The Flames of Amarra - DR STRANGE x OC - COMPLETE

THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

“I had lunch with Christine yesterday,” Nora said, sipping on her cup of tea. 

“That’s good, did you have a good time ?”

“It depends,” she laughed. “The food was great, but then I had to apologize, and she apologized too, and I cried again. When will I stop crying ?”

Dr Martinez smiled. “When you won’t need to cry anymore. It’s hard for now because you’re still in the process of fixing relationships, but it’ll get better. You don’t have to do it all at the same time.”

“Hm. I’ve been crazy for too long,” Nora sighed. “But then it was even worse, because she told me that I was still invited to her wedding.”

“Isn’t she your friend ? Why wouldn’t you be invited ?”

“She’s Stephen’s friend.”

“You spent quite some time together when he was dead. Was she only his friend back then ?” Dr Martinez asked, crossing her legs. 

Nora frowned. “No. But it’s… If I go… Well, I’ll have to see him.”

“It’s a possibility, yes. Does it trouble you ?”

She burst out laughing. “Does it trouble me ?” she repeated. “Most days, I wake up blaming him for everything that went wrong in my life. What if I go, and I see him, and it triggers an episode and I can’t control myself ?”

“It’s also a possibility,” Dr Martinez agreed. “Have you told Christine about your fears ?”

“Hm-hm. She said it’s up to me. But I know she wants me to come.”

“I’m sure she wants you to feel safe more.”

Nora nodded and kept drinking her tea. She slowed down on the coffee lately, and she wasn’t mad at it. She also started showering regularly again, which was a big improvement. Without being a miracle cure, the fact that she was now medicated helped Nora immensely. 

And when Pepper, after weeks of research, found her a therapist that wasn’t an evil person working with people who wanted Nora dead, she gladly accepted to go. They were right to ask Pepper to do it, she was one of the few people Nora would never doubt. She did it once, and she was proven wrong. 

Therapy wasn’t a pleasant thing. Most of the time, Nora was coming home crying about it. And there were still things they weren’t talking about. Funny enough, Nora couldn’t talk about that time when she went to Canada and came back with a dead finger. The one thing she thought was perfectly fine with her was the exact thing she didn’t want to talk about. 

But Dr Martinez wasn’t pushing her to talk about anything. She was listening to Nora’s progress, led her with the things Nora wanted to do, helped her make plans for the future. And she was always there the days when Nora was waking up with the feeling that she ruined her own life and she’d never get better. 

The good days were decent, but the bad ones were still really bad. 

Nora placed her cup on the coffee table and cleared her throat. “I drove to the house. To see my mother.”

Dr Martinez looked up from her own cup and nodded. “Did you get in ?”

“No. I tried to, but we just walked around the neighborhood,” Nora sighed. 

“The first time I saw you, you weren’t able to go there. This is progress, Nora.” She smiled. “Remember what I told you. Small steps.” She paused and looked at the paper in Nora’s hands. “Do you have something new on your list ?”

“Oh, that.” Nora unfolded her piece of paper and scoffed. “It’s just thing I’ve heard in the support group. I don’t have an order of priority, though.”