Chapter 14: Therapy
Announcements: Greetings everyone!
Unfortunately, it's about that time, this chapter is officially the second to last chapter of, In Captivity, and as promised I am going to clarify what the Chapter End Cap is, and what to expect from it. For those of you who didn't read the past Announcements, I am doing a post that will follow up the final chapter, for you as the readers to ask me the author questions. As well as, I get to publicly thank everyone who participated with this series, and somewhat poll what series to do next. I am officially taking questions as of today! Information is at the end.
Emma sighed, glancing around the strange surroundings that echoed with the very memories that kept her sane during her captivity. Though everything seemed different now that some of her belongs were brand new, almost as if symbolizing her. Something new, surrounded by all the older things, she once fit in with. Maybe it was these thoughts that required all ex-captives to attended therapy sessions before going back to work, or maybe it was due to the emotional scars. But was she emotionally scarred?
The front door opened and closed with that all too familiar squeak of the door hinge, reminding her of why she was leaving her apartment when she was abducted. Emma smiled, half expecting Wesker to round her bedroom door, the smile remained when she saw Chris. A strangled cry left her lips, she had seriously thought she'd never see Chris again during her experience with Umbrella. Her arms flew around his neck, as they both took deep breaths of each other. It became clear that Emma was no longer angry at the two men, for taking her, with the long hug, but what worried them still was that she didn't want to leave the side of Wesker.
"Your appointment is soon." Chris murmured into her dark tresses.
"Let's play hooky, I'm so tired, and I've missed you so much." She hummed, only now starting to pull away.
"As much as I want to do that," Chris sighed, keeping her an arms distance but still in his large hands. "We need to go, you went through a lot in your year of captivity, and we all just want to make sure you are ok."
"You guys are being silly. The doctors gave me a clean bill of health and you can see me." Emma half chuckled, pulling fully away from his warm grip. "I am perfectly fine."
Her door opened once again, drawing both their attention to the front of the rather small apartment. Almost instantly Chris had his handgun drawn, his other hand telling Emma to stay where she is whilst he investigated. Before her abduction, Emma would have gladly stayed behind, hiding in her closet and holding her breath until she was summoned, but she was different now. Instead she rolled her eyes, pushing passed her armed family friend, and walking down the slight hall, and appearing in her living room.
"Chris almost shot you, Leon." Emma smiled, glancing at the short haired man.
"I just wanted to see what was taking you two so long." Leon chuckled, holding his arms out to embrace the Nav-tech.
Emma obliged him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight encirclement. It felt nice being home again, though there was something missing, something that felt like a piece of her was gone. Leon's grip tightened around her waist, with a satisfied hum reverberating through his chest, before his pulled away. His features almost say that they seriously had to leave now, or be late.
"Fine," she sighed, messaging the back of her neck. "I'll go, but no more tests, needles, or anything else concerning my health. I was well taken care of."
"No promises, but we'll talk to your boss." Chris sighed, walking to the front door. "We're taking the Tank, now let's go."
The car ride was silent, neither Chris nor Leon really knowing what to say to Emma. There were many concerns they had, beginning with her sudden attachment to Wesker. In some ways, she was just like other captives' quiet and unwilling to speak of their imprisonment, but then there was her bubbly attitude, unwillingness to come home, and the shocking lack of fear. Emma hummed quietly, watching the lamp posts and scenery pass by the trucks windows. Leon sent her an inquiring glance, before glancing over her head to Chris. The dark-haired woman cocked her head to the side, watching as they approached the B.S.A.A. headquarters. She didn't recall having a Therapist on call, and now that she really thought about it, she didn't remember having a rush of doctors there either.
"We asked that your therapy be somewhere comfortable for you." Leon smiled, glancing back to the window.
"We also need to talk to you about your living arrangements, but that can wait till after therapy."
"You must be Emma Singh." The red-haired woman smiled, with her soft hand reaching out.
"Yes, and you are my therapist?"
"Affirmative, I am your psychiatrist." the woman chuckled at the military term. "My name is Thea Greene, but you can just call me Thea…. Or doc, I get that one a lot too." Her hazel eyes, ran across both men, before resting on Emma. "Now, I'll have to ask your two bodyguards to wait outside while we talk."
"You heard her," Emma chuckled, glancing at the two awkwardly standing in the corner of the room. "Out you go."
"We'll be outside if you need us." Chris sighed, hugging Emma, as if he was never going to see her again.
"I'll be fine, don't bet all loving now."
Chris kissed the top over her head, before walking from the room. Leon half smiled, his way of reassuring her, before following the large male. The room sank into silence, as Emma turned to look at the therapist? Psychologist?
"Em, please sit and make yourself comfortable." Thea smiled, as her fingers smoothed the bottom of her skirt as she sat.
Emma never really liked the nickname Em, it reminded her too much of the letter, which for some unknown reason bothered her. Though despite her annoyance at the epithet, she allowed others to call her it since it wasn't anything too important. The auburn-haired woman sad down, thankful for not having to wear a skirt that would bunch inappropriately. The two women sat in silence for a long moment, something Emma once read called this a therapeutic vacuum, allowing the patient to direct the line of conversation.
"Em is one of my least favorite thing to be called," She blurted before her mind could stop her.
"Pardon my misjudgment, what would you like to be called?" a smile sparked in Thea's eyes, waiting for anything.
"I've always been called Emma, my mother found no reason to give me a nickname." Emma paused, "Well, Chris calls me kid all the time."
"It would hardly be appropriate for me to call you kid, Emma it is." There was another pause, before Thea pulled out a notepad. "How are you doing Emma?"
"I'm fine."
Normally Emma would have asked Thea how she was doing as well, since social norms required it, but do societies rules apply here? Would it be weird if she asked if etiquette applied here as well? She was at a loss of what to say exactly, as she watched Thea jot something onto the note pad. The silver of the pen glistened in the dimmed lights above the therapist, calling for the attention of those around.
"You've been through a lot in your eighteen months of captivity…" Thea glanced back up from her work. "I would be a wreck, even with my training. Others trained for that line of work are often traumatized with it as well."
"I got lucky," Emma breathed, shrugging her shoulders.
"I see that Benton was a co-worker of yours, and died under Wesker's care." Thea probed, crossing her legs. "Did you see him?"
Tears rushed to Emma's eyes, her initial instinct to hide the emotion of it all took over, allowing her bangs to drape between them. She did give Benton's family the devastating news as soon as she got home, but the feeling of guilt never leaving her. Her best bet was to remain silent, but her own thoughts plagued the long opening. Blaming, always blaming, her thoughts blamed her for the situation she was in for eighteen months, for Benton's death, and even the purgatory she was left in now. A tear dropped from her eye, and was quickly followed by others.
"Ok, hard subject," Thea half smiled, reaching over her coffee table with tissues in hand. "Let's go back to that one later. You said you were lucky?" Emma nodded, wiping the tears away with the tissue. "How?"
"I didn't die," she shrugged, glancing to the off blue walls. "They were kind to me, for the most part."
"Kind is not something I've heard to refer to a kidnapper." Thea hummed, jotting something into her notes. "How were they kind?"
"I almost never missed a meal, my room had my furniture in it…"
Emma's voiced drifted away, her mind reminding her of the light touches Wesker and she exchanged. The kisses, she'd only receive during the most intimate times of her captivity, the way their body's felt when they were entwined in each other. She gasped, feeling the tears starting to brim her stormy eyes once again. Thea cocked her head to the side, taking notice to the trip Emma had taken, and genuinely curious as to where she went.
"Where did you just go?" Thea questioned, tapping the pen against her lips.
"Hm?"
"You stopped talking, and that thousand-mile stare took over." Thea prompted. "Where did that stare take you?"
A thoughtful look touched Emma's features, wondering if she should say anything. "How are these questions supposed to help me?"
"Well, it gives me background as to what you went through…. Which then I can focus on finding a way to analyze your behavior and find a way that best helps settle you back into a normal society." She paused, eyeing Emma once more. "Now, where did you go?"
"Wesker," a burning blush touched Emma's cheeks. "I started thinking about Wesker."
"Your parents worked with him, during their time in the S.T.A.R.'s program. Did you have much contact with him then?"
"Not really, I ran into him a handful of times."
"How old were you?"
"A teenager, maybe fifteen or so." Emma shrugged.
"At the height of your hormonal imbalance," Thea hummed, jotting more notes down. "Did you have a sexual attraction to him?"
"I, he was that untouchable man…." Emma sighed, cradling her head.
"No one will pass judgment for an adolescent attraction." Thea half smiled. "Now, did you engage in sexual activities with him?"
"I was fifteen." Emma said dubiously, but fully knowing that's not what she was being asked.
"You know what I mean." Thea shot back, though taking a moment to rephrase her question. "During your captivity, did you engage in any sexual activities with Wesker?"
Emma shivered, taking a quiet moment to calm the race of her heart. "Yes."
"I see," Thea hummed, jotting more thoughts down. "Why don't we start with you telling me about what happened."
"All of it?" a blush touched Emma's cheeks.
"Yes, start from what you remember before being kidnapped, and so on."
Chris paced the length of the waiting room, she'd been in the office for almost four hours now. He didn't like having her out of his sight for too long, it made him a little trigger happy. Leon sighed, watching the pure display of anxiety from his companion. The secretory eyed them both, another one of the patience complaining of the heavily armed military man pacing. If Emma didn't come out, Chris may need to be escorted out, before he really did pull his gun and kick the door.
"Maybe you should calm down?" Leon breathed, sitting farther into the seat. "You're making people nervous."
Chris growled, hearing his companion nagging at him. "What do you think they're talking about?"
"Her captivity," Leon chuckled, rolling his eyes again. "What else would it be? Shoes?"
"If that's all, why can't we be in there?" Chris ignored the jest.
"Doctor patient privilege I suppose."
They fell silent, the thought's they've kept quite slowly coming back to the surface. Leon wrinkled his nose, not wanting to think on how hard Emma fought them as they escaped, but the thought crawling into his mind. She'd wanted to stay… Had they lost her completely in the year and a half of her captivity? She didn't talk much about it, not wanting to talk about whatever Wesker put her through, which they respected. Being a captive inflicted many wounds that would never heal, but echoes of doubt rang loudly, as they watched her new behaviors. Yes, she was still motherly, completely restoking Chris's locker with fresh and neatly folded clothes. Cleaning his apartment, while making it perfectly clear she was disappointed in the mess, but there were things, behaviors they couldn't place.
She stared off into space now, leaving for hours on end, until someone drew her back to the room. Instead of being the bubbly extrovert, she now would rather listen than talk, unless it meant filler conversation. Their thoughts were interrupted, when the therapist's door opened. Emma standing at the jam, a look of pure concentration touching her face. Seeing the boys, jolt to their feet, when her eyes locked with theirs managed to pull a bright smile on her face. Per protocol, Emma went to the front desk, to set up another appointment, being that the doctor hadn't cleared her for duties, yet. Both Leon and Chris approached the doctor, questions dancing through their eyes.
"I can't tell you anything, aside from she's not cleared for duty, I've sent my explanation to her superiors." Thea sighed, lightly touching her neck. "I suggest, Emma not be left alone for a while. She'll need normal socialization to get back on track." She paused, when Emma walked over. "Hi Emma, dear, when am I going to see you again?"
"Next week," Emma hummed, eyeing the three. "You guys ready?"
"Of course, kid." Chris smiled, gripping her shoulder, and drawing her into him. "Thanks doc, we'll see you next week."
"I'll see you later."
Once they were tucked safely into the truck, Chris took a moment to look at Emma with a hard glance. He hated that she moved back into her place, days after she got back, and that she was distancing herself from them. He'd heard of this before, some people who suffer great trauma's find it hard to interact with others, in fear of exposing themselves too much. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, till his knuckles turned white, before pulling into the shoulder of the road. It was now or never, and she was not going to win this argument.
"You can't live in your apartment anymore." Chris murmured, throwing the gear into park.
"It's my home." She shot back incredulously. "You can't just up root me, those buildings were one of the few I could afford anyways."
"You'll move in with Leon, or me, but you will not stay in that home." Chris's eyes darkened into a glare. "It's unsafe, Wesker could easily find you again."
"He isn't looking for me," Emma, half shouted, as the wintery sting of tears brimmed her lids. "If, he was, he would have found me by now. I am not going to let him take away the one place that's mine."
Both Leon and Chris sighed, knowing she wasn't going to budge on this argument. Maybe Chris was just a little overzealous when it came to his ultimatum, but it did come out of a place of love. Leon hummed, knowing that telling her what to do wasn't going to the way they'll convince her. Neither of the men were going to like what Leon was going to suggest, but it would be for the best. Emma needed to feel free and independent, not captive by those she loved. Wesker had done something brilliant to convince her, he wasn't the bad guy in all of this. So maybe it was a good idea to take a page from his own book.
"Well, one of us will move in with you." Leon said. "Just for the time being, until you're cleared for work again."
A hostile growl left Chris, almost as if telling Leon to stay out of it, but he too was given a seat at the table of decisions. Leon sent his companion a glance that said let-me-deal-with-this, before his arm draped around her shoulders. An ambiguous look touched Emma's features, as she took in what Leon had to say. She nodded, still unsure of how living with one of the two men was going to end. Chris was indeed a slob, which drove Emma nutty, and there is still some tension when Leon is left alone with her.
"I'm willing to risk it," she chuckled, glancing back to Chris.
"Fine kid, but I'll be moving in first." He sighed, starting the truck and pulled back onto the road. "You are a brat you know that?"
"I may have been told that, a few times in my life."
The rest of the drive consisted of talk radio, and Emma's humming. Neither male spoke, knowing that once they did, things may blow up into an argument. There was a sense of tenseness echoing in the cabin of the truck, as they approached the small apartment building. Before you could say "Hong Kong Fuey" Emma rushed from the truck and towards the stairs leading to her home.
"I hope you know what you're doing." Chris grunted, punching Leon's shoulder, just a little too hard to be friendly.
"She needs her space," Leon murmured, as his fingers messaged the tender skin. "If we make her comfortable, she'll be ready to talk sooner."
"Good morning Emma," Thea's cheerful voiced call from her office door. "How are you feeling today?"
"Better, everything seems less frigid." Emma responded back, as she walked into the room.
"I hear Chris moved in with you," Thea paused, eyeing Emma's reaction.
Almost instantly Emma's features dropped into pout, as her eyes rolled so far back into her head, she could probably see her own brain. It was difficult adjusting to Chris's constant presence in such a small apartment. There was one guest room, which only had space for two twin beds, a nightstand, and whatever could fit in the closet. Chris constantly complaining about how small her bed was, or how little room there was for such a large man, it was tiresome at best. Thankfully Leon moved in two nights ago, changing the dynamic while Chris was away.
"Yeah, Chris and Leon are altering weeks." Emma breathed, her fingers running through her bangs. "Right now, I'm with Leon. Chris is a major pain in the butt." She started, already feeling the bubble of annoyance coming out. "All he does is complain 'your bed is too small,' or 'how did you expect me to stay in this coffin of a room?' I was on the verge of killing him in his sleep!"
"You must truly love him," Thea hummed, jotting notes down. "My brother moved in with me over the summer, terrible idea." She paused, seeing worry etch into Emma's features. "Let's talk about your parent's recent visit, they left yesterday morning yes? How was it seeing them?"
"It was…." Emma paused, finally taking the time to analyze her feelings. "Great?"
Truthfully, it was stressfully agonizing, watching as her parents poked and prodded for the little girl they had before the kidnapping. It was infuriating, that when they finally managed to see the brokenness, that they tried to coddle her. Telling her everything is going to be alright, that talking it out was going to fix everything. Emma was talking it out, with Thea, and nothing seemed to change. She wanted to go back, repair whatever relationship she had with Wesker, so that she could feel the flood of passion again. Now, don't get her wrong, Leon was great! The man any woman could dream of, but he wasn't as nearly as passionate as Wesker.
"IF, that is true, that is wonderful." Thea hummed, as she settled her pen onto her knee. "Many of my other patience said that it was stressful, infuriating, awkward, one even said it was the bringer of shame."
Emma shifted in her seat, it wasn't fair, none of this was fair. She should be able to brush off the questions with a simple white lie. Her fingers curled into the white lace of her shirt, as she looked at anything but Thea.
"They weren't expecting me." Emma finally sighed, her fingers tightening into a fist. "They wanted to see their Emma, not me."
"What do you mean by that?" Thea prompted, again picking up her pen.
"It doesn't take a genius to see I've changed." Sarcasm dancing freely through her words. "I miss my captor, I know I shouldn't, I know that he is a monster, but I miss him. I miss him!"
There was a long silence, the momentousness of Emma's words finally hitting her like freight train. A war breaking out from under her skin, logical versus emotional responses battling it out, hidden from anyone who bothered to look. Emma licked her lips, a meager distraction from the millions of thoughts and images flashing through her mind. How she used to be, a girl who was carefree and kind. The way Wesker touched her when no one was paying attention. Chris and Leon during the summers, as the three watched the sunset at the beach. How his fingers always slid down her back only to rest at her lower back. Christmas at her place. The smell of him.
"Emma, are you alright?" Thea asked, watching a tear bubbled from Emma's eyes.
"It terrifies me that I'll never see him again," Emma hummed, looking to her fingers. "And in return, I'm terrified that, that terrifies me."
Guidelines: As always, we must follow Fanfiction guidelines, which means nothing that can put myself in danger, so no asking about my birth name and address. Anything else is fair game. Ask me about my writing cycles, inspiration, pets names, you got it. This is not limited to just this series, or series I've posted up, you can ask about future ideas and so on.
Submissions and Acceptance: Now, you will have a week after the Final Chapter -Which will be titles Albert Wesker- is posted to send in your questions. These questions MUST be sent to me by Private Messaging (PM), I don't want tons of questions in the reviews, lest we make an interesting impression on new readers. As I receive your inquiries, I will have a document saved onto the desktop of my computer and write down the question and I'll answer it soon after in the document. I expect some questions will be the same, so for those I'll only be answering that question once. I'll take up to 50 questions at the most, so please don't hesitate to have multiple questions in one PM. Though if you do have multiple questions in one message, please number them.
Series Poll: I will have a list of five match series at the end of the "End Cap Chapter." These will be a handful of ideas where I already have a plot laid out. Some will already be started, some just ideas, and some almost completed. It will be up to you, as readers, to tell me which two I'll be posting next. With each pairing, I will have the Title and a brief summery under, so you can make a well-rounded decision. Below is an example of what it will look like. For two weeks after the End Cap Chapter is posted, I will be accepting your poll choices, again through PM and the poll I'll be embedding to my profile, and from there I'll start working/posting the new series.
Example:
1. The Flash/Legends of Tomorrow:
Leonard Snart x Original Character
Cold Hearted
Summary: After a terrible car accident Vanessa wakes up in the hospital, with an unfamiliar man sitting at her bed side. He kindly introduces himself as Leonard Snart, telling her he found her passed out in her car. Being good friends with Berry Allan farther complicates things when she finds out that Mr. Snart isn't the man she thought he was, and that her best friend is the Flash. How will she keep her relationship with both the fastest man on earth, and the coldest man?