36 Danny's POV
The week between the first therapist appointment and the second was...awkward to say the least. I don't think any of us knew what to do now, what with the advice from Natasha saying that we couldn't mollycoddle him, or do anything that could make Tom transfer his need for his wife to us. It was so hard to figure out what to do, what to say. Did we encourage Tom to join in playing with Buzz? Did we help him with his daily tasks? It was hard to figure out what to do, how to talk to him.
And I could tell that Tom picked up on it too, he spent less time with us now, disappearing upstairs. He was so awkward when he was with us, or just with Buzz. He was struggling so much, and none of us knew how to help. Everything felt wrong, like we were treating him like a child, or like there was something seriously wrong with him. Well, there was something wrong with him, but Tom didn't know that... or at least he thought the wrong thing was wrong with him.
The problem was, Tom started to go to therapy by himself. He just left a note on the kitchen table and left with Buzz, generally before any of us got up. God knew what he did while waiting for his therapy session to start, but he just left. Drove himself there and back, took Buzz with him, made sure the boy had toys and food through the session, and was generally just being very independent.
Not that being independent was a bad thing, because it certainly wasn't. It was just that... I wanted to go with him. I wanted to make sure that he was safe, and that things were going well. I wanted to ask Natasha questions, make sure she knew what was really happening around here. Tom wasn't good at explaining things properly, he had a warped view of what was going on around him, I didn't know what he was telling Natasha. And if she didn't know the truth, then how was she supposed to help him?
"Maybe you should phone her." Harry suggested, after Tom had disappeared upstairs for the night.
"Isn't it a bit late for that?" It was nine in the evening, surely it was too late to phone her now?
"She said day or night." Harry pointed out, so I phoned her, putting the call on speaker so everyone could hear.
"Hello?" Natasha answered after three rings.
"Hello, it's Danny, Harry and Dougie. We're Tom's friends, and we were wondering if we could as how things are going, and maybe give some insight into what's going on now?" I made it sound like it was a question, so she could say no if she wanted.
"Erm, alright then, what do you want to know? I can't give much away, because of patient confidentiality, but I can do my best to answer your questions." Natasha answered, I'd forgotten about that, she wouldn't be able to tell us much now.
"Well, how is he doing for starters? He's... Tom's not really changing that much." I had expected some change. A change in his behaviour, even the tiniest bit, but there was nothing. Nothing but him taking himself off to therapy by himself, almost like he was ashamed to be going.
"He won't be changing that much at the moment, as these things take time. Tom's not going to instantly change after every session, he's going to remain as he is for a while, until I can get through to him." Natasha explained, I really should have expected that, but he just... he wasn't even playing with Buzz yet, he was still working himself flat out with various household jobs, and looking after him.
"We are working on playing with Buzz during our sessions, I'm trying to get him to join in with his son, but it's taking time. Tom's spent a lot of time not being involved with his son, further than the basics of parenthood, breaking that is very difficult." Natasha answered, when I explained my thoughts.
"Oh, is there anything we can be doing to help that?" Harry asked, hand stroking through Dougie's hair to calm him.
"Just continue to encourage him, invite him to play, try to get him to join in. Obviously, don't force him into joining in, but try to get him involved in some way. Even if it's just keeping hold of the toys Buzz has been playing with." Natasha made it sound difficult, it sounded difficult. But we would do it, or at least try our best to do it at the least.
We spoke for a long time, trying to get as much advice as we could, as well as any information about Tom's treatment and his mental state. It all sounded so hard and complicated, but we were determined to get things done. We were going to work through this, and get things done. We were going to help as much as we could, and hopefully make sure that Tom had the best support network he could possibly have.