Caffrey Flashback

Chapter 30: Back to Work

Graham Winslow's hotel suite. Sunday afternoon. February 29, 2004.

Sunday over lunch Graham announced his intention to return to Baltimore to help Allen Winston look for the person calling himself Mr. Hyde. A Win-Win corporate jet would come to New York Monday morning, and he'd be on his way home in the afternoon. Also arriving in New York Monday morning were two of his grandchildren who had offered to sail the Executive Decision back to its home port. Graham suggested that Henry take Neal to the Federal Building Monday morning, pick up his Winslow cousins at the airport to bring them to a restaurant for lunch with Graham, and then take the cousins to the sailboat and Graham to the jet.

To Neal it sounded as complicated as arranging a theft. But maybe that meant there was hope for him. He could try treating family gatherings as if they were a crew assembled to pull off a heist.

Even though he wasn't a Winslow he decided to enter the fray, joining the discussion of logistics by asking Noelle, "Are you going back with Graham tomorrow?"

"Not yet, sweetie. We still have several more sessions to get through before you're cleared for work."

Neal placed his glass of orange juice carefully down on the table. "Excuse me?"

"We barely scratched the surface yesterday."

"You agreed to clear me for undercover work if I met with you weekly. I kept up my side of the bargain. And now you're saying I can't go to work at all?"

"The Flashback overdose wasn't part of the original deal. It changes your situation drastically. You aren't ready to go back to work until you've dealt with the memories the drug helped you retrieve. You have to take the time for therapy, and make your mental health your top priority."

"What about the person trying to kill me? Am I supposed to forget about that, make finding him a lower priority?"

Graham put down his silverware with an audible clink. "You're supposed to remember that you're part of a team, and part of a family. Trust the FBI and Win-Win to work on the case, and let Noelle help you."

Neal leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table as he confronted Noelle. "What are we talking about here? A day of therapy? Two days? Two weeks? How do you decide I'm ready for work?"

She placed her napkin on the table and pushed away her plate. "The duration of therapy differs by patient. You'll need weekly sessions for quite a while. To deal with the effects of the drug, we'll need several days at a minimum. If you're up to it, we can have multiple sessions per day."

"And what's the criteria you're using to clear me for work?"

"I'm not going to give you a list of signs for you to fake to get back to work before you're ready."

"It's entirely subjective?" Neal pressed. "I thought the FBI had a test that agents had to pass after they're placed on leave to show they're ready to return to work."

"That's true. Once the psychologist believes the agent is ready, he or she is allowed to take the test as confirmation." She held up a hand before he could jump in with his next point. "Neal, being hostile about this isn't going to help. You studied psychology with Henry. Think about what you learned." She stood up. "I'm going back to my room. Meet me there in an hour and we'll start our next session."

After Noelle closed the door behind her, Neal glared at Henry. "Thanks for the help."

Henry shrugged. "She has a point. Look at it this way: You say you're in a hurry to get this over with, but you keep putting up roadblocks. From her perspective, she's doing everything she can to help you make progress, and you're the one slowing things down. If you'd stop resisting her help, you'd realize you're both on the same side."