V
Slowly
¡§When you decided to become a psychologist or psychiatrist or whatever, did you think of the doctor-patient relationship? Of course you did. Its part of the whole doctor thing. Heck, you probably did it before considering the career path you are on now. You have to have explored freely, by yourself, every nook and cranny of the world before actually entering it, making sure that this is indeed what you want to do with the rest of your life. Especially in medicine. Because it surrounds our everyday lives in a cut or an argument, it has to be that you can¡¦t help but notice each and every intricacy of it. Whether its psychiatry or surgery, you listen carefully to the convoluted details of where each word sputtered from the arguer. You try to establish a connection with it and the arguer¡¦s past, putting your Freudian face on. As a surgeon, you must watch where you cut closely, because one cut, wrong or right may affect the patient forever.¡¨
Deanna sat in her well-lit office, talking to the one patient she felt didn¡¦t really need her help.
But apparently, he and his son were beyond help. Kyle Riker had tried everything with him, from the guilt trip to the truth to arguing with an attitude, who Deanna found out was the famous author, William T. Riker. She didn¡¦t want to impose on his life, and seeing how much Kyle was affected by the relationship, she could guess how William would react.
But Deanna was running out of ideas. ¡§Kyle, I don¡¦t know if this is a good idea or not, but it would probably help a great deal if William came in with you someday and we could all sit down and talk.¡¨ Kyle sighed rather loudly and Deanna knew immediately what he was going to tell her. ¡§Whether or not he wants to.¡¨
~
¡§I¡¦m NOT going!¡¨ Will screamed at his father, trying to affectively get his point across. It seemed like he wouldn¡¦t take his answer, which was definitely a no. Kyle was about to retaliate when Will came up with another smart retort. ¡§I am NOT going to some shrink¡¦s office just so she can tell me that I have issues with my father!! I know that for myself!¡¨
¡§You¡¦re acting like a twelve year-old. Shut up and meet me at Starfleet Psychiatry¡¦s Chief Counsel office tomorrow at 1300.¡¨
Will wasn¡¦t going to let him win. He was right, but that didn¡¦t mean Will would let him win. ¡§You mean one o¡¦clock PM.¡¨
And Kyle felt the same way, getting the last word, as always. ¡§No, I mean 1300 hours.¡¨
~
¡§The first meeting with the patient is as important as your first impression made with a Starfleet captain. A bad first meeting is as bad as disobeying your captain on the first day. Maybe you can act a certain way for a certain period of time to make up for it, but sooner or later your real face will come to play and then what will you do? It¡¦s inevitable. ¡§
¡§I don¡¦t think we can wait for him any longer.¡¨
Deanna and Will were seated across from each other in the corner of her office waiting for Kyle. Deanna sat with her legs crossed, working on her PADD and Will sat across from her with a blank piece of paper in his journal. He felt Deanna¡¦s eyes glance slightly from their position on her PADD to Will¡¦s unmoving pencil. He could feel her skepticism when she failed to mention anything about it.
As she placed her PADD on the table in front of her, Will closed his notebook and began to pack up. His father wasn¡¦t going to come and Will had better things to do.
¡§Where are you going?¡¨
The man stood and strapped on his backpack. ¡§Home.¡¨ As attractive as she was, Will still couldn¡¦t stay just for her. She was tempting, but he had a deadline and nothing to submit. If he let himself, he could panic like crazy with immense cups of coffee by his side.
Deanna, on the other hand, had let herself panic. If Kyle wasn¡¦t going to show up, William¡¦s visit would¡¦ve come of no use. He would most likely decided not to show up next time too.
{Roni to Troi.}
Saved by the assistant.
Deanna tapped her COMM badge. ¡§Yes Beth?¡¨
{Kyle Riker has called to say that he would be arriving a little late. He would also like to know if William will be staying.}
Deanna looked to Will, making eye contact and finding herself rendered to his deep, buzzworthy, ice blue eyes. At first it felt a little awkward, waiting for his response like that. But then he nodded and sat back down, digging through his backpack like an archeologist looking for some unknown artifact.
{Hello? Deanna?}
Deanna was jolted back to reality as she answered her. ¡§Yes, he will be staying. Tell Kyle to hurry up.¡¨
{Yes ma¡¦am. Roni out.}
~
Deanna couldn¡¦t concentrate on what she had been thinking before she and Will had made their eye contact. She couldn¡¦t remember what she had been doing for that matter. She found herself building castles in the air as the damsel in distress and him as her hero prince. Her metallic pen used with PADD¡¦s sat in her fingers unmoved as Will¡¦s pencil busily recorded whatever he had been previously stuck on.
Deanna was about to ask him what he was writing when Beth poked her head into the room.
¡§Kyle Riker is here to see you.¡¨
Deanna nodded. ¡§Let him in.¡¨
Deanna could almost hear Will¡¦s pencil stop in mid sentence. His notebook was quickly put away into his black backpack and ready for his father. In a way, it reminded Deanna of her mother.
Kyle Riker strode into the room, hesitant at first, and sat a seat away from his son.
~
¡§When a patient rejects your advice, you have to ask yourself why. Was it something you said? It couldn¡¦t have been. You chose your words as carefully as they did theirs. Did you do something wrong? Or was it their problem that you have to add onto the report? So you¡¦ve scheduled them for another appointment. It doesn¡¦t mean that they¡¦d be glad or even willing to come. I remember something someone said at a convention once. ¡§Without advice, plans go awry.¡¨ You can¡¦t give up on the patient even though you want to. They¡¦ve rejected your advice, but you have to make it known to them that this is an obstacle in their life, and without your advice, they can¡¦t plan the rest of it properly. They have to get past this bump in the road and they¡¦ve come to you because they don¡¦t know what else to do. ¡§
¡§It¡¦s not human nature to automatically resort to professional advice at first try. But that¡¦s a whole different subject. For now, just concentrate on your patient.¡¨
