What!?

28

The scene skips ahead, Iliana is grateful that she doesn't have to watch the fight between the doctor and Blake once more. She was only released, reluctantly, when Blake assured the doctor that she would have top round the clock care with an on call doctor that would be staying at the residence for the first month.

Iliana sniffs, the doctor had enjoyed his fat paycheck for taking a month long vacation. All he did was give the nursing staff instructions, once the two nurses were hired. He would check on Ili once a day for like five minutes. That was it.

She does have to give kudos to Blake, he did have the nicest room on the ground floor turned into a lovely room for her.

Blake did not like Iliana's choice for the main caregiver, the one for the day time. Iliana, on the other hand, was adamant about it. He was strong and could easily take her weight. She has no doubt that the female nurses could as well, but she just didn't trust them as much. And she liked how she felt about him. Like he could be a friend and not just a paid care giver.

One of the reasons Blake finally gave in was because that nurse also had a degree in physical therapy, not just an aide, but an actual doctor. Since he could integrate the physical therapy into her daily care it is what finally convinced him. The fact that the man's fees were significantly higher than any of the others didn't matter to Blake. He believed, and rightly, that it was a reflection of his doctorate.

Iliana was right, she and Robert did become friends. It seemed to ease Blake's fears a bit when he found out that Robert has a boyfriend that he's crazy about. He found that out when Robert informed him that Iliana would benefit from some mental therapy as well. 

"I know a therapist that would make house calls. I meet him when I was working at another clients place. He's excellent and I'm not just saying that because he's my boyfriend. I can get you a list of references for him if you would like?" Robert tells him after giving a report to Blake about a week after he started working there.

Blake looks at Robert and nods thoughtfully, "On a scale of one to ten, how important do you think her talking to a therapist is?"

"Physically? Not very, but this girl has some deep pain that she needs help with. I first noticed it when she was talking about losing her parents. She still hasn't fully grieved for them or your parents. Mentally, if she is able to take care of these issues and any others she might have that she hasn't talked to me about, it will help her physically. Mind and body health do go hand in hand. So on this scale I would put the need at least as an eight or eight and a half even."

"I see, have you talked to Iliana about him?" Blake asks looking at Robert intently.

"Yeah, but I didn't suggest she see him. I just mentioned that my boyfriend is a therapist for the mind like I am for the body. She said that she would like to meet him. He won't say anything to her about seeing him professionally if you don't wish him to." Robert is quick to assure his powerful employer. Blake Hamilton is very powerful in the business world and he has no desire to get Blake on his bad side.

"I'll talk to her. My parents tried to have her go to counselling when she first came here, but Iliana was to overwhelmed at that time. I should have tried harder when I took over her care, but I honestly was overwhelmed myself at that time."

"She did tell me a bit, my condolences to you and your family. She tells me that she was almost as close to your parents as she was with hers. I can't imagine it would have been easy for you and the role you suddenly found yourself in. You would have been young yourself, younger than I am currently."

Blake gives a bitter sniff, "Yeah, it wasn't easy and I'm afraid that Iliana didn't have the attention and full care that she needed. Yes, her basic needs were met, but her main emotional support was mostly gone in one fell swoop." Blake stops talking and plays with his pen as he thinks things through.

"Very well, I'll talk to Iliana and your boyfriend. What is his name?" Blake demands.

Robert takes out his wallet and hands a card over to Blake. "His name is Conner Helmsley and he is fully licensed and accredited."

"I am sure that he is. I believe that you are done for the day. Don't let me keep you any longer. Have a good night off." Blake says dismissing the man before him. He walks Robert to his door and once Robert is out he makes his way to Iliana's room.

He hasn't talked to Iliana yet that day and wants to hear what she has to say.

Iliana at first is distrustful about Blake's questions, but soon relaxes. She admits that she would like to have someone to talk to that would help her to deal with the anger that she feels inside. She wants to be able to forgive them all properly and needs to learn how to do that too.

Blake hides his reaction to her words but winces internally. At least she is wanting to do so. That alone is enough to get him to allow the therapist. When he suggests Roberts boyfriend if she feels comfortable with him, Iliana smiles.

"That's the reason you are bringing it up to me. He's talked about Connor quite a bit so I am more than a little curious about him. But I don't want to meet him for the first time as a client of his. I want to meet him as Robert's boyfriend so I'll know if I want to accept him as my therapist as well."

"Fair enough. You knew, didn't you, when we interviewed him that Robert was gay. That's why you were so strongly for him."

Iliana has full head movement and shakes her head. "No, I suspected that he would be more interested in you guys sexually than me, but, no, I didn't know that he was gay. Although, I think he's more bisexual than gay since he talks about the girls in school that he had relations with. He even had a couple of pregnancy scares in high school, at the same time with two different girls. He reminds me a lot of you guys and your sexploits."

Her words don't really reassure Blake much. At all. As a matter of fact they made him rather sick.

Iliana laughs at his expression. Even two years later that makes her laugh.

She had gotten along well with Connor and so he became her therapist as well. Through him she learned how to grieve her parents but not hold in the anger at them being gone. The same with her foster parents, the Hamiltons. Then she had talked extensively about the boys and how betrayed and hurt she felt by their actions over the years and their seeming cycle of overprotective to not even seeing her.

She talked to him three times a week for a year while she worked on her physical health and regaining her strength.

One day she is awakened from her sleep by returning sensations to her body. Like her body had fallen asleep and awakened all at once. The sensations were painful and overwhelming since it was throughout her body and not just one body part.

After that her physical therapy accelerated and with in that year she was nearly back to normal, the normal before the snake bit her.