The Course of True Love

The Trial

Seeing someone who seemed to be so upset right behind Albus had been quite the shock for Cecily. It was obvious that the girl was a very troubled soul, but she had disappeared as soon as she noticed Cecily noticing her, without saying a word when Cecily had spoken to her. It was very odd and also a little intimidating. Why would a crying girl stand behind the man she had started to see as a father figure?
This wouldn't be Cecily's only worry over the next few weeks, but it was one that kept her up at night. In addition to wondering about the girl and trying to learn even more about soul-seeing, she had lots of assignments due and her date in court was looming. For now, it was still over six weeks away, but she didn't know exactly what would happen and that scared her. Thankfully, she had Eva and together they focused on their assignments and Eva also managed to calm her down if she was getting distressed over the things that were going on in her life. Eva was the one component in Cecily's life that kept her somewhat grounded in a world that otherwise seemed to consist of perpetual insecurity. Cecily wasn't proud of it, but sometimes she still cut herself. On those nights Eva dragged her to the hospital wing and Poppy treated her cuts. They made her promise not to tell Mina and the healer grudgingly accepted, simply because she knew that if she told, Cecily would not come to her anymore and she didn't dare to imagine the consequences of that. All in all, however, Cecily was coping remarkably well, which could also be attributed to the outstanding work of Dr. Bellevue and her little assistant. Freddie now often "attended" Cecily's sessions, he seemed to be curious and very intrigued by the girl who could see him. After a while, he started asking her to tell Dr. Bellevue things. He wanted her to know that he was still around, that he hadn't ceased to exist, and it broke Cecily's heart to tell him no. But she just wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, Dr. Bellevue had never mentioned her son, she didn't want to be inappropriate, offend her doctor or break some sort of soul seer code. But Freddie kept begging and so one afternoon, when their session was almost over, Cecily couldn't keep it in anymore.
"Dr. Bellevue, I'm sorry that this is coming out of nowhere but Freddie is here and he wants me to tell you some things." She blurted out. Dr. Bellevue looked at her, mildly confused, so Cecily repeated what she had just said, just a little more slowly. While the little soul seemed to glow with happiness about finally being noticed, Dr. Bellevue seemed to go through the five stages of grief in under a minute.
"Cecily, what on earth are you talking about? How do you even know about Freddie?" She was confused and being confronted about her dead son had caught her completely off guard.
"I can see him. Well, his soul, it's complicated, it all started a few weeks ago..." Cecily explained about soul seeing and to her surprise, Dr. Bellevue didn't dismiss her or yelled at her, instead she patiently listened.
"I see. I... Have heard of this phenomenon, but I have never had a patient who had it. It's... Very interesting to say the least." She desperately tried to remain professional, even though all she wanted was contact with her little boy.
"Please don't tell my parents, they would freak out." Dr. Bellevue just scribbled something on her notepad.
"Alright. So... if you don't mind me asking, what does Freddie have to say?" The doctor didn't entirely trust Cecily yet, but Freddie noticed his mother's hesitation.
"Tell her about my plum tree. It's going to have lots of fruit this year and tell her she should make some of her famous jam. You should try it." He was so excited, bless his heart, if he still had one. Cecily smiled and repeated everything to Dr. Bellevue, whose eyes now filled with tears. She said nothing for a while, just stared at the spot where Freddie was standing, even if she couldn't see him, she did feel his presence now.
"Just talk, he can hear you." Cecily encouraged her, she saw how excited the little boy was.
"Hi there, Freddie." She said quietly. "I'm glad you're here. I miss you every day, you know."
"He says you don't have to because he's with you all the time. He wants you to look for his signs."
"I'll try." Dr. Bellevue promised.
"Freddie has to go now because communicating with us is exhausting for little souls, but he wants me to tell you that he loves you and that he's very proud of you."
"Goodbye, Darling. Talk to you soon." Dr. Bellevue said reluctantly as Freddie disappeared and Cecily looked at her doctor. "Thank you, Cecily, that has been quite... Something. I will look more into soul seeing until our next session."
"Thank you. And please don't tell my parents." That was very important to Cecily.
"As I said, I won't. But tell me, you referred to them as your parents twice today, do you feel that way or is it just easier?" The psychologist had quickly changed the topic, these sessions were for Cecily's benefit after all, not for her own. Cecily shrugged, Dr. Bellevue was really good, she noticed everything.
"I guess I really want to be their proper child, but I can't have that. I wish they could love me like they love the baby." It was still new and a little odd for her to verbalise what she felt, but it was also oddly liberating.
"Have they said they don't?" Cecily shook her head, she knew neither Mina nor Albus would be intentionally hurtful towards her.
"But that's only logical, isn't it? I'm not theirs, but they are still being very kind to so I guess it's fine."
"That's not necessarily what they have to feel. If it's okay with you, I will address this in their next session with me, that would be next week, but I know they do love you a lot." The doctor tried her very best to reassure the little girl in front her.
"Sure. I just... I don't know. All I know is that I love them." Dr. Bellevue took some more notes and then let Cecily go. There was a lot to process for both of them that evening.