She Drives Me Crazy!

'Are you sure you want to do this Tc?' Chris asked as he drove.

'You wanted to sort things out between us and therapy is a good way for that to happen.' He kept his eyes on the road instead of his wife's uneasy face.

'I know but couldn't we do this another way? Why can't we just tell each other the problem without involving a therapist? What's he going to get out of us that we can't say ourselves?' Chris examined her fingernails. After this, she and Cory were going to have to get together and have a shop-n-sympathy afternoon.

'For starters it is a she not a he and it's not what we have to say to each other; it's about how we say it. Most couples have problems with communicating and hopefully these sessions will help us?'

'Sessions? As in plural? I don't know Tc, I can't keep taking time off work for therapy. They'll think I'm crazy.' Chris had just laded a posting at the Los Angeles branch of the FBI and wanted to keep the good impression she'd made on her colleagues.

'It isn't a psychologist Chris, it's a couple's therapist and they won't think you're crazy.' Tc turned into a car lot next to a business centre that contained the therapist's clinic as well as a few other businesses such as a nail technician, coffee shop and accountant.

Tc locked up the car while Chris checked the directory to find the right floor. He had to run to catch up as she'd already found the floor and was disappearing into the elevator.

'How long do you think this will take?' She asked him and looked at her watch.

'The appointment goes for an hour.'

'A whole hour?' Chris whined.

He shrugged. 'It's the standard appointment time.'

'That won't leave ME much time though.'

'For what?'

'Shopping.' She said, then put a hand on his shoulder. 'Oh, I forgot to tell you, I invited Sal and his wife over for dinner tonight.'

'Tonight? I was supposed to be going out tonight. Cory entered Emily into a baby show at the shopping centre and asked if I wanted to go.'

The elevator chimed as they reached the floor. Chris got out and continued their conversation. 'You forget Tc, the baby was Will's. You don't have a responsibility to this child.'

'I know that but Cory's our friend and her daughter is in a contest and wanted us to come for support.'

'To show off more likely. Besides, I'm still making friends here and Sal is like the inner circle around the office and if you really want to have a baby fix they're bringing their two year old son with them so you can giggle and coo over him as much as you like.'

Chris made her way over to the reception desk. 'Hi, Chris Kelly.' She said to the girl behind the desk. 'We have a two o'clock appointment.'

The girl flicked through the appointment book before her. 'Chris and Tc Callaway?'

Chris nodded then rolled her eyes to Tc when the girl wasn't looking. Tc was glad the girl hadn't been paying attention to his wife and thus didn't bear the brunt of Chris's obvious bad mood.

'Carol is with her previous appointment. She won't be long if you'd like to take a seat.'

Chris smiled to the girl and went and sat in the waiting area. She picked up a magazine and flicked through it.

Tc sat next to her and trailed his touch down her arm in the hope of capturing her hand in his.

Chris just looked at his hand then to his face. 'What?' She asked.

'I just thought I could hold your hand. That's all.' He said.

'Tc, if we were lovey-dovey holding hands we wouldn't be at a couple's therapist would we?'

Tc withdrew his hand and stared at various items around the room to pass the time.

Before too long a couple came out of the appointment room laughing. The man with his arm around the woman's waist. Tc watched as the woman complimented her partner on being sweet as he opened the door for her on the way out.

'Tc and Chris?' Carol Roxton the therapist called them into her office.

Chris got to her feet and deposited the magazine in Tc's lap on the way into the office. Tc sighed to himself and put the magazine back on the table with the others and followed her.

Tc found the office rather daunting. There were three heavily padded chairs. Two in separate corners and the other against the opposite wall making up a triangle. All three chairs faced the centre of the room.

Chris sat down in one corner and Carol had taken the chair backing onto the wall. Tc noticed that there were various pictures of happy couples adorning the walls.

Tc took his seat in the corner opposite to Chris. She was already looking at her watch.

Carol Roxton folded her hands in her lap. 'Let's get started shall we.' She said in a soft, soothing tone and Tc only guessed was a put on. 'Tell me about the two of you.'

Tc opened his mouth to speak but Chris talked over him. 'Well I started out in the Navy and moved to the police force and from there went to the FBI.'

'Now Chris, I'm sure your relationship isn't all about your career.' Carol said, still in that soothing tone.

Tc strained to keep a poker face.

'Tell me about the two of you as a couple.' She said spreading her hands out and then bringing them back together like she was trying to push Chris and Tc's chairs together with some unseen force…possibly flower power.

Tc decided to take charge and jumped in before Chris had a chance. 'Well Chris and I met when she joined our unit in the police force. We weren't allowed to have a relationship but did anyway. Then when the lieutenant left I was promoted and we got married. We were together for about a year and a half when the marriage broke up. She came back after I'd been shot, had a car accident and became hooked on pain killers and we've been trying to sort things out ever since.'

Carol sat there nodding rhythmically to everything he said. 'Whose decision was it to go your separate ways in the first place?'

'His.' 'Hers.' They said in unison.

Tc looked over at his wife. 'You left Chris. I never wanted you to go.'

Chris looked miffed. 'You forced me out.'

'When? How? You left because you wanted to be some big shot FBI agent.'

'Ok, well…' Carol tried to intervene but Chris wasn't letting Tc get away with anything.

'Well if I had a chance to improve my career in Santa Monica I wouldn't have left.'

Tc shook his head. 'Are we back to this again?'

'Don't patronize me Tc! You picked someone with and less training over me and you expect me to be okay with it.'

'She's your best friend and she does a great job.'

'I would have done a great job too. I've saved your life often enough.

'I can see that there are still some raw feelings here…' Carol tried again.

'I needed a sergeant who would stay for better or for worse instead of flittering off when it suited her. Much the same qualities I look for in a wife.'

'Is that why you slept with her then?'

'Guys, guys, cool it!' Carol shouted over the fray. Tc and Chris stopped their argument and looked at her. She returned to her normal breezy voice. 'Now I know the two of you are ambitious but things like this take time and bringing up everything at once is not going to help.'

Chris sat back in her chair and huffed. Tc didn't understand why a woman of her age chose to throw a tantrum if she didn't get her own way.

'So let me recap.' Carol folded her hands back in her lap and started with the soothing voice again. 'Chris, you felt she needed to pursue her career and Tc, you didn't want Chris to go. Is that right?'

They both nodded.

'Tc, did you tell Chris you didn't want her to go?'

'Yes. I mean, I think so but she didn't seem to listen.'

Chris rolled her eyes.

'Chris, did you ever think of asking him to go with you?'

Chris did a rather good fish impersonation while she tried to find the right words. 'No but it would mean him choosing between his work and me.'

'As opposed to you making the choice for him.' Carol reiterated.

'He got to keep his career and I got to have mine. It worked out well.'

'For you.' Tc butted in. 'I hated it when you left.'

'Well I hate it when you don't respect me. I hated it when you promoted Cory over me. I hated it when you were so disapproving of me wanting to transfer to the homicide division. I hated it when you tried to hit on me when I was trying to cook dinner.'

Now it was Tc's turn to roll his eyes. Chris saw this and glared.

'That's a lot of things you hate. What about the things you love?' Carol asked, her gaze never leaving Chris as she waited for the answer.

Chris seemed to retreat into herself. 'Well, um…I like that, ah, his dedication to the community?' She said unsurely.

Tc laughed.

Chris sat upright in the chair and looking him square in the eyes. 'Ok, so you try. I'm sure you can do better.'

Tc gave her a sweet smile which unnerved her no end. He leaned forward in his seat. 'I love the way your hair smells after a hard day at work. I love the noises you make in your sleep. I love the sound your feet make on the floor when you walk around barefoot. I love the way you are so strong to protect yourself and those around you but at the same time you're caring and soft and sensitive to those you love.'

'Wow.' Chris whispered to herself.

The room was so quiet she could hear her heartbeat as the seconds past, time that passed all too quickly but felt like it lasted for hours all at the same time. Their gazes locked, Tc could almost read her mind and he knew she was more than blown away by his answer. He also knew she was drumming up an equally compelling answer if she was asked the question again.

'Good answer.' Carol said and Tc nearly hit her for breaking the mood.

'Does this mean you aren't angry anymore for me inviting company over for dinner?' Chris asked hopefully.

Tc shook his head, not to her question but to the conspiracy between these two women that sat before him. They were going to drive him mad!

Chris walked out of Carol's office with her head held high leaving her bemused and emotionally exhausted husband to follow behind her.

Tc quickly wrote out a cheque and gave it to the receptionist.

As he approached, Chris held the door open for him. 'That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.' She said, mainly to herself. As they walked down the hallway towards the elevator she slipped her hand into his back pocket…and pulled out his keys. 'I'm driving.' She said with a cocky grin.