Part 2

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Please note that the character "Dr. Greene" that is introduced in this chapter has nothing to do with the psychiatrist Don sees in Season 3. I imagined him as a kind, older and old-fashioned gentlemen instead.

I have no clue about psychology. This is pure fiction and I don't mean to offend anyone who does.

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The next morning when Megan came in – just barely late this time – Don did not even let her get to her desk. Instead he took her by the arm and dragged her back to the elevators.

"Hey what are you doing?" she sputtered.

"What did I tell you yesterday?" he asked. Knowing that she would not answer, he did so himself. "I told you to finish the files I gave you which is another order you disobeyed. I am not tolerating your behavior anymore. This ends right here."

Megan was completely confused where he was taking her having been dragged along multiple corridors after getting out of the elevator on the top floor. Was he intending to suspend or even fire her? For a moment she got scared.

Suddenly Don stopped in front of a door. Megan read the name tag and turned red for anger. "You are sending me to a shrink?" she yelled at him.

"Yes. You will talk to Dr. Greene if you want to continue on my team." Don responded calmly and seriously.

"You are so unfair. You would never make the guys do that." She accused him with angry tears in her eyes.

He just looked at his agent stunned. Obviously she wasn't entirely wrong but he didn't understand why she was upset. She knew what the guys would get in her place. That couldn't be what she wanted, could it?

Without saying anything he opened the door and ushered her in. Even though Dr. Greene had heard their argument outside, he smiled at the two agents.

"Hello Don, it is nice to see you again. I hope you are doing well?" he inquired shaking Don's hand. As the older agent nodded the Doctor turned his attention to Megan. "I am Dr. Greene and I hope you and I will spend a couple of pleasant hours together. I though we'd go for a little drive into the country. I hear you like old cars." He said kindly.

Megan just looked at him with an expression which made it clear that she wanted to do anything but spend time with the Doctor. However, she feared that Don's threat to throw her off the team was serious and knew she did not have another choice.

Don quickly made his exit hoping he did the right thing for his troubled agent.

Later that day Dr. Greene called to invite him to 'a conversation over dinner'. Don accepted thankfully and the two met up that evening in a quiet little Italian place the doctor loved. After a first drink the agent could not help himself anymore. "So is Megan alright?" he asked worriedly.

The doctor looked at him seriously. "Well, I think you know the answer to this one. She is not exactly alright but I do believe her troubles are fixable."

"How?" Don inquired, "We'll do anything she needs."

Doctor Greene answered with an approving smile at Don's eagerness, "And she will need you. Now before we go into any details, you need to know that Agent Reeves is of course aware that there is no true Doctor-Patient confidentiality with an 'FBI shrink' as she put it so she was rather guarded."

Don's face fell at that statement so the Doctor hurried to add. "But from the little she told me and from what I read in her personnel file and your Crystal Hoyle reports I can tell you quite a bit. For starters on some level she greatly identified with Miss Hoyle."

Don nodded having surmised this much.

Dr. Greene changed the topic a bit, "And the reason for that I believe lies in Agent Reeves' upbringing. I don't know how much you know. She grew up with three older sisters, a somewhat weak mother and an overbearing father. Megan was her father's last chance at a 'son'. Sensing his disappointment from the moment she was born our young agent spend her childhood trying and failing to meet her father's expectations and win his approval."

Don frowned thinking about what that must have been like for Megan.

"During her teenage years," the doctor continued, "she rebelled until finally at age 16 she left her home. With a little help from her sisters, common sense and a lot of luck she made it on her own but it can't have been easy. And to this day she never made up with her father although he is still alive. I believe she reached out to him after the Hoyle case but he did not even return her call. This must have reopened a lot of old wounds."

"So what can we do?" Don asked feeling a bit helpless.

"First of all you need to understand what is going on with her emotionally. This case has basically put her back in the mind frame of a 16 year old that lives on her own and is free to do as she pleases. At the same time the only thing she really wants is a happy, stable home with healthy boundaries, supportive parents and above all the approval of her Dad. But she cannot have any of these things – no more now than she did back then. And this is where you come in."

The agent looked at him puzzled.

Doctor Greene smiled at him sadly, "I think in the absence of her real father she has turned to the only male authority figure in her life. I am convinced that the staying out all night, coming in late, doing sloppy work and even not eating are all aimed at getting you attention and pushing you to do something about it."

"Great," Don replied dismayed.

"It is ok, Don. You can help her," the doctor encouraged, "actually the situation isn't all that much different than the one with Mr. Granger that you inquired me about a few months ago."

Don looked up in surprise at the implication. After he spanked Colby for the first time he had run into Dr. Greene who – as usually – got him to spill his troubles in about thirty seconds. To his surprise the Doctor had supported him and told him that he did the right thing for Colby.

The psychologist continued, "Young Agent Reeves is basically begging you to notice her self-destructive behavior and put a stop to it. And the longer you try to ignore it the more it'll spin out of control. You know why she got so angry at you for sending her to me? She is aware how you punish Colby Granger and astutely concluded that you do it because you care for the young man. Now sending her to me convinced Miss Reeves that you want nothing to do with her problems and are basically washing your hands of her like her father did."

"But that is not what I was trying to do." Don protested, "I was trying to help."

"I know," the doctor replied, "I know, Don. As for helping her here is my advice to you. Do not let her get away with any poor behavior anymore. And make the punishment fit the crime - not that of an experienced responsible FBI agent but that of a teenage girl testing her boundaries. On top of that she needs your approval and support. I think this can be fixed. She just needs a steady hand to guide her through this and help heal the old wounds left by her Father."

Don looked at him unhappily, "You know what you are telling me? You are basically saying punish her like Colby? But she is a woman … ."

"I know that," Doctor Greene replied seriously, "but it really doesn't matter. What it comes down to is that she needs approval and discipline and she herself has made it clear that she needs it from you."

Don frowned. He did not like this one bit but he understood what the Doctor was telling him. Looking at her behavior over the last couple of weeks his explanations made perfect sense. Sighting he said, "I'll talk to her in the morning and lay down some ground rules. Hopefully I don't actually have to go through with punishing her this way."

The doctor just looked at him until he put his hands up in defeat and laughed a little, "I know, I know, there isn't much hope in this. She'll test me until she gets what she needs, right?"

Dr. Greene nodded at the agent with fatherly pride in his eyes. For all his masculine mannerisms Don Eppes was actually quite adept at understanding his people's feelings and always willing to provide what they needed.

"Alright," the doctor said, "let's forget about our young agent's troubles for a little while. How are you doing? And how are things working out with your brother?"

Don glared at the older man knowing he was not only asking as a friend. But as always he enjoyed their conversation greatly and left the restaurant more hopeful than he entered it. Nonetheless he knew they had a long road ahead.