Saturday morning was bright and sunny outside despite the temperature of almost freezing. Outside, the birds did not seem to be fazed by it all as they sung quite happily in the tops of the trees. There was a white dusting of frost decorating the tree branches and the blades of green grass.
Meanwhile, inside Bass was hiding under his heat lamp with Jo curled up to the side of his shell to try and steal the heat from the red light. At the breakfast bar, waffles appeared to be on the menu.
Jane was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans with a Red Sox jersey on that matched the one that Alessandra herself was wearing. The little girl had insisted that she didn't want to wear any of the dresses that now resided in her closet but instead she wanted to wear her Red Sox jersey because it was just 'the coolest' top ever so she ended up wearing it with a pair of white leggings selected for her by Maura, along with a pair of red shiny sneakers. To make her outfit co-ordinate even more, the red laces of the shoes had even swapped with white laces. Alessandra's curls were flowing freely down her back but her hair was pinned back slightly by a red silk bow that had been tied into her hair. She had chosen to wear one of her scented lip balms that morning when Maura had been applying her own make-up.
Maura was wearing an emerald patterned top along with a pair of black slacks and a pair of black heels. Casual was not always something that seemed to exist for the Chief Medical Examiner. "What would you like on your waffles, Allie?" she asked with a bright smile on her face.
"Strawberries!" Alessandra announced happily.
"Oh, my little turtle," Jane said softly as she pulled her from her stool and into her lap, "I love you, my little turtle."
Alessandra had now been taking part in a therapy program for almost two weeks. it initially started out as small activities that she could do at home without even fully realising that t was part of therapy. It included such things as art therapy and play therapy, both using activities or games given to Maura to use to benefit the child. More recently she had begun attending actual sessions.
"Why do I have to go to therapy?" Alessandra asked for what could have possibly been the hundredth time that afternoon.
"It might help with your nightmares," Jane explained to her once more.
Alessandra was watching the woman from her position beside her, "You said might... so it could be a waste of time and it might not help at all."
"You're going," came the response from her adoptive mother, leaving no room for arguments. Part of her care plan was that she would have to attend a specialised therapy course for children that had suffered trauma, more specifically, for children who had been witnesses to homicide. The response was after she had attempted to find a reason not to go all day. The reasons ranged from 'it's too early' which of course didn't work considering they weren't going until three pm to the excuse of 'I'm allergic' which was refuted by Maura with a medical explanation on allergies.
A heavy sigh came from Alessandra along with a slight roll of her eyes.
The first therapy session wasn't even scheduled to be that long, it was simply a fifteen minute appointment to introduce Alessandra to the therapist who until that point had only seen the child in video footage and photographs. She had the information that she needed from the case from having consultations with Doctor Melody Kingston along with two phone calls with Doctor Maura Isles. Maura and the new therapist had mostly been in contact via email in order to discuss the activities that the therapist proposed for Alessandra to do in the comfort of the home.
Little Alessandra was wearing a light blue dress with white tights and a pair of blue dolly shoes when she attended her first session, rather reluctantly.
The waiting room was quite basic with plastic chairs and a small play area in the corner of the room for children to play whilst they waited. Near the door was a reception desk with a woman sat behind it. The receptionist for the centre was wearing a white pussy bow blouse with a black pencil skirt and her blonde hair was tied in a french braid. "Good Afternoon, my name is Amanda, welcome to the Children's Centre," she greeted them politely, "Do you have an appointment today?"
"Yes, we have an appointment at 15:00 with Doctor Osmond," Maura answered with ease.
Amanda nodded, "Thank you," she replied with a smile before making a few clicks on her computer, "Please take a seat and she will be out to see you soon."
"No need, Amanda." came a voice from behind the desk area, "They can come straight through", she said as she stepped from the hallway beside the receptionist's desk. Doctor Osmond was wearing a pair of jeans and a soft cashmere jumper along with a pair of converse shoes, the woman opted to dress casually in order to put her patients at ease in the centre. "You must be Miss Alessandra," she said with a bright smile whilst offering her hand, "My name is Doctor Jane Osmond, but you can call me Jane".
She may not have wanted to go there or to be there at all, but she was still polite as she stepped forward and willingly shook the Doctor's hand, her only other response, however, was to nod with a small smile.
The rest of her initial appointment at the centre was spent having a tour of the centre but most importantly of the room that she would be spending the most time in. There was much more natural light in the room compared to the interview room that she had been going to. the walls were a calming lilac colour whilst there were white units around the room that contained a huge range of toys. the carpet was a darker shade than what the walls were and there was a white table to one side with matching child sized chairs. The room included a large play house with a garage, a smaller play house without one, a play house that looked more like a farm barn, and a range of other play buildings. There was plenty of art supplies at the table and they even had a sofa with stuffed toys and pillows scattered on top of it.
Her second appointment was double the length of the first one but just allowed for the Doctor to observe her playing for half an hour in the room with Jane and Maura.
Then the third appointment was another half an hour play session but this time Jane played with Alessandra whilst Jane and Maura both sat to the side on the sofa.
After finishing their breakfast, they started getting ready to leave, unfortunately, leaving Jo behind.
"Are you ready?" Maura asked her softly as she knelt down in front of her and reached out to cup her cheek.
"I don't want to go see any other Doctors today," Alessandra said softly with a slight sigh.
"We're not going to your therapy session today," Maura said softly, "We're..."
Jane knelt down beside them both, taking over from where Maura seemed to be unsure, "We're going to the house where you used to live with your Mammina and Papa."