Whoops! Has it already been that long? SORRY!

Hope you forgive me with this new chapter

But good news! I got the entire story finished! No way I'm abandoning this story, don't worry!

~PrincessNoodle

A week passed and Gou was fussing with her hair for the umpteenth time that morning, trying extra hard to put some effort in her appearance, but at the same time still look casual. It was just like middle school when she tried to impress Sousuke every day. But this was different, they were adults and she wasn't going to be seeing him for more than a couple minutes.

So why didn't she walk away from the mirror, and why, when she appeared for work, did she have make up on and have her hair up in a bun?

The thought was lost on her when at 3 o'clock on the dot Tsubasa and Sousuke walked into her open office.

"Tsubasa-chan! Yamazaki-san," She greeted warmly. She thought she saw Sousuke tense but dismissed the thought as soon as Tsubasa smiled at her. "Why don't we get started right away? What do you want to play this time?"

Sousuke let his son's hand go and he stepped out into the lobby, idly reading a newspaper, however thinking over and over what exactly he had rehearsed in the last week.

'Do you want to go get coffee sometime?'

'Do you want to grab a coffee later?'

'Do you want to have dinner sometime?'

He shook his head and pushed a hand through his hair. No matter how he said it she wasn't going to agree. They now had a strictly professional relationship made clear by the way she wouldn't address him by his name like she used to.

Gou watched Tsubasa draw and tried to push her own thoughts away, she was at work and she had to be professional.

"Tsubasa-chan, what are you drawing?" She asked him softly and he held it up.

It was a picture of a woman with blue hair and a little boy with black hair surrounded by trees and a house off to the side, "My mommy and me." He explained, "We lived in a house really far away from here with grandma and grandpa."

"Do you miss her?"

He leaned his head on his hand, "Ya, but now I have daddy so it's not so bad."

"Is daddy doing his best?" Tsubasa nodded and Gou smiled, "What do you like to do with daddy?"

Tsubasa stopped colouring his new paper in thought, "He takes me to the park a lot, and to daycare. He says he has to work a lot, but I don't mind. He made me pancakes for breakfast today and it was reeeeeally good." He babbled while continuing to colour.

"Well that's good," She paused, this kid was really easy to talk to. She wondered what exactly could've happened in daycare to have them recommend he come to a therapist. She could easily look in the file or simply call the center but that was against her way of work. "Tsubasa-chan?"

"Ya, Matsouka-san? He asked stumbling over her last name a bit. He paused his colouring and turned to her.

"Do you know why you come and see me every week?"

"No," He seemed confused and began shuffling his feet nervously, "Is it because I was bad?"

Gou smiled softly, "No of course not, I don't think any little girl or boy could be bad. Do you think they can be?"

"Misaki-chan at daycare gets lots of time outs because she's bad lots," Tsubasa replied.

Gou moved in closer and sat on the floor in front of Tsubasa, "But does Misaki-chan know what she's doing is bad?"

Tsubasa stared at her for a moment, "I don't know."

"That's okay," She spoke. "Can you tell me more about daycare?"

Tsubasa avoided her eyes and shook his head.

"Oh?" She said with a little surprise in her voice, usually he complied with things she asked about. "Why don't you want to talk about it?"

He shrugged and turned back to the little table to colour.

Gou didn't want to pry too much so she stayed silent for a while.

This is something she should bring up to Sousuke after the session.

She leaned back casually, "Tsubasa-chan?" He looked at her and she gave him a reassuring smile, "When I was little my mommy stayed home with me and my big brother while my daddy went to work. Did your mommy stay home with you when you were at the house with your grandparents?"

He nodded, "We played all the time."

"My mommy played with me, too. But then my daddy went somewhere far away and she had to start working. My big brother went to school and I had to go to daycare and it was really different, right?"

He nodded again.

"But I made lots of friends there and I liked the ladies taking care of me. I would go home every day and tell my mommy what happened at daycare. Do you tell your daddy about your day?"

Tsubasa shook his head, "I don't like daycare."

Gou put on a surprised face, "How come you don't like daycare?"

He looked down again, "The other kids are mean and so are the grown-ups."

"What do they do? Maybe I can help," Gou asked hoping Tsubasa would open up this time.

"They told me I was bad and one of the big kids said that was why my mommy left me," His voice was getting shaky but he was taking deep breaths to calm himself down. Gou had to admire his efforts.

"Tsubasa-chan, it's okay to cry," She soothed, "Do you want me to get daddy?"

He hiccuped and shook his head, "I don't want daddy to know I'm crying." He hands turned into little fists on the table, one with a crayon inside and they shook as he tried to stop from crying.

"Okay I won't get daddy." He seemed relieved but he was still very tense, "You can cry don't worry I won't tell."

The first tear rolled down his cheek and he began sobbing. He crossed his arms on the table and cried into them.

"Tsubasa-chan I'm going to put my arm around you, okay?" Gou asked in a soft voice. She didn't get an answer, not really expecting one. She tentatively put a hand on his back and rubbed up and down in a steady rhythm.

Eventually Tsubasa lifted his head and nearly fell into Gou's arms, searching for a hug.

Their session ended five minutes ago and Gou was aware that soon Sousuke would come knocking on the door asking if it was okay to leave. She was nearly at the source of the problem, he had brought up his mother himself and that was a great start. By her estimation next week should be the last week before the road to recovery where she began to implement coping techniques, which is easier said than done for a child.

The child in her arms was reduced to sniffling and slight shaking, "Tsubasa?" He nodded against her chest, "Are you okay?" He nodded, "Was that a good cry? Do you feel a little better?" He nodded again and sat up in her lap. "See? It's okay to cry, it makes you feel better if you let it out." She paused to smile at him and rub his back a little bit. "It's time to leave soon though, so I think we should let daddy in and you can tell him about daycare. What do you think?"

Tsubasa nodded but clung to Gou when she attempted to stand him up. She sighed softly, hugged him again and hit the button on the desk.

"Yanako-san? Can you send in Yamazaki-san for me? Thank you."

She got no response from her but soon a knock was heard and the door opened slowly. Sousuke stood in the doorway.

"Tsubasa-chan, what would you like to say?"

He turned in her arms to look at Sousuke, Gou sent him a silent message to smile instead of staying straight faced. Tsubasa twiddled his thumbs, "I, uh, I don't want to," He paused and looked at Gou who gave him a smile, "I don't want to go to daycare anymore."

Sousuke walked forwards and sat on the ground with them, "I have to work though, you can't stay home alone."

Tsubasa turned back into Gou's chest in defeat, "Yamazaki-san, I think what needs to be done is he needs a new daycare. What do you think Tsubasa-chan?"

He nodded, "I want one that I like. I want to make friends and come home with stories like Matsouka-san did."

Sousuke looked a little confused and Gou told him to brush it off, "Okay, how about tomorrow we go look at new places? And you can pick out the one that you like." He suggested and Tsubasa crawled into his lap agreeing.

Gou smiled at them and finally got up to stretch her legs, "Well I guess that concludes our session for today-

"There was actually something I would like to talk about with you," Sousuke blurted out.

Gou stood behind her desk and nodded, "Hey Tsubasa, since you were so good today why don't you go ask Yanako-san for a treat?"

Sousuke shuffled him out, "And don't forget to say please and thank you."

He closed the door almost all the way and sat in the chair across from her.

"I'm glad you wanted to talk, I had something I needed to report to you as well," Gou said scribbling on a piece of paper before shoving it into one of the many files on her desk. "I don't think that the staff at Tsubasa's current daycare are bad people, but I think he's not getting the support her needs from them. Be it because of the amount of children or the ages I'm not sure. I do have some daycares in the area that are joined with our company, and some that are not but I think they would help him a lot more."

"Of course," He took the list once she had extended her hand across the desk.

"Oh and if you mention that we sent you, you'll likely get a discount." She said happily. "So what did you want to talk with me about?"

He shuffled around a bit and Gou noticed that Tsubasa got that from him. "I actually just wanted to know how you were doing. I'm sorry I haven't kept in contact," He said nervously.

Gou didn't really know what to say, she couldn't just call him out for abandoning her after he graduated when he obviously didn't know anything of her feelings. She was very unsure of what exactly to do in this situation. "I-I'm fine. I was a little shocked," Understatement, "When you left without telling anybody," She trailed off and looked off to the side.

Sousuke scratched the back of his head, "Ya I regret that, I had to leave the morning before the ceremony to catch a flight at 3am. It was pretty brutal, I didn't say bye to anyone."

Gou nodded, "Rin was pretty pissed, and you missed one hell of a dinner, my mom was even there."

"Wow, ya I guess I did miss a party."

The air sat between them, slowly growing stale before Tsubasa burst through the door.

"Look Yanako-san gave me a lollipop!"

Am I forgiven?

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Love,

PrincessNoodle