Winter spun slowly back and forth in her chair, the crisp Monday morning air seeping through the window behind her illuminating her office better than any desk light could. She had shown up early, hoping to get to the office before her anxiety woke up, but it was there waiting for her when she opened the door to her office.

Her mind drifted back to the rest of her Sunday after her back-breaking cleaning session. After left, she talked to Amy about this and that, but not anything too important, for awhile. It was nice to just sit and talk with someone about nothing. Winter felt a warm feeling spread through her thinking about it. Amy also gave Winter the schedule for her first day of work. She had three appointments that day, and she should be done by two o'clock. So, she asked Qrow if he could bring the girls by the office after that. Amy told her it wouldn't be an issue to have a preemptive meeting, but Winter was still nervous that she was breaking some kind of law. Qrows response was short, and to the point, Thank, God.

But before her meeting with the girls, she had her official patients first. So there she was, counting down the milliseconds until her first real meeting. Lines from textbooks kept popping into her head about how to talk to kids, but they all seemed hollow and meaningless now that she was about to do it for real. She would have asked for some advice, but he wasn't supposed to be in until later. Winter smiled at the new toy chest she had moved into her office that morning It was a simple plastic box that was piled high with stuffed animals, games, and whatever else Winter could stuff into it. She shoved it to the side of her office next to the big couch.

The buzzer on her desk phone went off, and it felt like somebody had splashed ice cold water on her head. She had trouble getting air into her lungs and could almost feel someone's invisible hands squeezing her lungs, "Winter, your first appointments here. All ready?" Amy asked in a static-filled voice that was filled with confidence that Winter wished she had. Winters felt her stomach drop like she was lifting off in a plane. Suddenly her breakfast felt like it would come up, just like it did when she usually flew.

Winter moved her hand to answer, finger above the button, when her body ground to a halt, the pad of her finger just touching the smooth plastic. She tried to jerk her arm free, to Answer Amy, but she couldn't find the will to do it. "Don't worry, hun. You'll do great" Amy encouraged through the speaker, almost like she could sense Winters nerves. Or maybe she was just that obvious to read.

"Yeah, I'm ready. Send him in" Winter forced the noise out of her throat, hoping she didn't stutter too badly.

Winter waited as the seconds dragged on and on, feeling like years as this boy slowly walked to her office… But then, minutes did pass. But there was still no knock on her door. "Amy, you did send him back here, right?"

"Yeah, is he not there yet?"

"No. Think he could have gotten lost or something?" Winter wondered aloud.

"I doubt it, I told him to go all the way down to the right and to knock when he got there"

"Weird" Winter mumbled to herself as she stood up and quickly moved to the door. She opened it up planning to go and look for him but never made it out the door.

Standing in front of her office was a short, stick of a kid with a mop of blonde hair on his head who had his shaking fist raised, looking like he was about to knock on her door. They stood facing each other like statues, neither of them sure how to make the first move.

"Jaune Arc?" Winter stuttered out hastily, taking a step back and forcing a smile. He opened his mouth to answer, nothing out came out of it.

After a bit he nodded and looked away from her, "Yes" It was quiet and he sounded terrified to make a noise, but it was better than silence.

"Why don't you have a seat, Jaune" Winter smiled, stepping back and motioning for him to come in. Winter noticed that his pants and shirt were about two sizes too big for his skinny frame and that the shirt was also a bright purple color and had some boyband on the front of it, even though he had his arms crossed over his chest trying to hide it.

Jaune sat down in the seat across from Winter's desk, looking stiff as a board with his hands in tight fists in his lap, looking like he was sitting in the principles office in deep trouble. "So, tell me about yourself, Jaune" Winter asked as she walked around and sat down in her desk chair. She smiled and leaned forward in her chair. He was looking all over the room, but never at her.

"Like what?" He sputtered out slowly and quietly like he was double-checking the words in his mind before saying them.

"Just, anything" Winter wasn't sure what to ask, but this seemed like good a place as any to start. Jaunes attention was focused solely on the hands in his lap as he thought.

"I have seven sisters, my mom works at a bank, and I go to Signal middle school," Jaune said this in a matter of fact sort of way like he was answering a test question. Well, out of three facts, I got one that was directly about him. That's a start.

The next hour dragged on, filled with more awkward silences than an average dinner at the Schnee home. It was clear that the kid had a severe lack of confidence, to say the least. When Winter asked him about his favorite game, it took a solid five minutes of him listing off games he played with his sisters to get him to say his favorite was Chess. At the end of the hour, they agreed to meet the same time next week, and for him to come straight to her office and knock next time.

He was a nice boy and Winter was excited to work with him and to get him a bit of a backbone in the future. But until then, she knew her hours with him would be a lot of prying. She was excited to see him next week and had a smile waving him off.

The next boy who came into her office was the complete opposite of Jaune. He was tall, silver-haired, and had a major attitude. Mercury Black Strolled into the office like he owned the place, something Winter didn't even do and sprawled out on the couch with his dirty shoes still on. Winter felt her skin crawl every time she looked at the shoes on her couch. When Winter sat down next to him he started to complain and rant about everything and anything without her even introducing herself.

Winter read in his file that the court had ordered him to see a therapist after he was caught breaking and entering. He didn't steal anything, he hung out in the house for a few hours while the family was out shopping. He was only fourteen, and it wasn't his first offense, but they thought parol and therapy were in order before things got serious.

"That's when I got really mad, so tried to hit the dork, teach her to toughen up a little bit. But some girl got in the way, then a teacher seen and through us both in detention. So now I have to do some stupid letter about why I'm sorry or something dumb like that"

Mercury looked calm when he spoke, he had a nice fluid voice like someone who didn't care what he was saying or who he was saying it to. Winter couldn't help but wonder why he was so mad at everything, making a note of it on the clipboard in front of her. She wanted to help him relax but knew it would be an uphill battle.

"Mercury, our time is about up. Do you want to come back and do this again next week?" Winter interrupted him while he was in the middle of complaining about homework. His head spun to look at her. His eyes were wide, and he looked a little puzzled like he just realized he was talking to someone other than himself.

"Oh. Sure." And like that he got up and left her office without another word.

Winter got up and flopped onto the couch Mercury had just been sitting on, she made sure her shoes were off the coach, the image in her mind was like nails on a chalkboard to her. Winter buried her face in a cushion that felt just the right amount of rough on her soft skin. The couch smelled like something you'd find at an antique shop, musky, old, and like it had a story to tell. Winer felt the muscles in her back loosen as she took in a deep breath. She turned her mind off for a second and willed time to stop while she basked in the glory of comfort.

All too quickly she heard a buzz from her desk, "Ughhh" groaned Winter, not ready for her next appointment yet. Instead of Amy's voice coming out of the speaker, there was just another buzz. Then another. Winter shot up and rushed to her desk when she realized that it was her cell phone in her drawer that was buzzing.

"Hello?" Winter asked, so shocked someone was calling her that she didn't even look at who was calling her.

"Snowflake, we have a bit of an issue" It took Winter a second to place the gruff voice on the other end of the phone.

"What do you mean, Qrow?"

"Well, while we were driving downtown Ruby and Yang finally asked what we were doing visiting you. I guess they thought we were just gonna hang out or something, probably didn't even think about it. Then, I told them you were a therapist…" Then his voice trailed off and until there was nothing on the other end.

"And?" Winter felt her blood run cold at the silence on the other end grow longer and longer.

"They don't wanna see you anymore"