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“Stop fidgeting,” Jack hissed at Robby, who would not quit bouncing his leg and shifting in his seat every five seconds.
“I’m not fidgeting,” Robby grumbled, folding his arms and slouching down in the admittedly uncomfortable waiting room chair. He managed to sit still for maybe a moment before his leg started bouncing again.
“You are, and it’s stressing me out. This is my safe space, man.”
“This was your idea.” Robby crossed his arms. He was pouting, great.
“And I’m living to regret it,” Jack pinched the bridge of his nose, picking up a magazine to halfheartedly leaf through. This is what he gets for trying to be a good friend.
Robby had been freaking him out for a long time. The man looked like a kicked puppy on his best days and on his worst days he was on the wrong side of the barrier on the roof.
He was having more bad days than good lately.
Jack had always been a doer, a fixer. Never afraid to get his hands dirty. But as much as it pained him to admit it, he also knew this wasn’t something he could fix on his own.
His last appointment with Charlie had mostly consisted of pestering the man to help him find the perfect therapist for Robby. He would share a lot of things with Robby - NSAIDs, fries, beer, the occasional T-shirt - but he drew the line at his therapist.
Charlie had texted him with a name and a number a few days later. Dr. Virginia Williams. She even practiced out of the same office building as Charlie. Jack didn’t even need to check the Google reviews—if Charlie was sending her, he knew she’d be good.
Jack may or may not have made the appointment on Robby’s behalf. Arguably an extremely nice thing for him to do—he should have gotten a ‘Thank you, Jack, for taking time out of your busy schedule to help me with my mental well-being.’
Instead, because Robby was as stubborn as a fucking mule, he had blown up at Jack for meddling when he’d casually mentioned the appointment.
Sue him for trying to suggest some good coping mechanisms for once.
After two days of tense handoffs and pissy texts, Dana had pulled him aside and told him, in that frankly terrifying way of hers, to ‘fix it or so help me God’ and he’d figured he’d try a different approach. Because he’d be damned if he backed down first.
As tough as it was to get Robby to care about himself, he’d be the first to jump on a grenade for someone else. So Jack reframed it. Suggested they go together, that it’d be helpful for him. That Robby could think of the therapist as a moderator while Robby explained why he was so fucking opposed to therapy if he wanted.
If Robby was a mule, Jack was a fucking bulldog, and he was not letting this go. He’d never let anything go a day in his life. It helped he knew all the right buttons to press with Robby.
Finally, Robby had begrudgingly agreed to let Jack schedule one joint session after he’d made it clear to Jack—no less than four times—he would not be going back after this appointment and it was only so Jack would get off his back about the whole thing.
A win was a win. Now it was on Dr. Williams to work some magic and convince Robby to come back solo next time.
“Dr. Robinavitch?”
Jack looked up to see who he assumed was Dr. Williams waiting for them.
He poked Robby in the ribs when he didn’t respond fast enough. Robby stood with a huff.
“Dr. Williams, but you can call me Virginia.” She shook both of their hands. “And you must be Dr. Abbott?”
She was on the shorter side, long brown hair with a natural looking wave to it, and large tortoiseshell glasses.
“Nice to meet you,” Jack smiled, “call me Jack and this is Robby.”
As she turned her back to lead them back to her office, Jack gave Robby a glare and a quick elbow. Would it kill him to pretend to be happy to be there? If not happy, at least he could try not looking like he was being actively kidnapped.
Virginia’s office was not unlike Charlie’s. Small but cozy, with a cushy loveseat against one wall, her desk by the window with an angled armchair in front. Neutral modern art on the walls, and the gentle sound of a noise machine came from the bookshelf overstuffed with self-help books.
Calming. Safe.
Jack sank in the loveseat, his knee knocking with Robby’s. It was a little snug for two, but then again, Robby was broad.
“Why don’t we start nice and easy and talk about what you’d like to get out of this session?” Virginia settled into the armchair across from them.
Jack waited patiently for Robby to speak before finally turning and eyeing him annoyed.
“This appointment is for you. Why don’t you start?” Jack knew his smile was probably overly sweet to compensate for the fact he was having to fight the urge to throttle Robby.
“Again, this was your idea.” At least Robby had stopped slumping like a petulant teen.
"So Jack’s been asking you to do therapy for a while?” Virginia opened her notebook.
“I’ve been dropping hints.” Jack watched her write something down. It always made him nervous when therapists did that.
“If that’s you dropping hints, I’d love to see what a more direct approach looks like. You’re as subtle as a heart attack,” Robby grumbled.
“Well, clearly subtlety wasn’t getting me anywhere.” It was Jack’s turn to cross his arms. “I just think it would be beneficial. Talk things out.”
“What kind of things?” Virginia had a nice voice. Carefully neutral. Jack wondered if they taught that to all therapists.
“I don’t know.” Jack blew out a breath. “Work has been stressful.”
Work was a relatively safe start, Jack figured.
“Work is always stressful,” Robby pointed out.
“Okay, but you’re letting it get to you more lately.”
And Jack was getting earfuls of it from Dana, McKay, Langdon—frankly anyone who could track him down. And what did they expect him to do about it exactly?
“So Jack’s clearly been worried about your stress level. Have you been doing anything to manage it?”
“I suggested yoga.” Jack offered helpfully.
“Ok, Mr. Naked Yoga. I like my neighbors.”
“You walk in on that one time and now that’s all I ever hear about.” Jack rolled his eyes.
“It was pretty memorable,” Robby muttered under his breath.
“So I’ve been told.” Jack couldn’t help the smirk.
“Anything else?” Virginia asked. “Outside of the naked yoga.”
Jack beamed at her. He could appreciate a good joke. Apparently Robby couldn’t, as he relapsed into a stubborn silence.
“You don’t have anything in your life outside of work,” Jack continued.
“Oh, and you’re so well balanced?” Robby turned to him, eyebrows raised, “You’re the one who spends his free time getting shot at. When was the last time you had a full twenty-four hours off?”
“We’re not talking about me.”
“No, I think this is fair, Jack,” Virginia cut in, “Robby’s expressing his own concerns. Is Jack’s safety something you worry about?”
“Of course I worry. He couldn’t pick up a normal hobby like golf or something? No, he decides let’s go join a SWAT team and dodge bullets for fun.”
And sure, now Robby was feeling chatty.
“I can see how that would be very stressful for both of you. Have you told Jack before that this is a concern?” Virginia was writing in her notebook again and Jack wished he could just get a quick peek—
“Would you listen if I did?” Robby asked.
Jack looked between Dr. Williams and Robby incredulously. He was feeling very ganged up on. This is not what he’d had in mind when he’d booked this appointment. He had his fill of invasive questioning from his weekly sessions with Charlie.
“When do I not listen to you?” Jack glared at Robby. Seriously, what was that supposed to mean?
“I don’t know, all the time. How about that shirt you insisted on drying and then it shrunk two sizes? I told you sweaters like that hang dry.”
“Okay, and that’s my problem. It’s my sweater.”
What the fuck? Robby picked on the weirdest things to get hung up on.
“It’s called being a functional adult.”
“I’m sorry, when was the last time you set foot in a grocery store?” Jack raised an eyebrow at him. He was intimately familiar with the state of Robby’s fridge.
“Last week, when I picked up the salmon for you.” Robby crossed his arms.
“So I could cook you a very nice home cooked meal.” Jack could feel his blood pressure rising. This was so not what he’d planned to waste time talking about this session, but he’d be damned if he let this go.
“Which you walked out on before we were even done.”
“My apologies, I didn’t realize it was my fault that Shen got food poisoning.” Jack threw his hands up in irritation, “I’m sure that would have gone over real well with Lena. Sorry I left Shen throwing up all over patients I have to finish dinner. You didn’t starve.”
“That’s not what I’m saying, and you know that.”
“Maybe it would be beneficial to make quality time together more of a priority.”
Jack startled a little, he’d almost forgotten about Virginia somehow.
“I think that’s all Robby’s saying, is that right?”
Jack shrugged—he liked time with Robby—that wasn’t the problem.
“Yeah,” Robby said with a shrug of his own. “I guess that would be nice. You’ve been a little, I don’t know, distant lately. I don’t know where your head’s at.”
“Distant?” Jack echoed, incredulously. “Man, we talk every day.”
“Yeah, but it’s just about work or you bugging me about therapy. It’s not helping.”
“That’s not—”
“Jack,” Virginia cut in again, “I want you to really listen to what’s Robby’s saying.”
Jack sighed.
“I’m sorry, man. I’m not trying to be a nag about it. I just - I’m worried about you.”
“How does that make you feel Robby? To hear what Jack’s feeling?”
“I’m sorry, I know you don’t like to worry,” Robby gave him a little half smile before turning back to Virginia, “He doesn’t need to worry about me.”
“It’s okay to let our loved ones worry about us.” Virginia said softly, “you said yourself you worry about Jack.”
Jack watched Robby’s face as he took it in.
“Well yeah, of course.”
“How would you feel if he dismissed that worry? If he told you not to? Is that something you can control? Could you stop worrying about him if he told you to?”
“Well, no—that’s not—” Robby stuttered before falling silent with a sigh.
“Look, Robby, you should be here only if you want to be here - I can only help people who are willing to accept it - but you know this is important to Jack. Don’t you think that’s worth something?”
Jack watched in wonder at Robby’s slow nod.
“Jack,” Robby finally said, eyes on his lap, “that is why I’m here, because you said this was important to you. It’s not that I don’t want to work on things. I do. I just—“
Jack looked at Robby shell shocked. Was this…working?
He put a tentative hand on Robby’s arm.
“It’s fine. This is a good start—it doesn’t all have to change overnight. Baby steps, right?”
“I think this was a great start,” Virginia smiled, closing her notebook before grabbing a laptop from her desk and opening it on her lap, “Do you want to go ahead and schedule your next appointment?”
Jack glanced at the clock. He'd only booked a short intro session, but man, the time had flown.
He bit his lip. This was for Robby. He had to be the one to want it.
“Sure,” Robby finally nodded, nervously rubbing his hands across his thighs.
“I think this was a good time for both of your schedules?”
“Oh, I don’t have to come to the next one, do I?” Jack cut in nervously. “You and Robby got it from here?”
Sure, Jack had a laundry list of baggage, but surely even he didn’t need two therapists.
“Jack.” Virginia eyed him intently over the screen of her laptop. “we need both of you on the same page to work through these issues, right? Come on, Robby has just made a big step. Now it’s your turn to step up.”
“Okay, okay, sorry I’ll be here. I promise.” He raised his hands in surrender.
“Good.” She smiled, standing. “Of course, the office will text the number on file with a reminder for your next appointment, but would you like an appointment card as well?”
“Sure.”
Jack and Robby both stood, hovering a bit awkwardly as she took a business card from her desk and wrote on the back. She handed it to Robby with a smile.
“It was really nice meeting you both. Let me walk you out.”
They made their way out of the waiting room and out into the parking lot bathed in late afternoon sun.
Jack fumbled with his keys. He had picked Robby up mostly so he couldn’t bail last minute, but maybe now they could grab some food. He was starving.
“You got time for Leto’s pizza?” Jack asked before suddenly realizing Robby wasn’t beside him anymore.
He turned to see the other man had stopped and was looking down at his appointment card with a strange expression on his face.
“Jack,” Robby said slowly, “did you mean to book us a couples counselor?”
“A what?”
Robby just wordlessly handed Jack the appointment card.
Right there in black and white:
Dr. Virginia Williams - Couples Counseling
He glanced up in horror at Robby, whose ears were rapidly reddening.
He was going to murder Charlie.
“You’re never going to let this go, are you?” Jack muttered.
Robby snorted, still pink around the ears.
“You planning on cancelling?”
Jack opened his mouth.
Paused.
“…I already promised Virginia I’d come to the next one.”
“Can’t let her down, can we?” Robby quirked his lips into a little half smile.
Seriously, he was going to murder Charlie.