Hey everybody, first thank you so much for your reviews. I am so sorry about the long delay since last chap, but health comes first since I can't write if I'm ill. Anyway, i'm back. To answer some questions it's a 3 pov story, so in between sessions, you'll have either Sara or Cath's pov. I shall let you read then.
Enjoy,
So ;)
ps: scuby, thank you for helping me out, you rock ;)
Chapter 2
Today is the first session with my two new patients.
Sara arrived two minutes ago – with ten minutes to spare. I offered her a seat but right now it seems that she's more interested in my library. I think it's her way to distract herself. We still have to wait for Catherine to arrive. I take that opportunity to observe Sara.
In spite of her nonchalant behaviour I can feel her nervousness, or I think it more likely a feeling of uneasiness. She's fidgeting imperceptibly and she's looking everywhere as if to see if there was any other exit except the door. She takes a deep breath to calm herself and then takes a seat with determination.
"Can I ask you a question?" I say from my easy chair.
She chuckles "Why do you ask for my permission? You're going to ask me the question no matter my answer so there's no need to make it looking like I actually had the choice," she answers with a flat tone.
"I did it just to be polite."
"Yeah, well forget about politeness; since you're about to psychologically violate me and my privacy with your questions for the next days. My drift being that since I'm going to get screwed, you can skip the foreplays without too much remorse, " she says bitterly.
Well she answered my question without knowing it. "What number am I?" I ask with a grin.
She looks at me intently, for a moment she's confused and about to ask me what I meant but I see recognition setting in her eyes. She smirks a bit "Seven, if I recall correctly," she says after giving it some thoughts.
"Seven? Lucky number."
"No offence intended but I don't think there's such a thing as a lucky number for people like you."
"People like me? Mid thirties, brown-haired, green-eyed man?" I joke.
"Therapists," she comes back flatly.
I chuckle "None taken."
"Are those real?" She asks looking at my diplomas.
"Yes."
"That's a lot for one person, and only one life time. Physics, Mathematics, Art, History, Psychology and Medicine," she turns her attention back to me. "Either you are older than you look either you're a fraud. What's you're secret?"
"I was 13 when I majored in Art; 15 for the History; 20 for the Mathematics; 22 for Physics. And finally I was 26 when I majored in Psychology and Medicine."
"So you're some kind of genius," she states.
"Not really, I just like to think that I learn fast."
"Yeah to say the least." She says with a sarcastic smile.
"You're not bad either. Physics, Art and Biology, all those with flying colours." I throw in nonchalantly.
"See what I meant by violating me and my privacy?" She answers coldly.
I'm spared to answer by Catherine appearance. She has five minutes late. Definitely not a good thing.
"Catherine, glad you've decided to grace us with your presence." I say flatly.
"I'm sorry, I'm late."
"Thanks for the tip but I had noticed." I come back.
"Look I did my best and I apologised."
"I've accepted your apology, now it doesn't change the matter does it?" I state, before she can reply I continue "I expect the two of you to be punctual, so you see in that case doing your best wasn't enough."
She sends me a death glare and I know right at this moment she has put my name on her shit list. She sits onto the couch next to Sara. Or should I say away from Sara. It's funny because my couch isn't that big yet three people could easily fit between them.
"Well now that everyone is here I think it's time for me to establish the rules. Basically there are four golden rules. First: you don't lie to me. Second: you don't lie to me. Third: I'm the master in command, you don't question me; I decide what we talk about; I ask the questions I want to ask, I throw you out of here if I feel like it. My place, my rules. And forth: if people talk about what's said here or what happens here, then it means that the leak comes from one of you, because I'm bound to confidentiality. Any questions?"
"Yes do we have to worship you O great master?" Sara says sarcastically.
I smile but don't answer. "I realise that it can be hard to talk but when I ask a question I want an honest answer. But here the thing, I don't want you to see me as a slaughter so you have two jokers by session. Let's say that I ask you a question and you don't want to answer it, then you use your joker and the subject is closed. But it's only temporary; the joker is only a way to take a step back in order to make a better jump. Meaning I will ask you the question again some time later and this time you'll have to answer." I let my words sink, taking the opportunity to see if I have missed something or not.
"Last, if you want to drink or eat there's sodas, water, juice and food in the fridge in the cupboards right over there, so feel free. You're free to express your feelings and to say whatever's on your mind. You're free to leave."
They both snort in unison. "Sure we are." Sara says.
"Yes you are. You're not bound to the couch; you can get up and walk out of here if you want to."
"Sure and then I'll have to face Grissom for some fascinating lecture."
"Well actions have consequences; I don't think I'm teaching anything new here. So when you make a choice the consequences are yours to deal with." I give her time to eventually reply. "Well now that everything is settled let's get the party started." I say with a smile.
"When was the last time you had a fight?" I ask after a moment.
They both look around as if to make me disappeared. It doesn't seem like any of them was about to speak anytime soon. The hardest part in my job is to actually open the dialogue. See it as a tap, once you find the way to open it everything flows, absolutely everything, but you have to find the trick to open it.
Sometimes you have to be pushy. You have to push all the buttons relentlessly to have a reaction. Sometimes you just have to be silent. Some people can't stand silent. For all I know so far, Sara and I are comfortable with silence, Catherine however seems to be affected by it. She's fidgeting and she's trying to think about something distracting which isn't working apparently. My opinion? She will talk first if not to answer my question just to fill the silence.
I look at the both of them alternately and wait patiently for Catherine to crack. I look at the silent clock in front of me. There's ten seconds left to make three whole minutes.
"Two weeks ago." Catherine says hastily after two minutes and fifty seconds of silence. Well she almost made it to the three minutes which is more than I expected.
Sara doesn't say anything she just snorts, which has an immediate effect on the blonde who turns her attention to her. "Do you have anything to say Sidle?" Catherine asks in defiance with a scornful tone.
Sara looks at her for a moment before replying "Yes, Cat, I have a problem, your short term memory sucks." There's as much despise in her voice than in Catherine. They engage themselves into a will contest it's called 'who will look away first'.
Wow, two seconds and there's enough tension to choke on. Interesting. Another interesting bit there's something with their names. Clearly Catherine wanted to have the upper hand keeping Sara at distance by calling her by her last name. Sara didn't back away and actually shortened Catherine's name and at this precise moment Catherine tensed up. Something tells me that Catherine always uses Sara's last name when she wants to take the upper hand. However I think Sara doesn't cross the 'name line' often, I think of it more as her nuclear weapon.
Since they seem to have totally forgotten about me, so I remind them of my presence. "What do you mean Sara?"
They keep on looking at each other and then Sara turns slowly her attention at me. Her facial expression says 'you're pathetic' to Catherine who keeps on shooting daggers at her.
"Well I remember arguing with you two days ago." Sara says to the window behind me but addressing to Catherine
"Oh please we can't call that an argument." Catherine says with despise.
"Sure it won't figure in the top ten of our record but it still was an argument."
Well there's only one way to cut the deal. "Tell me about it." I ask to no one in particular. Then look at me again. "Better yet I want you to enact it."
"I'm afraid not to understand? Enacting our argument? How are we supposed to do such a thing?" Sara exclaims
"Well I want each of you to tell me how it happened and to say your lines like you did two days ago." I explain. "It's a fact, whether you realised it or not, whenever you have an argument or an important conversation, hours after it happened, you re-enact it in your head. Sometimes it's out of pure vanity because you're proud of what you've said, sometimes it's just out of frustration and then you think about what you should have said or done, sometimes it's just out of curiosity because you want to know where things changed, at what point you took the road you ended up taking and why. The bottom line is you're analysing those things, it's a process of rationalisation."
I give them a minute to absorb all my speech and then I decide to start the exercise "Now, first I want you to tell me what the argument was about"
"Coffee." Sara says with a colourless voice.
"Coffee?" Wow, if they can argue about simple things then it means that the tangled web they're caught in is wider and trickier than I originally imagined. "Interesting." I state. "Sara, describe me what you were doing before it happened."
She sighs "Well, I was in the break room, having a mug of coffee with Nick. We were chatting and teasing each other and laughing, like we usually do."
"All right, then what happened?" I push her.
"Catherine came into the room, she went to the coffee pot, but the pot was empty and since her highness couldn't get her coffee, she took it out on me." She says with a smirk.
"Ok, Catherine you take it from here." I say looking at the blonde.
"So I told her that…"
"Stop… I want you to say your words exactly like you did two days ago, like you were saying them to Sara today. I want you to talk to Sara." I elaborate. "Do you get my point?"
"I think I do." Catherine answers. She sighs and focuses herself. She looks straight ahead and once she speaks again her tone is full of despise and anger. "I can't believe it! When will you understand that once you finish a pot you have to start a new one?!"
Good she understood my point and she's fitting her part just well. I turn my attention to the second player "Sara?"
"Are you trying to send me a message?" She says with defiance.
Well now that the train is on the rails all I have to do is watch and eventually keep it on tracks.
"That's when Nick tired to calm the game a first time." Sara states "Stay out of this Nicky boy," then she turns her attention to Catherine. "So Catherine was there something you wanted to tell me?"
Catherine looks at Sara straight and keeps on "Yes, you should have started a new coffee pot." She says slowly.
"Nick says something like 'but she didn't…'" Sara explains
"Stay out of this!" Catherine almost barks her order to imaginary Nick.
"And why should have I done such a thing?" Sara's tone is always defiant. As if she knew exactly what button to push to get a reaction.
"Because you're not the only one in need of caffeine. Because it's the rule of the break room." Catherine says before snorting "After all this time you could have make an effort to fit in here and respect that," she laughs humourlessly "Somewhere it shouldn't surprise me. Always eager to play rebel or break the rules, aren't we Sidle?"
"No, just eager to piss you off. You see I came to a point where I need my daily fix of bitchy comments." Sara says sarcastically which makes Catherine angrier.
"Start a new coffee pot." Catherine jaw is so tightly clenched that her last line sounded like a growl.
"Look at my face; do you see the word 'maid' tattooed somewhere?"
"No, but I can still clearly decipher the word 'selfish' on your front."
Both of their faces are inches away and they're engaged into a will contest. But so far neither of them back away.
"I tend to be generous only towards my friends, people I respect, and the people who are nice to me… Guess you don't belong to any of those categories."
And then there's a blank. "What next?" I enquire which to my surprise doesn't break the spell.
"Neil comes back and says that he'll start the new pot." Sara says still holding Catherine's stare.
"Don't bother Sara was about to do it." Catherine continues.
"Neil explains her that since he's the one who finished the pot it was his turn to make a new one according to the rule. He says that he was gone only a minute in order to bring a fresh and hot mug to Jacquie." Sara describes the scene. "Then Nick asks why we listen to Neil and why we didn't listen to him. Neil asks if everything is okay, question to which I answer," she sighs "Yes everything is peachy, thanks Neil…Anything else Catherine?" Her voice is cold.
Catherine doesn't say anything. They haven't broken the eye contact ever since they made it. "I thought so." Sara speaks again with a smirk.
Then silence fills the room again. I wait patiently and decide to step in again. "Sara?"
"I left," she just says still looking fiercely at Catherine. I'm surprise I don't see any electricity jumping between those two, the tension is so palpable it's fascinating and uncomfortable at the same time.
"I see. Well, I suggest the two of you to take back your place on the couch, the exercise is over." I state neutrally.
It takes a whole minute for the spell to be broken, for them to break the eye contact. That's when they both realise that they stood during their re-enactment without noticing it. They sit down again and I give her time to settle back their mind with me.
"Ok, let's analyse that argument together." I pause. "Sara." I call and wait for her to look at me "Was Nick having coffee too?"
"Yes." She replies with a frown.
"Catherine how could you know that Sara had finished the pot then?" I ask curious.
"I guess… I didn't." Catherine answers.
"Yet you took it out on Sara."
"No I didn't, I made a general comment but she felt persecuted." Catherine states.
I'm not too convinced but who knows…
"Sure." Sara snorts "General comment my ass, you were looking straight at me so I don't think it was paranoid from me to feel aggressed."
"Is this true? Were you looking at her?' I ask Catherine.
Catherine avoids my look "Yes." She finally answers.
"So you did start the hostilities." I say but more as a statement than an accusation. "Why blaming Sara and not Nick? He too was having coffee."
"I don't know… Habit I guess" Catherine shrugs. Sara snorts at this shaking her head.
"Ok." I turn my attention to Sara "Why did you let the situation escalating to an argument? Why did you let this fight happened?"
"She started it." Sara states.
"We've just established that. That's not my question here." I reply calmly.
"I don't understand your question then," she dismisses me.
I start to see a dynamic here. Catherine opens up quickly and doesn't back down, even if it's only out of pride. Sara on the other hand has put her defensive mechanism up and something tells me, her and I will fight a lot. But I would lie if I'd say it wasn't expected. "My question is: why did you let the situation get out of control? You knew Catherine was wrong you could have told her so. Instead you jump right in and provoked her."
"She started it ok!" Sara repeats.
"Sure she did, but you were the one with the upper hand here. You knew all the facts. You said it yourself, Nick tried to clear the situation but you shut him up and fuel Catherine's temper. You let what could have been a simple misunderstanding escalating to an argument. Why?" I elaborate.
"She was out of line. It was uncalled for."
Catherine snorts "And you dare tell me about maturity." She sneers.
"Get back to the doghouse Cerberus." Sara replies through her teeth.
I step in before Catherine can reply "Sara, answer my question."
"I don't know." Sara shrugs frustrated.
"Well think harder." I decide to change my approach and push her buttons a little.
"Habit." She finally says.
"How original." Catherine mutters.
"I think you wanted that fight, you were aware of having the upper hand but you let Catherine think otherwise, pushing willingly her buttons doing so." I state.
I watch Sara looking at me with her cold anger. She's wondering whether to stand her position or giving me what I want. I stare at her silently. She sighs and straightens up. Seems like I've win this set "To give her a lesson," she states after a long moment.
"Let me laugh…" Catherine starts but I don't let her go any further.
"Catherine, please." I call her into order. "What lesson Sara?"
"I'm not her punching bag. I don't know who pees in her cherrios every morning but it's not me so I don't have to put up with her uncalled for bitchiness." Sara says coldly "Besides since it's what she wants from me I might as well give her a run for her money."
"What do you mean, she wants that from you?" I push a little more.
Sara looks skyward and smirks "Whenever she barks, everyone backs down too intimidated by her way to make you feel like a worm. Me? I bark back. And to be honest I think she likes it. She always seems to be looking for a reason to push my buttons. And it seems like I'm right, because she's always coming back wanting more."
"Catherine, do you want to say something?" I ask the blond.
"What do you want me to say? I'm a bitch and I'm bullying Snow White here. Poor girl and bad me." Catherine says dryly.
"Go to hell Catherine." Sara sighs.
"Listen to you Sara 'I wanted to give her a lesson… I'm not her punching bag…. She's being mean to me…boo hoo hoo' " Catherine pretends to cry then snorts "You sound like a victim."
"I'm not a victim! You're a bitch that's for sure but I am no victim!" Sara snaps aggressively.
"Well you could have fooled me there." Catherine spits back.
"Ladies!" I step in one more time before they start to yell. They stop immediately but keep on looking at each other. I swear I can see fume getting out of their ears. They look like bulls ready to charge, waiting for the signal to charge. "Let's grow up and be civil again shall we?" I say with a firm voice. It takes them a good minute to turn back their attention to me again. "Good, now I want the both of you to take deep breath and calm down."
They comply eventually. "Congratulations." I say cheerfully, they just look at me jaded "We made it through our first session." I let my words sink and expect some kind of reaction but none comes. "You are now free to leave." I add.
"Yippee! 1 session down, 99 to go, cheer up everyone." Sara says tiredly. And even though they were ready to get on each other's throat seconds ago Catherine smirks at Sara's words.
"I'll see you in two days." I dismiss them.
They get up and leave without so much as a glance or a goodbye, not that I was expecting any of those.
Well it wasn't that bad. Somehow though, I think today was a baby game. I massage my temples gently; this is going to be very long.
Thanks for reading.