fandomtownies | Office Hours, 11/14

Maia came in, she had been crying that was obvious but she was not sad or angry looking. She looked very peacful. "Hi Brenda. I'm not late am I?" She said, her eyes were slightly dazed.

Brenda closes and saves her computer file. "Not at all," she says cheerily. "How have you been, Maia?"

Maia sat and smiled "I have been really good actually. I mean I did my detention and everything but today." Maia takes a deep breath "Today I talked to my mom." Maia smiled wider. "I did."

"That's great, Maia," Brenda says. She;s unsure why it's such a big deal to Maia, but she's glad to see the girl happy. "I take it she had good news for you?"

Maia looked at Brenda "Well she told me she was ok and that her and dad never stopping thinking about me and that she will always be with me no matter what even if I can't hear her all the time."

Understanding dawns on Brenda's face. "Oh, you mean your birth mother? It must have been great for you to feel that kind of love and acceptance from soneone who's ... who's been gone so long." She glances at the ceiling. "I've lost ... people, and talking to them in my head sometimes has really helped."

Maia nods "I havent, well when I came back she was dead and well it was just a grave. One night, after I got back I ran away from Diana's house and rode my bike to the cemetary. I" Maia looks at her hands "I stayed at her grave all night, I dug my hands down as far as I could into the ground and I stayed there." Maia breathes slowly "Diana found me the next night, but today I-I got to hear my mom's voice and I got to tell her that I'm ok." Maia said softly still looking at her hands as though the long ago night she had dug til her hands bleed had just happened and was not a long forgotten memory.

"That must have been very hard for you," Brenda says, swallowing hard. Don't you DARE cry, she thinks. Don't think about Nate, don't think about Dad. You're here for her.

"Did Diane help you mourn at all?," she asks.

Maia still stared at her hands, "I talked about it with my doctor at NTAC." Maia said softly, she hesitated then pulled out a tiny glass angel from her pocket and laid it on the coffee table between herself and Brenda. Squeezing it slightly the tiny angel opened to reveal some soil. "I didn't want to let her go, when Diana found me. She pulled me up from the ground and I remember screaming and trying to keep from being pulled away from her grave. My hands." Maia held up her hands "They were bleeding but I didn't care, I wanted my mother and nothing was going to keep me from that. I keep that," Maia nodded at the angel "so that nobody ever can."

Delicately, Brenda reaches out one forefinger and touches the angel. "It's lovely," she says simply.

She leans back and shifts her notepad on her lap. "So how did you get to speak with her?"

Maia closed the angel carefully and placed it back into her pocket. "There is a lady here in town, Allison, she- well she was able to get my mom for me and I-I got to talk to her" Maia smiled now but a little sad "I had forgotten what she sounded like you know, her smell, how it sounds when she used to say 'Maia baby' and she said it, she said 'Maia baby' and I heard her." Maia said her voice was so soft and gentle you had to almost strain to hear it as though she were telling Brenda a secret.

"That sounds like a very special experience for you," Brenda says. She makes a note of Allison's name. "I'm glad you got that closeness to her."

"How did your detention go, by the way?"

Maia frowned for a moment "I had to fight a zombie and then the room, that they have us in, turned my friend into a zombie and I had to shot her. It was kinda fun, not the shooting my friend thing that gave me nightmares but everything else was pretty fun. My wrestling coach headed it up after the Dean opened it." Maia said looking peaceful and happy again.

Brenda raises one eyebrow. This is a weird school.

Still, if the girl seems happy...

"Sounds interesting," she says. Then, glancing at the clock: "Our time is about up. See you next Monday, okay?"

Maia smiled and nodded, before she got up though she looked at Brenda "Dont, don't tell anyone, about my angel I mean, I've never shown it to anyone and well its really private to me you know. Its something that is just between me and mom." Maia's eyes searched Brenda's almost scared that it would be blabbed all over the school.

"Anything you say in this office is confidential unless I believe you're going to hurt yourself or someone else, Maia. Don't worry."

Maia smiled now "Thank you. I'll see you next monday Brenda" Maia left the office her angel secure in her pocket.

Jonathan comes into the Therapists Office in town, unsure about what he was supposed to say to her.

"Ms. Chenowith," he calls.

Brenda stands from her desk and breezes over to him. "That's me. Can I help you with something?"

"You took the words right out of my mouth ma'am. I'm Jonathan Crane," he tells her extending his hand, "you left a message for me at the clinic and we spoke over the phone. I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to respond but things have gotten away from me."

Brenda looks at the young man in surprise, then holds out her hand for him to shake. "Dr. Crane, of course."

"I assumed you were one of the students when you walked in."

Jonathan doesn't want to explain that he isn't a doctor, he doesn't really want to tell this woman anything about himself, but it can't be helped really.

"It's just Jonathan Crane ma'am, and I am a student at the school, I just offer counseling as well," he tells her, smiling politely and shaking her hand, "How may I help you?"

Brenda's smile becomes a touch frozen in obvious surprise. "Really. And ... I'm sorry, I assumed from what I was told that you were the guidance counselor. Are you working with a teacher, or ... how did you end up being the school counselor as a student?"

Jonathan smiles and it's highly likely it looks like genuine amusement.

"I'm not the official school counselor," he tells her, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear, "We had one not to long ago, Death, if memory serves, but she's gone now. I provide counseling in the clinic maybe 7-9 hours a week, though as I said it's not official."

"I see," Brenda says. "Do you have the guidance of a doctor or a social worker or anything on staff, or do you just sort of ... go with it? I mean, I have nothing against the self-educated, but I hope you understand why this seems a little odd to me."

This is what Jonathan had been worried about. It's all fun until some one starts asking 'what the hell?'

"I'm under the oversight of the doctors in the clinic, and the administration of course, but no, I don't really have any kind of official backing. I do understand what you mean ma'am."

Oh she's on my list, Jonathan thinks.

Brenda digests this. Dr. House had seemed okay, as far as she could judge over the phone. But still, it discomfited her to know the only counseling at the school came from another student.

She speaks in the tone she'd use with any other fellow professional. "You know, I'm sure you've noticed that this town and the school are a little unusual," she begins. "I've only been here three weeks and I've noticed that. I'm sure you've seen it much more." She smiles almost flirtatiously, a we-share-a-secret kind of smile.

"So if you ever get a client you aren't sure what to do with, please send him or her to me. Or you can call me anytime to discuss treatment options as one therapist to another."

"And I'm sure you won't mind if I call the doctors, just to let them know I'm available for anythign that's over your head."

"Of course, Ms. Chenowith," Jonathan says, smiling, "it's a very odd place and I'm delighted that you're here to help me when I come across something that's over my head. I'm sure Doctors House and Wilson would be more than happy to be able to work with you as well."

Why do I get the feeling I'm being conned, he thinks.

"Sounds good," Brenda says. "I look forward to working with you."

She shifts in her chair. "So ... how did you get interested in psychiatry, Jonathan?"

"People fascinate me ma'am, I enjoy studying the underlying causes for why they do the things they do. I've read a lot on the subject and have had some experience with counselors. I thought others might be able to benefit from my experience," Jonathan says with a faint smile.

"We have something in common, then," she says. "My parents were both shrinks, so I grew up around it. I never in a million years thought I wanted to do this, but a couple years ago, it just started to make sense." She looks at him thoughtfully. "People are fascinating, aren't they?"

"I like to think so ma'am. I do plan on becoming a psychiatrist one day, after college and everything," he tells her. He's not sure what it is she wants, but he's not going to be outsmarted.

"Then this should be excellent practice."

She notices that Jonathan seems a little uneasy. "I don't want to keep you, just thought we should meet. You can go if you have class, or whatever."

Office Hours, 11/14

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