Thanks to everyone reviewing. Sorry this has taken longer than I expected but been busy busy in work. : (

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Chapter 3

Some days later

Jo was sat in a comfortable armchair but it was still one that she really didn't want to be in. She glanced around the room she was in. It was a very simple room. Two of the walls held huge book cases that were full from floor to ceiling of psychology books, most of which Jo had probably read.

She shifted in the chair, wincing at the discomfort it caused her body that seemed to be hurting more than when the injuries had been fresh.

"Can I get you another glass of water?"

Jo looked across at the woman who had spoken to her and who was now smiling at her. She then glanced down at the empty glass in her hand, she had no idea she had drank it. She shook her head and slowly leant forward and put the glass down on the glass coffee table. It was slightly annoying that the department therapist moved forward too, like Jo would fall and if she did she would be ready to catch her.

With an agitated sigh Jo sat back in the arm chair and crossed her legs. She glared at the therapist with a look that said, go, fire your first questions.

"How are you feeling?" the younger woman asked her as if having read Jo's mind.

Jo couldn't help but scoff, God she could not be bothered with this right now, but she decided to entertain the therapist anyway. "Delightful." she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She didn't mean to be rude but she really was not in the mood for this.

The way the therapist smiled at her only pissed her off further. "And your injuries?" she asked.

Jo glanced down at the fresh bandage on her hand and the wound that tingled painfully beneath it. An image of how the injury happened flashed into her mind like a harsh slap across the face. She shook the image away and looked up at the therapist and said, "They're fine."

It was of course a lie. Her bruises ached, the cuts still stung and her mouth still caused her too much pain when she tried to eat, meaning she was starving as well as everything else. The therapist knew Jo's response had been a lie but pressed on with the questions. "How are you sleeping?"

Jo knew she looked like hell with black bags under her red eyes that no makeup could hide. "Like a baby." she lied again and let out an exasperated sigh. She shook her head as she seriously debated just getting up and walking out but this was mandatory. She had to be cleared by this ghastly woman before she could return to work.

"Jo, I can understand if this is hard for you to talk about…."

"What I find hard is that I killed a man in self-defence and feel like I'm being punished for it."

"Punished, because you have to talk to me?"

"YES!" Jo said, "It was me or him and I shot him to save my life and a young woman's life, a woman who had already been abused by this man in the worst possible way. There's not a doubt in my mind that he wouldn't have abused her again once he had finished whatever he was gonna do to me." Jo said looking angrily at the woman.

"And what do you think he was going to do to you?" the therapist asked casually which made her all the more infuriating.

Jo scoffed and raked her fingers through her hair. She fought back tears and turned to look at the woman opposite her. "The son-of-a-bitch was a serial rapist/ Do you really need me to spell out what he was going to do to me?"

"How did that make you feel?" the woman asked.

Jo shook her head. She'd had enough. She uncrossed her legs and stood up and began pulling on her jacket.

"If you leave now how are we supposed to talk?" the therapist asked as she sat back in her own chair.

"Email me." Jo snapped, it wasn't the best sarcastic comeback of the century but it was all she could think of.

"Jo, you've been sent here to talk to me for a reason, so please, sit down and do so."

Jo turned to face the woman, angry as a bull at the sight of a red rag. "Why? What is the point of this? You think that by me sitting here spilling my heart out to you will just magically make it better. I've seen the damage this man inflicts on woman and the way it haunts..." Jo felt burning tears threatening to fall so she bit her bottom lip and never bothered to finish what she was saying.

After a moment she rolled her eyes, shook her head, and grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder. She dashed out of the room, ignoring the therapist pleas for her to stay. She slammed the door shut behind her, telling her therapist that she had no intention of coming back again.

0~0~0~0~

Jo was expecting it when she heard a knock on her front door. She pulled it open and smiled sheepishly at her boss. "Feel free to shout at me if you want," she said knowing he would have been told by now about her storming out of the therapist's office, "Just please do it quietly because Ellie is asleep in bed."

Mac jut raised his eyebrows at her. Jo rolled her eyes back at him and walked across her apartment and into the kitchen, the furthest room from Ellie's. It was almost eleven o'clock and Jo knew Mac would have come from work - probably having not eaten a thing all day - just to yell at her.

She leant against the counter and held the lid of a pizza box open as Mac walked into the kitchen. "Feel free to have some, it's still warm." she said trying to lighten the mood.

"Jo, what are you playing at?" he asked her, having yet to raise his voice.

"Mac Taylor I know you too well. I bet you haven't eaten a thing all day." she replied as she pulled a plate out of the cupboard and placed two slices of pizza on it. She walked over to Mac, offering him the plate.

Once more he raised his eyebrows at her. "I'm not talking about the pizza, Jo." he said sternly.

Jo sighed and placed the plate down on the counter next to him. "The woman is insufferable, Mac. She asks such personal questions so casually that it's the most irritable thing in the world." she said as she pulled out two beers from the fridge, offering him one which to her mild surprise he accepted.

She twisted the cap off of her beer, with more difficulty than she usually had due to her injured and bandaged hand. She then took a long swig.

"Jo, it's her job to ask personal questions." Mac reminded her.

"Yeah and I don't have to answer them." Jo told him before taking another long swig of beer.

"You do if you want to return to work." he said.

"I don't get it, Mac. It's been classed a good shooting so why is it that I'm being treated as if I'm a cold blooded killer?"

"You're not, Jo. This is to help you."

"Well maybe I don't need any help, Mac."

Mac just looked at her and a deafening silence fell upon them. "Tell me how many of hours of sleep you got last night, Jo. How many times did you wake yourself up screaming or crying?" he finally asked, breaking the silence as he remembered how she had been that first night after the attack.

Jo forced her tears back and took another long swig of her beer, struggling to swallow it because of the lump in her throat.

"Jo, I don't want to upset you but I also don't want to see this thing break you down." Mac said as he placed his beer down and stepped towards her.

Jo licked her lips and lied, "Mac, I'm fine."

Mac couldn't believe this was the same Jo Danville standing in front of him. She was the first to tell people not to bottle up their emotions and her honesty was as pure as snow, yet here she was bottling up her emotions and washing them down with beer and lying to his face.

"No you're not, and until you realise that you won't be returning to work." Mac said matter-of-factly.

TBC

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