A/N Because the title of this story's Janie and Charity, I focus more on her weekly therapy for anxiety.
Another week had passed, so Janie was at Skarloey Railway for Charity's session.
Charity's driver saw Janie and told his engine, "Janie's here."
Janie asked Charity, "What triggers your anxiety?
Charity said, "Any time I feel like I might be treated bad, including when I feel laughed at or I think someone might be about to do something to hurt me. She burst into tears at that, sobbing and sniffling.
"Let it all out. Let the tears wash away the pain. You've got the right to let tears fall like rain here and now. I want you to cry, if that's what you need," Janie said.
Charity's driver climbed out of the cab to dry her tears. "Go ahead and just cry," he said, pulling out a cloth from his pocket. He gently rubbed her sodden cheeks and softly wiped her streaming eyes.
Charity sobbed more, fresh tears filling her eyes. Her heartfelt sobs came too hard for her to speak. She sniffled again, hard, coughed as she choked on her tears and hiccupped. She gasped and gulped, shaking with sobs as huge water droplets poured from her eyes not once stopping and let her driver comfort her.
He said, as he continued to wipe her tears away, "You can rely on me to dry your eyes.". He pressed the cloth to her eyes for her to sob into and wiped all her tears away as best he could.
Charity's tears flowed, not once stopping until she had no more to cry. Her driver dried her last tears away, patting stray ones from her cheeks and dapping the dampness from her eyes until they were dry. He went back to the cab with the sodden cloth and the session went on. Charity had a drink and went on with her day afterwards.
Charity talked and worked with her friends for the rest of the day. She told Peter Sam, her closest friend on the Skarloey Railway, "Janie's helping me with my anxiety. I cried in my therapy session again, because I was thinking about the stuff someone might do to hurt me. Driver doesn't say much when I cry in therapy and neither does Janie. Janie told me people in therapy have to get something to dry their tears themselves if they want, but Driver or if he's not present, her if I want, will dry mine. She told me it's client empowerment. Driver got my consent to wipe my tears when he became my driver. There was an engine on my old railway, Freddie, who wished he didn't have to have his tears wiped. He wanted to be completely alone when he cried, but his driver didn't want him to rust, so it was just him and his driver, no other crew. I love having someone wipe the tears from my eyes, because tears sting my eyes and when I cry really hard, I can't see clearly. Tears come easily for me and when I'm overwhelmed with emotion, sometimes I've got to let it out.", when they were talking in the shed that night.
A/N I'm doing Rowena and Jessica next in this story, then the Autumn New Years request.