Hey guys, I hope you all had a good holiday season! Read on for some squad shenanigans XD
Gonna reply to reviews on the previous chapter, thanks so much for the love and to everyone who reviewed!
Guest: I totally forgot about that quote but now that you mention it, it does make that chapter extra sad, to have Alexei break down
Disclaimer: I do not own the Embassy Row series and all the characters (except for Tanner and Jordan and Alexei's Moscow friends, who are my own creations). They belong to Ally Carter. I am merely using her characters and plotline to create this fanfiction. I have no intention of profiting off the Embassy Row series in any way. This fanfiction is purely for entertainment purposes and would not exist without Ally Carter's wonderful works.
The events that happen in this fanfiction are not meant to be representative of real life. Any similarities to any real-life events or fictional works is purely coincidental and not intentional (with the exception of the original Embassy Row books by Ally Carter since this fanfiction is literally Take the Key and Lock Her Up but from Alexei's, not Grace's, perspective). The character's actions may not always reflect my own opinions or views. Based on what happens in this chapter (spoiler alert), I do not condone conducting a psychiatric interview without proper training or harming others.
Additionally, the medical practices in this chapter are based off my own medical knowledge and clinical experiences and may differ from clinical practice guidelines in other parts of the world. They are evidence-based to my knowledge but may not reflect the latest updates to evidence-based medical practices. Please consult your local medical association for the most up-to-date, evidence-based medical practices in your jurisdiction.
Content warning: mild to moderate
This fanfiction is rated M, for explicit and suggestive themes (such as mental health and abuse), language, and violence. This chapter contains moderate language and mentions of mental health struggles and traumatic experiences, incarceration in psychiatric hospitals, and harming others. Please read at your own discretion.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Psychotherapy Does the Trick
"Remind me why I agreed to do this," Noah muttered uneasily the following day.
"Because we have to see if Karina will give us any useful intel." Megan gave him an almost lethal glare, shutting him up. Somehow, the squad, minus Jordan who was at work, had found their way to the townhouse, where we were all sitting around the kitchen table with Karina. Although this was supposed to be a 'civil interview', according to Megan, to figure out what Karina knew, this felt like anything but. I wasn't even the one being interrogated and still felt like I was under the Spanish Inquisition, thanks to Megan's fierce leadership. For her credit, Karina remained blissfully unaware of how tense things were as she looked around at all the new faces.
"Ooh, so many visitors! I love visitors!" Karina exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly.
"Yes, we're here to talk to you, Karina," Lila said patiently. "We'd like to ask you some questions." Karina nodded eagerly.
Megan clicked around on her laptop. I leaned over, seeing she had a PowerPoint open.
"Are you sure that looks reliable?" Rosie asked skeptically.
"Well, it's on how to do a psychiatric interview and it's from the University of Adria," Megan said, like it was a big deal. "It looks like it's geared towards medical students so it seems legit."
"Who the hell goes to the University of Adria for medical school when there are way better med schools out there?" Tanner asked.
"It was the first hit on Google," Megan fired back. "Besides, since you seem to be so knowledgeable, do you have any ideas on how to go about conducting a psychiatric interview?" She gave Tanner a pointed look. He just shrugged warily.
"My point exactly. Okay, so it's saying here 'the interview of the patient starts with an open-ended question that elicits the patient's understanding of the assessment," Megan said, reading from the slide. "I feel like that's not totally applicable in this case."
"Oh, come on, of course it is," Lila intervened, taking control as she turned towards Karina. "Karina, do you know why we're here today?"
"It's because I have visitors!" Karina shouted eagerly.
"Exactly, you have lots of visitors who want to speak to you," Lila said. "We'd like to know more about you. Can you tell us why you went to the hospital?" Karina shuddered, shaking her head.
"It was because of her," she hissed, her voice cold. "She did this to me."
"I see." Lila nodded along empathetically. "Would you be able to tell us who this 'she' was?" Karina trembled even more, furiously shaking her head.
"Lila, back off," I warned. I didn't want to lose Karina so early. The more we scared her off, the harder it would be for her to recover and the less information we would get out of her.
Lila opened her mouth but I cut her off with a stern look. "We can start with some easier questions to jog her memory and work our way up to the more difficult questions."
"Hmm, what should we ask her?" Megan asked, scrolling through the PowerPoint.
"Maybe a social history, whatever that is? That seems chill and easy enough to answer," Noah suggested. I took a look at Megan's laptop. The questions labelled as social history were about the patient's family, schooling, work, hobbies, and friends. Those seemed like simple enough questions to get her to open up.
"As long as we avoid talking about the princess, we should be fine," I reasoned. "She seemed okay when Grace and I asked about Caroline."
"Okay," Megan said, looking at Karina again. "Karina, can you tell us about your family?"
"I had a boy who was handsome and strong," Karina said dreamily, staring off into the distance, her eyes glazed over. Was she thinking about my father?
"Do you have any children?" Megan prompted.
"Hmm… I had Alexei!" Karina exclaimed. "But I wanted him to be a girl. I always wanted to have a little girl."
"Well, what if we told you Alexei is here right now?" Megan asked. The whole squad looked at me, wide-eyed looks of anticipation on their faces. Karina looked at me too, squinting hard as if trying to make out who I was. The intense gaze left me with a prickling, skin-crawling sensation, like I was a specimen being examined under the microscope.
"He's handsome. Very handsome like my boy," Karina finally said. "But I lost him and Alexei a long time ago." So much for thinking she'd recognize me, although admittedly, I feared that would be the case as soon as I saw just how strung out on drugs she was. I doubted she'd ever gain enough of her consciousness back to be fully lucid.
"I see, I'm sorry to hear that. What was your relationship like with your boy?" Megan asked.
"He was strong. But very cold," Karina said, shivering.
"Do you have any friends?" Megan continued.
"Caroline! She came to see me yesterday. Is she here?" Karina desperately looked around the room. Everyone looked confused, especially since Grace definitely had not visited yesterday.
"No, Caroline is busy," I said, remembering what had happened at Binevale. "But she's been asking about you. What do you and Caroline like to do?"
"We sang songs, told stories, and had picnics!" Karina recalled happily. "Oh, I'd love to have a picnic."
"We can certainly do that another time," Megan said. "But we have some more questions we'd like to ask you, Karina. How have you been doing now?" Karina just shrugged, her face and eyes blank.
"How do you find this place?" Megan continued, undeterred.
"It's clean, it's different," Karina said, before her eyes narrowed. "And very quiet. Too quiet."
"She slept a bit last night and I got her to shower this morning before you guys got here," I added, before Karina could go off the rails.
"That's good to hear," Megan said. "Have you been eating?" Karina just shrugged again, as she muttered to herself.
"She ate a bit of breakfast this morning," I said. "She still doesn't seem too interested in food yet."
"I see. It seems like you're getting your appetite back," Megan said, smiling at Karina. "Maybe we'll be able to have that picnic soon."
"Ooh, a picnic!" Karina squealed, clapping her hands excitedly. She started ranting about how much she enjoyed picnics and how much she was looking forward to having another one.
"Bro, is this normal?" Tanner asked, giving me a sideways glance.
"For the past forty-eight hours, yes," I muttered.
"It's probably just a side effect from coming off the drugs," Megan said, although she didn't sound so sure herself. Drugs or not, ten years locked in a psychiatric hospital would be enough to make anyone lose their mind. I feared Karina had permanently lost her sanity and would never get it back, which meant I'd have to deal with her ramblings for the time being. Joy.
"What else do we have to cover?" Rosie asked, scrolling through the PowerPoint.
"A lot," Megan said, before turning back to Karina. "Do your friends ever come to visit you?"
"Yes! The heir is here, the heir is here!" Karina shouted, frantically looking around the room.
"Yes, indeed," Megan said patiently. "What about Caroline? Did she visit you?"
"Caroline is the heir! She lives on!" Karina continued, as she kept ranting about the royal family.
"Damn, looks like she's talking shit again," Noah muttered. "Any way we can get her back on track?" Although her thoughts were disorganized, some of what Karina said did have some truth to it. Like the fact that Grace was indeed the heir to the throne.
"That's great to hear about Caroline," Lila intervened. "What about your other friends? Did you have other visitors?"
"Caroline came, Caroline is the heir!" Karina simply repeated, like a broken record.
"I see, that's very important, thank you for sharing," Lila said. "What about Ann? Wasn't she one of your friends?"
Karina immediately froze. Her face went cold, a dark look overtaking her eyes. "Don't talk about her. She did this to me. She made me this way."
"I – I'm sorry, Karina," Lila stammered, sounding very panicked and unlike herself. "I didn't mean to mention her. She's not here.
"It's all her fault. She did this to me," Karina continued, her voice harsh.
"Hey, it's okay," Megan said, gently placing her hand on Karina's arm. She recoiled back, like Megan's touch was poison.
"You're just doing this for her, aren't you?" Karina seethed, looking right at Megan and Lila.
"No, Karina, we aren't," Lila said apologetically. "We didn't mean to hurt you. We were just trying to help."
"That's what she said, before she did this to me," Karina screamed, sounding and looking like her demons had completely overtaken her. She broke into the nursery rhyme, wailing at the top of her lungs. When we tried to coax her out of it, she kept singing, putting her hands over her ears.
"Come on, Karina, let's go somewhere quieter," I said in Russian, gently placing my hand on her shoulder. I led her into the lounge and sat down with her on a couch facing the kitchen. That way, I'd still be able to comfort Karina and keep tabs on the squad, who were currently arguing.
"Good God, Lila, look what you've done now," Noah accused, his voice low. "You've scared her off for good."
"Well, someone had to be asking her the questions and I didn't see you willing to contribute," Lila fired back.
"You know, you should seriously consider a career in psychiatry since it'll give you an excuse to torment people for a living," Noah muttered. Lila glared at her brother.
"I second that," Tanner agreed. Lila also gave him a death glare.
Beside me, Karina's singing had quieted. I glanced over, noting she didn't look as frightened as before.
"Are you okay?" I asked in Russian. She shook her head, still singing. I peeked into the kitchen, seeing that the squad was still arguing about how badly the questioning went and how they barely got any information from Karina. I sighed dejectedly. I never should have let them do this in the first place. Unlocking all her past trauma while she was still high or in some kind of withdrawal wasn't going to do her any good, not when she wasn't ready to talk about it yet. But then again, I thought about Grace and how her family tried to keep her trauma from her. That clearly didn't work out and she hadn't been the same since then. But whether or not we forced Karina to relive her trauma, I feared she wouldn't recover either way.
A quiet knock on the door got my attention. I looked up, finding Lila standing in the lounge doorway.
"Do you mind if I come in?" Lila asked. I shook my head. She left the door open just a fraction as she walked in, sitting next to me on the couch.
"How is she doing?" Lila looked at Karina with concern.
"I think she's calmed down a bit but I feel we pushed her too far," I said, glancing at Karina, who was still singing the nursery rhyme.
"I know. I'm sorry." Lila looked down in shame. "I was only trying to help."
"I know." I knew Lila had good intentions and wouldn't purposely try to harm Karina.
"How are you doing?" I looked at Lila in surprise.
"I'm fine." The reply came automatically.
"Are you sure? You've been through a lot lately."
I just nodded my head. "Why wouldn't I be fine?"
"I mean, you and your father are practically estranged, your mother is a bit on the loopy side, and your girlfriend broke up with you for some awkward prince. You've been through a lot lately."
"It is what it is." I shrugged. My old life was behind me and this was what I had now, take it or leave it. Whether I loved it or hated it, I'd just have to deal with it.
"I just worry about you, Alexei." Lila placed her hand on my arm. "You don't have to be strong all the time. If you need someone to talk to, I'm here for you."
"I know." Our eyes met in an intense look. We had so much shared history, from relationships to friends and everything in between. Despite all the shit I had put her through, we somehow still managed to remain close. And I knew that if I ever needed someone to vent to, Lila would always be there to listen.
Karina shifted beside me, looking more than tired before.
"Would you like to go upstairs?" I asked softly. Karina nodded. Lila and I shared one last glance, before she stood up, making her way back to the kitchen.
I led Karina up to her bedroom. She laid down on the bed, still humming the nursery rhyme. I took off her shoes and pulled a blanket around her, which she snuggled into before closing her eyes. With a few last lingering looks, to make sure she'd be okay, I headed back downstairs, where unsurprisingly, the squad was still arguing.
"You know, if yesterday's conversation was anything to go by, I'm willing to put my bets on the princess for locking her up in the asylum," Tanner said casually, as I walked back into the kitchen.
"I think that's exactly what happened," I said, sitting down.
"Damn, if she put your mom in an asylum and is now locking your girl up in the palace, we better do something about this," Tanner said. Well no shit. That's what we were trying to figure out.
"I tried. I thought it would be a good idea to see what Karina knew," Megan said, sounding dejected. "I didn't think it'd go so badly."
"Surely, there are other, more reliable ways to get information," I pondered. Brutally questioning Karina couldn't be the only way.
"But how?" Rosie asked. We all looked at each other, the deafening silence echoing our defeat. We were at a loss, having hit a massive wall.
"What about Grace?" Tanner asked, breaking the silence as he looked at me.
"What now?" I muttered, so not in the mood to talk about her.
"Considering your girl is at the forefront of this, she's gotta know something we don't," Tanner continued casually. We all brightened up, realizing what a valuable information source she was. Once again, there he was with his stroke of genius.
"That's true," Noah agreed. "It'd be nice to see the situation from her side and find out what's going on at the palace."
"But how are we going to get a hold of her? The palace networks are next to impossible to get into," Megan lamented.
"Don't worry about it, I'm on it," Lila reassured her. We all looked at her. I had no idea how she would go about getting in touch with Grace but somehow, she exuded the confidence that it would happen. It was enough to make me believe her, if only temporarily. "For now, we do what we can without her. Once we get info from Grace, we'll rework our plans as needed."
"And if we can't?" Noah asked meekly.
Lila looked around solemnly, as the same thought dawned on us collectively. "Well, then I guess we'll just have to do our best."
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! When I first wrote this chapter a couple years ago, I thought it'd be fun to include some psychiatry, as the area I'm passionate about. But when initially doing the edits, I realized I didn't actually like this chapter that much and found it kinda cringe, although I've decided it isn't terrible after finishing the edits.
I also have no idea when I'll be able to get the next chapter up, as I'm anticipating these next 3-6 mos will be quite busy, as I'll be completing all my non-psychiatry rotations (like internal medicine, emergency medicine etc.) and those have longer hours and tough call schedules. I am looking at potentially next weekend to early next week (Jan. 7-11), as it's also a shorter chapter and the editing hasn't been too bad. But I may have to take a brief hiatus from this story or post when I'm able to. I still have every intention of finishing this story, as there are so many chapters that I'm excited about and can't wait to share. It just might take longer than expected (and I feel I've already dragged this story, let alone the entire series in Alexei's POV, out enough). Keep an eye out on my IG (smartiegirl800) where I'll post more updates! Thanks for your understanding and patience.