The Adventure Continues

[abrightboy]

For thatsfascinating.



The villa Malcolm rented was in the Languedoc, not far from Marseilles, south of Avignon. It was a very historic region, though Malcolm was particularly not interested in visiting Marseilles again. There was a charming village nearby the villa and if they were going to go to an historic city for a day, he'd rather make the trip over to Montpellier, where he'd never been at all, much less with Dr Whitly.

The villa had six bedrooms. As the driver brought their luggage inside the bright and spacious main room, Malcolm handed him some folded Euros and thanked him and shut the door behind him.

"First choice of a room is yours," he told Edrisa with a smile. "But you might want to explore first."

Comments

[abrightboy]

He studied her face.

"Do you want to?"

[thatsfascinating]

She frowned.

"I don't know. Maybe we could talk to Gabrielle?"

[abrightboy]

"Oh, yeah, if you want to talk to someone about it... yeah, she's the best," he agreed.

[thatsfascinating]

"Shouldn't we talk about it?" she asked. "You were worried about this having a long lasting effect on me. Talking it out would help that, wouldn't it?"

[abrightboy]

"Absolutely. No, I am a hundred percent behind therapy," he insisted.

[thatsfascinating]

"We should definitely go together," she said. "It was a shared experience. We should talk about it together."

[abrightboy]

He nodded. "Yes. That's a good idea," he said, trying to study her face. His head hurt but he felt like he'd been missing something. Like, he knew she'd been in terrible danger and they hadn't dealt with it and it was similar to her last terrible danger, but he read people's faces and there was something he was missing there. "We can do that as soon as we get back."

[thatsfascinating]

"That would be good. Thanks." She had never done long term therapy, so it was a good thing they were doing this together.

He was looking at her strangely. She shook her head, smiling.

"What is it?"

[abrightboy]

He shook his head faintly.

"Your question surprised me. It shouldn't have surprised me."

[thatsfascinating]

She frowned faintly, thinking back over the conversation.

"Which question?"

[abrightboy]

"About wanting to go to therapy. Of course you want help; you've been brutally assaulted twice in less than a month."

[thatsfascinating]

"Well, I mean...you're the one who suggested talking about it. I'm not sure I would have thought of it if you hadn't."

And he had been assaulted twice in a month, too. Another reason why it was good for them to do this together.

[abrightboy]

He felt like his whole life was a series of traumas anyway. What were two more.

She was better than him, though. She hadn't been turned into... whatever he was. She was still good.

"I hope it helps."

[thatsfascinating]

"Oh, I'm sure it will. Gabrielle's really good. She's been amazing for you, right?"

Edrisa would object vigorously to the notion that Malcolm was in any way "bad."

[abrightboy]

"Yeah, she's the best. She's helped me a lot." A beat. "I mean, she does occasionally object to my refusal to switch to a more... age-appropriate therapist, but... she also knows if she won't see me anymore, then I won't see anyone. And nobody wants that."

[thatsfascinating]

"Definitely don't want that," she agreed. Then she frowned. "I hope she'll be okay working with both of us. I really think we should do this together, and no one knows you like she does."

[abrightboy]

"Of course we'll do it together. I mean, unless you want to talk about something you don't want me to hear. I'd leave. If you asked." He frowned faintly. "Anyway, seeing both of us together won't really take up more time. I'm sure she'd be fine with it."

[thatsfascinating]

"Oh, I don't think that will happen," she said of her asking him to leave. She couldn't imagine there being anything she wanted to hide from him. Not to mention she knew Malcolm would be anxious if he thought something was wrong. "Although...Gabrielle did ask to speak to me alone before. She might do it again."

She kissed him again, gently caressing his cheek.

"How do you feel?"

[abrightboy]

"I have a headache, I'm dizzy, I'm weirdly drowsy..." His voice trailed off and he looked at her. "You should ask me to leave sometimes. You should talk to her about how my problems affect you. The ways I'm not always there for you because of them. And I can't be there for that. You need space to talk about how you really feel without worrying about hurting my feelings."

[thatsfascinating]

They were all really good points, and Edrisa pressed her lips and nodded, glancing down. "I just don't want to keep anything from you. I worry it will make it harder for you to believe me when I tell you you're not hurting me, or ruining my life, or that I'm happy to be with you."

[abrightboy]

"I'd actually feel better about it if you worked through the issues with a professional instead of denying they're happening. You can be happy to be with me and also annoyed that I have so many panic attacks that I can't help you when you're having a problem. You can feel confident I wouldn't hurt you and also angry that I didn't stop someone else from hurting you fast enough. Pretending it's always sunny doesn't protect you from rain. It just leaves you unprepared for the rain."

[thatsfascinating]

He was making good points. She would disagree that she was denying anything, per se, but she could see how it would be helpful to be able to talk about things without having to always be worried it would hurt him. But then he mentioned her being angry, and she blinked.

"You think I'm angry at you for not stopping those men from hurting me?"

[abrightboy]

"I don't know how you feel about it, but I'm not sure you'd tell me if you were angry about it on any level. And that would be a perfectly natural way to feel."

[thatsfascinating]

"But I'm not angry with you. What happened, in either case, wasn't your fault. I'm not angry you weren't able to protect me, I'm grateful that you saved me." She studied his face. "Please believe me."

[abrightboy]

"I do believe you," he assured her. "It was just an example," he added, waving it off. "But I just mean you have things to deal with that involve me that you should talk about with your therapist without me, so you can be completely open."