No Good Nick (Part 3)

Part 12

She thought she had been getting better. Things were good at home, at school, with her friends! She had Will back in her life for crying out loud!

Why was it getting bad all of sudden?

"It's alright if you don't want to talk Nick. I just want to know what's going on, that's all. Maybe you could write it out? Would that help?"

A therapist.

That was what Nick was working with at the moment. She had weaseled her way out of loads of things before... maybe she could do that now? But then she remembered her oath not to lie to people anymore and she mentally kicked herself for being such a goody-two-shoes.

The morning after the whole bad nightmare thing (as Nick was calling it), Nick stayed home from school. Ed and Liz had stayed home too, wanting to help Nick and figure out what was going on. Liz figured it would be best to send Molly and Jeremy off to school so they could have alone time.

Nick hadn't been in the mood to talk to anyone about it and tried to brush it off before crumbling into tears.

Liz had held her while she cried, then spoke very slowly as if she were afraid of breaking the fragile piece that was left of Nick. "Jeremy talked to us last night sweetie... and he told us what happened..."

She had paused before continuing, "Jeremy had this friend during his sophomore year who had PTSD... he'd get really bad flashbacks sometimes, and Jeremy got used to helping him out and trying to calm him down. He told us that... that the way you were acting was just like his friend... so we thought maybe we should go see a therapist? Is um... that okay? We called the one social services offered... the real social services... I mean like..."

Her voice had trailed off in Nick's head as she became cold.

PTSD? There's no way I have that... do I? She had thought.

Numbly, she had found herself agreeing to go. Then 2 hours later she was in the back of the car, Ed and Liz driving slowly to the therapist's office.

Now it was just Nick and some lady named Dr. Moore. Nick felt like vomiting.

Nick sighed and looked at her hands. She didn't need help... she was... she was fine. She could take care of herself. She had taken care of herself for years. She bit her lip, involuntary memories of the dream coming back.

First, it had been that nightmare.

After going to see her dad and him insisting (as usual) that she needed to get him money and make him top priority it had thrown her back into the helpless spiral that had been her life.

The nightmare was his arrest all over again... which somehow lead to her feeling like she was back at the Harbaugh's.

She didn't even know why she was having a stress dream.

She thought she was over it. She thought she was over her dad.... over the Harbaugh's.

"Nick? You wanna tell me about what's going on in your head? You look a little upset."

Nick was about to point out that she probably looked more than a little upset, but she figured that wouldn't help her case. Instead she bit her tongue and sighed.

***

"So... how is she?" Liz asked, wringing her hands around her purse. Ed eyes her hands, noting she had a habit of wringing things while distressed. She grabbed one of her hands to stop her.

It was after the therapy session, Nick was waiting in the car. Ed and Liz sitting with the therapist to go over the session.

"Well, she's anxious and upset. I noted from your file that she's been in foster care for over a year... and she allegedly tried to run away a month ago?"

"Uh... yes that's right."

"So you are her current foster parents?"

"Yes, and hoping to adopt one day."

Dr. Moore nodded.

"Well, I'll tell you what I think is going on," she continued, glancing back and forth at the anxious Liz and Ed. "It is normal for PTSD to occur in what we call an anniversary reaction. Since it's around the time that she ran away to get away from these triggers, it is common for this anniversary reaction to cause her to feel trapped in a memory." 

"Memory?" Ed's eyebrows furrowed. "What... what kind of memory? What exactly did she think she was.. uh what did you say... trapped in last night?"

"I'm not exactly sure. Nick isn't the most open person, but this takes time. I think over the course of more sessions, she can feel more secure about talking about whats going on. But for now, I think it would be best if you talk to her. I know you've been getting close to her over this past month, and her to you. But there is a chance you still don't know everything that went on with her during the time before she moved in with you. Talk to her... there may be other triggers we're not aware of."

Liz and Ed nodded, thanking the therapist, and they walked out to the car, talking silently on the way.

They got into the car to find Nick buckled up in the back, scrolling through some text messages on her phone.

"Hey Nick, how about a donut?" Ed asked, smiling at his foster daughter in the review mirror.

Nick looked up from her phone and met his eyes, smiling back. "Sure."

***

Hiiiii sorry for the long wait. Life has been a roller coaster of craziness lately, and I got writers block halfway through this chapter and literally stared at my computer for like 3 days before being able to write again lol

Also this is random but I spell donuts like "donut" and my friend spells it like "doughnut". Any preferences of spelling out there? lol

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Take care of yourself/others :))