Dr Stanhope turned the radio down as he pulled out onto the highway. He had spent the morning counselling Miranda Montgomery. The little girl reminded him so much of her mother, she had the same sensible nature and the same sensitivity. It was hard to believe she was the same baby that tore her mother's life apart all those years before.
He and Miranda had a long talk about her nightmares and her fears. It was clear she was still suffering from the trauma of the hostage situation a few months back, add to that her concern over her mother's health and the threat of the world trying to tear her family apart in the newspapers, her dreams were the best way her mind could make sense of it all.
He gave her notebook and pencil and asked hernot to think opf the bad things but instead before she went to bed he wanted her to draw a picture or write about something that had made her smile that day. This type of distraction therapy, he hoped would help her to settle before bedtime.
Another appointment had been made for the end of the week, when he could assess their success and work at finding Miranda new ways to express her fears. He hoped that after the trial next week, and when life had a chance to return to normal for the Montgomery-Tasker-Chandler family, then Miranda's own unsettled thoughts would calm as well.
…
Dr Stanhope, indicated to turn off at the next junction. He had enjoyed the opportunity to help that poor girl learn ways to cope with the huge stress her family was currently under. Now he had to fight a scowl as he pulled in at the parking-lot outside New Oak Haven, as he prepared to treat one the causes.
…
Dr Stanhope found JR Chandler lounging on one of the armchairs in the office put aside for their use.
"Doctor." said JR flatly, not shifting from his chair.
Dr Stanhope sat on the chair opposite and put his papers on the desk.
"How are the preparations for the trial?" he asked, starting the conversation with something he knew JR was looking forward to.
"My lawyer tells me that everything is going well."
Dr Stanhope noticed the sour expression on JR's face at the mention of his lawyer.
"You don't believe she is telling the truth?"
"I just want to get out of here." said JR looking up at the doctor. "I want my son back!"
"And are you prepared for disappointment?"
JR looked up with a sneer.
"You don't want me to get off. Why are you even treating me?"
"Because you asked me for help and I can see behind your bravado, you want to be helped."
JR snorted with disgust and sat back on his chair with his arms crossed. This was a usual sign that he would be incommunicado and sulk through the rest of their hour long session.
Undeterred Dr Stanhope pulled a pencil and paper from his pile and placed it in front of JR.
"I can see you don't want to talk so I thought we can play a game instead; my own version of the game consequences."
JR didn't move.
"Or we can sit here and waste another hour of our lives… and I get to add uncooperative to you release assessment."
With a grumble JR picked up the pencil.
"Great," said Dr Stanhope. "I want you to split your paper into two columns and above them write love and hate. I am going to say a name and you have to write the name in the column you feel most appropriate."
"This is a trick."
"This is a treatment. An exercise in empathy." said Dr Stanhope. "AJ…"
"What?" JR asked.
"The first name is AJ."
JR put the name in the love column.
"Your mother." said Dr Stanhope.
JR paused before he added that name to the love column.
"Your father."
The pause was even longer before he added it to the love column.
"I'm not here to judge you." said Dr Stanhope, recognising his hesitation. "This will only work for you of your answers are honest… Marissa."
There was no hesitation before JR put that name in the hate list. He held his hand in place waiting for the doctor to say Bianca's name next.
"Marissa two years ago." said the doctor.
"What?"
"How did you feel about Marissa two years ago?"
JR frowned and wrote Marissa's name in the love column.
"Bianca fifteen years ago."
JR looked up at the doctor, what was he playing at? Reluctantly he wrote Bianca's name in the love column.
"Miranda Montgomery." said the doctor.
"What the hell is this?" JR demanded, dropping his pencil violently on the desk.
"This is a game, JR. Why are you finding it hard?"
"Because relationships aren't as simple as love and hate."
"That is a very healthy thing for you to recognise" said Dr Stanhope, twisting JRs repulsion at having to admit feelings of love for people he had spent over a year propagating deep feelings of hate. "Why don't we make this simpler for you, we will make the characters fictitious. Here have a fresh sheet of paper."
JR took the paper.
"Now draw the two columns again." instructed the doctor. "And this time lets have happy and sad."
JR obeyed, screwing up the first paper and throwing it into the corner of the room.
"Okay our first character is Sandy, a bubbly waitress who laughs at your jokes." said the doctor.
JR looked at the doctor as if he was the mad man and wrote the name Sandy in the happy column. He didn't let his guard down though, he was waiting for the trick.
"Gina, bakes the best apple pie in the state…"
JR wrote Gina in the happy column.
"Peter, smells of feet."
JR put Peter in the sad column.
"Graham, brought you a Porsche for your birthday."
Graham went in the happy column.
"Phillip, stole your new car the very next day… Ben, copied you homework and got better grades than you… Emmylou, sings beautifully… Johnny, drew a moustache on your face while you slept… Pam, shared your first kiss… Adam, shot your mother in the head…"
JR started to write his own name in the sad column before he realised what the doctor had done.
He glared at the doctor, suddenly tense.
The doctor held his hands up for calm.
"I am preparing you." said Dr Stanhope. "We both know that you hope for your freedom after the trial. And we both know that you want to be reconciled with AJ, but you have to understand that your feelings are not the only ones that matter. For a second there you were in your son's shoes. If you had the old titles, love and hate, there instead of happy and sad where would you have written your name?"
"Hate." said JR slowly looking back down at the paper.
Dr Stanhope nodded.
"And so while you are in this empathic frame of mind as part of your treatment I want you to read this."
The doctor handed JR a copy of the latest issue of Hello.
JR almost didn't recognise the little boy beside Marissa smiling from the front cover, the last time he had seen AJ, at the court room, he had looked sad and scared. Even their last days together after the Chandler shooting he hadn't seen such a smile.
"I want you to think of AJ while you read this article." said the Doctor gently. "Put yourself in the place of a little boy trying to deal with the fact that his father shot his mother…"
…