Beca ran up to Chloe's front door. "Hey, can I come in? I got you a little something."
"Yeah, I'm doing my hair." Chloe called from the bathroom.
Beca walked in and handed Chloe a bag. "Just a little something to cheer you up. I know you didn't want to do therapy so much so I figured you needed a pick me up."
Chloe looked in the bag. "Aw thanks Bec!" She picked up the box of chocolates and the teddy bear.
Beca laughed. "Read the note!"
Chloe picked up the note.
Dear Chloe,
So I suck at feelings, and I'm sure you know me well enough to know that, but I'm gonna try. Damn I start every letter to you like this. Ok, so let's think back to 6 months ago. The day after my wedding, everything falls apart again. And to me, that was devastating. I didn't even think about how it would affect you until I saw you in the horrible condition you were in. Everything prior to that was all about me. "I can't lose her." "I can't deal with this." It was all about me. Then I saw you. I wondered how YOU were ever going to be strong again. I wasn't sure if you were even going to make it. But you did. And that was huge for you. My point is, this fear, this PTSD, it's just one more mountain to climb. And I know you'll be able to make it. The ten years I've known you, you have never been a quitter. Your determination is inspiring, Chlo. You push me to keep going. I love you so much and I'm always here for you if you need someone to pull you up the mountain.
Love,
Beca.
Chloe let a tear fall and land on the paper. "Beca, this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever given me. Thank you."
Beca gave her a hug. "You're so welcome. Let's get going so we're not too late."
An hour later, Beca and Chloe were sitting in the office of Chloe's new psychiatrist. They had decided since she had yet to be diagnosed with PTSD, she would see a psychiatrist rather than a therapist.
The psychiatrist walked in and sat down across from Chloe and shook her hand. "Hi, Chloe. I'm Dr. Stevenson but you can call me Claire."
Chloe gave the woman a small and awkward smile. "H-hi, I'm C-Chloe. T-This is B-Beca."
Claire smiled. "Hi, Beca. So if you could maybe step out of the room while we chat for a bit..."
Beca gave a quick glance to Chloe and stood up. Chloe grabbed hand. "C-can she s-stay?"
Claire nodded. "Sure. So, Chloe tell me about yourself a little bit."
Chloe started talking. "S-so my n-name is C-Chloe. I'm 32 y-years o-old, and I-I'm a s-singer."
Claire nodded. "Cool. Are you a solo artist or with a group?"
"I s-sing with H-her." Chloe nodded toward Beca. "We-we're a d-duet act."
Claire smiled at her. "That's so cool! So why did you decide to come here."
"B-Beca thinks I h-have PTSD. S-she's b-been worried ab-about m-me and she w-wants me to g-get bet-better."
Claire nodded. "What does she think you have PTSD from?"
"I d-don't really want t-to talk a-about it. It s-scares me t-too m-much."
Claire nodded. "Ok. I'm gonna talk to Beca for a few minutes. Chloe, do you want to wait in the hall?"
Chloe nodded and went out of the room. Claire glanced down at Beca. "So, you guys are..."
Beca smiled. "Best friends. We've known each other for ten years any to be honest, we're more like sisters."
"Aww that's sweet. So you think she has PTSD. What do you think caused it?"
"It was about 6 months ago and she and our friend Emily were driving to Emily's work and it was just after the blizzard, so there was black ice on the road and they slid off the road. It was bad. Chloe was in a coma, severe head trauma, a broken arm and leg, and cuts and bruises. It was horrible. I didn't think she would wake up. When she did, she didn't remember anything, and maybe that was good for her because what had happened was almost too much for her to handle. And she was ok, too. She had gotten over her fear of cars and was back to normal, pretty much. Then on Halloween, her memory came back. We were at a party and she was looking at pictures of me her from a long time ago and it came back. She's been terrified of everything since then. She can't go anywhere by herself because she's so scared. I stayed over at her place on Halloween and she kept having nightmares. I think it's PTSD and I just wanted to see if we could get a diagnosis and treatment."
"Ok. Yeah, it's definitely PTSD. So I'll talk to you a bit more and we'll work out a treatment plan."
"Ok. Should be I go get her?"
Claire nodded and Beca went outside the room. "Hey, you can come back in now. Here, lemme help you up."
Chloe grabbed Beca's hand and stood up from the floor. "Thanks. I think I put my brace on too tight today."
Beca smiled. "We'll fix it in the car."
Chloe nodded and went back in the room with Beca. Claire smiled. "So I talked with Beca and you definitely have PTSD."
Chloe frowned. "What treatment is there for it?"
"There's 2 treatment options. The first one is therapy. Just really talking over everything and making it clear that everything is safe. The second option is meds. It would go a lot quicker than therapy, and you would be able to get back to your normal life more quickly."
Chloe nodded. "I'm g-gonna go with meds because I'm adopting a little girl and starting a teaching career so I need something that will help me right a-away."
Beca smiled. "Chloe! Your stutter! It's so much better!"
Chloe's face brightened. "Oh my gosh! I barely noticed!"
Claire smiled. "Wow! That's so cool! So I'll send a prescription to the nearest Walgreens. The meds will just sort of numb the part of your brain that has the PTSD. It'll be just until you can work out your fears and get used to the world again. You'll still have to occasionally come to see me just so we can see how things are going."
Chloe smiled. "Ok! Thank y-you so much!"
Beca grabbed her hand and they walked out of the building together. "So that went well!"
Chloe smiled. "Yeah! I'm really excited."
"So we'll stop at Walgreens and then do you want to go out to lunch?"
"Sure! Where do you wanna go?"
"Let's just walk around the city a bit. Only if your leg is ok, though."
"Yeah it's fine, I just need to loosen the brace a little bit. Can you help me?"
"Yeah." Beca pulled into the parking spot and went to Chloe's side of the car. "Woah this is pretty complicated. Have you loosened it ever?"
"No, I don't know how."
"I'll call Anna. Maybe she'll know."
Hey, you had the same brace as Chloe has now, right?
Yeah, why?
It's too tight and we can't figure out how to loosen it.
Well shit Beca that was like 6 years ago. Do you see a silver clasp on the side?
Yeah...hang on lemme put you on speaker....yeah I see it. What do I do???
Twist it to the left. And then do the same on the other side.
Ok. She says its better now. Thanks so much.
No problem. We should definitely get together soon. I feel like I haven't seen you guys in forever.
Yeah, I'll let you know when we're free.
Great! See you soon.
Chloe breathed a sigh of relief. "Ok, it feels so much better."
Beca helped her out of the car. "Good. Let's go get your meds."
