Flatmates - Solangelo AU

SIXTEEN

SIXTEEN

Nico had decided in the end to have Will ask his therapist to connect Nico with his own, not wanting to go to Will's to prevent any awkwardness for the therapist, lest he or Will ever decide to rant or complain about each other. So here he was standing in front of the small office building debating whether or not he should actually wanted to go to this first session. The dark red door opened to reveal a lady dressed quite nicely in a suit.

"You must be Nico di Angelo?" She asked, her voice warm. Nico nodded, and she smiled. "Come in, I'm Nala Alston." She invited, moving out of the doorway. "My office is at the back, I share the space with two others." She talked as she led the way to the last doorway, and entered.

The room wasn't at all what he expected. There was one bright red wall and the others were a soft grey. Modern paintings hung on the walls, and even though there was a desk in the corner, Nala sat on one of the chairs. Nico chose to sit on the chair as opposed to the couch so he wouldn't be directly in front of her.

"Can I get you a water?" Nala asked, but Nico shook his head. "So I figure we should just jump right to it. What outcome are you hoping for as a result of these meetings?"

Nico thought about it for a moment. "I want to get more than a few hours of sleep at night." He thought that was a safe place to start.

"Is there something preventing that right now?"

Even though he knew she was there specifically to help him, and talk to him about what was happening in his past, he was still hesitant. He didn't like opening up. He looked down and played with the skull ring on his thumb. "I have nightmares. I can avoid them by sleeping only when I'm completely exhausted, so I do." Nala wrote something down, and that made him a little uncomfortable, but he knew she saw other patients and wasn't going to just remember everything he said for next time.

"Alright, that sounds like an excellent goal. What do you think will change in your life with a good nights sleep?" Nala posed a question, but Nico had to think about it.

"I don't know. That I'll be less tired?" Nico waited for Nala to speak, but she just sat and waited for Nico to expand on that. "Umm...I get angry more often than I'd like? So maybe that would change. I also drink a lot more caffeine than is healthy, I know what it does to my body, but it's how I make it through the day."

"Is it specific situations that make you angry?"

"No. I guess I just have less of a grip on my temper than normal." Nico was constantly checking the clock, but not nearly enough time had passed. He didn't know how he was going to make it through an hour of this every week.

"Have you tried medication to aid your sleep?" Nala asked, writing something down. Nico knew it was a valid question, but he really didn't want to get into all of that today. He nodded. "What made discontinue using them?"

"I didn't like them." The problem was that he liked them a little too much.

"That's fine, they aren't the only solution. Have you ever kept a log about your dreams? Are they consistent?"

"I don't have to."

"Oh? Why not?"

"It's the same thing every night. My sister shooting herself in the head, telling me it's my fault."

- - - - -

Nico slammed his car door shut as Will walked out of the building. "That bad?" Will asked.