Hello, my friends! I am back with another oneshot! This one wasn't actually planned and wasn't even in the originals, so fresh story with new idea! Yay! This one was basically based off a review I read, so you can thank Dobby and Padfoot for this one:

Dobby and Padfoot: I'm exited to see Alex's reaction to seeing a physiologist. For some reason I feel like Alex and Andrew might have a group session. It would definitely be interesting if they did.

I wanted to see how this would go too, especially since I didn't actually write it into the story, so it's more of a filler oneshot than anything. I kind of enjoyed writing it, and I hope you guys enjoy reading it as well! This is obviously set in the last (full) chapter of Rider's Return: REWRITTEN, so if you haven't read it yet, it may be useful to read that first (or at least up to halfway through the chapter) before you read this.

Anyway, thank you to Dobby and Padfoot and DS2010 for your reviews on the last oneshot, and I hope you guys enjoy this one!

Subject: Parkson, Andrew; Rider, Alexander

Date: August 2012

Location: Virginia, U.S.

"You... want to join a group therapy class?"

Penny Bloomfield dealt with a lot. Crying children, screaming parents, angry siblings... all of that, she dealt with on a daily basis. And it had got to the point where she could handle it. She could calm down the crying children with a few soft words, reason with the screaming parents, even placate the angry siblings. Penny Bloomfield was good at her job, and she most definitely knew it.

The only time she was not so great at her job was when something came up out of the blue.

It had been happening more often since she'd started working with the Parkson children. The poor sweethearts were orphans, currently being fostered by a federal agent... meaning that they also had the tendency to be dramatic and sudden, not thinking things through before doing them and regretting them afterwards.

Jessica tended to be a lot better at controlling herself. Yes, she would randomly blurt out things, and more often than not she would come out with scathing comments that would be considered utterly unacceptable if they hadn't been said in such an innocent tone. Penny was beginning to feel that the girl did that on purpose.

Andrew, on the other hand, was volatile. His behaviour was somewhat unpredictable, and tended to depend on his mood. He was terrible at listening to instructions in general, and was almost always on edge, ready to jump as soon as she gave word that he could leave. She could tell that even though he was trying, and even though he wanted to get better, he hated being there. He hated the room, he hated what they did... she really hoped he didn't hate her, though considering their current predicament she highly doubted it.

At that precise moment in time, Penelope Bloomfield was sat at her desk in her office, no appointments planned for the next half hour at least. She'd wanted to rest and give her brain a break.

Those federal agents always burst into places, and they'd set a bad example to Andrew.

As soon as he'd burst in, he strode up to her desk and leaned on it, as if he were about to demand something of her. Which he did, to be fair.

At her question, Andrew rolled his eyes. "No, I want to move into an Amish community."

"What have we discussed about your sarcasm?"

"I'm too inappropriate with it. Sorry."

Penny sighed, her lips pursed as she thought. Andrew had good intentions – the boy was genuinely sweet at heart – but he really didn't know how to go about things.

"You do realise that a group therapy session isn't just something you can just walk in and join?" the therapist pointed out.

Andrew raised an eyebrow. "You can for some of them. I looked it up."

"Which ones? The war veterans with PTSD?" When he stayed silent, she frowned. "Andrew, you and your friend are not war veterans with PTSD. You are abuse sufferers with PTSD. And walk in sessions are considerably more difficult to find for that group – especially for children, who are far more likely to have one-to-one sessions."

The teen visibly deflated. "Oh..."

Penny's heart sank. She knew Andrew was trying. From what she'd heard from Agent Gibbs, as well as the clear rejection she'd received from the boy (Alex, she thought his name was) when they'd first met, it was obvious that Andrew was trying to get him to at least agree to try therapy before he left the state. And, to be fair, she had to admit that it was a very good idea to get him to at least try therapy before going home and committing – having a taste of things like this often shook off misconceptions.

Sighing, she reached for her notebook, opening it and beginning to scribble down some thoughts. "You really want to have a group therapy session?" she asked, glancing up at Andrew.

The boy was watching her intently. "Or just some way for Alex to see therapy and try it out, yeah."

She hummed and nodded, continuing to scribble down her idea. When she was done, she set her pen down and reached for her desk phone. "How many do you want in the session?"

Andrew shrugged. "Not many. Alex doesn't like people."

Penny's eyes shifted from the phone to Andrew.

The teen put his hands up in surrender. "That wasn't a jab at him this time. That was God's honest truth. I swear."

The woman sighed, before putting down the phone. "I'm assuming he wouldn't be comfortable in a room filled with people he doesn't know, then?"

Andrew pursed his lips at that, seemingly thinking about it. "Huh… I guess he wouldn't…" When Penny sighed and looked as if she was about to shoot any possible ideas he had down, he quickly spoke up. "But I know some people who would do a mock group therapy session, though! That would be a good idea, right? Instead of strangers?"

It was worth noting that Penny never usually approved of Andrew's ideas – they were usually spontaneous, wacky, and would generally get her into trouble with social services. Part of her truly believed he was setting her up to get fired. But this one…? She put her palm to her chin in thought, considering the idea.

It would most definitely help Alex, without compromising the personal data of other children she worked alongside, and if the people Andrew was inviting were people Alex may know or have met in passing before…

"That could work."

Enabling Andrew Parkson was never usually a good idea, but she supposed she could let it happen just this once.

Alex looked up when he heard the door open.

Honestly, by now, he was used to people just walking in. Granted, it was common courtesy to knock before entering a room, but for some reason the NCIS agents didn't seem to follow that (unless the person was McGee, who followed those unspoken roles of politeness to a tee).

It also seemed as if Andrew had followed their example.

Alex simply sighed, closing his book and putting it to the side. "What is it now?"

Andrew stopped short, the door slowly shutting behind him. "Wow, nice to see you too."

"You didn't even knock."

"There's no sign on the door telling me to."

"It's common courtesy."

Andrew rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, I'll do it next time."

"You won't even do it next time."

"Why are you even—you know what, I didn't come in here to argue about technicalities." Andrew ignored Alex's incredulous exclamation of "technicalities?!" and headed straight for the bed, sitting on the edge of it without giving the other boy a warning. "You up for a talk today?"

Alex opened his mouth to respond, before hesitating and frowning. Andrew never asked before they started to chat, which meant he wanted something…

"You're not going to talk me into seeing a psychologist again, are you…?" Alex asked hesitantly, even though he already knew the answer. Andrew was adamant that he needed to see and speak to someone about his issues, and whilst Gibbs didn't outwardly say it, he appeared to also agree with Andrew. And if Gibbs saw sense in something, it was bound to be sensible.

Andrew picked up Alex's crutches, holding them towards the other boy. "Not exactly…" At the quizzical look on Alex's face, Andrew just sighed. "Just come on. You'll see when we get there, alright?"

"You want me… to walk somewhere…?" Alex asked slowly, before looking down at his foot pointedly. His casted foot.

"Don't be an ass, Alex. You have crutches." Andrew pushed himself off the bed, leaning the crutches against it where Alex could reach. "We're not going far, anyway. You're not going to collapse on the way."

"Clearly you haven't seen me try to use crutches, then." Alex began to shuffle towards the edge of the bed, carefully swinging his legs over and grabbing the crutches. Making sure he was holding onto them comfortably, he slowly pushed himself off the edge of the bed and onto the ground, wincing a little as he began to support himself.

Andrew watched him carefully. "You good?"

It took a few moments, but eventually Alex stood more upright, and nodded. "I'm good."

Andrew grinned. "Great. Let's go."

"Where are we even going?" Alex slowly moved beside Andrew, trying not to stumble with his crutches.

Andrew came to a stop beside a door. "Just here," he announced with a slight smile.

Alex read the sign on the door. Conference room. "Why are we entering a hospital conference room?" he asked slowly.

"Doctor Martins said we could use it. She thought it was a good idea." Andrew smiled at Alex. "She was actually pretty chill about it. She's a real nice doctor."

Alex's eyebrows rose as Andrew opened the door to the room, stepping inside and holding the door open for Alex. He had a good idea of what Doctor Martins had agreed to, but his idea wasn't confirmed until he entered the room and saw a woman he'd only met once sitting at the table. A woman he'd only met once, but he knew exactly what she did. Alex's face went stony almost immediately.

"You're giving me a therapy session?" he asked quietly, almost glaring at Andrew. The other teen simply shut the door.

"No."

Alex turned quickly to see a blonde girl sat at the table, just beside the therapist (Penny Bloomfield, he believed her name was). She gave a small smile at the shock that appeared on Alex's face. "Nice to see you again, Alex."

Alex's brows furrowed. "Andrew, why's your girlfriend here?" he asked.

"Because you're here to watch our therapy session," Andrew responded as he moved to sit down, opposite Penny and Alice. "We thought you'd want a taste of what an actual therapy session is like, so we're having a group therapy session."

"A mini one," Alice clarified, "just so that you have an idea of what's going on, and so you realise it's not actually that bad."

Alex scoffed. "I don't think it's that bad," he argued.

"Don't lie, Alex." Alex looked up to see that the door had opened again, and Sabina was now walking into the room, a smirk on her face when she realised Alex had shock on his. "What?"

"You're seeing a therapist?"

"It appears so."

"Why?"

"Because my idiot adoptive brother won't." The female immediately moved to sit on the far side of Andrew, leaving Alex to sit on the side closest to the door. The fair-haired male looked a little apprehensive at the group of people in the room, and jumped a little when Andrew leaned over and nudged him.

"Loosen up," Andrew whispered. "She's not gonna kill you."

"Are you sure?" Alex whispered in return.

Before Andrew could whisper back a snarky response, Ms Bloomfield spoke.

"So, why don't we start on our session?" she suggested, her eyes focused on Andrew. "How about we start with you, Andrew? How have you been?"

Andrew looked a little surprised to be put on the spot like that, but shrugged a little. "I've been okay, I guess."

Penny nodded, giving him an encouraging smile. "Would you like to expand on that?"

He paused, giving a deep breath, before continuing to speak. "I've been okay food-wise. It's kind of hard having to restrict myself in terms of what I eat, particularly because I've only recently got back to eating what I want, but I'm trying really hard."

Penny nodded as she noted this down on her notebook. "That'd good. At least you're working on it."

Andrew nodded with a smile.

"And how are you sleeping? You mentioned this was a problem last time and wanted it to be something we worked on." When she noted he'd frozen, she put her pen down. "Would you rather talk about this next time?"

Andrew shook his head quickly, though Alex noted he'd gone a little pale. "No! I don't mind… uh…" He took a deep breath. "I… haven't been sleeping that great. I… I'm struggling to sleep for longer than about three hours at a time…"

Penny nodded, waiting to see if Andrew would say anything further. When he didn't, she prompted, "Is there any particular reason for this, or is it more random?"

Andrew bit his lip, staring down at the table. "…The nightmares started again."

Alex's head suddenly snapped towards Andrew at that, having been focused on Penny and everything she was saying. He hadn't known that Andrew had nightmares in the first place – he'd known about the boy's past experiences, but to find that it gave him nightmares too…

Penny nodded. "Same as last time?"

"A… a mix…" He sighed. "A mix of old and new…" He bit his lip nervously. "Can we, uh… talk about this later."

Penny nodded with a smile. "Of course. Just tell me when you're ready. It can be a phone call if you want."

"Wait," Alex spoke up, his brows furrowed. "So… he has nightmares… but you're not going to find out what they are?"

"My primary job is to listen," Penny explained, turning to focus on Alex. "My secondary job is to help and advise. In no part of my job am I supposed to force or squeeze the truth out of you, even when I want to. I'm here to listen to you and let you open up when you're ready to. Forcing you to open up is counter-intuitive and you won't necessarily reveal what you really want to. That first step of trust is needed before anything else."

Alex blinked, taking it all in, before nodding. "Okay. Okay, that makes sense. I guess."

Penny raised a single eyebrow. "Did you think I would squeeze it out of him?" At the guilty look on Alex's face, she sighed. "I mean, apart from the fact that Andrew is a child, he is also very vulnerable and has a will of his own. Forcing him would not work – it would only make him more reluctant to open up to not just me, but the people around him."

"And as Andrew's girlfriend and someone who also sees a therapist," Alice added, turning Alex's attention to her, "I can safely say that Andrew speaking to his therapist does actually make him more open to talking with me. Not completely open, but definitely more open."

Sabina watched Alex carefully, noting the clear discomfort on his face. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Alex still wasn't completely comfortable with the idea of sharing his secrets with someone he didn't know – particularly because of what his past entailed. And that made sense to Sabina.

But it also made sense to start opening up to someone about it.

"You can't keep everything bottled up forever, Alex," she said softly, her lips quirking up into an awkward half-smile when he jumped and focused on her. "The longer you keep it bottled up, the harder it is to let out, and the more damage you're doing to yourself." She leaned forward to look him in the eye. "Don't keep it all to yourself. Let us help you. Let us find someone who can."

Alex stared at her for a few moments, before down at his hands on the table. "I think I want to go back to my room," he mumbled quietly, before pushing himself up and beginning to hobble towards the door, ignoring the concerned looks he received from those sat at the table.

Andrew knocked on the door gently, knowing that it wasn't exactly to barge in like he usually did. He didn't know what state Alex was in exactly, but he didn't know that it wasn't okay for him to be alone right then. Even if he'd cut himself off.

A quiet "come in" prompted Andrew to push the door open and enter the room, noting how Alex didn't say anything as the door was closed gently and the darker-haired teen moved to sit beside Alex's bed. The two were quiet for a few moments, sitting in silence, before Alex decided to speak up.

"You have nightmares?"

Andrew glanced up at him momentarily, before back down at his hands. "Well… yeah, I guess I do." He hesitated for a moment. "Honestly, though, what we went through was pretty—"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

A quizzical look appeared on Andrew's face as he looked back up at Alex, though it didn't take him long to answer. "Friends aren't therapists, Alex. There are real professionals out there who can help with things like that."

Alex pursed his lips, before picking up his book from his beside table and opening it. "If you're going to lecture me about seeing a therapist—"

"I'm not," Andrew cut in quickly, before taking a deep breath. "I'm not going to lecture you, or try to convince you to see one. If you don't want to see one, that's your choice. Even though we really think you need to see one."

Alex's eyes were glued to his book as Andrew spoke, and he calmly turned the page. "Spilling your guts out and making yourself vulnerable doesn't seem like something I want to do."

"No, but being able to sleep without having nightmares is." When Alex's hands tightened on the book in his hands, Andrew sighed. "What, you think I wouldn't notice? You look tired, you're kinda crabby, and you seem to want to know a lot about my nightmares."

"It's genuine curiosity."

"Somehow, I don't believe that." Andrew sighed, pulling out his phone and checking the time. "Look… I promised Jessica I'd take her out for some sort of lunch thing, so I'm gonna make this quick. I know you really don't want to see one, and I understand that, but please… just think on it, okay? If not for yourself, then at least for me and Sabina. Because we care about you." He pushed himself to his feet and began to head towards the door. "I'll see you later."

Alex just focused intently on his book as Andrew left the room, not even bothering to look up at him or wish him farewell. As soon as the door shut, though, he looked up, his lower lip worrying between his teeth.

He understood why Andrew was doing this. Other than the fact that the other boy seemed to be genuinely concerned for his mental well-being, Andrew seemed to genuinely understand where Alex was coming from. Yeah, he knew a bit about Alex's past, but he understood why Alex did and said the things he did. He understood what Alex was going through, what sorts of things were on Alex's mind. He was going through the same things.

The only thing was, despite his initial reluctance, Andrew was willing to take the help.

Was Alex?

Penny sighed as she headed out of the conference room, her notebook clutched to her chest and her pen hooked behind her ear. Whilst the session she and Andrew had planned hadn't been as successful as she'd hoped in terms of Alex… well, it had certainly helped in terms of Andrew and Alice themselves, both of whom had more things to work on since this recent case, apparently. (It appeared as if having your boyfriend kidnapped brought back vivid memories and fear for his life, especially when there's nothing you can do about it.)

She came to a stop when she heard the rhythmic clack of something hitting the ground, and her eyes widened when she realised it was actually the sound of Alex on his crutches approaching her – something she most definitely hadn't expected.

"Alex?"

The boy stopped, his face tinting pink with what was most probably embarrassment. "Uh… hi."

Penny blinked a good few times, not exactly sure why the boy was there. "Is… is something the matter?" she asked him slowly.

He quickly shook his head, though his next words completely contradicted what he was doing. "Uh yeah, um…" He bit his lip, his hands squeezing his crutches nervously, before he put on a confident expression. "I… I want to try."

Penny's confused blinking didn't stop. "You… what?" she asked slowly, not sure she heard him right (or really understood what he meant, for that matter).

"I want to try. Like, have a go." His face flushed pink, and the confident expression quickly gave way to a slightly panicked one as he backtracked to try and explain himself. "But it's only a try! And if I don't like it, it's not happening again."

Penny watched him carefully for a few moments, trying to gauge exactly what had caused a change in behaviour, before a soft smile broke out onto her features. "That's fine with me, Alex." She gestured to the conference room door. "Shall we have a chat in here, then?"

Alex seemed to hesitate, as if he was thinking his decision through again, before nodding and beginning to hobble towards the door for the room. Penny pushed the door open and held it for Alex, allowing him to pass through before entering the room herself, shutting the door behind her with a small smile on her face. It was a good thing she hadn't told anyone she was done with the room.

Neither of the two noticed an individual hidden further down the corridor, their blue eyes peeking out and watching the whole exchange occur. It wasn't something anyone would expect, but somehow Sabina had known that Andrew would manage to change Alex's mind. She didn't know how, but he seemed to have a way with words around Alex that no one else did.

Eyes focused on the pair, Sabina smiled as she watched Alex hobble into the room from around the corner. Maybe there was hope for him after all.

Hope you liked!