This isn't based on any one particular prompt, but several people have mentioned they wanted to see everyone have a session with Archie and cynicsquest on ffnet pointed out some legal things for me that I wanted to have addressed so here we are.

"So," Dr. Hopper said softly from his seat opposite Bae. "Your mom tells me you've had a pretty major year."

Bae didn't want to talk about it, because a lot of it had been good but talking to Dr. Hopper about it somehow always made things feel...different. When it had just been him and Mom that had been good. Adding Dad had made things different, but in a mostly good way. Dad had always done whatever he or Mom had suggested, so it had mostly been good changes like the vacation or getting to go see movies at night. When his birth mom showed up, though, that was different. His parents were both really scared about her and Bae was pretty nervous, too. He barely remembered her at all and what he did remember mostly was just being scared about messing up because he wasn't sure if she'd yell at him and wishing he could go home.

Bae had started seeing Dr. Hopper before he was adopted, and had only stopped a year ago. It felt bad somehow to come back. He liked Archie, but he'd felt normal when he wasn't visiting him and coming back felt a little bit like failure.

"Your mom also says you've been having nightmares again," Dr. Hopper continued when Bae didn't say anything. "Do you want to talk about those?"

"No," Bae muttered. Talking about the nightmares made them feel real and as long as they weren't real he was safe.

"That's okay," Dr. Hopper replied. "We can talk about whatever you want to talk about. I heard you went on vacation with your parents this summer. I bet that was fun."

Bae nodded, but accepted this prompt. Vacation was easy to talk about.

"We went to the beach," he said. "And the woods. I got to go fishing."

"Oh yeah?" Dr. Hopper said, leaning forward a little bit. "How did you like that?"

"I didn't catch anything and the boat flipped over," Bae was smiling for real now thinking about it. "But I liked it. And Mom and I played a prank on Dad."

"What was it?"

"She distracted him while I put honey on the doorknob. It was pretty funny, especially when he grabbed her and put it on her face."

"Do your dad and your mom get along?"

"Yeah," Bae said after he thought for a minute. "They fight sometimes, but mostly they talk a lot."

"And how do you feel about that?"

"I like it," Bae said softly. "Mostly."

"Why only mostly?"

"I dunno," Bae admitted. And it was true – he had no idea why he sometimes wished his parents would get along a little less good.

"Well," Archie said in his I'm about to try to guess what's wrong with you voice. "You've been the only guy in your mom's life for awhile. Are you maybe a little jealous that now she has your dad, too?"

"Maybe."

Definitely.

"It must have been a really big adjustment having him show up, huh?"

"I guess," Bae replied with a carefully casual shrug. "I like having him around though."

"I never said you didn't," Dr. Hopper replied. "But I imagine between your Dad showing up and your birth mom...if it were me, I'd probably be really stressed out."

"It's not too bad," Bae replied, trying very hard to sound like he meant it. "I'll be fine."

Dr. Hopper made a little humming noise but he didn't argue.

"Do you know why your mom and dad brought you in today?" Dr. Hopper finally said, and Bae shook his head in reply. "Your parents are really worried about how withdrawn you've been lately. Do you think you've been acting different?"

"I don't know, maybe a little," Bae admitted. "Not too bad."

"You know, Bae, there's nothing wrong with being upset right now."

"But I'm not upset!" Bae snapped, even though he knew Dr. Hopper was right. He was upset, he was scared – he was terrified, actually. He felt so small and helpless, and he hated feeling this way. His birth mother had always been a strange sort of fascination for him, something between a long lost relative and the monster that haunted his dreams. He wanted to understand her, but he'd never really given up the fear of living with her, either. He didn't want to know her, but he wanted to have known her. But how could he put those things into words? There weren't words for it, really. And how could he betray his mom by wanting to know this other woman? How could he betray his father by being curious about a person who had kept them apart so long?

Instead of trying to put his thoughts in order, Bae flung himself back on the couch he was sitting on and crossed his arms over his chest. He couldn't make eye contact with Dr. Hopper, only nodding when he was asked if it was okay if his parents came in now. This was supposed to be a family session, after all. He heard his parents come in and almost felt his mother freeze when she realized he was upset before she came and sat down next to him. His dad sat down on the other side and he was half comforted by their closeness and half agitated that they were worried about him. He was okay, really. He would be okay.

"So Bae and I have been talking," Dr. Hopper said softly. "But I'd like to hear from both of you how you think things have changed this year."

"Well," Mom said, and Bae could almost hear her looking at him. "The biggest change, of course, is that his dad is in the picture now. But I don't think that's really a bad thing for any of us."

"I definitely agree with that," Dr. Hopper said quickly. "I don't want it to sound like we're just discussing bad things. Even good things can be a source of stress, and especially when they involve such a drastic lifestyle change as this has."

Dad was squirming a little uncomfortably and Bae felt so bad for his father right now because he hadn't wanted them to blame him for Bae being weird right now. It wasn't Dad's fault. Mom reached her arm around Bae and put her hand on Dad's shoulder comfortingly. Bae liked the feeling of her being there, she was solid and steady and always there if he needed her.

"I think the bigger issue right now is Milah," Dad blurted out. "As far as I know, everything was fine before."

"It was fine," Mom agreed. "If anything, Bae was thriving."

"That's good," Dr. Hopper said reassuringly. "And again, I'm not saying that his father coming into his life was bad. And I definitely agree that the situation with his birth mother is something that needs to be addressed, I just want to make sure that we're not overlooking anything."

"What do you mean?" Dad asked. "What else is there to talk about?"

"For example," Dr. Hopped replied. "Bae was readopted a few weeks ago. How did that go?"

Nobody said anything for awhile so Bae finally looked up. His parents were looking uncomfortably between each other and Dr. Hopper.

"We had some disagreements," Mom replied, twirling her ring around her finger absently. "But in the end, I realize that I may have overreacted to some things."

Dad didn't say anything, instead he seemed to find a squirrel outside the window really interesting all of a sudden.

"I do want to address the problems you're having with his birth mom," Dr. Hopper said patiently. "But to fully deal with this, you two are going to have to provide a united front. I'd like to help you get on the same page with each other. I think that would probably make everyone feel a lot more secure about what's going on here."

Mom and Dad were looking at each other again, but this time Mom also was looking down at Bae. Everyone knew that she would be the one to make the decision here. If Mom thought there was a problem, Dad would go along with it. Dad would go along with it if Mom thought they were okay. Bae didn't know what he thought, so he'd trust Mom as well. She finally nodded.

"I think that's probably a very good idea," she said with a soft smile.

Arthur hadn't really expected to get included in therapy. He didn't really mind, particularly, because he would do literally anything he could to make things easier on Bae, but he hadn't expected it. It had been a little more stressful than he'd thought it would be, too. And Bae had been doing this since he was four years old. Arthur really hoped this time it wouldn't need to go on so long, at least.

He'd locked himself in his office once they got home. Belle and Bae were watching a movie on his sofa, and he was itching to joined them, but he had other things to handle first. Like calling the private investigator he'd had tailing Milah all week.

Dove was pretty good at his job. He didn't talk much, and he didn't work cheap, but he got the job done. So far she'd been keeping pretty clean as far as Dove could tell. Maybe the arm scratching was a nervous habit by now, but Arthur didn't really want to risk that. Dove hadn't seen any signs of drug use yet from either Milah or Jones. As far as he could tell, Jones went to work at the docks and Milah was waitressing at a bar. It wasn't great work, but they were ostensibly clean. He was really itching for a reason to call her parole officer and try to get her brought in, but if he did that too often he was afraid of being the boy who cried wolf so he was waiting for some real evidence.

Mostly he was worried she was going to try to sue for custody. Not that he thought she had much of a chance with her record and his larger budget, but it was definitely something he didn't want to drag his son through if he could avoid it.

His call with Dove was the same as it had been all week. It really wasn't fair, Arthur decided. He'd been robbed of his son's entire childhood and the woman who had caused it to happen was out walking around freely. Where was the justice? She had taken something from both him and Bae that he couldn't replace. He didn't think he could ever forgive her for that. He wasn't sure he really wanted to.

Something had hit him today in therapy that he didn't want to dwell on too long, but here in the solitude of his office he felt a little more willing to take it out and look at it. He resented Belle. He was jealous of how close she was to their son and how she'd been able to raise him. He loved her, he would never not love her for how much she had loved Bae and how well she'd taken care of him. She was the best friend he'd ever have. But he was so jealous of the fact that Bae would seek comfort from her and not him, that she was the one who ultimately decided the rules of their little family, that she had memories of his entire life, that she'd gotten to raise him. Belle had raised his son without him, and he hated everyone for that. He hated Milah for causing it, he hated Jones for his stupid fucking face, but he was afraid that a part of him had begun to hate Belle for benefiting from it. And he hated himself for feeling that way.

There were some feelings it was too dangerous to admit to, so Arthur put that one away in the deepest, darkest corner of his mind and rejoined his family on the sofa. They almost looked like they belonged there, curled up under a blanket and teasing each other as he sat in an armchair nearby and wished he knew these inside jokes.

He hated her, he loved her, he wanted her to be happy, he wanted her. Would this ever be easy?