Thanks to everyone who read and to Ghostwriter and Callisto's Moon for reviewing.
Alex looked up from his computer and over to where Jamie lay curled on the couch under the comforter he'd dragged in from his room and sighed. Jamie's eyes were open and he was staring at the television, but it was even odds whether he had any idea what was happening onscreen despite having been the one to finally pick the program.
Things didn't seem to have gotten any worse since Kenny's funeral, but Alex couldn't say that they'd gotten any better, either. Jamie determination to say nothing of substance to Dr. Laura had continued through their session on Monday, which hadn't been a surprise, but since then he'd also refused even the most general suggestions that he wander over to one of his friend's houses, take a ride down to visit his grandmother, go talk to this Mr. Valda that he'd wanted to work for over the summer...basically anything that involved choosing to leave the house. He had accompanied Alex to the grocery store yesterday when Alex had insisted, but aside from that and his work shifts he was mostly splitting his time between his bed and the couch.
Dr. Laura had said to give him time and let him process, which had made sense given that their last meeting had been only a few days after the funeral, but with another week plus behind them and Jamie still doing a very good zombie impersonation, Alex had no idea if time continued to be the right answer or if he should start pushing. Somehow.
Alex also wondered if he should have taken Jamie off those work shifts despite Jamie's objections, given what had happened with Kenny. The high school squad was already down one member with Tyler out of town until the end of next week, but he could have pulled in one of the older EMTs to cover. He'd done it before when the squad had been shorthanded. But when he'd asked, Jamie had gotten upset at the implication that he couldn't do his job—it had been the most emotion that Jamie had shown Alex since the funeral—and both Hank and Val had assured Alex that even if Jamie had been distracted while they were doing chores around the station, he'd been entirely professional on their callouts. Given all of that, and since those shifts with the squad were really the only things that were getting him up and moving at all...
Alex's computer flashed again, repeating its reminder of his upcoming meeting, and he set it aside and braced, pushing himself to his feet. "Jamie?"
Jamie looked up immediately.
"I need to head out if I'm going to make it to the Croms' on time. Are you sure that you don't want to come along? I know they'd still like to meet you."
For a moment Jamie hesitated, and Alex was suddenly tempted to make it more than a question. Jamie had given in to his insistence once before, and if he came along it would mean that he'd gotten out of the house at least once today. But Alex needed ideas, and in this case he suspected that a frank discussion would be a lot easier if Jamie wasn't there. So if Jamie wanted to come he wouldn't object, but he wouldn't press this time, either.
Another long moment and then Jamie shook his head and curled back into his comforter again, and Alex sighed and shifted over to sit on the arm of the couch. The only good thing that had come out of this whole mess was that Jamie wasn't flinching from his touch anymore, and he rubbed Jamie's shoulder lightly. "Could you dig around in the fridge and see what looks good for dinner while I'm gone? I know we picked up a bunch of stuff at the grocery store yesterday, but I forgot to see what odds and ends needed to be finished off before we start on anything new. Maybe if things look good for stir fry you can start chopping up some vegetables?"
"'m not hungry."
"I know, kiddo, but you can't keep skipping meals, and I need to eat too. Could you please take a look for me?"
Jamie hesitated and then shrugged against Alex's hand. "Okay, I guess."
"Thank you." Alex paused and then pushed a little further even though he knew that he probably shouldn't. "You know, it's still early enough that you could give one of your friends a call, if you wanted. I'm sure they'd like to hear from you." He was actually a little surprised that Caitie hadn't called them at any point this week given how direct she'd been before, but maybe she was just as lost as Jamie. It wasn't a pleasant thought.
His suggestion got an immediate headshake, though, and Jamie pulled away from Alex's hand and curled into himself a little tighter.
"All right. All right. It was just an idea." He pushed himself up from the couch. "I'll see you in an hour and a half or so." On another day he might have included a 'be good' somewhere in there, but right now he'd be happy if Jamie decided to be anything.
"See you," Jamie echoed.
It was a good thing that he could get to the Croms' house on the back roads because Alex himself wasn't in any shape for driving that required a lot of concentration at the moment—on second thought, maybe it was a good thing that Jamie was refusing to take his motorcycle out anywhere—and it was a few minutes past the hour when he finally pulled into their driveway.
"Hello," he greeted when Rosa opened the door only an instant after he hit the bell. "I'm sorry I'm late, it's been a rough couple weeks."
She smiled and waved it off, gesturing him towards the couches, and Michael joined them with three glasses of water a minute later.
"How have you been?" Alex asked, remembering at least that much of his manners as he accepted one of the waters and they took the couch opposite him.
"Not too bad," Michael said. "The girls are officially back with their mother as of last Wednesday, so we're back in the pool waiting for our next placement."
"Oh, that's right, you'd said that their reunification was planned for just after the end of the school year. How did it go?"
"Fairly well, I think," Rosa said. "They'll be having regular meetings with their social worker for a while to make sure that things are still moving along, but she—their mother—put in a lot of work getting ready for this."
Alex nodded.
"How have things been for you?" Rosa asked, and then answered her own question before Alex could open his mouth. "Well, I suppose that you already said rough, so I expect that you're running into some issues now that Jamie isn't being kept occupied at school during the week? Problems with a little too much freedom?"
"A couple weeks ago I'd have said that that was exactly what I was worried about," Alex admitted, "but right now I'd be thrilled if he took off for one of his friend's houses for the day and came home after curfew." Both Croms frowned, and he shook his head. "Sorry, a good friend of his died of an overdose...two weeks ago, now, I guess it would be. Two weeks and a day."
"Oh, no," Rosa said quietly.
"Yeah. And not that that wouldn't be bad enough all on its own, but Jamie was also the one who found him. At this point he's spending most of his time curled up either in bed or on the couch, and I have no idea how to help."
Michael sighed. "That is rough. Have you talked to his social worker?"
"I left her a message right after the funeral, but I never heard back. I guess I should try again." He definitely should try again, now that Michael had brought it up.
"What about that therapist that you were taking him to?" Rosa asked. "Have you seen her since it happened?"
"Twice, actually, the last two Mondays, but Jamie's still refusing to talk to her about anything beyond the completely superficial. Not that that's specific in any way to Kenny's death. I know that she said that it would take time, but in this case I'm a little worried about how much." With the abuse...despite the aftereffects that were clearly still with him, it had happened long enough ago that Alex was willing to let Jamie take as much time as he needed to to work towards resolution. This, on the other hand, was so raw that he couldn't see letting it go no matter how stubborn Jamie wanted to be.
"Does he talk to you at all?" Michael asked.
"About general stuff, sure. He'll insist that he's not hungry if I ask him what he wants to eat, or that I should pick the show if one of us turns on the television, that sort of thing, but for the most part he's just..." Alex bit back a sigh. He'd have bought cookies or candy or whatever Jamie had wanted if the kid had shown even the slightest interest at the store yesterday, but when he'd tried to ask Jamie had only shrugged and shaken his head. "I guess he has let a few things slip, like apparently Kenny used to help him hide from his father's abuse, but it's been very piecemeal, and I'm not sure he's even realized what he's said." And Alex certainly wasn't going to push him when he was in that state.
"That's hard," Rosa said.
"Yeah. I can't even get him to uncurl long enough for a game of cards. It feels like I need to do something, but I don't have the first idea what."
"If he's not willing to go out on his own, have you thought about maybe getting away for a few days?" she asked after a minute. "The two of you, I mean? I think you mentioned that you occasionally go to conferences, but if something like that isn't available, maybe...I don't know, a weekend down in the city to go to a museum or the zoo or something like that? I don't know what your work schedule is or if it's an option financially, but a change of scenery might do him some good."
Alex blinked. The idea of taking Jamie to a medical conference didn't even bear thinking on, and under normal circumstances he wasn't sure how well a museum would hold his attention either unless it offered some sort of interactive exhibits, but the zoo would at least get him out and moving. Or... "Huh."
"You thought of something?" Michael asked.
"Well, I usually fly out to visit my parents sometime midsummer, but there's no real reason that I travel then except habit. And I was already going to take Jamie out with me this year if he was interested in coming. Maybe I could move that trip up." His work schedule might take some rearranging since his hours at the hospital were already set, but as he recalled he didn't have any particularly inconvenient shifts for a couple weeks after next Saturday's overnight, and given the number of times that he'd covered for other doctors when family emergencies had come up he suspected that he could find a few people willing to do the same for him. And as he recalled the next planned vacation on the high school squad after Tyler's return was Hank's in about a month, so there shouldn't be any issues on Jamie's end if the two of them left for a week, either.
"Where are you from, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Hm? Oh, Wyoming. And it's not just my parents, my brother and sister still live in the area too, and my brother's oldest is only six or eight months younger than Jamie." Between them and the goats—particularly the kids who'd still be in the fun, playful stage at this point—there would be several opportunities for distraction out there.
"That doesn't sound like a bad option," Rosa said. "It might be a little overwhelming at first, but as long as you're with him I suspect he'd be fine. But do your parents know that you're fostering?"
"Most definitely. My mother has been asking when I'm bringing Jamie out to visit since the first time that I mentioned him. I'm not sure how hard it will be to convince Jamie," especially since Jamie hadn't actually given him an answer when he'd asked the last time they'd been discussing vacation, "but it's worth a try."
Michael and Rosa nodded in unison. "You'll have to get his social worker's approval, too," Michael said, "but under the circumstances I can't image that will be a problem."