"Alex," said Dr. Olivet. "This week, we're going to try something new." She handed Alex a pen and a piece of paper. "I'm going to ask you a few questions, and you're going to write down your answers for me."

Alex didn't really want to, but Dr. Olivet wasn't asking her; she was telling her, and she didn't have a choice. So she nodded.

"Olivia told me you've been having nightmares. Can you tell me about them?"

No, she couldn't. She didn't write anything.

Dr. Olivet sighed. "Okay. What happens when you wake up? How do you feel?"

This was a question Alex could answer. Bad, she wrote.

Dr. Olivet nodded. "I know it's painful, Alex, but it's perfectly normal after a traumatic experience for your brain to keep reliving the event. What happens when you wake up?"

Alex lowered her eyes. I get punished, she wrote.

Dr. Olivet looked confused. "What do you mean?"

My Mistress punishes me.

"You mean Olivia?"

Alex nodded.

"What does she do to you?"

Alex bowed her head. I get the crop.

"Olivia hits you with a crop?"

Alex shook her head. No.

"I don't understand."

Not yet, Alex wrote.

"She hasn't hit you?"

But she's supposed to. I brought her the hanger, but she didn't hit me.

"Olivia's not going to hit you, Alex. She loves you and she won't hurt you. You don't deserve to be hurt. The man who hurt you was wrong, Alex."

Alex didn't write anything. She didn't know what to write.

"Okay, let's leave that for a moment. Tell me about Olivia."

Alex rolled her eyes. You know her.

"Yes, but tell me about her when she's with you."

Alex didn't really know what Dr. Olivet was asking. Hesitantly, she wrote, She doesn't hurt me.

"Right. She loves you."

Alex lowered her gaze as she wrote, She holds me when I'm sad.

Dr. Olivet smiled. "How does that make you feel?"

Sometimes better. Alex hesitated. Sometimes worse.

"Why does it make you feel better?"

Because she cares about me and she doesn't want me to be sad.

"That's right. Why sometimes worse?"

She should punish me. I'm bad.

"Why do you think that?"

Alex began to cry. I hurt them. I killed them!

"That wasn't your fault, Alex. You didn't have a choice."

There's always a choice.

"He would have killed you otherwise. You're not bad and Olivia doesn't blame you for what happened."

But she should.

"Do you know what I think?" She waited until Alex's blue eyes flickered up to meet hers before saying, "I think that you did what you had to do to survive. I also think it would have hurt Olivia even more if you hadn't."

But Dr. Olivet didn't understand. She'd hurt Olivia even more by coming back, because she wasn't the same Alex that Olivia loved.

When Olivia arrived to bring Alex home, Dr. Olivet took her aside. "Next week, we're going to start really working on the flashbacks and trying to help her heal. It's going to be intensive, so if she regresses – a lot – don't worry. It will help in the long run. She has post-traumatic stress disorder, but if she can start feeling safe inside her own head, she can get better."

Olivia nodded, accepting this, although most of it was over her head. She held out her hand to Alex and felt immediately guilty when Alex flinched before bowing her head and taking the outstretched hand. "It's time to go, honey," she said quietly.

Alex silently followed Olivia out to the car and climbed into the passenger seat. She buckled her seatbelt and rested her cheek against the windowsill as tears leaked from her eyes. This was all her fault.

Olivia noticed the tears in Alex's eyes and gently caressed her arm. She offered Alex a smile. "Once upon a time there was a princess and her name was Alex." She waited until she was sure she had Alex's attention before continuing, "She was the kindest and most beautiful princess in all the land. Her entire kingdom loved her very, very much. Then she fell in love with a knight named Olivia, who loved her more than anything in the entire world and promised to protect her above all else. And she will."

She waited for Alex's smile, and when it came, Olivia thought it was the most beautiful thing in the entire world.

Review if you want to know what happens in the next chapter!