31 Harry's POV
Natasha watched Tom with a concerned look as he walked out with Buzz, shutting the door softly behind him.
"Do you think you can help him?" I asked, trying desperately to not appear like I was too nervous about this. But she had to be able to help, we didn't know anybody who could help, Natasha needed to help. We couldn't... we needed a professional to get Tom back to how he was, or at least stop him thinking like this.
"Well, from what I just saw, Tom's been in a very bad situation for a very long time. Is he always so open with how useless he feels?" Natasha still sounded sympathetic. We needed sympathetic; Tom needed a kind person to look after him right now.
"Yes, he, he took some convincing at first, when we were trying to get out of him what had happened, but when we got him to talk, that basically came out." I answered, hating saying it, hating the entire situation. This felt wrong, talking about Tom behind his back, telling his secrets to this woman. But how else were we going to explain what was going on? It wasn't like we could trust Tom to say the right thing here! He didn't even believe he had been abused in the first place!
"And how did that conversation come about?" Natasha questioned us about the past few weeks, from the day we found Tom in his house, all the way to now. She asked about the times before, if there was any sign of anything being wrong in his marriage, but we couldn't think of anything.
Whenever we had been around Tom, he'd been fine with us, like he had always been. He had laughed and joined in with us, had worked hard when we had, there hadn't been anything there that looked wrong at all.
"Did he ever initiate a playful act? As in, start a play fight first, or suggest doing something ridiculous?" Natasha asked... I didn't think he did.
"Not from what I remember, no. But he's always been the sensible one, who told us we were doing something stupid. He's sort of been band mother since day one." Danny answered, chewing his fingernails again, radiating anxiety, as he had been all morning.
"Yeah, and whenever he was more hesitant, or less interested in whatever we were doing, we figured he was having a bit of a bipolar dip." It was what I'd always assumed anyway. Tom didn't join in with us as much when he was depressed, and had always been more self conscious, and angrier than normal. Anytime he acted like that, I put it down to his bipolar.
Unless it was his wife causing it, what if his behaviour had been more because of his wife? What if she had been making him pull back, become more hesitant in playing about and being happy? I suddenly felt so guilty for dismissing any of his behaviour. I shouldn't have put it down to bipolar, should have investigated further, maybe I could have stopped this sooner, if I had just asked.
"Don't blame yourself Harry, self blame doesn't help Tom, and doesn't change the past either. What has happened, has happened, and blaming yourself is only going to make you feel worse." Natasha reassured me, apparently noticing my worry, "Trust me when I say nobody would have noticed this, not without training, and knowing what they were looking for."
"Didn't you pick up on anything during your therapy sessions with Tom before?" Danny stopped chewing his nail, probably scared of what Natasha would say in response to it.
"I'm afraid I wasn't looking for signs of abuse, I was focused on helping Tom cope with bipolar. Admittedly, I did think it was suspicious that he quit therapy so soon, but I thought he was coping well, and told him to come back whenever he had a problem, or just needed to talk. It isn't uncommon for patients to leave once they've stabilised on their medications, so I let it go." Natasha explained, her face changing to one of guilt herself, before she focused back on us.
"But like I said, there is no point in dwelling on the past. So, here is the most important question, is Tom a danger to Buzz? He seems convinced that he's not capable of looking after him, but is there any truth in there? I hate to ask, but I have to in a situation like this." she turned serious, looking at us each in turn, like it would compel us to tell the truth, like we would lie here.
"Of course not! Tom is a great father to Buzz, he couldn't be more attentive!" I defended him straight away; Tom didn't pose any threat to Buzz whatsoever. No matter how bad things got, I knew that Tom would never hurt Buzz, or neglect him...
Okay, so there was that initial day when we found them in the house, but since then he hadn't neglected him in anything, apart from play time. But we had stepped in then, and if he needed any help, then we were now there to step in. Buzz couldn't have been safer.
"Tom's really good! Buzz is always well fed, and bathed, and is kept on a routine. He gets enough sleep, has Tom to soothe him when he's teething, anything he needs, Tom gives him straight away." Danny agreed, almost clambering out of the chair in his desperation to explain.
"Honestly, Tom is great with Buzz. He's hesitant to play with him, but that's because of what his wife has put in his head. She made him think that he's going to make Buzz grow up wrong if he carries on playing with him like he does. But he played with him like everybody does with babies; there was nothing wrong with it." I explained as best as I could, remembering watching Tom crawl around the floor with Buzz, tickling the baby, reading him stories, giving him so many hugs, everything that was expected of a parent. He had been the ideal parent; Buzz hadn't been in more capable hands if he tried.
"Okay, so now he keeps him healthy, but doesn't play anymore? How does he interact with him?" Natasha questioned.
"It's more... he feeds him, cleans him up, soothes him when it's needed. But when Buzz is playing, Tom just watches now. He watches like a hawk, making sure Buzz doesn't come to harm, but he doesn't join in. His playful streak is gone entirely." I answered, hoping that was good enough of an explanation. It was good, right? Oh God please don't let Natasha think that Tom was an awful father, and take Buzz from him! Not after we promised him he wouldn't be taken!