Chapter 75- Skye's First Therapy Session

As Alan and Skye got onto the elevator at the hospital, Alan's phone rang. "Hello? Monica? Hi. AJ came home? Good. Good. Her ultrasound is tomorrow? Jason is missing out on a lot. Yes. Yes, I know. Okay. I'll be home in a couple hours. Okay. I love you too. Bye." He slipped his phone away. "AJ is fine, he just needed some alone time and walked around for hours. But he'll be fine."

When the elevator doors opened, Alan stepped out, but Skye froze.

"Skye?" Alan extended his hand to her. "It's okay. I'm going to be right outside the whole time. You can do this."

She took his hand and followed him.

Kevin greeted them warmly, and Alan reminded Skye that he would be in the waiting area when she was finished.

Skye sat on a couch and barely looked at Keven when he sat across from her and pulled out a notepad.

"How are you today, Skye?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Okay."

"Your dad said you're struggling with a lot right now. Would you like to tell me about it?"

"No. Not really."

"Okay, then how about we start off slow?" Kevin suggested. "Can you tell me about your job?"

"I'm a dishwasher at the Palace in Llanview."

Kevin nodded and jotted that down. "Do you enjoy working there?"

"Surprisingly, yes. Kind of."

"Kind of?"

"Well, not forever. But my grandma has taught me that hard work makes you feel good after. I feel accomplished after."

"That's good. Are you close to your grandma?"

Skye frowned. "I thought we were getting close. But she keeps treating me like a little kid."

"How does she treat you like a little kid?"

"By grounding me and telling me who I can and cannot date."

"And do you know why she grounded you?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, because I turned her hair pink."

"Okay, why did you turn her hair pink?"

Skye sighed. "I didn't mean to. She used Kendall's shampoo."

"Who is Kendall?" Kevin asked.

"My friend. She's living with us. And I don't really know what she is to Grandma… Grandma seems to treat Kendall's mom like her daughter too."

"So, why did you try to turn Kendall's hair pink?"

"Because she pretended she was me and asked Palmer Cortlandt out on a date. He's old enough to be my father. He showed up at the house but Grandma…" She chuckled a little. "Grandma literally kicked him out."

"So, you and Kendall were pranking each other," Kevin said. "And neither of those seem like small pranks. How old are you, Skye?"

Skye frowned. "Thirty-three."

"You don't seem too happy saying that."

"Well, who likes their age anyway?" Skye asked.

"You said that your grandmother is treating you like a child, but do you think a 33-year-old woman and her friend, who I'm assuming is somewhere around your age, should be pranking each other to that extreme? Do you think that's age-appropriate?"

"Well, when you put it that way… It was a good distraction though."

"A distraction from what?"

Skye frowned again. "I have to hand it to you. You're good at this. I said I didn't want to talk about those things, yet you're getting around to it."

"If you prefer to talk about something else, that's fine," Kevin said. "But something tells me that you need to talk about it."

Skye swallowed hard. "Let's just say it was a good distraction and leave it at that."

"Okay." Kevin wrote something else down. "Now, you describe this distraction as good. Do you really believe it was a good distraction? Or is there a healthier and more mature way to distract yourself? Or even further, should you be distracting yourself at all or should you be facing what you're trying to distract yourself from in the first place?"

Skye lowered her gaze and fidgeted nervously. "I don't know how to face it. Not without turning to booze. To me the pranks were a good distraction in comparison. And it was fun."

"Your father mentioned you're a recovering alcoholic and he found you this evening at Jake's with a drink. How much did you drink tonight?"

"Just a sip, then Dad walked in and stopped me."

"Good," Kevin said. "Can you tell me why you drank tonight?"

"Well, I wouldn't have if my date didn't order them for me."

"And did your date know you're an alcoholic?" Kevin asked.

"No. At least, I don't think he does."

"You didn't think you should tell him?"

Skye shrugged. "I did tell him I don't drink."

"But he ordered them for you anyway?"

"Well… he was just trying to be kind."

"By not respecting you when you said you don't drink?"

She paused for a moment before responding. "I don't know."

"Well, I would suggest telling him that you're a recovering alcoholic should you choose to go out with him again," Kevin said. "So, back to your grandmother. Do you still believe she was treating you unfairly? Are you really mad at her or are you directing your anger over the thing you're trying to distract yourself from towards her?"

"Maybe." She groaned. "Okay… Maybe she wasn't treating me unfairly. And maybe I am directing my anger at her in some respect. But I am mad at her for real too. Though it's not like I lashed out at her or anything."

"But you snuck out and dishonoured her house rules," Kevin said. "I don't think she was grounding you to hurt you. In fact, I think it's the opposite. But why are you mad at her? Is it really because she grounded you or is there more to it?"

"Okay fine… I'm mad at her because she sent me off to lunch with Kendall and Bianca when Mom was going home from the hospital. That really hurt me. I wanted to be there. It made me feel like I'm not important and I'll just be in the way like always."

"Ah, now we're getting somewhere," Kevin said. "You say, like always… does your grandmother do this often?"

"No. That's just it. I thought she was different."

"Different from who?"

Skye stared at the wall and didn't answer.

Kevin cleared his throat. "So, from my understanding… and correct me if I'm wrong… Your grandmother was doing something different than this other person who it seems doesn't include you in things and makes you feel like you're in the way? But when your mom was brought home from the hospital, it sounds like from your perspective your grandmother did end up doing the very thing this person does to you?"

Skye nodded. "She was supposed to be different."

"Okay, why do you think your grandmother discluded you in your mother's return home?"

"Because Kendall and I were pranking each other, and I turned Grandma's hair pink. And I suppose because I kept yelling at Mom's doctor."

"So, do you think your grandmother discluded you to hurt you or do you think there was another reason?" Kevin asked.

"I guess she probably thought I would stress Mom out and make it all about me. I would just be in the way."

"I'd like to use an example from my personal life," Kevin said. "I have two stepdaughters and sometimes I am disappointed in their behaviour, but that doesn't mean I love them any less. And there was one time my oldest was going through a phase and kept getting in trouble at school. She was showing very poor attitude towards us and towards her sister. We had planned to go to the carnival that weekend, but because of her behaviour we didn't let her go, even though it was a fun family day. Sometimes a parent or in your case grandparent doesn't punish to harm, they do it out of love."

"But a carnival is different than bringing your sick mother home from the hospital and your stepdaughter is a little girl."

"Yes. Fair enough. However, you are living under your mother's roof are you not?"

"Yeah."

"Then you really should abide by their rules. But my point is… I don't think your grandmother meant to hurt you. She was maybe just concerned about your behaviour around your mother while she's sick. Do you think you can show your grandmother that you can be on your best behaviour around your mom right now?"

"Well… I guess fighting with Kendall in front of Mom doesn't help…" Her breathing started to speed up. "But if I don't then I have to watch her with her breathing tube and I start crying!"

He looked at her sadly. "Is this what you wanted to be distracted from? Watching your mom in pain?"

She started to chew on her bottom lip and her eyes welled with tears. "I said I didn't want to talk about this!"

"Are you sure you don't want to? Sometimes we think it's easier to bury our emotions and our pain, but then it builds up inside and comes out in the worst ways possible. Distractions might work for the temporal, but not the long term."

"The pain just keeps getting worse the older I get, no matter what I do. And for the first time in my life, I didn't have to do anything… I didn't have to beg, I didn't have to be bad, she just wanted to be there for me… to be with me through anything. And now she's… she's… she's probably going to die and leave me again." She buried her face in her hands and cried. "And Grandma doesn't even want me around her because I'm bad…"

"Skye, does your grandmother keep sending you away or discluding you or was it just the once?"

"Well, I wanted to take time off work to be with Mom, but she insisted I go because I've already missed too much work when I was kidnapped…"

"I'd like to talk about your abduction in our next session… but you said you want a distraction. You want a distraction but not at work? Do you think maybe your grandmother was trying to give you a healthy distraction in your work?"

"Maybe. I don't know… I guess I just want to be at home with Mom but ignore her sickness. But I just felt so angry, I had to get out of there. I don't know, I'm so confused. I'm all over the place."

"Skye, running away isn't the answer," Kevin said. "And you don't have to focus on your mother's illness 24/7 but pretending it doesn't exist will only do more harm than good. Can you try to show your grandmother that you won't fight with Kendall in front of your mother and maybe even try to help out a bit with your mom?"

Skye's eyes grew wide. "You mean with the feeding tube?"

"It doesn't have to be if that's too overwhelming for you. Or even make her some meals or make her bed… just show some initiative without even being asked or told to do something. That's a good way to show you don't want to be treated like a child. But also do something that doesn't involve your mom's illness, whether it's playing a board game with her or something you enjoy together that isn't too much for her right now. Do something within your ability and comfort level to make your mother feel comfortable. I think it would be good for all three of you. And maybe continuing to go to work will be the distraction you need. But when I say distraction, I don't mean pretending that your mother isn't sick. It's more like a mental break from it. And there has to be a way to have fun with Kendall without pranking each other or fighting in front of your mom."

"I guess I can try to work on that."

"Our time is just about up. But I'd like to see you again. Maybe you can come once a week to start. But I have some homework for you. There's an AA meeting here at GH on Thursday evening. I think it would do you some good to attend. And when you go home tonight, I'd like you to write up two lists. The first is some ideas on how to help your mother out right now, and the second is some ideas on how you can have fun with Kendall without pranks or fighting. Then you can start applying some of those ideas and tell me how it goes."

"Okay."

"Skye…" He smiled at her. "You can do this. You have a lot of people in your corner, and I want to help you anyway that I can, okay?"

She smiled a little and nodded.