In the Flower Field

Twenty-One: Information is Key

 He was talking before he even entered the room, informing his wife what he just walked in on. He only stopped when he finally noticed his wife wasn't alone. It was quickly growing awkward so you excused yourself telling Vivien you would stop by another time. She gave you an apologetic look as she wished goodbye.

As soon as the door shuts Bens asking who the girl she was talking to is. Vivien gives a quick explanation before telling Ben to continue telling her about Violet. The reminder of his daughter has him stressing again. "I just caught my patient Tate in Violet's room" Vivien didn't seem as concerned as Ben telling him that it's good she's making friends. Ben quickly refuted the idea, he wanted to tell her all the things Tate said in therapy to explain to her but he couldn't. Instead, he made it clear that Tate shouldn't be near Violet.

Vivien just nodded her head, she'll talk to Violet later about it. She understood Ben's point but she also knows her daughter. If she tells Violet to stop spending time with Tate she'll just become more closed off from them.

That night she went to have a talk with Violet in her room. Violet knew right away what this conversation was going to be about. She was still pissed at her dad for kicking Tate out and embarrassing her in front of him. "So tell me about this boy", that is not what Violet thought her mom was going to say. She was expecting a lecture but her mom seemed genuine in wanting to know about Tate. Violet was hesitant to answer, but eventually she opened up.

They spent the next twenty minutes just talking. It's the closest the two of them have felt to each other in a long time. After their conversation, Vivien decided to let Violet continue to see Tate. The way Violet's eyes lit up when she talked about him. She's never seen her daughter that way. Not to mention it's the first time she's seemed happy in a long time and she didn't want to ruin that.

The next day Vivien sat Ben down and told him of her decision. He was not happy but Vivien's decision was final. So he decided to continue to see Tate in the hope of keeping a close eye on him. Not that Tate made it easy on him talking about his daughter in ways that made his blood boil. He kicked him out, heading to the kitchen he was in desperate need of a drink. When he enters the kitchen he finds you sitting at the kitchen counter. His wife is nowhere to be seen. He recognizes you from yesterday, he didn't realize how close you and his wife were. You give him a polite smile. It was very awkward, you were praying Vivien would come back. "Where's Vivien?" Ben questions.

"She's in the bathroom, she should be back any minute" he gives you a nod, and once again the two of you fall into uncomfortable silence. Thankfully Vivien came walking through the door. She seems surprised to see Ben asking him what happened to his patient. His mood soured, he was going to tell Vivien what was bothering but you were here. Vivien seemed to catch on, changing the subject. Not as far as Ben would have liked.

"You know I was talking to Y/n about Violet and Tate and Y/n mentioned knowing Tate." Now that piqued Ben's interest, he was curious to know more about Tate. Even though he's had multiple sessions with Tate he still hasn't been able to crack his shell yet.

"Really, are the two of you close?" This might be his way in. In their latest session, Tate has been controlling the conversation by using his relationship with his daughter to get in his head.

You took a moment to answer, yes you and Tate were very close. Now though you're not exactly sure if you could still say that. After a moment you tell them that you are friends. An oversimplification of the two of your relationships. Your answer pleased Ben nonetheless, he's asking to talk to you. He's leading you to his office, sitting you down and beginning his list of questions. He was straight to the point asking personal questions about Tate, You were careful when answering, not wanting to betray Tate's trust.

He asked about Tate's family life, and you told him about Tate's relationship with his mother. You do your best to answer all his questions as truthfully as you can. The more questions you answered the more personal they got. Ben was learning a lot of new things about Tate, he wrote everything down. He needs more though, he needs a secret weapon to use to finally get Tate to be truthful, and you're the one to give him one.