This is another "Missing Scene" for 2 Years 65 Days 2 Many.
Think back to ... I think it was part 12 ... when Don made arrangements for David to take his standing appointment with Doctor Bradford? He talked to the good doctor's secretary?
This scene follows the END of the story ... Enjoy!
AmyD & Suisan - your Friendly Nieghborhood Twisted Evilettes!
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She peered at the package and then looked up at Don. "What is this?"
"An apology and a thank you. For juggling the Doc's schedule at the last minute to help me help my team."
She looked down at the box, saw the postmark of Albany, NY and reached for a pair of scissors.
Don watched, waiting for the moment when Lilya, Will Bradford's secretary, realized what she had.
She cleared away the protective wrap and let out a shriek.
//Thank you, Tomas.// Don silently sent a thank you to his buddy from the Academy who had driven down from Albany to Troy to get them.
Bradford came barreling out of his office; the sidearm Don didn't know he still carried gripped in a two-handed Weaver. "What the hell!?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, Will. I didn't mean to yell like that." Lilya said. "Agent Eppes brought me a wonderful thank you present."
William Bradford looked at her, then glared at Eppes. "It had better be one HELL of a present to elicit a response like that. I could have shot either of you."
She pulled a small brown box from amongst the packaging and held it up for his inspection. "Freihoffer's chocolate chip cookies. If you want to taste God in a cookie, these are it. You can not get these cookies outside of New York State, you just can't."
Now Bradford really did glare at Don. "What? My months of working with you don't rate Freihoffers? Guess I know how you feel about my services now."
Don held his hands up in surrender. "I plead the fifth." He said.
"Right. Smart move. All right, its a few minutes early, but you may as well come on in here, Eppes." Bradford led the way through the door into his inner sanctum, trusting Don to follow if he wanted to.
Don leaned over the desk and gave Lilya a gentlemanly peck on the cheek. "Thank you. Really, thank you." He followed Bradford into the other man's office before the older woman could say anything.
William was pouring himself a fresh cup of coffee, decaf, when Eppes finally came into the office. He silently offered the agent a cup, which he turned down, and Will took his time doctoring his cup as Eppes settled down into what had become his 'favorite' chair.
"So, Eppes, how is your team doing after last weeks of excitement? Agent Granger all right - or as much as he can be for the moment?"
Don shrugged. "It's kinda hard to tell actually."
"How so?"
"Colby's gone back to his folks place in Idaho for a couple of weeks. David's decided that maybe he'll rejoin the human race and Megan is...well...she's Megan."
"That one is probably the most level-headed member of your team, but you knew that." Will didn't sit down behind his desk but, rather, came to sit in the chair across a side table from Eppes. "However, you are finally starting to get back on a level field yourself."
Don's eyebrows quirked upward. "Really? What makes you say that?"
"You've just been put through the pressure cooker of a butt-munching exercise because you MAY have started an international cluster fuck and, according to all I've heard about it, you never really lost your temper."
Don shrugged again. "There wasn't anything to get mad about, especially not after I saw the tape that... bastard made of the whole thing."
Bradford nodded. As a forensic psychologist and a practicing counselor for the Law Enforcement community with actual undercover work in his past, he'd been asked to watch the tape Eppes had located on the freighter. Thankfully it had been AFTER he'd talked with Granger for the last time before he was sent home on medical leave. It hadn't been easy to watch, but it had made him ratchet his opinion of Granger, and the rest of Eppes team, up a few more notches. But there was no need to tell Eppes that. Not yet.
"I understood it was ... bad."
Don snorted. "You could say that."
"The important thing is this - he survived and so did everyone else on your team. How you process things from here on out, is entirely up to all of you."
A small smile quirked at Don's lips. "So, does this mean I'm normal again?"
Now it was Will's turn to snort - and nearly splash coffee down his shirt in the process. "Yeah, right. Normal. What the hell does 'normal' really mean?" Will put the mug down on the side table. "Do I think you're still a loose cannon? No. Do I think we're going to come in some morning and find you gibbering in your cubicle? No. Other than that, yeah, you're pretty much getting a clean bill of mental sharpness from me." Bradford looked at Don, tilting his head to one side and saluting the agent with his cup. "Which is all you really wanted after you were pushed into coming to see me on the Hoyle case, right?"
Don shifted uncomfortably in his chair; loathe to admit that Bradford was right. "Well...yeah."
"And it only took a nearly a year of 'sessions' and you're still here." Will leaned back, steepling his fingers in front of his chin and starting over the tips at Don. "Shame that I pretty much reported back on the Hoyle case two weeks after our first meeting."
Don's eyes popped open in surprise. "You did?"
"You never check your own personnel jacket, do you?"
"Why would I?"
"You wouldn't, unless you were paranoid. Nice to know I was right in that case - that you wouldn't check and, yes, if I kept my mouth shut about it, you might come back to just talk. And, wow, you did." The sarcasm was starting to come out, but this wasn't a 'real' session and William had gotten to know Eppes pretty well. The man responded best to honesty. Brutal honesty even.
Don nodded. "I was so damn mad when I first came in here...not that that wasn't blindingly obvious but even then I knew I didn't HAVE to come back. I did anyway."
"Eppes-- No, Don. No cop ever wants to admit that he - or she - might need to just talk with someone who won't judge them after an incident like the Hoyle case. We're supposed to be tough hombres who just suck it up and keep going." Will sighed. "Unfortunately, its the ones who never seek assistance who usually end up in the morgue long before they should."
"That's why I sent David to see you. I wasn't as bad as he was, was I?"
"Yes and no. He was just ... different from you."
Another nod from Don. "Megan told me she thought we might qualify for a group discount." He rolled his eyes. "I told her she wasn't funny."
This time Will laughed out right. "I don't do Group Discounts . . . however, if you want to come and see me as a team, I can do that."
"I'll consider it, really, I will." He chewed on his upper lip for a moment. "I don't mind saying that I wasn't so sure I'd have a team after last week."
"Have you spoken to them about that? Including Granger?"
"Not really. Afterwards, when it was clear that Colby was going to be fine, I just..." Another shrug.
"Still having issues with true and open communications, Eppes? Do I need to make sure you have an appointment next week?"
"'Avoidance tendencies,' is that what the phrase is? I guess that was just one more thing I didn't want to deal with but then David came within a fistfight or two of getting fired and Colby was muttering about leaving. Hell, I don't even know if he's going to come back to Los Angeles. He can have his pick of assignments, why would he come back?"
Now William found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. What any of his patients told him in a session was private and pretty much under the same sort of 'seal' as a Catholic's confession to a priest. However, he knew Granger had stopped thinking about leaving the FBI the last time they'd talked, but only if he could stay in Los Angeles. If the Bureau tried to send him somewhere else the young agent would probably quit right then and there.
"Don, have you talked with Granger about that?"
Don stood and walked over to the window of Bradford's office. "No, I haven't." He turned around and looked at Bradford. "I'd be happy to have him back but I figured he'd want to be some place where people weren't always staring at him. Of course, I was also trying to keep David from getting fired and keep Megan from quitting as well but that's not a reason."
"Maybe. However, that same man just did two years undercover so I'm pretty sure his skin is thick enough to take stares."
Don nodded.
"As for the other members of your team . . . They are settling down now, right? No more crises to hold their hands through? So what's holding you back from talking to all your agents and seeing how they feel about the idea of Granger staying on here?"
"Nothing. I just have to do it. I'm sure that Megan would be more than happy. David, though...I just don't know."
"Never know until you do it." Will glanced at his watch, just as Eppes did the same with his timepiece, and realized they'd been talking for nearly an hour already. "Yeap, it's that time again. You want me to have Lilya keep you penciled in for next week?"
"Sure."
"Consider it done. And, when Granger is back, even if it's only temporarily, make sure you have Lilya schedule a three hour block of time and I'll do my best imitation of a Hostage Negotiator."
Don started to laugh. "You sure you really want to do that?"
Will shrugged. "Sure, I haven't messed with group dynamics since Med School, but I'm pretty sure I can still handle some still wet-behind-the-ears federal pukes." His smile was wide, taking the potential sting out of his words.
Don made the appropriate face. "See if I try to be nice to your secretary again." He held out his hand. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, Eppes. Now shoo before my next client sees you leaving and thinks I'm not tough enough to take you down a peg or two."
"God forbid." Don said, going out the door.
