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Alex was not ready to go to work, he was nervous about proposing in a few days and he had a new patient today, her name is Jennifer Kirby, a fourteen-year-old foster kid, she was in an abusive home protecting her younger brother who told his parents he was gay, they didn't take it well and CPS was called, and now Alex was being called in because Jennifer isn't handling her new home well.
Alex knew this case was going to be hard because he knew Jennifer didn't think she needed to see a "shrink" but her foster mom Maria decided to have her go, Alex has worked with kids in the system before so he's met the kids who won't open up but Alex feels Jennifer would be more challenging, Maria sent over some notes that Alex can study and it's a lot.
For one Jennifer doesn't like being called Jennifer, she prefers Jenni, she doesn't like it when people make eye-contact and Maria said that Jennifer was diagnosed with ADHD, which by Jennifer's school history Maria sent over it would explain it.
Alex has worked with Maria before, he's actually worked with her whole CPS branch Maria works at, he's particularly fond of Kaya Moodley, a badass CPS officer, Kaya has been known to punch a few parents noses before.
"Hey, why are you so tense?" Alex is broken out of his thoughts by Stephen coming up and rubbing his shoulders and then hugging him from behind.
"Nothing, I just have a new patient today." Alex gives a little smile stirring in his sugar into his coffee.
"Foster kid today?" Stephen turns Alex around and hugs him, Stephen feels Alex nod from his spot in Stephen's chest.
"I see plenty of kids but the foster kids get to me, I don't understand how someone can do that to their child." Alex breathes out a shaky breath, Stephen's arms tighten around him.
"I don't either baby," Stephen mutters having seen plenty of kids needing surgery because of something that happened.
"Maybe one day, we can foster kids." Alex hints a little bit.
"I would like that." Stephen lets Alex go so he can make his coffee.
Alex pushes down the whine that wants to come out of his throat at the loss of touch from Stephen.
"Good luck at work today babe." Alex pulls on Stephen's scrubs a little to make him bend down, Stephen rolls his eyes but bends his knees so Alex can kiss him.
"I love you," Stephen says as he walks out the door.
Alex has a goofy smile on his face, hopefully, in a few days, that smile will be bigger because Stephen will be his fiance, he tries to not think about the fact that Stephen could say no, think positive Alex mutters to himself if he thinks positive it will happen.
Alex sighs and grabs his keys and coffee and walks out the door.
Somehow he's managed to avoid people walking to his car, which is unusual but good because Alex wasn't in the talking mood.
As he's driving he suddenly starts thinking about his dad, Alex blinks the tears out of his eyes but when he notices he can't stop he pulls on the side of the road so he wouldn't hurt anyone else in the busy new york road.
Alex hasn't thought about his parents in a while, not shocking because his relationship with his parents not being the best, his mom was a drunk living up to the stereotype that all Irish people are drunks, his dad being the main point for the mental abuse his mom sent their way.
Having left home when he was 18, the next day he got a call saying his parents were in a car accident, luckily Alex had enough time to say goodbye to his father but his mom died on impact, not that Alex cared that much considering it was her fault, but she was still Alex's mother.
Alex sniffed wiping his eyes, the mental picture of his father in the hospital bed drifting away from his mind he finally felt clear enough to drive the rest of his way to his office.
||
Alex was tapping his foot, he was waiting on Jennifer and Maria, his last patient of the day, after the emotional morning Alex had he was ready to curl up into bed with some ice cream.
"Come in!" Alex yells when someone knocks on his door, fully expecting Veronica but being shocked when Maria opens the door, she had a blonde girl with her who looked bored, must be Jennifer.
"Hi Alex, thanks for seeing us." Maria smiles sitting down in the chair and Jennifer begrudgingly sits next to Maria.
"Of course, the session will be an hour and I'll send Jenni out when she's done, this probably won't be a one session thing so you'll need to set up another appointment with Veronica after Jenni is done," Alex explains to Maria who nods and gets up.
"Of course, be good Jenni." Maria has a smile on her face as he walks out the door.
"We'll start out with the basics okay? My name is Dr. Alex Green, I'm 37." Alex gives a gentle smile to Jennifer waiting for her to speak.
"I'm Jenni Kirby, I'm fourteen but you already knew that." Jennifer crosses her arms.
"Yes, I did know that it's in your file." Alex points behind him to his file cabinet.
"Where are you from, you have an accent." Jennifer blurts out.
"I'm from Ireland, I moved to America when I was 20," Alex explains resisting the urge to tell Jennifer that she had an accent too.
"Why did you move to America?" Jennifer asks.
"My parents died, now, do you know why you're here?" Alex moves the appointment back on track.
"Because Maria thinks I need help. Jennifer crosses her arms.
"You don't think you need help?" Alex asks.
"No."
Alex lets out a small sigh, he's seen cases like this before but it was going to be harder for Jennifer to open up.
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