One step at a time

LOCATION Aston hospital, Clay's office
DATE 29th of November 2021
TIME midday
ATTIRE
Primrose:Link
Clay: Doctor uniform
TOPIC FOR @Violet
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She had called Clay the day after her and Austin had found Violet, to set up an appointment - sometimes it paid off to have a few doctors in your social circle, also her father had worked together with Clayton. Therefor it hadn't been too long of a wait, but still long before he had been able to set a time, but it had also given Primrose good time to at least be able to talk to her daughter. Primrose held great onto the one child she had close by, the one that was found, while still being so ever patient about waiting to know how to get Andrew back. She had managed to get the case opened, of course not in the public eye, but she had also been told to not do anything - which was possibly the worst thing you could tell Primrose, but as of right now, she granted Violet with her full attention.

Clay met them as they walked through the entrance. Primrose had promised herself to be on her best behavior regarding Clayton, in this case because she did not want to make a scene in front of Violet. But she had wondered why she hadn't heard from Birdie, and who was better to provide her with an answer than Clay? "Dr. Clayton Reyes," he held his hand out with a friendly smile to Violet, "you must be Violet?" He then look up towards Primrose with a friendly smile, because well, Clay knew there was something unspoken going on here, but they were both professionals - they could wait till he at least had spoken to Violet. "Follow me," he gave them a softer nod to the side as he started to walk down the hall towards his office. "You want me to wait out here or go with you?" Primrose asked as Clay opened the door to his office and offered them a step inside. But Primrose also didn't want to overstep Violet's privacy if she didn't want her with her.

Violet had really tried to let both her parents in and had started to pay off as she felt much more comfortable talking about herself. She had even talked about the fact that she wanted to take up magic as a subject. Wanting to share her day and ask her mother how hers were. Knowing all too well when something was bothering another person. But she didn’t pry, and she enjoyed that even though it was clear that her mother was pulled in many directions she still made time to look after Violet.

They were greeted by the doctor that her mother had told her about, and with a slight shy smile she shook his hand. “Yes, thank you for seeing me” she folded her hands and almost hid them away in her jacket and long sweater that she was wearing. Even her clothes were getting nicer, as Austin had, quite insistingly taken her out shopping. Father and daughter bonding as he had called it. Ten days, and she already felt like she had a family. It was dangerous.

As her mother asked if she wanted her to wait or go with her, Violet looked towards Doctor Reyes and then back to her mother. Now, she had a very big trust issues when it came to men in general. “I would like you to come with me” she whispered, giving an apologetic smile, because she knew very well not all men, all doctors were the same. And she trusted her mother’s judgement, she still didn’t want to risk anything.

Primrose gave Violet a soft smile when she whispered she would like her to go with. She gave her daughter a soft nod before placing a hand towards her back as they entered the office. "Please sit," he gestured them to the two chairs in front of him. Primrose sat down rather curious as a matter of fact on what Clay had figured out, and what they could find out. Primrose had studied medicin to a human at least an awful long time ago, and she knew the medical world had evolved a lot, making stuff like Clayton studies possible.

One thing that had made Clayton take up these studies and spent years on understanding and reforming his theories had been the lack of understanding. Being a hybrid created a lot of frustration all together, people didn't always know how to treat you, and when they thought they did, they most likely still didn't. However, it had taken Clay another set of years before understanding it didn't just come down to hybrids it was the entire supernatural community who had a limited support system by the public. Which led them to why he was here today. They Primrose had brought her long lost daughter here to him today, and he had read the file. And he had been trying to compare notes, which meant he was rather prepared for today.

"I've read your files, and some things I can for sure confirm is you do not have renfield syndrome, but I guess you have come to understand it comes with your vampire nature," he informed remembering just the first time he had caught himself hungry after blood, and not the same way other werewolves sometimes could be. He knew her files had been handed to so many different people, so many had looked at it and not understood a single thing about what had been going on. "I read you've been previously diagnosed with bipolar and schizophrenia, " he looked towards Violet, shortly to Primrose before keeping his contact mostly at Violet. "I'm here to give you a little peace of mind; you that you've been misdiagnosed regarding that. You don't have neither bipolar or schizophrenia." Clayton took a deeper breath in. "Your ADHD however, the medication you have been on previously is not firmly designed to help long term, not on anyone with a supernatural healing system. And because of your vampire side it makes it a little bit more difficult to give mundane medication. But that is why your mother brought you to me," he gave her a tender smile, giving them both a little time and some air to take in what he had just said.

"And to your luck, I do have something that will actually help." Clayton took a deeper breath in. "I started my studies to help people like you, people like me - to avoid these sort of situations where someone has to go through what you have to get help." He gave her a warmer smile, he knew it could sound too good to be true. If a stranger had told him before he had started his work, he would have laughed in their face as well. But it was very real. "I would suggest we start slow, see how you react at first. Everyone is different, and then we get a set time for a consult in a month, seeing if there is any need for adjustments or the like, how do you feel about that?"

Violet could feel the tension leave her as she felt the hand placed against her back. A small exhale left her, as she stepped into the room and decided to sit down as she was requested. After that she let the doctor tell her what he had figured out. A lot of the things that he decided to tell her she already understood and nodded along the way to let him know that she was still listening, even though it was a hard for her to follow along. Another reason why she wanted her mother to sit beside her, then she could make sure she could get the best treatment that she needed. “Well, I want to do anything to become better” she whispered, folding her hands together hiding them in the jacket that she was wearing. She looked towards her mother to see what she thought and then nodded. “So, yes, that sounded good, do we need to do bloodwork and stuff like that?” she asked, knowing she needed to do that last time she needed to start on medication so you could monitor how it affected her.

"Great," he replied with a small nod. Turning his eyes to the computer to write a few notes, before directing his eyes back towards Violet as she asked. "Yeah, I can see it's a while since you last got a blood sample taken, so to make sure we get it right, it would be the safest. I will just," he clicked times with the computer mouse and looked at the screen, "there, I have booked you in, so they will be ready for you. If you take place in the waiting room, I will make sure that they come and get you - and of course if there is any further questions you are always free to call me," he added. "Thank you," Primrose added, he got up from his seat. "I will make sure that the prescription will be ready for you in the either in the afternoon or tomorrow morning, you will get a text when its ready for pick up." Clay informed and nodded. Primrose got up from the seat, and nodded a bit. "Hey Violet, can you go ahead? I would like to have short word with my old friend here, is that okay?" Primrose looked towards Violet with a warm smile before letting her go. As soon as Violet had taken her leave to the waiting room, Primrose closed the door looking towards Clay.

"Where is Josie? She said she would come and talk to you, but I haven't been able to find her by any means," Primrose crossed her arms a little bit looking up at Clayton. Now, she knew how things had ended. She had seen some of the crossfire. "Yeah, she did come by. More than once," he looked away clearly nod fond of the choice of topic - but he had to know it would come up. "And?" Primrose asked pressing her brows together. "You seriously didn't even give her a chance to explain to you?" Clay moved towards his screen refusing to look at Primrose. "And now you won't even look at me. Oh my god," She shook her head a little bit. "I know it's none of my business what happened in your marriage - but," finally he looked towards her taking a few steps closer. "That is right, you have no business sticking your nose into other people's marriages when you are so clearly no good at taking care of your own," Primrose chuckled a little bit and clicked your tongue. "A middle school come back, nice, come on Clay." She raised a brow at him, taking a sharper breath in. "She is at a psychiatric center in Grounds of Lily," Primrose blinked a little bit. "Excuse me what?" The siphoner crossed her arms and looked at the hybrid with a serious gaze. "I know you are both just trying to sabotage yourselves and too blind to see it, but you should as a matter of fact talk. Shit happened, and she tried to survive after what happened. I know she hurt you, but turning your back on her, when she flies across the country to talk to you and try to make peace - that's not fucking fair. - At least her what she has to tell you with an open heart." Clayton took a sharper breath in looking at Primrose. "Give her a chance, please."

"You can call Willson, I know he has been paying her visits frequently - he can get you to see her." Was the last thing he said before licking his lips. If anything he didn't wish to make up his mind in front of Primrose, but it was clear as day her words had put his thoughts on a run. "If you don't mind, I would like to return back to work," he gestured her to the door. Primrose nodded a little bit narrowing her eyes for a moment before walking towards the door. "She loves you, you know. And its real - it's rare to find love like that, and when it comes back to you in that way. You shouldn't take it for granted, despite the hurt - Because when its done there some things you wish you could get back," she nodded a bit before walking out the door and closed it behind her. Now it wasn't because she could stand by how things had unfolded between them, or the exact trauma Josephine had been under, but she knew how trauma could change you into something that was so far from who you were.

Taking a deeper breath in she collected herself, before letting herself catch the scent of her daughter nearby and walk towards her. Just in time for the nurse to call for Violet. She smiled at her daughter, still overflown by emotions every time she saw her, she reckoned it was natural, still getting used to how lucky she was to have her back.

Violet smiled and nodded when Doctor Reyes told her that he had already put her in the system, so she could just walk over to the wing where they had their blood bank. She stood up, waiting for her mom to follow, but she didn’t. Violet pushed her brows together, but as she got the explanation she nodded. “Okay, see you when you’re done then” then Violet walked out of the room. Not before she heard the name Josie. But then she left and followed the lines in the floor that would lead her to where she needed to go.

Sitting down in the waiting room, she started fiddling with her fingers as she had a bad habit of doing when she was nervous. She hated waiting, never had much patience of it. She looked around and found some old magazines she started looking through. Not that she had to wait long, for either getting in to get her blood work done, and her mother to walk back. She gave her a soft smile and a nod before she walked inside of the small room.

Standard questions that Violet all answered as clear as she could. Looking away as they inserted the needle. After a few minutes it was all done, and she could leave. Violet quickly got up and put on her jacket and sweater again. Walking out to her mother. “There, all good to go” she said with a smile and buried her hands in her jackets pockets. “So,” she started, walking towards the exit. “Who is Josie?” she asked, looking a little guilty that she had eavesdropped.

Primrose waited not far away for Violet to get the blood work done, at least it was rather simple to get that task done, and it didn't take long before Violet came back. "Great, so, how do you feel about lunch?" She asked knowing a few good places down town. Primrose looked to the side as her daughter mentioned  who Josie was, she couldn't help but chuckle a little bit, despite wondering how much of the conversation Violet had picked up on. "A friend of mine I met a few years ago while I was in Australia," she informed as they exited the hospital. "I had some pretty heavy things hanging over my shoulders, so my father suggested I took some time away to get my perspective back. That's when I met Josie, she has been a good friend of mine every since," she replied and took a deeper breath in. Primrose wanted to share, and Violet deserved to know why Primrose' mind sometimes was clouded and she could seem a bit over the place, wanting to be everywhere at once. So, maybe a lunch and she could figure out within herself if she should tell Violet about Andrew, at least a part of it. She knew at some point when she got him back, it would make the news, and the entire nightmare of that night would come right back in the news paper - unless she pulled in the contacts to make sure it never  saw the day. And Primrose would rather the story came from her rather than anyone else.

“Would love some lunch” she had gotten the day off from the academy since it was a Monday and she actually had classes today that she should have attended. So, since she was already slacking, she could at least get a nice meal out of it. She had half expected her mother to scold her for listening in, but she didn’t. She just explained who the woman was, and Violet nodded slowly as they got out in the cold. Winter really was coming.

“So, is she here as well, or still back in Brisbane?” she asked, wanting the conversation to keep going as they walked over to the car, and she sat herself into the passenger’s seat. At least it was getting easier to control when she was sitting in a car now. After Nathaniel had driven her home, she had trained a little with Austin, a few short drives, and always letting her out when it became too much. Besides, it was different when it was her mother sitting beside her, it was not as hard to focus on nothing would happen.

"She is here, or in Grounds of Lily at last," she informed Violet before unlocking the car so they could get in. Primrose sat in, having an eye out for how Violet felt every time they entered the car, having told her once before if she needed to get out - all she had to was say so, after all Primrose did understand the term of one step at the time when it came to dealing with trauma and how tricky it could feel on the body after. Sometimes even unexpected. Primrose started the car and started driving down the street, after all she did know a few good places around town, you didn't work with Evelina Romeo without getting to know some of the best hidden gems in town. "One of my former colleagues has practically mapped out some of the towns best places - and if anyone is good at picking out places, it would be her," Primrose told with a soft chuckle, reminding herself she had to catch up with Evelina one day, because by now Prim had been back in town for so long, but haven't allowed herself the time to catch up with her old friends. It wasn't a long drive, before she pulled over at less busy part of the city center. "This place has some of the best sandwiches you will find in the entire town," she killed the engine before stepping out of the car looking towards the cafe. The many times her and Eve had stopped by here to grab a bite in their breaks or after work hours, and the best thing was it usually wasn't extremely busy, and therefor at least allowed some privacy. Primrose locked the car before walking inside in the cozy little gem of a sandwich shop.

“Oh, okay” Violet nodded, writing herself a mental note to ask later if she wanted to go visit this friend. They had more than enough time, and it wouldn’t really be an inconvenience to Violet that they took a stop or two before they finally got home to Austin didn’t really matter to her. At this point she just wanted to spend time with both of her parents, as much as she could.

“Oh, that’s neat” Violet said with a side looped smile and fastened her seatbelt. Waiting for her mother to start the car so they could get to one of those places that her colleague had told her about. It didn’t take long before they finally could park the car, and she could look at the city center. Well, she knew about a few places here, but she wasn’t sure that any of them was rather good. But you had to trust, didn’t you?

Violet looked towards her mother and gave her a smile “Sounds good, I’m really hungry at this point” she said, and then stepped out of the car. Bounced a little towards her mother so she could follow to were ever they were going to get these amazing sandwiches. “You know, if you want we can go visit your friend after we have eaten of course” Violet asked, as she looked at the people they passed on their way.

"Good," she chuckled delighted as they entered the little shop and looked around, nice and warm, just how she recalled it from last time she had been here. It was rather rustic with its own charm really, decorated with Christmas lights and other decorations. The city really did go all in on preparing everyone for Christmas, and well, the cold did help the spirit going - even if she had had quite a hard time celebrating Christmas for a long period of years. She looked towards Violet as she said they could visit Josephine after they had eaten. "That's a lovely thought, however think I need to make a few calls before casually dropping by - she is at a psychiatric center," Primrose informed, and if she made a trip to Grounds of Lily she was going to swing by Daisy if she had time - however since Primrose didn't know Daisy had found Madelaine, she wasn't really going to show off Violet, even if she was sure that Daisy would be happy on her behalf. A waiter gestured them to get a table, handing Primrose two menu cards that she could bring to the table. "Where would you like to sit?" She asked before walking in the direction Violet told, and sat down.

Violet looked around seeing the many Christmas decorations, now it always came with a set of different emotions. Especially this Christmas where she could actually celebrate it with people that wanted her to be there. Her father and mother. But it also remembered her of all the times she had been a kid, watching happy families with their children. Getting candy and the gifts that they wanted. Even those that didn’t have the money to actually by their children presents. They still made something beautiful out of the season. She had never really gotten that. But maybe this year it would all be different; well, it was already different. She widened her eyes as her mother told her that her friend was at a psychiatric center. “Oh, yeah, they can have some pretty strict rules for who can come and go” she mumbled, looking at the waiter as he gave her mother two sets of menu cards. “Over there” Violet asked, in a more secluded area of the restaurant, but also where you could see which people was coming and going. Old habits. She sat down and took one of the two menu cards and looked it over. “It looks really good all of it” Violet mumbled while she contemplated which dish, she should start with first.

Primrose knew the instinct, to sit where you could have clear vision on who was around you. She didn't blame anyone's survival instincts, because everyone had a way to deal with their trauma. Then they sat down, and Primrose took a look at the card, they had gotten some new things added since last time. Of course they had, it was ages since Primrose had been back here - she couldn't expect things to be the same as when she had left, she surely wasn't the same person. "It does, doesn't it?" Even Primrose didn't even know where to start, not with all these new choices. "They have gotten a lot of new stuff since I was here last," she chuckled a little bit keeping her eyes running over everything. It all looked so delicious. "Oh," her eye caught a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese - well if Primrose could eat anything for the rest of her life it would be something with salmon. "They still have my favorite - a bagel with smoked salmon," she chuckled a little almost wiggling a little in excitement for being out actually having lunch with her daughter. Then of course coffee was important, Primrose was pretty sure that she needed coffee more than blood in her life at this point.

Violet couldn’t help but pull a small smile, as she saw how her mother was almost wiggling in excitement for finding one of her favorite dishes on the menu. A smile that quickly disappeared when Violet took herself in doing so. It was still a constant battle with herself. Allowing herself to be happy, and then to stopping herself being happy. Constantly fearing that she would be disappointed, or it would be ripped away one way or another. Always expect the worst, and then it couldn’t hurt as much when it happened, right? The waiter came over and asked if they were ready to order. Violet nodded. “Eh, I would like the smoked salmon bagel and a water, please” she said, and for a moment she just waiting that she would be lectured in ordering herself and something that was expensive. But when it didn’t happen her shoulders relaxed a little. Her fingers found the fork and started fiddling with it, turning it around in her hands. Not really knowing what she should say, she really wished she was better at talking with people an open op. She just, wasn’t.