Sam stepped outside the loft and dialed Rachel's phone number.
"Sam, is Michael OK?" Rachel asked, with a worried tone in her voice.
"He's OK but I need advice. Before you yell at me, just hear me from start to end."
Sam could hear Rachel's sigh "I have a feeling that no matter what you say I won't like it!"
"You know my past and that I went through the same thing Mikey is going through. You know I went through exposure therapy myself and it worked. I didn't need drugs and I don't think he does either. He needs to just get whatever is bothering him out in the open and then he can move on. So my question is if we skipped the drugs and just did the therapy, how do you think it would be? "
Rachel's voice grew louder. "Sam, are serious? Michael is on the edge. If you make one wrong move with him, you could make him worse. He would need to be hospitalized at that point."
Sam was quiet. "Listen, I know the pills aren't for him. He's never liked pills. I can't even convince him to take cold medicine. I do know the one thing he is most afraid of is losing Fiona. If I can get him past his fear of losing Fiona then we can work on what caused him to crash and burn like this. There is something else behind this and I don't know what it is yet."
"Sam, you made your mind up long before you called me, so I'm not even going to argue further. If you do this, I will make myself available to you and Fiona whenever you need. Fiona is going to need the most support because she is the one he is clinging too. She needs to be strong because his first instinct will be to panic if she is away. He's going to fight, cry and scream but she can't run back to comfort him when you separate them. You know while he is adjusting to her being gone..."
Sam completed her sentence "I have to get him to focus on his breathing and get him to talk. Fiona will have to help him at night if he has nightmares. I've been there, I know."
Rachel softened her tone. "Sam, if you have any problems or concerns I want you to call me day or night. Tell Fiona the same thing. I am here for all of you."
Sam ended the call and went back inside the loft. Fiona was sitting on the stairs inside. "I finally convinced him to shower. He's in a better mood since he ate and you boys talked. What's our next step?"
"We'll start separating you guys as soon as he's settled after his shower. I think a few minutes of you being gone at first and then if he does ok, we can extend the timing. We'll do it a couple times today, just a little longer each time he does ok. The main thing is that no matter how loud he calls for you, crying you might hear or just anything that would make you run back in to him, don't do it. He'll freak out but I'll get him to calm down and refocus. Hopefully, he'll talk while we are doing all of this."
Michael came out of the bathroom wearing jeans and a T-shirt Fiona had laid out for him. Sam smiled at Michael who was clean shaven and said in a happy tone "You look presentable now! How you feeling Brother?"
Michael walked over to his work bench and started to sort through a box. "Better." He stopped sorting the contents of the box and sat staring at the wall in front of him. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's going on with me, but I handled it badly. So what do we do now?"
Sam started off slowly. "I think that I have our first step. Since you came back from your last mission, you have been clinging to Fi or saying that you have to stay with her to keep her safe. You have fear that she's either going to leave you or not be safe if she leaves you. So Fi will go outside for a few minutes and if you feel yourself getting anxious you let me know and we'll get through it."
"I'm going, but I'll be back and I'll be safe I will always come back." Fiona said, trying to keep her tone light. "Last time I left you boys alone for any extended amount of time, my plants were half dead and my snow globes were dusty."
Michael smiled and Sam laughed. Sam gently slapped Michael on the back and pointed to the door. "Let's start this now. Fi, you step outside and don't come back in until I call for you."
Fiona nodded. She smiled at Michael, grabbed a magazine and headed for the door. She was going to say something but Sam waved her out of the loft. Sam, seeing her sitting on the bottom step with her magazine, shut the loft door.
"Why did you shut the door?" Michael asked, his eyes widening.
Sam noticed as soon as the door shut, Michael's breathing changed. "Mike, I want you to tell me what's bothering you."
Michael got up and headed to the door, but Sam blocked him. "Let me open the door Sam. Fiona is out there. If I can't see her, I need to hear her."
Sam shook his head and put his hand on Michael's chest, gently pushing him backwards into the loft. "Mikey, why do you need to see or hear Fiona? She's just outside."
Tears came to Michael's eyes, which he quickly wiped away. He was talking fast. "I can't keep her safe, she's too far away. You know she is too. Someone could grab her or she could leave and never come back." Michael said, locking his hands behind his head and pacing around the loft.
Sam noticed Michael's breathing was getting faster. He helped Michael slow his breathing and then tried to reason with him. "You know Fi is safe. She's proved to us over and over that she is more than capable of taking care of herself. She'll be OK. What makes you think she wouldn't be OK?"
Michael looked around the loft. "I don't know. There's something in my head thats nagging me, telling me that Fiona isn't safe and I'm to blame but yet I'm the only one who can save her. I'm going crazy aren't I?"
Sam shook his head. "I think someone said something to you or something happened and you have all these thoughts locked up in your head. You are trying to protect yourself from something and your brain won't let you unlock what it is. The more we do this, the more you will open up to what happened."
After an hour, Sam texted Fiona to come back inside. As she entered the loft, she walked st
right into MIchael's arms and said "See, I told you I would come back safe and sound!" Michael closed his eyes as he held her tight, planting kisses above her ear. They did the same exercise several times that day. Sam made sure that Michael reached a high level of anxiety and helped him back down to a calm state. No new information was discovered when Sam tried to get him to talk.
Fiona made dinner for Sam and Michael. Sam and Fiona took up most of the evening with playful verbal sparring, doing their best to amuse Michael. At one point he even joined in picking on Sam, causing both Sam and Fiona's hearts to leap with joy. A small piece of their Michael was coming back to them.
The next few days they repeated the same exercise. On the third day, Fiona left for a few hours. When she got back, she found that Michael was a little anxious but in good spirits otherwise. Sam stayed for dinner, which he cooked this time while Michael and Fiona were outside doing some work on the Charger.
After dinner Sam left, and Michael and Fiona went to bed. Fiona fell asleep first, with Michael's arms wrapped around her. She woke up around four in the morning. "Michael?" She called out several times. No answer. She scrambled for her cell phone and called Sam. While waiting for him to answer, she opened the loft door and found the Charger was gone as well.
"Sam, Michael's gone. We went to bed and I just woke up and realized he wasn't in bed. We have to find him. Even though he's better, I don't want him alone yet!' Fiona screamed into the phone as she got dressed.
Sam sighed and got out of bed. "Fi, I understand. I'll take the beaches and streets by me and you take the beaches and streets by you. We meet up outside Carlito's in an hour and then look together. We'll find him Fi. He'll be fine." Sam prayed he was right as he grabbed his keys and left the hotel.