Part 2: Chapter 5
December 15
Brooke and Julian were in a therapy session with Dr. Truman. Brooke and Julian were sitting on the couch, while Dr. Truman sat in his chair with a pad and a pencil.
"So how have these past two weeks been for you guys?" Dr. Truman asked.
"Better," Julian said. "I'm not having as many emotional breakdowns as I was."
"What about you Brooke?" Dr. Truman asked.
"I've been better than I was," Brooke said. "But every time I think I'm okay, I encounter people who either have or are going to have a baby. The other day at my company, one of my employees came in and announced she was pregnant and wanted to ask me ahead of time about maternity leave. Yesterday I was at the supermarket and a woman with newborn triplets walked past me. Things like this keep happening and it keeps triggering this feeling of pain, anger and jealousy. And it's really hard to be around my friends Haley and Quinn."
"The two sisters who are both pregnant?" Dr. Truman asked.
"Yes," Brooke replied.
"Losing a child is not an easy thing to go through," Dr. Truman said. "It's normal to have these feelings. In time, you will feel better, but the pain will never fully go away."
"Yeah," Julian and Brooke agreed.
"I'm going to go ahead and have you two do an activity," Dr. Truman said standing up. "Go outside to the front lawn and I will be down in a few minutes."
"Okay," Brooke said.
Brooke and Julian walked out of the office. Once they were outside on the front lawn, Brooke and Julian looked at each other.
"What do you think he's going to have us do?" Julian asked.
"I don't know," Brooke said.
"I'm scared," Julian said pointing at their car. "Let's leave."
"No," Brooke said. "We're going to do this activity, whatever it is."
Dr. Truman came out holding two balloons. One balloon was pink and the other one was blue.
"Alright," Dr. Truman said. "These balloons resemble the genders of a baby. Pink is for a girl and blue is for a boy. Brooke, you take the pink one and Julian, you take the blue one."
Brooke and Julian each took a balloon.
"Brooke," Dr. Truman said. "Tell me about what would've happened if you had a girl."
Brooke held the pink balloon in her hands.
"If the baby would've been a girl, we would've named her Eva Peyton Baker," Brooke said. "I would've taught her how to design clothes so that she could become a designer like me. However, if she didn't want to be a designer, I would've let her be anything she wanted."
"Julian?" Dr. Truman asked.
"If the baby would've been a boy, we would've named Jacob Clayton Baker," Julian said. "I would've taught him how to write, produce and make movies and build sets. If he wanted to do something else, I would've let him."
"Now each of you give your balloons a kiss," Dr. Truman said.
Julian kissed his balloon and Brooke kissed her balloon.
"This next part is always hard," Dr. Truman said. "I want you to release your balloons on the count of 3."
"Okay," Brooke said.
"Got it," Julian said.
"1, 2, 3," Dr. Truman said.
Brooke and Julian each released their balloons into the air. As the balloons floated away, both Brooke and Julian burst into tears.
"Brooke," Julian sobbed.
"Julian," Brooke sobbed.
Brooke and Julian embraced each other tightly and let out loud sobs.
"Session over," Dr. Truman said. "I'll see you next week."
"Thank you doctor," Julian sobbed.
"Yeah, thank you," Brooke said.
After crying for half an hour in each other's arms, Brooke and Julian gave each other a kiss and got into Julian's car and buckled into the seats.
"I feel a lot better," Brooke said.
"Me too," Julian said.
Brooke and Julian smiled at each other. Julian then started the car and drove out of the parking lot.
"What should we do now?" Julian asked. "The twins are staying at a friend's house."
"Let's do something we haven't done in a long time," Brooke said. "Let's go on a date night."
"I like that idea," Julian said.