A/N: Before you guys go forth and read this chapter I want to give a serious special thanks to a few specific reviewers, ComicalEpiphanies, Kawaii Usagi Chan San, and LostSchizophrenic just to name a few. You guys really helped me try to figure out how the therapy sessions would work and how Annie would respond to them. This first session is purely a sort of introduction to her therapist and such… I'm planning on having at least three to four sessions…
Also, just so you guys know, I'm pretty close (beside those four sessions) to ending this fic, don't panic, I want to do a sequel, but I'm running out of Florence + The Machine song titles, so in order to remedy that, I'll be beginning a part 2 of this fic when I'm done, never fear. OH! And to those of you who have started reading my other CA fic (The Way We Get By) and got left hanging, I promise I will fix that soon! When this fic is done I'll work on that a bit and then begin the sequel to this. Sorry for all the confusion!
Disclaimer: I don't own it, but in my head I do!
She made it a point to be a few minutes early, the sticky note that told her the psychiatrist's room number was pressed in her palm, crumpling and loosing shape. She had read it nearly a hundred times today, it's not as if she couldn't remember a simple number like 221 B.
She headed into the office area and looked over the secretary who was busy filing down her already short nails, "Can I help you?" she asked.
"Annie Walker," she responded, pushing the blue post-it in her pocket and smoothing out her jacket.
"Um…" she scanned her dusty finger down a list and nodded, "Okay, great, the last session actually ended early, so he can take you now,"
Annie gave her a brief smile, "Great,"
The secretary got up from her seat and rapped her knuckles lightly on the inner door, a call from inside could be heard and she opened up the door, "Annie Walker is here for your four o'clock,"
"Great, come in, Annie," Annie was struck immediately at the woman whose signature was standing between her and field work. Her jaw hardened, "It's nice to meet you, I'm Dr. Patel,"
"Yeah," Annie nodded, "Nice to meet you."
"You can take a seat if you like," The shrink was young, early thirties and with clear lines of Indian descent running in her family. Annie sat in one of the stiffer chairs and crossed her legs, immediately feeling awkward at the situation.
"So," Annie tried a smile, "I guess… I talk, you listen, and then I can get back to work?"
"If that's how you'd like it to work," Dr. Patel shrugged and sat in her more comfortable looking chair across from Annie; she crossed her legs, placed the legal pad on her lap and looked up at her. Annie noted her long chocolate hair and almond eyes, she was a woman unafraid of sexuality and it struck Annie completely contradictory. She wondered in passing if Auggie had slept with her.
"Actually," Annie snapped back to reality, "I'd like you to sign that paper that says I'm mentally competent, and then I'd like to get back to my job."
"Mhm," Dr. Patel glanced down at her legal pad and up back at Annie as if she could make metal notations on the yellow paper in invisible ink, "In order for me to do that all we have to do is a have a conversation,"
"Fine," Annie made a mental note to stop sounding so defensive.
"So, Annie," her voice became slightly conversational, "tell me about yourself,"
Annie sighed, "What would you like to know?" It would go faster that way.
"Okay," Dr. Patel shrugged, "Tell me about your family, you're not married, right?"
"I'm not,"
"Siblings?"
"A sister," Annie laughed a little when she thought of Danielle, "Danielle, and she's married to Michael, and I have two nieces."
"Sounds nice,"
"Yeah, it is," it was a simple answer and she was sticking to it.
"Why did you want to be a member of the C.I.A.?" Dr. Patel asked.
"My dad was in the army, I was used to the kind of lifestyle," Annie began, "and I have a talent for language, I don't know, why does anyone do what they do? Why did you want to be a psychologist?"
"To help people,"
"Mhm," Annie wasn't buying it, the more Dr. Patel spoke the more she wanted to skip out of these sessions all together. She was fine, all she needed was a signature.
"Okay," the shrink relaxed into her chair and put the legal pad down on the table, leaving it blank with the exception of Annie's name as the header, "How about books, movies, hobbies?"
Annie smiled immediately, remembering the other night as she slept comfortably with Auggie, Oscar Wilde tucked in between their arms, "I don't really get a lot of down time, so taking 2 hours to go see a movie is usually hard to do," Annie relaxed her hands, "but I was just reading Oscar Wilde with… someone,"
"Oh? Who?" she gently pried.
"My… well I don't know what he is exactly," Annie cleared her throat.
"Tell me about him,"
"He's um… he's absolutely incorrigible and he knows it, which is the funny thing. Even when we were just beginning to be friends he's always taken care of me, especially at the agency, and I know he sticks up for me with Joan, which he doesn't have to do…" Annie looked out the window over Dr. Patel's shoulder and kept talking, "And it doesn't even matter that he's blind because it doesn't hold him back at all – it's more like another part of him instead of a disability," she laughed to herself, "he's a saint Bernard."
"August Anderson, Hmmmm?" Annie looked at Dr. Patel and remembered herself.
"He said that he saw you after his accident," Annie was glad to have the attention of herself for a moment.
"He did," Dr. Patel nodded.
Annie wasn't sure where to go, the room got silent and she began looking for an out, "Well,"
"You don't really like to talk about yourself do you?" the woman laughed and Annie swallowed.
"I just want to get back to doing my job," Annie said.
"And to let you do that I have to do mine,"
Annie nodded, "I'm fine, though, I can assure you."
"Your job has a lot of stress, wouldn't you say?"
"I guess,"
"Do you ever feel like you can't handle that?" Dr. Patel asked.
"No," Annie answered too quickly, "well, yes, sometimes, but it's manageable."
"Like most jobs," Dr. Patel nodded.
"Right,"
"Have you ever wished you weren't in the agency?" Dr. Patel looked her in the eyes.
"No."
"Never?"
"Look, ma'am, I have been shot at, beaten up, and worse, and I have thrown my fair share of punches back, I can take care of myself and I've taken enough time off from the job I love." Annie shook her head in disbelief.
"I think that's enough for today then," Dr. Patel stood up, "this was a good session. I'll see you next week same time, then?"
"You're not going to sign the paper?" Annie asked standing up.
"Not yet," she smiled.
Annie sighed and locked her jaw, "See you next week then."
"Absolutely,"
Annie left immediately, avoiding saying anything more, she was caught between repetitively rolling her eyes and screaming. She headed downstairs, checking her watch she realized it was 4:55, hopefully Auggie would still be here.
As she rounded the corner of the now emptying out office she caught a glimpse of him packing up his things, she loved how he packaged such geeky perfection into that gorgeous body. She slid open the door to his office and glanced behind her, no one seemed to be watching, pulling him from his standing position beside the desk she pushed him against the far side of the filing cabinet, hiding them from the view of the office.
"Hey," Auggie laughed, "What gives?"
"Shut up," she pressed her mouth against his hungrily and slid her hands up his body and around his neck.
He pushed her back, "Hold on, what's going on?"
"Nothing," she smiled.
"Uh-huh," Auggie looped a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead, "you sure do seem fine,"
"That's beside the point," she ran a hand through her hair, "will you come over tonight?"
"How about you coming over to my place," Auggie suggested grabbing his bag.
"Alright," Annie smiled, "let's go,"
"How was your session?" He asked on the way out.
"It was…" she sighed, "as expected."
A/N: Okay, done! I couldn't help myself and put in some slight Augnie fluff. Yay! Okay, so hopefully her next session will be a little more fruitful.
Again, thank you to my amazing reviewers, you guys are the best in the world. And to those of you who offered the little pieces of advice that helped shape this chapter I would very much appreciate some feedback from you guys especially. If there's a direction I need to be heading in, or a particular thing I did REALLY wrong, let me know, I'd love to hear so I can make it better. Don't forget to hit up the review button! (apparently I'm the kind of person who says 'hit up' now… see what you guys have done to me?) :)
Oh, and p.s. COVERT AFFAIRS TWO HOUR SEASON FINALE TOMORROW NIGHT ON USA (characters welcome) AT 9PM EASTERN TIME! WOOOOOOHOOOOOO! I'm definitely looking for some serious Auggie screen time, anybody else?
