Guardian
A/N: At last, they've made it to see Dr. James.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters and make no money doing this. I'm just having fun playing with them.
Chapter 24
Pulling into the parking lot of Dr. James's practice, Steve parked the Camaro right in front glad that the odd schedule for the visit meant no one else was here.
Danny led the way into the building, it didn't escape his notice that the Seal hovered behind Grace looking like he was ready to shield her from some invisible threat. Honestly, he couldn't blame him. They were both feeling rather overprotective and this was a new and unfamiliar location.
A well-dressed, petite, blonde woman looked up from the receptionist's desk as they entered. Rising, she held out her hand as she approached. "I'm Dr. Monica James. You must be Detective Williams, Commander McGarrett, and Grace."
"Ma'am." Steve nodded.
She gave the men each a firm handshake before squatting down so she was just below eye level with Grace. "It's nice to meet you." She shook the little girl's hand gently.
Circling passed them; she flipped the lock on the door. "I'm not usually here on weekends so no one else should be stopping by." She noticed McGarrett's shoulder relax only slightly.
While she'd never met any of the task force members, the doctor had studied up over the last few days. Based on what she knew, minimizing any potential threat to her patient's safety would go a long way to making the visit easier on all of them.
"Why don't you follow me?" Scanning the ID clipped to her side, she held the door to the rest of the office space open. Catching the surprised look from the Seal as he passed, she quietly explained. "I deal with all matters of child and family counseling and take steps to ensure my patients feel safe when they are with me."
He nodded in understanding. Angry husbands and such storming into a session would likely be disconcerting to their victims.
Walking in the midst of the family, Dr. James gestured to a brightly colored, kid friendly area with a variety of games and tables covered with paper and crayons.
"Grace, if it's okay with you, I'd like to talk to these two for a few minutes first." While speaking, she led the girl toward one of the tables.
"Okay." They'd told her to expect this.
"While we talk, I'd like you to draw me a picture of your family. Can you do that for me?" The doctor gestured to the necessary supplies.
Pulling out a chair, Grace grabbed a piece of paper to start. "Yes, ma'am."
Returning to where the men stood, Dr. James waited silently for a moment, letting them see that the little girl was settled before guiding them toward her office.
Shutting the door behind them, she took her seat behind the desk as they sat in the chairs opposite her.
"I understand from my conversation with Detective Williams that you, Commander McGarrett, will be fully involved in all matters involving Grace. Is this correct?"
Amidst the research she'd done, she was surprised to find quite a bit of speculation that the head of Five-0 was involved with his partner though nothing was confirmed.
"Yes, ma'am. It is. Please call me Steve." Steve answered with a disarming smile.
She suspected Grace's family picture would likely help clarify the roles of the two men in front of her. Though she was tempted to ask, McGarrett was just scary enough that she couldn't bring herself to come right out and ask.
Danny chuckled quietly. He could imagine the doctor was trying to piece together the puzzle of their little family without coming right out and asking if they were gay.
"And just call me Danny, Dr. James. As I we discussed on the phone, Steve will be involved in every step of Grace's recovery." He reached out and clasped the Seal's hand. "Our family is fully committed to helping her in any way we can."
Smiling at the couple, the doctor wondered how much the influence of the military man would affect her ability to get the little girl to talk.
The next several minutes were spend bringing the doctor up to speed on what had occurred Monday, based the information from both Stan and Grace, and how their daughter was faring.
Before they wrapped up, Danny brought up the phone call from Rachel's mother and her demands.
"I don't want to prevent her from seeing Grace, but at the same time, I'm not comfortable with the idea of leaving my daughter with a woman that she barely knows. Not to mention potential threat implied by her words."
The doctor was saddened to hear that the little girl's grandmother would resort to such behavior at a time like this; though she imagined her own grief at her daughter's sudden death might have driven some of the behavior.
"Would you like to discuss this with Grace here?" Since he brought it up, she suspected they were open to her assistance.
"Yes. I want her to be prepared to deal with her grandmother and Rachel's funeral, but I don't want to make her worry." Clearly, the pending discussion was stressing Danny out.
Dr. James nodded her head. "Why don't I show you two to the waiting area? After Grace and I talk for a while, I'll have the two of you join us. We can broach the subject of the funeral and Mrs. Bradley then."
The three rose and she led them to a comfortable waiting area furnished with a variety of magazines and a few small tables for kids to draw.
Steve sat on one of the two couches, resting one elbow on the arm and running his hand through his hair, he stretched the other across the back.
Danny stared at the door where the doctor had retreated for a moment before turning to face his partner. Keyed up by the looming threat of his ex-mother-in-law he wasn't sure he could sit still; however, the space next to Steve looked so inviting. Slipping onto couch, he let himself lean into the Seal's warm body.
"It'll be okay Danny. There's no way we're letting her take our daughter." The words held such conviction that the detective had no choice but to believe them.
/
"Grace, is it okay if I sit with you?" Usually she would take her patient into one of the other rooms, but with no one else in the building she decided to stay at the table for now.
"Sure." The little girl looked up at her and smiled sweetly.
Dr. James pulled a chair up next to her where she could clearly see the picture Grace had drawn. She was surprised to see so many people in the picture of her family. It made her happy to see it since far too many children of the children she saw were so alone that a family picture may only include one other person.
"Can you tell me about the people in the picture? Are they all your family?"
"That's Danno." She pointed to her a blond man with a badge. "And that's Daddy holding me." She pointed to the taller man standing next to her father. "Daddy's bigger so he can carry me around easier than Danno can."
Dr. James smiled at the little girl. "They both look pretty strong to me."
Grace giggled. "They are, but the view is better from up there."
"So who are the other people?" There were five other figures in the picture, including one floating above them with wings.
"That's Grandma Williams, Uncle Chin, Aunt Kono, and Aunt Catherine." From her quick research on Five-0 the doctor recognized two of the names.
"Are you very close to the people your father works with?"
"We're ohana." Grace looked her straight in the eyes and answered as if that explained everything and the doctor supposed in many ways it did.
"What about this one?" She pointed to the winged woman, strongly suspecting the answer.
"That's Mommy. I know she's probably watching us from heaven now." Grace's voice cracked slightly as she spoke.
Reaching to the other end of the able, Dr. James grabbed a small box of tissues just to be prepared. "Do you miss your mom?"
The little girl nodded, tears welling in her eyes. "Yes." She accepted a tissue and wiped at her eyes. "She didn't deserve what he did to her."
Wrapping a comforting arm around the little girl, the doctor let her cry for a while before attempting further conversation.
"Grace, I need to ask you some questions and I want you to be honest with me, but first I need to know if you're comfortable talking to me. I know sometimes it can be weird talking to someone you don't really know."
"It's okay, Daddy told me about how he talks to Dr. Thompson." The doctor tried not to cringe. Having a Navy Seal as her example on how to interact with a therapist could lead to a very restricted conversation.
Nearly two hours later, Dr. James was quite impressed with how open Grace was with her. She'd told her all about being locked in the bathroom for the two nights; how she knew Steve would come get her. She talked about the nightmares, about how Daddy always saved her from them. She filled the doctor in on self-defense training and how it would make her stronger so she didn't have to be scared all the time.
"Grace, I'm going to go talk to Danny and Steve for a few minutes and then we'll all come back in here to talk a little more, okay?" She waited until the girl nodded before rising.
Finding the two men talking quietly on the couch, Steve's arm wrapped around Danny, she knocked on the doorframe to avoid startling them.
"How did it go?" Steve asked as they rose.
"Honestly, I am quite impressed with how she's doing. It's going to take time for her to come fully to terms with the violent nature of her mother's death and witnessing it, but she's coping tremendously well. I believe the support system she has in her ohana is playing a large role in her recovery."
Neither man looks surprised at the reference to their ohana. Any length conversation with Grace was bound to include talk about them.
"I will admit I was a bit apprehensive when she told me she was okay talking to me because her Daddy told her about talking to Dr. Thompson."
Steve smiled timidly at her before speaking. "I've come to value my time with Dr. Thompson. I wanted her to have the opportunity to reap the same benefits from her time with you."
Placing a reassuring hand on his forearm, she smiled back. "Thank you. It certainly makes my job easier. I must say it's very reassuring to see someone like you advocating for therapy, even if it's only to your family. I wish more of our service members and law enforcement were comfortable doing so."
"Thank you, ma'am. There is very little I wouldn't do for her." Meeting his eyes, Dr. James didn't doubt him at all.
"As far as things going forward, I'd like to continue seeing her twice a week for the next few weeks. Given your profiles on the island, I'm opening to doing Wednesdays at 5:30 since my last patient is usually gone by five and the same time as today on Saturdays if that works for you." She wanted them to feel comfortable coming and having other people around wasn't likely to help.
"Yes, we can do that." Danny answered after a quick confirming glance to his partner.
"Otherwise, keep doing what you're doing. The self-defense training was an amazing idea. I might have to borrow that one for some of my other patients. You and the other primary figures in her life appear to be doing a wonderful job of balancing letting her grieve with helping her move forward." She dug in her pocket and produced two cards. "My cell phone is listed on that, so if you need to reach me at any time between appointments I'm only a phone call away."
Accepting the cards, the men both breathed a sigh of relief. It was reassuring to hear they hadn't screwed up with Grace's recovery.
"Shall we do finish up so you three can go home. I'd imagine you didn't plan on spending your entire day here." It was already after eleven.
They followed her down the hall as Danny answered. "We'd stay all month if it helped."
Rejoining Grace, the men were relieved to see her smiling up at them. The doctor gestured to a collection of more comfortable chairs in one corner. "Why don't we go sit over there and talk for a bit."
Not surprisingly, Steve and Danny seated themselves on either side of their daughter.
"Grace, there are a couple more things that we want to talk about while you're here." The doctor started them off before looking to Danny to see if he wanted to explain.
"Monkey, Grandma Bradley called this morning. She is flying in for your mom's funeral and will be here this afternoon." Grace didn't show any reaction to this news. "She wants to see you while she's here." He hesitated.
"Is she going to come see at home?" She sounded a bit nervous.
"Possibly. She asked if you wanted to stay with her while she's in town." Danny softened the woman's actual demand.
"But I don't want to go away. I want to stay with you and Daddy." Tears welled in her eyes as she looked nervously between the men. "Please don't make me leave."
Dr. James watched the scene unfolding.
"Gracie, we're not going to make you stay at the hotel." Danny responded as both he and Steve reached for her small hands.
"Would you like it if she came to spend some time at the house during the days?" The Seal asked. "Or maybe we could go visit her together at the hotel."
"You won't leave me?" Her voice was still slightly panicked.
Although she wasn't surprised at her patient not wanting to stay at the hotel, the doctor was a bit surprised with her hesitancy to be left alone with her grandmother.
"Grace, are you close to your grandma?" She knew the woman lived in England, but distance didn't always preclude a close relationship.
"No. She only comes to visit every couple of years and then she and Mommy always ended up arguing."
Danny remembered them arguing when he was still married to Rachel, but then it was usually because she'd reduced herself to marrying a lowly cop. He had hoped their relationship had improved after he was no longer a factor.
"We used to try to call her sometimes, but usually Mommy just ended up yelling or crying, so we stopped. It was never fun like calling Grandma Williams."
The doctor exchanged a meaningful look with Danny and Steve. It was no wonder the young girl didn't want to be left with her grandmother. She associated her with more anger and tears.
"From what you've told me, it sounds like you're worried about seeing your grandmother alone." Grace nodded. "Would you be more comfortable seeing her with your ohana around?"
She nodded more enthusiastically. "Yes." Grandma Bradley would seem less scary with the rest of the family there.
"Okay. Danny, why don't you arrange the initial reunion in a group setting?" She watched for his nod before turning back to Grace. "When that visit is over the three of you can sit down and decide how you are most comfortable handling additional visits. I would also recommend that you have some sort of code word that you can use with any of the other adults if you feel like you need to get away for a few minutes."
She often suggested that with potentially confrontational reunions whether the patient was an adult or a child. It helped them feel more in control of the situation and gave them a means of escape without simply fleeing the room.
"Surfboard?" Grace suggested.
"That will work." Steve smiled at her. "Easy enough to work in if needed."
The three adults all noticed that she had visibly relaxed once they made a plan. At this point, feeling like she had some measure of control over a potentially uncomfortable situation would help.
"Now Grace, I've asked Danny and Steve to come back with you on Wednesday afternoon. Your mom's funeral is Tuesday, so I thought you might want to talk some more then."
The little girl nodded. "I'd like that." Saying goodbye to her mom was going to be hard, so talking to Dr. James again would be nice.
"I might suggest you hang onto your code word for Tuesday."
"Yes, ma'am." Steve answered.
A few minutes later, Dr. James escorted them to the front door. Giving Grace a hug, she reminded the men to call her if they needed anything.
Getting into the car, they all felt more relaxed than they had upon arriving that morning.
"Are Chin, Kono, and Catherine coming for lunch?" Grace asked from the back.
"Would you like them to?" Danny questioned.
"Yeah. We need to explain surfboard to them." She said as if she were stating the obvious.
"Chin's out with Grandma, so we can catch him when they get back. I'll call Kono now."
As Steve navigated the car toward home, the detective pulled out his phone to make the call.
He was starting to think that things might actually be okay eventually. If only they could divert the potential crisis that Dianne Bradley posed.
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