34 Danny's POV
It was hard to get my head around, all the things we had to remember when interacting with Tom. We had to be kind to him, support him when he needed it, without smothering him or treating him like he was incapable. I never treated him like he was incapable of anything anyway, but how was I supposed to watch out for him transferring his need for guidance onto us? How were we supposed to do that?
I didn't want to stop myself from hugging him, or treating him like I wanted to, but if I had to, I had to, to stop him from being further screwed up. Still, it felt like an impossible task, one that was going to so hard to try and get through.
Of course, we had Natasha at our disposal, whenever we needed her, but it was still going to be hard to figure out. There was going to be so much trial and error, so much to try and figure out, without letting Tom know what we were doing. If he figured it out, I didn't know what he was going to think. I didn't want to think we were conspiring against him, or trying to treat him differently to how we usually would. I wanted him to feel loved, and accepted, and most importantly, capable. He needed to feel capable, that was so important. He needed to feel like he could do things by himself, and do things well. He needed it, more than anything.
Leaving Natasha's office, we found Tom sitting on the chair outside, wiping the mushed up banana off Buzz's face, after apparently feeding the child. He looked miserable, and very worried, looking at Buzz like it was the last time he would ever see him.
As I watched him I was confused, and worried about what we were going to do. Even with Natasha's advice, it was difficult to figure out how to treat Tom from now on. He was fragile, but didn't believe himself to be, and we couldn't make him worse by treating him too much like he was.
"Right, home time then? Before the little one gets too restless?" Harry suggested, nodding towards Buzz, who was starting to squirm a bit in Tom's arms. I don't think Tom had put him down since we arrived here, nearly two hours ago.
"I need to feed him too." Tom agreed, "I mean, I brought snacks. But I didn't, I didn't know how long this was going to take. But if we get home within the next hour, Buzz won't miss his usual dinner time." he seemed to panic a bit, like he thought that we thought he had made a massive mistake.
"No problem with that Tom, if I had realised myself, I would have directed you to the canteen, so you could eat. We'll keep it in mind for next time instead." Natasha waved him off, she was so good at that already. Knew how to dismiss his worries without it making it sound like Tom was being stupid, or like he was a complete failure. Just like he had let something slip his mind, like everyone did. Which was all this was, a simple mistake that anyone could make. Hell I made bigger mistakes on a daily basis.
I needed to learn how to do that, how did she learn how to do that? Was it a psychiatrist thing? Must have been, they all seemed to be able to do that. Or at least, they did on TV.
"Or bring more food." I piped up, hoping to help. Did that help? Oh God I didn't know anymore? Was this useful, or was I making it worse? I didn't know anymore!
"Yeah, or, or that." Tom nodded again, in that desperate 'please don't shout at me' way he did now. It broke my heart, but I refused to let it show. Instead I turned down the hall, everyone following along behind, hoping to get home soon. Even after meeting Natasha, this place still didn't feel right to be inside.
Maybe it was the fear of Tom being taken from me, or being told that Tom was unable to be helped. Whatever it was, I just didn't like being here anymore, it made my skin crawl.