Quick A/N: I haven't said it recently, so thank you SO much for reviewing guys; they are my motivation to keep updating! You guys are amazing!
Disclaimer: I do not own Drake and Josh, all rights go to the creators of the show.
"What's that you're working on?" Drake jumped as Nurse Williams voice made him drop his pencil and look up at her. Apparently, every day after group therapy, they had some form of an activity. Today, was occupational therapy, or as Drake called it, arts and crafts. Bored and annoyed, Drake had grabbed a pencil and paper and had attempted to continue to try and write a new song for his band.
"Uh, nothing." Drake muttered in response to Nurse William's question.
"It doesn't look like nothing. Do you like to write?" The nurse asked, appearing interested.
"No." Drake answered quickly before turning his back on her and wadding up the piece of paper before tossing it into the trashcan across the room.
"Well, there are plenty of other things to do here. You can get some construction paper and some crayons and draw if you want, or if you want a little challenge there's a book on origami on the shelf. Sometimes keeping your hands busy and focusing on a small task can be extremely helpful when you are upset or just need to clear your head."
"I'm fine." He said dryly grabbing another piece of lined paper, purposefully choosing a different seat across the room away from Nurse Williams.
"You better be careful. Trust me, you don't want to get on the nurses' bad side. They see everything you do, which always ends up getting back to your doctor. Then, you end up stuck here longer." Shocked, Drake stared at the boy sitting next to him who had spoke. The kid looked like he couldn't be older than 11, but as they were on the adolescent floor, he knew that he had to be at least 13 at the youngest.
"Right." Drake said and offered the boy a small grin in return.
"My name's Andrew." The kid offered matter-of-factly.
"Drake." Drake said again, even though it was kind of pointless to introduce himself seeing as Dr. Evans had publically announced his entrance to the whole floor.
"So, what'd you get busted for?" Andrew asked.
"Uh, well…it's um…complicated." Drake stammered, not wanting to say more to a complete stranger. He had done enough talking in the past few days to last him a lifetime. Andrew shrugged and continued methodically folding pieces of bright paper in front of him. In minutes he had four paper cranes sitting on the table in front of him.
"You memorized origami?" Drake asked impressed. Origami seemed so complicated to Drake, yet Andrew made it look simple and easy. Andrew shrugged again.
"Nothing better to do here." He answered as he started folding a fifth paper crane.
Drake wasn't sure what it was about Andrew, but so far he was the only person that Drake felt comfortable talking to in this place, almost normal.
"How old are you?" Drake asked curious. At this, Andrew looked up at him and smirked.
"I'm almost sixteen."
"Oh." Was all Drake could think of to say. He was suddenly curious as to what Andrew had done to get in the hospital but seeing as how he hadn't told him why he was there it felt rude to ask. Instead he again tried to focus his attention on writing new song lyrics. He had only written a few lines when Nurse Williams told them to put all their supplies back and to head back to the room where they had had group therapy earlier. Frustrated he folded the paper and stuffed it in his back pocket to work on later. He was halfway back to the group therapy room when a nurse stopped him.
"Drake, Dr. Evans would like to meet with you now." Drake bit down on his tongue to resist the urge to cuss out the nurse. He was starting to get more and more annoyed the longer he spent here and he definitely wasn't in the mood to have a therapy session. He hesitated for a moment, debating on making a run for the door. Then, cursing under his breath sighed and followed the nurse to Dr. Evans office. She knocked twice before opening the door.
"Drake Parker sir." The nurse stated then walked off in the opposite direction. Dr. Evans smiled at him.
"Please Drake, come in." Dr. Evans said gesturing to the chair opposite of his desk. After a moment's hesitation, Drake sank into the chair opposite of the doctor.
"So, seeing as this is our first meeting, I wanted to take the time to try and get to know each other a little better. Is that okay with you?" Dr. Evans asked. His voice was soft and calm and despite his irritation, Drake was surprised to feel himself relaxing slightly. He still didn't feel like talking though so he merely nodded at the doctor's question.
"Good. So, you go to Belle View right? How do you like school?"
Drake smirked. "Fine." He answered nonchalantly.
"What's your favorite subject?"
"Lunch." Drake said already getting bored and began picking at the leather in the worn chair he was sitting on. Dr. Evans laughed.
"Yeah, I didn't like high school much either. I spent most of my sophomore and junior year sneaking out of class and smoking behind the school gym." Dr. Evans leaned back in his chair watching Drake closely.
"Weed?" Drake asked shocked that a medical doctor would admit to using drugs. Dr. Evans laughed again at Drake's surprised face.
"Yes. Despite what you may think even doctors did crazy things when they were younger. It wasn't until the middle of my senior year when I realized I might not graduate high school that I actually starting paying attention more in class. I ended up getting really into science, especially Biology. I thought it was cool learning about how our body's work. Later, I decided to go to college and majored in Biology. That's when I became even more fascinated with the brain and ended up changing my major to Psychology."
Drake merely nodded not sure how to react to Dr. Evans story; he knew what he was doing. It was the whole I'll-share-a-personal-story-to-gain-your-trust-act and Drake wasn't falling for it. He may be dumb when it came to school but he wasn't stupid. They fell into a semi-awkward silence, which was broken again by Dr. Evans.
"You really don't want to be here do you?" Dr. Evans asked calmly. It sounded more like a statement then a question. Drake glared at the doctor.
"Figured that out huh?" Drake retorted sarcastically.
"It's okay that you don't want to be here. All I can hope for is in time you'll feel that you got something helpful out of your time here."
Drake snorted. Not likely.
"Why do you think you are here Drake?" Dr. Evans asked. Drake continued to glare at the doctor.
"Because CPS ordered me too." Drake didn't even try to hide the hate he felt towards Child Protective Services.
"Well then let's take a step back, why do you think CPS thinks you should be here?" Drake rolled his eyes.
"Take your pick. I'm a danger to myself, I've been traumatized, that I need therapy. I'm just another…case to them." Drake broke eye contact with Dr. Evans who noticed the visible change in Drake's demeanor immediately. It was a common symptom for many abuse victims, not being able to say the words out loud, to admit they were victims. They didn't want to admit they were abused or being abused. Saying it out loud makes it more real.
"Do you agree with any of that?" Dr. Evans asked leaning back in his chair.
Drake merely shrugged. Dr. Evans waited again, merely sitting back in his chair and studied Drake carefully, looking for any signs that would help indicate what was going through the teen's head.
"Do you feel comfortable here?" Dr. Evans asked, Drake stared at him blankly.
"Huh?" Drake answered confused, what kind of dumb question was that?
"I asked if you felt comfortable here. You look like you fairly relaxed sitting there at least, so I was wondering how comfortable you feel here so far." Dr. Evans explained calmly. Drake shrugged again.
"I already told you I don't want to be here." Drake answered plainly. Dr. Evans smiled.
"I know that much, that's not what I asked. Let me rephrase the question then, do you feel safe here?"
Drake absentmindedly began picking at his fingernails.
"I don't know." Drake replied honestly, his voice soft.
"I see. Where would you say then you feel the most safe? At home?" Dr. Evans asked. Drake continued to methodically pick at his fingernails to keep his hands busy, not really paying attention to what he was doing. He thought about the doctor's question and shook his head.
"Kind of…not really though." Drake said in response to the doctor's question. The minute he said it, he was surprised at how true it was. Home wasn't the place he felt the most safe anymore. Rick knew where he lived and ever since he had come home from the hospital the other day, not a single person at home had treated him normally, not even Megan. No, the place he felt most safe at ironically now was school where he was surrounded by hundreds of people and didn't have to worry about people watching his every move.
"You look surprised." Dr. Evans observed. Drake kept his gaze on the ground not sure what to say.
"I guess, yeah." He said quietly.
"Can you tell me why?" Dr. Evans asked slowly. Drake sighed, trying to work his thoughts out.
"I guess…because…I don't know, everyone judges me at home…at least now they do." Drake stammered, not sure how to put his jumbled thoughts into words.
"Your parents seem very supportive. Your stepfather sounded more than willing to help you in any way he can, and I haven't met your mother yet but I did speak to her briefly on the phone and she too expressed concern for you."
Drake snorted.
"My mother is in denial. She wants to keep me in a bubble and pretend like everything is okay." Drake suddenly looked up at the doctor appalled that he had managed to get him to open so much when he had been so adamant to not talk to the doctor at all. Drake stopped talking and folded his arms across his chest defiantly.
"What makes you think that?" Dr. Evans pressed.
"I just do." Drake muttered keeping his arms folded.
"I see. Sometimes Drake the people closest to us have the hardest time accepting difficult situations, especially situations that affect the whole family. Your mother loves you very much, and she is trying to help you and be there for you in her own way." Dr. Evans explained, Drake rolled his eyes at the doctor.
"Yeah? I don't need her sympathy or to be treated like some damn nut case." Drake said bitterly.
"Well, have you tried telling her that? If you're honest with her, you two might be able to reach a better understanding of each other. You say she doesn't understand or listen to you, but you need to give her the same respect, understand?" Dr. Evans said. Drake sighed again.
"Whatever." He muttered in response.
Just then Dr. Evans looked down at his watch.
"I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today Drake. We'll talk more on Wednesday alright?" Dr. Evans said standing up, Drake followed suite.
"Right." Drake said sarcastically opening the door and walking out of the small office before Dr. Evans could say anything else to him. He was still annoyed that the doctor had managed to get him to say so much.
When 6:00 finally rolled around, Drake was one of the first of the patients to line up to leave. An orderly escorted them off the floor and to the hospital lobby where he quickly spotted Walter waiting with a group of other parents.
"Hey kiddo, how'd it go?" Walter asked. Drake could tell he was putting all his energy into being extra cheery about the whole situation, making him grit his teeth in annoyance.
"Can we just go?" Drake said impatiently, wanting nothing more than to leave the hospital as fast as possible, Walter nodded and followed Drake out of the double doors that led to the parking lot. Drake was thankful that Walter didn't try to keep up the fake, cheery chitchat during the ride home and leaned his head against the window.
When they got home, Drake could smell that dinner was already ready.
"I saved you both a plate." Audrey said smiling.
"Yeah." Drake muttered as he crossed the living room to head up the stairs. Walter walked over to her and smiled back giving her a light kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks honey." He said going over the refrigerator and pulling out one of the plates with foil wrapped around it.
"How is he?" She asked looking up at the stairs towards Drake and Josh's room. Walter sighed.
"I don't know. He didn't want to talk about any of the program at all, he just wanted to get home." Walter said quietly. It was Audrey's turn to sigh.
At least he wants to come home she thought somberly.
Hey Everyone,
Goodness it has been FOREVER once again since I have updated this fic . Again, I apologize for not updating more frequently. I started writing this chapter probably 3 months ago but I kept stopping and coming back to it because I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with this story, but I think I have a better idea now so I will try to update more frequently. Let me know what you think of this chapter, too long/short, repetitive, boring? I wanted to spend a little time to show what the outpatient program is like.
As always reviews are greatly appreciated they make my day! You all are awesome!
-Fantasyforever1989