FINISHED WORK

[hazy_reflection]

That's the Way It Goes
by
Lita Reenā

[[Author's Note: happens a week after this]]

<~~*^*~~>

"Good morning, Eddie."

"Hello, Clarice," Eddie said quietly as he sat down on the plush couch across from the psychiatrist's chair. He leaned back, trying to get comfortable even though he knew he never would. "I like what you've done with the place," he told her with a casual smile, his eyes making a wide sweep of the room. She had mentioned to him before he'd left the week prior that she was going to have the place remodelled, just in case he got there before she did, which did happen from time to time. Both the outer room and the inner room--where she met with all her clients--had been changed from an icy winter theme to a light and springy one. Eddie thought he rather like her previous decor better.

She smiled brightly at him, settling herself into her chair and pulled out her parchment and quill. "I'm glad to see that you can at least pretend to like it," she told him with an amused arched eyebrows. After watching him for a moment, her eyes darted to the clock and then back at him, a move almost unnoticeable if he hadn't been watching her. She smiled again and then began talking to him.

"I see you've decided not to wear your robes today," she commented, scribbling down a note on her parchment without looking down. "That's a bit of a change, isn't it? You've always worn your robes to our sessions. I take it something's happened since our last meeting." She watched him with seemingly caring eyes, watched as Eddie just shrugged and smiled at her, his memories from the past week putting him into a mood where he didn't really feel like talking so much. He sighed, more as a noise to fill the silence than anything else. After glancing around the room, he looked back at her and then fidgetted slightly. He was paying her for this after all, so perhaps he should at least say something.

"Alex is back," he said simply, as though it hadn't been one of the happiest moments of his life.

Clarice just raised an eyebrow at that information and jotted some more notes down on her parchment. She glanced down at it and then let her glasses fall to the tip of her nose, looking over them at Eddie as he sat there on the couch.

"Alex is back..." Clarice echoed, showing no emotion on her face whatsoever. "How do you feel about that?" she asked, obviously trying to get Eddie to say more about what happened.

Eddie shifted uncomfortably in his spot on the couch. He hadn't really wanted to talk about this; he had hoped that somehow she wouldn't be able to get to it, that they would talk about something else. Apparently his hope had been misguided, because she had managed to hit the nail directly on the head.

"Well, I'm happy she's back. She's a good friend...and I missed her," he said, though his voice was a bit too forceful, as though he were trying to persuade Clarice that his reasons were healthy and honest.

"I'm sure you did miss her Eddie, but we've been trying to get you to develop an independence from her. You're doing so well." She pushed her glasses back up onto the bridge of her nose and then looked at him gently. "I'll be honest with you, this isn't the best time for you to see her again. You're still in a developmental stage and are vulnerable to anything right now." She sat watching him, trying to gauge his reaction to the things she said. Eddie didn't disappoint.

"I can handle it!" he told her, a look of desperation beginning to grow in his eyes. "We, we had a wonderful time the night she came back! We talked and..." he hesitated and then decided to leave out the part about them sleeping together, "and we read some Shakespeare and it was just like old times."

Clarice pursed her lips and looked at him, reading him like a book. "Eddie, this is not a healthy relationship. It never was. You need to be able to stand on your own before you try to support someone else! 'Just like old times' isn't going to help you. And if you sleep with her again, I honestly don't know what I'm going to do."

Eddie's jaw dropped.

"I'm a shrink. Edward, you've been coming to me for how long, now? Besides, you're positively glowing and it's been, what, a week since she came back? Something big had to have happened. It's too easy not to know."

Eddie finally closed his mouth, the reality of it hitting him hard. He gulped and sighed and then sank deeper into the couch cushion behind him.

"I guess...I didn't realise," he said quietly, trying to bring back the happy mood he'd been in just moments before. "It's just, I love her so much. And well, things just happened."

"Yes, Eddie, that's the way it often goes in that kind of situation. But you really need to start growing and developing your individuality and independence. You really do." Clarice thought for a moment, sucking on the end of her quill before speaking again. "Have you ever thought of moving off the Estate?"

"Off the Estate," Eddie repeated, slightly confused. "But...why? The Estate is my home..." he started, and then stopped, recognising where she was going with this. "You're talking about supporting myself...right?"

"That's right, Eddie," she responded with a nod. "I think it might do you some good. And it's not as though you can't go back. It's just getting away for a little while. Maybe you can find a way to get the Ministry to send you away for a short time; perhaps you can find an assignment in France?"

'France,' Eddie thought to himself. 'France is where Alex went away to...' Alex. It seemed she was the only thing on his mind nowadays. No. If he was going to go away he needed to go somewhere where he wouldn't be reminded of her. Perhaps Spain, or Germany. Italy! He could visit Italy. There had been talk around the office of a possible assignment in Italy. He'd always wanted to visit Rome.

"Maybe..." Eddie started, "It would be a good idea," he said, a small smile beginning to form on his face. He stood up, thoughts beginning to fly through his head as ideas for this trip began to form. "I've got things to go research then," he told Clarice as he began toward the door.

"Eddie!" she started, causing him to turn around and look at her with a confused look on his face. "You haven't finished your hour?" she said, more of a question than a statement.

"Don't worry, Clarice," he said, his grin still widening as he kept going toward the door. He opened it and then turned back to her, his eyes shining, "You'll still get full payment," he said as he shut the door, leaving her with an expression of astonishment on her face.

Comments

[jdezredel.livejournal.com]

...you named her Clarice.

I want to yell for him to get the hell out of there before Hannible shows up, but Snape is telling me to splash him with oregano.

[fyrestar1.livejournal.com]

*dies laughing* Yeah, when he said "Hello, Clarice," I could only hear Hannibal Lector saying that... *shudders*

[alyxbradford.livejournal.com]

That's because there is only one way in the world for those two words to be spoken together.