A/N: I know I don't post that many DP stories, but this was a headcanon I've had for a while and I just decided to write it out. Enjoy!
The pair of teens stood still in front of the office door, both of them feeling a bit of apprehension.
"Do we really have to do this?" Tucker asked in a hushed tone.
"It's the only way to find out if she's really responsible for everything that's been happening" Sam replied in an equally whispered voice "If it turns out she's not the one causing all this, then we have nothing to worry about".
"And suppose she is?!" Tucker shot back, his voice still barely audible.
"Don't worry" his friend said soothingly "Just remember that no matter how miserable she might make you, Danny will stop her".
Tucker was about to sigh with relief when the recesses of his brain picked up the nature of Sam's words.
"Me?!" he cried in a squeaky manner "What about you?!"
"Hello! Goth!" Sam said like it was obvious while dismissively waving her hand "There's no way she'd be able to bring any misery out in me".
"Then what are you even going in for?!" Tucker demanded.
"To watch and see if she actually causes it to happen" Sam replied, a confident grin on her face "Don't worry. Danny and I will have your back when its over".
Tucker just sighed "Why is it I'm always the one who takes one for the team" he grumbled before reluctantly raising his hand and knocking on the door.
"Come in!" a perky voice said from within the office.
Pushing the door open, Sam and Tucker stepped into the office to see, sitting at her desk, Dr. Penelope Spectra.
"Well, well" she said in a chipper manner, making Sam think it was reminiscent of her mother "I don't believe I've seen you two in here since my visit to Casper High".
"Uh, yeah" Tucker said with an awkward grin as he forced himself to talk like he wasn't acting "It's just that after we saw what a great job you did with Danny, we decided to come in and see you ourselves".
"Oh, really?" Spectra asked with a wide smile before gesturing to the teens to sit in the two chairs in front of her desk "I take it Danny is a very close friend and means a lot to you, huh?"
"Yes" Sam said with an edge in her voice as she sat down while crossing her arms.
Grinning at the pair, Spectra walked over to the filing cabinet and pulled out a pair of folders, pictures of Tucker and Sam on either one.
"Well, then, let's get started" the psychiatrist said enthusiastically as she sat down in her chair before opening Tucker's file. After looking over it for a minute, she looked up to the boy.
"So, Tucker" Penelope said casually "According to your records, you have a thing for technology, don't you?"
"Oh, yeah!" Tucker said, sounding more enthusiastic now that they were talking something he enjoyed "In fact carry so much geek gear that I'm almost more gear than geek!" he gave a bit of a laugh at his joke, though neither Sam or Spectra showed any sign of sharing his humor.
"I see" Penelope said casually "And you don't mind people referring to you with the term...a techno-geek, is it?"
Tucker scoffed and waved his hand dismissively "Are you kidding? Labels don't bother me in the slightest!" a bit of optimism began to shine in the back of his mind. Perhaps Dr. Spectra wasn't the cause of the student body being miserable after all.
Said therapist gave a grin as she leaped up from her seat "That's it! Stick to your guns!" she said encourangingly "Don't pay attention to what others think".
Tucker was in the process of nodding when he stopped as the last of Spectra's words sunk in.
"Huh? What would they say?" he asked in confusion.
"Oh, nothing" Spectra said innocently "But, it's just that other people would consider that an unhealthy lifestyle".
Tucker found himself swallowing as his eyes shrunk to pinpricks.
"Un-Unhealthy?"
"Well, yes" Spectra continued as she moved around to the front of her desk to sit down on it "In fact, they may even say it borderline's obsession, what with you preferring technology to regular human contact".
"Me, obsessed?" Tucker found himself cracking.
"Yeah" Spectra said as she got up off her desk and stood in front of Tucker so they were eye to eye "But hey, don't let that bother you, or the fact that in a few years, all that gear will be obsolete!"
Tucker's face paled as it felt like his entire world was falling apart "Ob-Obsolete?"
"Yes" Spectra said in her chipper manner as she stood up and walked around Tucker "And there's the fact that to keep up with the latest technology would cost thousands of dollars, which you'd never be able to afford without a job that will leave you high strung" she continued as she placed her hands on his shoulder "But hey. It'll be worth it, right?"
"Yeah, I-I guess so" Tucker said as a despondent tired look appeared in his eyes as a wave of green energy sereptiously seeped from him up through Spectra's arm.
Sam, who had been watching intently, didn't know what to make of what she saw. At most, it just looked like Spectra had a way with words to sound like she was being encouraging rather than condescending. Still, that didn't make her an evil ectoplasmic creature from another dimension. Just a really lousy psychiatrist.
With a smile, Spectra then turned to the girl.
"Well, it certainly looks like you could do with some spirit" the therapist said in her chirpy manner.
"Uh, no thanks" Sam retorted bluntly "I'm quite fine being just the way I am".
"Ooh, good for you" Spectra applauded as she sat back down on the edge of her desk "Other girls in your position would be bummed out"
"Being depressed is not really a requirement for being a Goth" Sam replied, not knowing what the woman was up to. If she was trying to bring her down by insulting her lifestyle, it wasn't going to work.
Much to her surprise, Spectra just gave a twittering giggle "I don't mean Goths, Silly" she waved her hand in front of her "I mean girls with impossible crushes!"
Sam's eyes immediately went wide as her mouth fell open. "Wha-What?"
"Sure," the psychiatrist continued ecstatically "you know, girls who pine for guys for they know they can never have".
Sam wanted to say she had no idea what Spectra was talking about, but instead she found herself lowering her head "G-Guys they'll never had".
"Of course" Spectra went on with a smile in her voice as she walked around the room "I cannot tell you how many times I've seen girls fall apart when they realize that the boy of their dreams will never notice them and all they can do is yearn for them from a far".
It was as if a plug had been pulled and what life that had been inside Sam was draining away as she looked down at her hands, as she had visions of holding her arm out to a certain boy whose hair occasionally alternated between black and white, only for it to seem like he was pulling away from her reach.
"So what if your crush will never feel the same way you do? So what if one day, he'll grow up, get married, and have a family with some other girl instead of you?" Spectra was finishing as she walked behind the hunched over girl and gave her an encouraging pat on the back "You're stronger than that. It won't bother you".
"Yeah, right. Sure" Sam said a flat monotone like manner, unaware of the green energy Spectra was drawing from her back.
At that moment, a beeping came from Spectra's watch.
"Ooh, I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today! You better get going!" she said as she hustled the two 'encouraged' teens to their feet before leading them to the door "You don't want to miss the Spirit Week assembly, after all?"
Walking like a pair of zombies, Tucker and Sam pushed open the door and stepped out of the office
"I hate my life" Tucker said in a dreary manner.
"I hate your life more" Sam said more despondent than ever as the two teens walked off while Spectra waved them good bye from the entrance to her office.
"Buh-bye! And remember, there's only an 'I" in "misery" if you spell it that way!" the teen psychiatrist said enthusiastically before closing her office door. As she did, a wicked smirk appeared on her face.
"Two more down".