Counting To Fifteen [Grey's Anatomy]

chapter forty four - new friends & checkmates

Daisy could hear the two men clearly as they bickered in the hall outside of Dr. Sen's office.

Mark's words were loud, his angry tone a stark contrast from Dr. Sen's calm and level tone.

Daisy sat rigid, her skin stuck against the cool leather couch as her eyes fixated on the floor, the thoughts in her head running all about.

Perhaps it was both a blessing and a curse that Daisy dissociated so often. People tended to think she wasn't listening because her eyes were stuck on an unknown point. The two men clearly thought standing outside in the hall a couple feet from the door was effective in ensuring that Daisy couldn't hear their conversation.

"Your whole job is to make sure that she's okay. You can't just give up on her because she's going through a rough patch. That doesn't make you a psychiatrist, it just makes you a defeatist." Mark spoke hastily as he spewed the insult, Dr. Sen clearing his throat as he swatted away the harsh words.

"I am not giving up on her. But we've had three sessions in the past week, and she hasn't said a word. She stares, and she's just...she's just unresponsive." Dr. Sen spoke.

The psychiatrist turned to look back through the doorway to make sure Daisy was still zoned out before he continued, speaking to Mark in a much quieter tone.

"Daisy is not alright. She's going through something deeper than a rough patch. Daisy needs help in a way that stretches farther than anything I can offer."

Mark only blinked, dumbfounded as the words Dr. Sen spoke weren't absorbing in his brain. "So...you paged me up here to tell me that you're giving up on her."

"Dr. Sloan." Dr. Sen sighed out, trying his absolute best to stay patient. "I'm referring her to Dr. Perkins. He's a licensed psychiatrist, and he specializes in trauma counseling. He can help Daisy come to terms with the state of her sister."

"Dr. Perkins." Mark repeated the name, narrowing his eyes slightly as thoughts came back to him. Mark knew who Dr. Perkins was. "Dr. Perkins doesn't even work at this hospital."

"He does for the next month." Dr. Sen explained, Mark's eyebrows furrowing. "The chief's granted him temporary privileges to work here with the victims of last week's bridge collapse. Dr. Perkins is going to be here until the end of June, and I'd like Daisy to see him."

"But she doesn't know him." Mark pointed out the obvious, the annoyance seething through his words. "You've been her psychiatrist for months. She knows you. I don't know what makes you think she'll be willing to spill her soul to a brand new psychiatrist when she won't even mutter a word to you."

"Trauma therapy isn't based on just talking. It focuses more on the doing part, more about taking action rather than just talking things through." Dr. Sen tried his best to explain. "Daisy didn't just lose her sister—she watched her die as she sat there coated in her blood. She has every right to not want to talk, but she needs deeper help."

Mark frowned, having trouble grasping what Dr. Sen was saying. He was right, of course, about Daisy's silence. The girl was relatively unresponsiveness all the time, and Mark hated it. He wished things were how they used to be, he wished they could go back to a time when Calypso was still alive and Daisy was still happy.

Dr. Sen took Mark's silence as a sign to keep going. "It's so hard to see her feeling like that, I completely understand, and I-"