38 Harry's POV
Tom came home just as we were making lunch, as we did every week. it was one of the only things we could think to do, so Tom had some sort of rest after his therapy session. It was admittedly pathetic, but it was the only thing we could think of to help him out. And didn't it count as doing something to take the pressure off him, while not making him feel useless? We had the excuse of him being out, so it wasn't like we were taking over.
"Hey Tom, how was today?" we never said therapy, none of us liked the word, or the implications of it.
"It was, we worked on some things, like we were supposed to." Tom answered, same as he did every week. He never went into specifics, or said anything about what went on during his sessions. He just said that they were doing the things he and Natasha were supposed to be doing, like we'd think he was doing anything else.
"Good to hear, fancy a sandwich?" I handed him a plate, not allowing him to say no.
"Buzz's is on his high chair." Danny nodded his head at the island, where the chair was placed.
"Thanks." Tom flashed a smile, making sure to sort out Buzz first, before sorting himself out. He did that too, always making sure that Buzz was sorted out first.
But then something slightly odd happened. Instead of just helping Buzz feed himself, then cleaning the kid up, Tom reached out and... did he just stroke Buzz's cheek? Did he really just run a finger affectionately over the chubby baby cheek, and not be cleaning him up? He was touching his son affectionately, for no other purpose other than to show affection?
That was... different. I hadn't seen Tom do something like that in months, not since... God not since before his wife left. And even then it had been sparingly. This was new, and while it had been incredibly hesitantly done, it was still done. That was one hell of an improvement.
And it continued like that all week in fact. At random intervals throughout the day, Tom started showing affection towards Buzz. Be that with a kiss, a hug, or a stroke of the baby's cheek. At one point, he even gave Buzz a tickle, which was something I had not expected to see. I hadn't expected it at all, not now, possibly not for months. But here he was, actually doing something other than bare basic, robotic, parenting.
"Do you think that was what this week's therapy was about?" Danny asked, after Tom had taken Buzz to bed. On the baby monitor, we could see him reading to his son, one arm resting protectively around the child.
"Must have been, otherwise he wouldn't have done it." I was sure of that, Tom didn't do anything that wasn't part of his ingrained routine without encouragement, and even then it took time to get him to do it. He only seemed to be really paying attention to Natasha, and that was probably because she was the expert in the situation, so he took her word as gospel.
"It's good though... right?" Dougie asked, leaning over my shoulder to watch the little family together.
"Of course it is, he's interacting, and getting closer, that can't be a bad thing." I couldn't see how it could be a bad thing, Tom was starting to interact more with his son. It was desperately needed, for both father and son. There had been a clear distance between the two for so long, both clearly needed this time together.
And, it had to be building Tom's confidence, right? It had to be building his confidence in showing who he was, and showing his feelings, instead of bottling everything up and hiding behind a mask. This all had to be an exercise in showing affection, and not being afraid of engaging with another person. How could that be a bad thing? It had to be a good thing. A very, very good thing indeed.
"Think this is the start of him getting better?" Danny looked over my other shoulder.
"Possibly, but think of what Natasha said, it's not going to be instant, and this is just the beginning. He's probably going to start getting a bit...wobbly now, less certain. So we probably need to start keeping a closer eye on him, just in case." I didn't want to have to constantly keep watch, keep on thinking that Tom was ready to fall to pieces at any second, that any week now, he was going to come home very shaken from the realisation that he was abused for years. but it was coming, I could feel it, and this was just the start of that realisation.