familiarity

It's complicated

                  All 4 of the adults sat down at the table, dr Charles on one side and hailey sat on the end next to jay who was sat next to his brother.  Dr Charles knew why they were here so he started, "I've had chance to look over Riley's documents and she's gonna have a long road to recovery, now I know that you guys have just found out that you're siblings with her and it will be a big shock to her system when she finds out, she's either gonna push you away or she'll attach herself to you both but no one really knows how each kids gonna react in this situation" he started. 

The trio nodded, "is it best to tell her when she wakes up soon or to wait?" Jay bit his lip nervously.  Dr Charles smiled reassuringly, "usually I would say to wait, but in Riley's situation she's gonna be worried about going back to her step dad and who she's gonna have to live with, there's gonna be a lot of trust issues going on, so given the current circumstances you should tell her when she's awake again, which should be in an hour or two" he nodded.

                Will nodded understandably, "how's this gonna work? You know, with therapy and everything?" He tilted his head.  Jay nodded since that was his next question.  Dr Charles took a deep breath, "a child's mind is a lot different to an adults mind, it's complicated. She's either gonna let reality hit her while she's physically recovering in med over the next week or two, or she's gonna go home and no one'll know when it's gonna become real for her. Either way we can't put her through therapy until she's come to terms with everything that's happened, if we do, it could over flood her conscious and she'll go backwards" he summed it all up.  The trio nodded, "so we just have to wait until she cracks?" Jay spoke sadly. 

                Dr Charles sighed, "I wouldn't really say cracks, it's more like growing, she's gonna be transitioning into a safe environment where she'll receive care and love unlike the environment she's used to living in. We won't really know until she starts therapy but it's extremely common for kids who grow up in these kind of households to develop a kind of ptsd, but we can deal with that when the time comes" he put it into simpler words.  Hailey nodded in agreement as jay frowned, he knew how much she freaked out with things like this that links back to her own childhood but she was keeping her cool, for Riley.  Will nodded, "so it could take months for it all to hit her?" He frowned.  Dr Charles nodded sadly, "it could take days, weeks, or like you said, months, and when everything does become real to her she's gonna need a lot of emotional support but I have no worries that she's gonna go without it given that she'll have you three" he smiled sadly.

               The trio nodded understandably, basically they just had to sit and wait until reality hits Riley in the face like a bus then they'd have to watch her world crumb, but they were all prepared to do anything for her. Dr Charles stood up, "when she's awake I'm gonna go talk to her and then you're free to tell her, I'll be in the room with you since she could have a panic attack or she might take it really well" he nodded. The three nodded and stood up, "thanks doc" jay shook his hand thankfully and smiled.

A few hours had passed and Riley was finally awake, fully stable and lucid so dr Charles made his move by entering her room while she was alone, "hi Riley, I'm dr Charles" he smiled and shook her hand. Riley smiled back, "hey" she accepted the greeting. Dr Charles pointed to the chair, "mind if I sit?" He smiled. Riley shook her head as a signal for him to sit, "are you a psychiatrist?" She tilted her head. Dr Charles smiled and nodded, "I am, how did you know?" He held the iPad on his knee. Riley smiled, "you asked me if you could sit before taking a seat, I've been here before" she nodded. Dr Charles nodded, "you've seen a psychiatrist before?" He smiled sadly.

Riley nodded and looked down, "yeah, I had a therapist after I got out of juvie for sixth months. He didn't really help though" she shrugged. Dr Charles smiled, "well I'm here to help and I promise I'm gonna do my best to do so" he nodded. Riley nodded and looked at him thankfully again, "how're you feeling after all of that?" He started straight away. Riley sighed, "I don't really know, it doesn't feel real to be honest" she furrowed her brows in confusion. Dr Charles nodded, "that's perfectly normal after a traumatic experience, you're gonna feel weird for a while, like you're living someone else's life but I can tell you that it does get better with time and patience" he smiled.

Riley smiled back, "I have to play the waiting game, then I get therapy, then I'm supposed to be better right?" She raised an eyebrow. Dr Charles smiled sadly, "you're never gonna need to feel alone Riley. You have lots of people by your side, you're gonna have me to help you through it and you're gonna power through it because I've seen how strong you are" he nodded. Riley smiled and nodded, "what happens now then?" She sighed.  Dr Charles sat up straighter, "well unfortunately you're gonna be here for a while, maybe a week, then you're gonna go home and recover. But I'm gonna give you tips and help you with any nightmares you might have so it won't feel as scary" he smiled. 

               Riley shifted in the bed, "home? I have to go back home...?" She looked at him fearfully.  Dr Charles shook his head, "not back to your old home, but somewhere safe where you can get the care you need. We're gonna get your weight back up to a healthy number and then we're gonna focus on getting you back on track" he smiled reassuringly.  She relaxed a little knowing she didn't have to go back home, "do you feel like talking about anything? Even talking about the weather can help" he smiled.  Riley took a minute then inhaled deeply, "I just, I-I can't help but wonder why me? Why did I have to go through this? And if he knew what he said would go straight to my head, what would he say instead?" She looked down.

             Dr Charles listened to her carefully, "none of this is your fault Riley, none of it. The things he said to you mean nothing, words can hurt but you can either chose to let them break you or you can fight them back and show whoever said them to you, how strong you really are, which I believe you can do because you're a fighter, I've witnessed your strength myself. Look how hard you fought to stay alive..." he smiled sadly.  Riley smiled a little at his words, "I'm scared that I won't be able to trust people ever again" she spoke quietly, she didn't like to admit it but this talking session was helping a little.  Dr Charles nodded, "we all have weak points kiddo, but we can make them meaningless and turn them into our strengths. I'm gonna be by your side every step of the way" he nodded surely.

Riley nodded and smiled, dr Charles knew reality hadn't hit her yet so there was no point in pushing her to talk about whatever happened at home or that night, it wouldn't benefit her much. He smiled back, "there's some very familiar people who have something to tell you" he nodded and stood up. Riley's eyes lit up as he walked out of the room, usually she hates surprises but that's because they usually weren't good, but this felt different. She smiled widely as she saw hailey, jay and Will walk into her room, "hi" sat up slowly.

Jay smiled back, "hey you, how you feeling?" He sat down. Riley laughed a little but stopped because it hurt, "like I've been hit by a truck" she groaned. The four of them laughed, nothing can kill her humour, "we've got something really important to tell you riles" Will started the conversation. Riley didn't like how serious that sounded but nodded for whoever to carry on, "you know how me and Will are brothers?" Jay smiled. Riley nodded and smiled at them both, "well...we're your brothers too" he bit his lip nervously. Riley widened her eyes, half confused but half happy, "wait, really? I have siblings?" She smiled. Will looked at jay and smiled slightly, "yep, we found out not so long ago, you're real dad was our dad" he smiled fully.

Riley smiled but frowned, "was? Is he okay?" She tilted her head. Jay smiled weakly, "he died two years ago" he summed up. Riley frowned again, "I'm sorry..." she looked at them sadly. Will smiled and sat down next to his brother, "it's okay riles, we just want you to know we're not leaving you" he nodded. Riley smiled and nodded thankfully, "how's this gonna work, I see you both on weekends?" She looked up. Jay looked at Will sadly, she must've been in a tricky situation with family relationships before, "well, if you'd like to, you can come live with me and you'd see Will pretty much every day" he smiled.  Riley's eyes lit up, "really?" She smiled.  Jay nodded and smiled back, "really" he tilted his head and looked at Will.

               Riley smiled to herself, "I'd like that" she nodded.  Jay and Will smiled back, "us too" Will nodded. Dr Charles smiled, he was just glad she took it well, "how about some lunch?" He smiled. Riley smiled back and nodded, "I'll go fetch you something" he nodded and left leaving the three adults alone with Riley.