversation.
Travis spun back around on his heels. "That's exactly what it means."
"But we were hoping that you'd take us back."
"I'm sorry, but are you asking for a second go-around?" She looked amazed, noticing that their expressions were serious, while they were hoping that she would consider agreeing on the decision.
"I can't believe it, but yes we're asking for a second chance."
It only took a minute for her to come to a conclusion. "Then welcome back guys. I expect you to be at the next group meeting tomorrow."
Hearing that bit of news, Wes took his hand out of his pocket and raised it for a high five from Travis—which he gladly obliged to and expected one back, but Wes quickly slipped his hand back into his pocket.
Finally got this chapter out after two computer crashes, getting a new computer, a whole lot of life problems and some major writing blocks. Again...sorry for the wait. I think I'm going to end this chapter here. Thanks for reading! Make sure to review!
