Charlotte smiled as she walked into FBI Headquarters and placed the plain brown bag on the familiar desk. Every Wednesday she took the morning for herself, went to her therapist, and stopped by the FBI to deliver her invoice, once a month meeting with the directors to give a status report on her program. On those days, she would stop by Don's desk and leave him breakfast and coffee before heading to the upper floors. They didn't flaunt their relationship, couldn't flaunt their relationship, because of the nature of her career, but she could still let him know that she still cared about him.
"Just for you, just because ILY, C2." Don smiled as he read her note. It always said the same thing, and the breakfast was always from his favorite greasy spoon, but it always made him smile. It was the little things that she did that he never expected that made him the happiest. Just the simple act of her dropping off his favorite meal on her way to her meeting caused him to smile through most of the day, though he would never tell anyone why.
"Who's C-Two?" A female voice came from behind him.
"What?" He tried to cover the fact that she had caught him off guard.
"Your note. Who's C-Two?" Agent Meghan Reeves smiled as she leaned against the opposite desk. "Is she your new girlfriend? I've noticed the breakfasts, the leaving on time every Friday, there has to be someone outside of here to bring on that behavior."
"She's not new, but I really can't talk about it."
"You need someone to get your mind off of what we do, Don. I'm glad you found someone."
"Yeah, well," he looked at his watch, "I'd really just like to find this murderer."
"OK." She laughed. "Colby and David are running down the mother."
"Her name's Charlie." He spoke softly. "That's why it's C-Two."
"Wait, Charlie Stegmann?"
"Yeah, you know her?"
"I've met her. She's my therapist."
"Damn, look, she doesn't talk to me about anything work related. This is why we've kept everything quiet."
"Don't worry. I have faith that she's not talking about our sessions. It's why her program works." Meghan smiled. "She's a good woman and she'll be good for you."
The muscular brown-haired FBI agent rang the doorbell of the Craftsman style house Wednesday afternoon with trepidation. He'd heard good things about the shrink he was about to see from Meghan, but he still wasn't sure he actually wanted to see one. It certainly didn't look like a shrink's office, so maybe she wasn't the typical shrink. "Hi, I'm Special Agent Colby Granger." He introduced himself to the stunning woman who answered the door.
"That's a very long name. How did they fit that onto your driver's license?" Charlotte smiled as she shook his hand and walked him up to the solarium.
"It's just Colby."
He had a nice laugh, she thought to herself as she laughed with him. "I'm Charlotte, but you can call me Charlie, Colby." She sat down in her chair and gestured to the couch opposite her. "There are just three ground rules. The first, your cell phone must be turned off for the duration of the session. This is your time, not your boss'. The second is that you drop the 'Special Agent' stuff. While impressive, that achievement doesn't define your identity. And the third is that change isn't going to happen overnight. I request three sessions before you make up your mind whether I am a quack or not."
"I think I can live with those rules." He smiled. "So, how does this work?"
"It works the way you want it to." She smiled and leaned back, crossing her legs, and watched as his eyes followed her movements. He was going to be a challenge to keep his mind on his therapy.
Four months later, Colby sat on the same couch, only this time he held her hand. They'd become close, friendly, during their sessions and he silently envied the man who she went home to every night. The therapy had worked, eased his mind, helped him cope with what he saw everyday, but he was finding himself going to their sessions just to spend time with her. "I know our time is almost up, but I wanted to say something to you, Charlotte." He gently stroked the soft supple skin of her hands with his thumbs, enjoying how she smiled as he did. "I just wanted to say," he'd been rehearsing how he was going to tell her how he felt, but as he held her hands, saw the professional look in her deep blue eyes, he couldn't bring himself to say the words. So instead, he simply said, "thank you."
"There's no need to thank me, Colby. You did all the hard work." She smiled and stood up, walking to her desk before she could see the longing in his eyes again. There were transference issues they were going to have to address, but she wanted to see if it wasn't just because he had had an emotional session. There was no reason to jeopardize the trust and relationship they had built if it wasn't needed. "As you know, I am off next week, but we will pick up the Wednesday after next. OK?"
"Yeah, OK."
"Colby, I'll be back. It's just a vacation. You'll be fine. And if you need me, I'll have my cell phone."
"No, I know." He shook his head as he laughed. "Where are you going?"
"My boyfriend and I are going to my house in Colorado for the week. I don't think anyone told him that April in the Rockies can be just as cold as January, but it still should be nice."
Her laugh was beautiful, melodic, and he smiled. "He's a lucky man no matter which state you're in." Kissing her cheek, he left, but vowed not to give up that easily.
That night, Don smiled as he lay back in their bed. Charlotte had been preoccupied all night and he was finally able to play shrink with her the way she did with him when he got that way. "Talk to me, Beautiful. What's going on inside that pretty little head of yours?"
"Hmm? Oh, sorry, I have patient who concerns me. There are some underlying transference issues that came to the surface today in session."
"Transference issues, huh? A really fancy technical term meaning that you have made another man fall in love with you. That doesn't concern me in the least, Babe. It happens with every guy you spend more than five minutes with."
She shook her head with a smile. "While I wish I could believe that, there is a tad bit more to it."
"Let me ask you something. Does it mean that we can't go to Colorado on Friday?"
"Not at all, Baby. You are not getting out of our bet that easily."
"Good, then lay back and let's go to sleep." He took her into his arms, not even caring that the patient she was worrying about would have his back the next day.
