"I don't wanna do this." Carrie mumbled, breaking the silence in the car. Her stomach was in a million knots, she hasn't been this nervous and scared in a while.
"Do you want to turn around?" Mike asked, glancing at his wife who had tears welling up in her eyes.
As much as he wanted her to do this, he'd never force her to do it. In the two weeks that had passed, he'd learned what not to say that triggered her. He'd learned not to force her to do anything, that eventually she would do it.
"No. I need too." She mumbled in reply, trying not to let her voice crack.
"I'll be right there the whole time, it'll be okay I promise." Mike reached over and squeezed her hand to reassure her.
The rest of the car ride was silent except for the music playing from the radio, and they finally pulled in about ten minutes later.
"I love you." Mike kissed the side of Carrie's head as they walked into the building. He kept his arm around her until the reached the front desk, where he pulled away and held her hand while he told the woman they were there.
"She'll be out shortly to get you, you can just take a seat." The secretary said with a smile.
Carrie sighed as she sat down on the couch in the waiting room, leaning her head against her husband's shoulder.
"Don't be nervous sweetheart, I promise this is gonna be good for you. You're really going to like her." Mike put his arm around her, squeezing her shoulder. He'd had an appointment a few days ago to talk to Doctor Jones about everything that had happened.
"But I don't wanna talk about it and how I feel about it. I'm not ready for that." She swallowed hard.
"She's not going to make you Care. She's not going to make you do anything you don't want too. Today she just wants to get to know you."
"What if she tells people? I don't want anyone more to know about what happened than the ones that already do. She could tell one person and they could tell someone and it could end up everywhere. Mike I can't risk that." Carrie cried. She'd almost worked herself up to tears.
"Hey, hey. Look at me." Mike turned to face her, gripping both her shoulders. "Do not worry. She's a psychologist. This is her job. She's sworn to secrecy and she could lose her job. She's not going to tell people and she's not going to judge you for it because you're famous. She's going to treat you just like any other patient. It's going to be fine I promise." He smiled softly and kissed her forehead.
"Okay." Carrie mumbled, looking at the floor.
"Carrie?" A young blonde woman called out from the door.
"Want me to come with you?"
"Yes please." Carrie sighed, gripping Mike's hand as they stood up.
"Hi Carrie it's nice to meet you! I'm Doctor Jones." She exclaimed with a smile. She was a couple inches taller than Carrie and had straight blonde hair pulled up into a long ponytail.
"Hi." Carrie faked a smile. The two followed her back to her office and took a seat on the couch across from Dr. Jones. Carrie gripped her husband's hand tightly out of nervousness.
"How are you doing?" Dr. Jones asked, crossing her legs.
"I'm okay."
"That doesn't sound very convincing Carrie."
Carrie shrugged. She didn't know what this woman wanted her to say.
"Look Carrie, I know you don't want to be here. I get that. It's hard to open up to someone, especially after going through something as traumatic as you did. But this has to be a two way conversation in order for this to work. I'm not gonna make you talk about anything you don't want to yet, I just want to get to know you Carrie." She said, offering a small smile.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize Carrie. It's okay." She smiled. "Tell me about your singing."
For the next hour, Carrie told Doctor Jones about things that made her happy. Singing, her family, her dogs, her fans. Once she finally started to feel comfortable Doctor Jones got her engaged in the conversation and had her talk all about her life.
Not once did she mention the kidnapping, which made Carrie extremely happy.
She figured out what helped Carrie relax and calm down so that she could figure out how to help her sleep better.
"Tonight I want you to take this pill and then take a hot relaxing bubble bath. Then put on some comfortable pajamas and go to sleep in Mike's arms. Mike, I want you to tell her a story as she falls asleep. Something happy, it can be anything. A story of something that's happened to y'all together, or a made up story, just something happy. Talk until she's asleep and either rub her back or play with her hair. The more relaxed she is as she falls asleep the more likely she'll sleep well. The medicine will also help her stay asleep. If she wakes up, talk to her until she falls asleep again. Try all of this for a couple nights and see how it goes, if it doesn't improve any, call me and I'll work on a new idea for our next appointment. Okay?" Doctor Jones explained to the couple.
"Thank you." Mike said, taking the prescription slip for the medicine out of her hand.
"Of course! I hope it works for you, I'm sure you both could use a good nights sleep." She smiled. She turned to Carrie. "I'll see you next week?"
Carrie looked at her husband, then back at Doctor Jones and smiled.
"Yeah, I'll see you next week."
