Title: Fully Qualified

Author: mistymidnight

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Fill in the blanks: Joss owns the . Gidgetgirl owns the . I own , , and Taylor Hill. (ooh! new character!)

Spoilers/Timeline: post-Chosen. I thought I'd established that fact.

Summary: Ever notice that when you think you've got control, the past has to come and bite you in the butt? Porr Willow.

Author's Notes: The introduction of a central character! Thus ends the exposition of the story and begins the rising action. Enjoy the ride!

Oh, and forgive the Bad Pun that is this chapter's title.

Chapter Five: Have Patients

"Mommy!" Willow looked up at the sound of the word. It was muffled from behind her office door, but she would know that voice anywhere.

Erin stuck her head in the door. "Lola and her mom are here."

Willow nodded. "So I've heard. Have them come right in."

Erin nodded and turned toward the waiting room. "Dr. Rosenberg says to come right in."

Willow sat up a little straighter in her chair and opened the drawer in which her notes on Lola were kept.

"Mommy!" Lola exclaimed, running over to Willow.

"Hey kiddo," Willow said. "It's great to see you."

"I'll be back in half an hour, sweetheart," Lola's mother said to her daughter.

"Okay, bye Mommy."

Lola's mother turned to Willow. "I'll be right down the street. You have my cell number?"

Willow smiled. "As always."

Lola's mother nodded and left. Lola looked up at Willow expectantly.

"Okay, kiddo," Willow said. "Why don't you have a seat?" She gestured to the two comfy black leather chairs in front of her desk. After a moment of careful four-year-old deliberation, Lola chose the seat on the right.

"Now," Willow said. "How was your day today, Lola?"

"Good!" Lola exclaimed. "We drew pictures and we had graham crackers with peanut butter and then we blew bubbles and then Mommy picked me up."

"Did anything bad happen today?"

Lola hesitated for half a second. "No."

"Lola, do you remember what we said?"

Lola sighed. "I don't always have to be happy. But why not? I like being happy."

Willow got up and sat in the other chair beside Lola. "I know, Lola. It's good to be happy. But no one is happy all the time. You don't have to be happy all the time."

"Do you want me to be sad?"

"No! Of course I don't! And that's why I'm telling you it's okay not to be happy every single day. You don't have to be perfect, Lola."

"But I can't be bad. I'll get coal at Christmas."

Willow sighed. Leave it to Lola to think about Christmas gifts at any random time.

"I'm not telling you to be bad, Lola. There's a difference between being good and being perfect."

"Like what?"

Talk yourself right into a corner. Way to go, Rosenberg. "Umm...good people make mistakes, Lola. I make mistakes. Your mom makes mistakes and so does your dad. Nobody can live their whole life without making any mistakes."

"Jesus did," Lola said promptly.

"He may well have," Willow agreed, straining to remember everything about Christianity she'd ever learned. "But didn't he die for people to save us from our sins?"

"What's our sins?"

"The bad things we do, Lola. See, nobody's perfect. The world has been around for a long time--"

"Gazillions of years," Lola added helpfully.

"Right. Gazillions. And no one--except Jesus," she added hastily, "was perfect."

Lola considered this. "If Jesus died to save us from mistakes," she said slowly, "aren't they bad?"

Willow sighed. She'd never meant to get into a religious discussion with Lola. "Listen, kiddo," she said. "You're not Jesus. You're not anybody but Lola. And no one expects you to be anything else. So tell me about your day. But don't tell me what you did. Tell me about your feelings. How did you feel when you woke up?"

"Tired."

"Okay. How about at breakfast?"

"Hungry."

"Lola, I'm not talking about tired and hungry feelings. I'm talking about happy-sad feelings."

"I know."

"So how did you feel at breakfast?"

"Hungry."

"Lola," Willow tried again. "Were you happy at breakfast?"

"Not really."

"Were you sad?"

"Uh-uh."

"Were you angry?"

"No."

"So you weren't feeling anything except hungry?"

"Nope."

"Okay. Did you feel like that all day? Not happy, not sad, not angry?"

Lola thought. "Yeah."

Willow scribbled something down. "How do you sleep, Lola?"

Lola wrinkled he forehead. "Huh?"

"Do you wake up in the middle of the night?"

Lola looked at the floor. "No."

"Lola, tell me the truth."

Lola looked at her foot and mumbled, "Sometimes."

"Okay, so you wake up sometimes?" Willow asked.

"Yes."

"Do you know why?"

Lola shook her head. "Sometimes it's because they're too loud," she said.

"Because who is too loud?"

"Mommy and Daddy. Sometimes they talk too loud."

"They talk too loud?"

"They yell."

"Oh. I see. This bothers you, doesn't it, Lola?"

The four-year-old nodded, her eyes on the floor. "I wish they wouldn't."

"I understand, Lola." Willow stood up. "Well, it looks like time's up. I'll see you on Friday, kiddo."

"Bye, Mommy."

"Lola," Willow said. "I'm not your mommy. Your mommy isn't here right now. She's coming to pick you up."

"But I love you," Lola said. "You're nice."

"Thank you, Lola. That means a lot to me. But you can love me even if I'm not your mom. I'm either Dr. Rosenberg or Willow, okay?"

Lola nodded. "Okay."

Willow smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "Until Friday, sweetie."

She walked the little girl to the waiting room, where her mother was standing. "Hi, sweetheart!" she greeted Lola. "Do you want to go for ice cream?"

"Yay!" Lola exclaimed. Mother and daughter left.

"How was she today?" Erin asked quietly.

"She was Lola," Willow said simply.

The rest of the day went by quietly until almost four-thirty, when a young woman and a little girl came rushing in.

"Can I help you?" Willow asked. She had happened to be behind the desk checking files and Erin was in the ladies room.

"I hope so," the young woman said. "Is Dr. Rosenberg in?"

"That she is," Willow said with a grin. "I'm Dr. Willow Rosenberg. Nice to meet you..."

"Carly," the woman said. "Carly Hill. This is my daughter, Taylor." Willow walked out from behind the desk and knelt down nxt to the little girl. "Hi, Taylor," she said. "I'm Willow."

"Hi!" the little girl said in a friendly manner. "Are you a real doctor?"

"I am," Willow said. She turned to Taylor's mother and raised her eyebrows in question. Taylor seems fine to me. But years of training had told WIllow to never go with first impressions. If Carly had brought her daughter here, it was for a good reason.

"Erin," Willow said, catching her secretary's attention the second she walked in. "Will you keep an eye on Taylor here? Her mother and I will be in my office."

"No problem," Erin said. She walked over to the little girl. "Look," she said, digging a toy out of the big bin next to a row of chairs. "Wanna play a game with me?"

Taylor nodded and Willow gestured for Carly to follow her into her office.

"So, Mrs. Hill," she began.

"Uh, Miss Hill," Carly said. "And call me Carly."

"Okay. Carly. I'll be blunt. Why did you bring Taylor to me? She seems like a well-adjusted girl."

"She was," Carly said. "Until about a month ago. Then she started acting stragely."

"Strangely how?" Willow asked, taking notes of the conversation.

"Well, it started with dreams, or something. She'd wake up in the middle of the night screaming things that made no sense. I know that's not really unusual, especially for a kid her age, but it got worse.

"She started acting strangely when she was awake. She'd completely switch personalities. One minute she'd be outgoing and the next she'd be stuttering and shy. And it gets worse. One day I told her to turn the TV off. She turned around and said to me, 'I hope you freaking die, stupid woman.' Just like that. I sent her to her room, and she snarled at me. Like an animal."

"Like a vampire," Willow said without thinking.

"I guess," Carly said. "And afterward, she didn't remember anything."

"So she has mood swings," Willow said.

"I think it's more than that," Carly said. "One day after her kindergarten clss, I asked her how school went and she said, 'I did it, Mommy. I did it. I feel them all.' She didn't remember saying that, either." Carly leaned forward. "Look, I've heard wonderful things about you. I know you have a great reputation in the psychological community. And I don't know who else to ask."

mistymidnight