My humble offering to the April Challenge Gods. It follows on from my Challenge #22 entry - hope y'all like it
I just wanted to have a go at that thought process you may go thru trying to get help after something like that...
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Condensation slowly slid down the sides of the glass, leaving a wet trail down the inside of the window. It was so hot outside, and the air-conditioning so fierce inside, that it was causing moisture to pool on the cool, glassy surface of the windowpane across the room from him.
Tony found the whole thing fascinating. Water. Out of nowhere. Right there on the window. It really was an amazing phenomenon when you thought about it.
Condensation. He rolled the word around his tongue, and spent several minutes wondering about the origin of the word itself, before turning his attention to the scientific process.
He struggled at that point. He couldn’t quite recall his 8th grade science teacher’s earnest address on the finer points of condensing gases. He made a mental note to ask Abby or Ducky when he got back to NCIS headquarters. They’d know.
Hmmm. HQ. Tony shifted in his seat, flicking his eyes over to the person sat across from him, and then flicking back to the small drops of water on the window. He was getting increasingly impatient to return to work, but was careful not to show his discomfort.
“What are you thinking about?” Dr. Vincenza asked, finally breaking the minutes of silence that had fallen between his last question and Tony’s perfunctory answer.
Tony dragged his eyes away from window, looking at the NCIS-issue shrink sat behind the desk properly for the first time this session.
“Science.” He said efficiently. He pulled his suit jacket closer around himself in order to combat the air-conditioning.
“Really,” Vincenza said smoothly. “Home-Science? Science Fiction? Pugilism - the sweet science?”<br>
Tony shook his head, his mouth almost curling into the very smallest of smiles as he did.
Vincenza wasn’t so bad really. This was Tony’s third visit in a week, and he always seemed a very reasonable, easy-to-talk-to kind of guy. Which was good, given his profession.
It was just … Tony didn’t really want to talk about it. Any of it. He’d happily cover the NFL, the State of the Union address, Science even … but not Hannah McLachlan.
Vincenza waited patiently for an answer, his chocolate-brown eyes studying Tony with unwavering calm.
Tony sighed. He just didn’t understand why Hannah’s case had affected him so much, and he supposed that, as well as the fact it had affected him so much at all, was what had prompted Gibbs to send him off to Vincenza.
Tony swallowed hard, quickly pushing aside the case file entry referring to his irrational outburst aimed at an AWOL marines bunkmate, first day back on the job after the McLachlan case.
He couldn’t as easily erase the memory of sleepless nights and still half drunk mornings that had made up last week.
And he definitely couldn’t stop his mind flashing back to Gibbs finding him, a week after discovering Hannah McLachlan’s broken body, sat behind his desk, poring over all of the case notes, his body shaking with anger, his fists clenched in rigid fury.
Gibbs had placed a gentle hand at his shoulder, calmly reaching over Tony and closing the case file as Tony whipped around to face him.
“Boss!” Tony exclaimed, rage still coursing through his body.
“Dinozzo. It’s late. Go home.” Gibbs tone was stern, but his eyes were soft with concern for his young colleague.
“I just …” Tony began, and then stopped short.
He didn’t know how to explain what he’d been doing. Why he’d been compelled to read through the notes again. Why he was punishing himself trying to think of ways they could have got to Hannah earlier. Found her alive and returned her to her family. Why he was so sweetened angry all the time. Why Hannah McLachlan was haunting him so.
The following morning he’d awoke to a message on his cell. Dr Vincenza calling to confirm an appointment for that day. Tony’s face had screwed up in confusion. Dr? Huh? An appointment? He hadn’t made any appointments.
And then in closing Vincenza had said … “Special Agent Gibbs asked that you come in and see me before returning to work this week.”<br>
Tony’s heart had dropped into the pit of his stomach then, his cheeks flushed immediately with colour and he felt embarrassed, having shown such weakness to the one man he wanted to always be strong for.
That’s what had prompted Gibbs to send him to Vincenza. And even now, days later, when rationally he knew otherwise, Tony still felt uneasy at having disappointed Gibbs.
Vincenza coughed politely, and Tony came back to the Doctor’s office with the wet windows, and smiled, a small but still genuine smile, once again.
“Sorry, what was the question?” he asked.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Science.” Tony repeated. And this time, he surprised Vincenza by continuing.
“Condensation actually,” he said, nodding towards the window.
Vincenza turned in his chair and viewed the water trickling down his windows.
He swung back to face his reluctant patient.
“Interesting phenomena really,” He said.
Tony nodded.
“If I remember my Physics 101 classes correctly, it’s the process by which a gas or vapor changes to a liquid.”<br>
Vincenza’s brow furrowed momentarily. “Hmmm. Or is it, the chemical reaction in which water or another substance is released by the combination of two or more molecules…” He wondered out loud.
Tony smiled again at the Ducky-ness of that statement.
“Something about the scientific process intrigues you?” Vincenza asked.
Tony wriggled uncomfortably in his seat again, and then surprised Vincenza a second time by actually responding to the question.
“Sort of,”<br>
Vincenza nodded, hoping to encourage Tony to go on.
“I mean, with science, its all cause and effect right? It’s hot outside, and cold in here, causing the moisture on the window…”
Tony paused.
“And with me … here … well, we’re trying to understand why the McLachlan case has had such an effect on me.”
He finished, studying his unevenly bitten fingernails intently.
He could sense Vincenza’s small, but victorious smile at realisation finally dawning, before he even lifted his gaze to see it.
“Indeed. Cause and Effect.” Vincenza repeated.
A quiet beep emanated from the alarm clock at Vincenza’s elbow.
At this point in the previous sessions, Tony had demanded Vincenza clear him to return to work. Today, he realised he’d “turned a corner” as they say in the psychology trade. He realised Vincenza was here to help him, and more importantly, that he needed the help.
“Times up for today Tony, but I’d like you to make another appointment with Nicole.” Vincenza said, reaching to shake Tony’s hand as he stood.
“I think we’ve really …”
“Turned a corner?” Tony interrupted him, trying, but failing, not to laugh.
He crossed the room with almost a spring in his step, amazed himself at the turnaround in his mood.
“I have great confidence that you’ll be back at work soon Tony, but you know …”
“Yeah I know, Doc,” Tony said from the doorway, interrupting Vincenza one last time, feeling lighter, freer, calmer than he had in days.
"These things take time. You can't rush science."
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