Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Doctor Elise Monroe’s office is a nice modern building, her floor has multiple rooms for multiple purposes. Caroline had read it all on the brochure and Website Max avoided like the plague. The Doctor is a Psychiatrist to be exact, one with a lot of credentials and experience, especially about trauma and family. And of course, children. That's why Max let herself be dragged here in the first place. For the child that’s clinging to her like velcro, and gripping Doe like it owes her money. 

“See? It looks nice, no medivel torture devices”
“Yet. Just wait and see ‘till she straps us to a chair and does electroshock therapy for no reason,” At that, Fawn’s shoulders tense, and the velcro somehow sticks even harder now. Caroline puts her hand on her hips, with that reprimanding look adorning her face.

“You’re scaring Fawn”
"Fine, fine. Fawn, it’s not that bad. No electricity, promise. I’ll run with you if they try, yeah?” The child’s grip doesn’t loosen in the slightest. But Max can feel her nod against her shoulder. Adjusting her grip, and sighs.

“Lets get it over with,” Caroline softly presses the bell button. Not long after, a professional older woman stands before them. Her skin is darker, as is her chocolate brown and curly hair. It’s cut short, and slowly showing traces of gray, but it works. She has big, yet stylish glasses, and a calm friendly smile. She opens the door wide for the three, making a welcoming gesture.

“Thank you for coming. Feel free to take a seat in the room over there.” They follow the instruction, though Max leans over to her friend to whisper to her.

“‘Thank you for coming’? Does she know we have no choice?”
“Max, we talked about this, nice.”
“I’m trying!”
“Are you?” They sit on the dark blue couch. The room has a sitting area, the sofa, a table and an armchair. Behind that is an amount of toy that would make most children’s eyes sparkle with excitement. It doesn't tempt Fawn, however. Monroe comes in not long after, some glasses, various drinks and some crackers on a plate.

“These are for everyone to enjoy, feel free to eat them.” 
That makes Fawn peak out for the first time. She surveys the crackers, then steals a glance at the doctor, who nods, smiling and encouraging. Then the girl glances at Max and Caroline, who both look more concerned about the paperwork. Carefully, the child leans over to the crackers, once hand always staying on Max’s flannel. She grabs a handful of them, putting them into her pocket like a twitchy squirrel, and pushing one into her mouth. Monroe smiles again, slowly getting out a notepad and a pen, noting something down rather quickly. Max glares at the paper as if it could be intimated into talking. 

“So, hello. I am Doctor Monroe, I’m sure you’ve been told.”
“Yes, thank you for having us! I’m Caroline, this is Max”
“Nice to meet you two.” She leans a bit forward into Fawn's view.

“And you are Fawn, I imagine?” The child nods, but quickly turns away, stroking her Deer’s ears, curling into Max

“It’s very nice to meet you dear. You don’t have to talk to me, or do anything. We’re just here to talk and maybe play a little later if you’re up for it.” The kid nods, but does absolutely not move from her position. Monroe, unbothered by this, notes it down and turns to the Women before her.

“I’ve read her file. Don’t worry, I have worked with a lot of families before. I’ll see how she’s doing, how you are doing and how all of you interact. Please be yourself as much as possible,”
“That’s probably a bad idea-” Caroline sharply elbows her friend, which gets her a glare in return.

“What Max means to say is, that we are really new to this, and we probably still make mistakes.” The psychiatrist looks between them, jotting something down with a slight nod, and every time she does it, Max can’t help but feel the urge to rip the note pad away and throw it into the trash.

“Perfectly normal. There are a lot of functional family dynamics. And we can always iron out slight kinks. Now I have to ask some questions that might be a bit more invasive, but they’re protocol,” Caroline is a bit more relieved at that, yet Max isn’t. She stays stiff as a board, just like the human koala clinging to her.

“Have you ever had experiences with CPS yourselves?”
“None of your business. But hey, thanks for asking anyway”
“Max!”
“What? Why does it matter?” The doctor holds her hand up.

“I asks these question to circumvent complication, it’s a formal necessity but if you feel like that hits to close too home-”
“It’s nothing big. I’ve been bounced around foster homes. But hey, who wasn’t?” The waitress almost puffs out her jest in pride, Monore analyses that look, but nods, letting it go, moving on to the next question. 

“And you, Miss Channing?”
“Oh no, I’ve always been with my Dad… And three Nannies” The Doctor smiles kindly and notes that on the forms as well. 

“Has she said or done anything that made you worried she might hurt herself or others?” Max scoffs, holding the girl a little tighter and almost glaring at the doctor.

“No. And we make sure she won’t”
“That is good to hear” She is calm, professional, but something in her tone makes Max bristle, though the blonde’s soft nudge helps.

“You supervised her at your work at the diner, correct?”
“Yeah, came in the middle of the night, and just kept coming at the same time” Max says.

“She was really quiet too. Curling up in the seat and so on. A little like now, just without the… clinging," Fawn hesitantly leans over to the crackers again. She feels her jacket pocket, assessing that yes, the leftover crackers are still there. But instead of taking those, she snatches another handful for her mouth. Then instantly returning into her previous position.

“I see. Has that changed?”
“When we’re alone, sure. And I have a little monkey with me now. But she still talks less than most kids I babysat”
“You babysat?” Her tone is a calm inquiry. Max shrugs, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah. It’s no big deal. Not for long with most anyway.”
“That’s good to know. Might be why you make Fawn seemingly comfortable,” Max shrugs. Monroe writes that down.

“ Has she been sleeping through the night?”
“Not really. She had a nightmare, we don’t know about what.” THe blonde’s voice is nervous about it.

“But she came to you?”
“Sorta. She didn’t wanna come to our bed, kept apologising too” Again, more notes fill the pad, until she rights herself up, putting it down.

“Fawn, dear. Do you know that I play with a lot of children?” The child shakes her head, not looking at the woman.

“I do. That’s why I have so many toys. They are for all the children coming to my office. Would you like to look at it?” A bit of curiosity gets her to look over there. weighing the option, until looking to her current caregivers for advice.

“It does look like a lot of fun” The ex-heiress encurages

The tiny child takes all her courage and nods, slowly and unsurely climbing out of Max’s gentle hold. Tentatively she goes to the back, quiet, always holding her plushie near. She looks around until she finds a box of bullying blocks. 
Quietly, she draws it out, and acts like Doe builds a tower. slowly and carefully, no noise coming form her.
The Psychiatrist observes, brows wrinkled slightly, as if it made sense, but wasn’t good. But she quickly schools her expression, turning over to her other two clients. 

“To be upfront with you, I am not to tell you everything that’s not immediately necessary for Fawn's wellbeing. If it’s decided that you are going to be her long-term guardians, we’ll be able to have a more full term conversation,” Max nods, shifting closer to Fawn from the couch. Caroline is more attentive to the doctor, nodding more polite and proper.

“We understand, but it’s important for her case”
“It is-”

Acrash. All heads snap to the side as a sound of crashing can be heard. The tower, admittedly tall, has crashed. It wasn’t very structurally sound.
The girl almost jumps ten feet in the air, until calming as there is no one scolding. But then her brain really catches onto what happened. Her lip wobbles, as she sinks to the floor, deer in her arms, rubbing her eyes and nose. Max gets up, slowly walking over and kneeling in front of her.

“Hey bug.”
“The tower fell”
“Yeah I see that”
“I can’t make it that big again,” More sniffling, and rubbing her eyes, notably seeking no comfort.

“Common, you build it once, you can again. Crying can't fix that.” Fawn nods, but begins to put the bricks back into their box.

“It’s alright Fawn, the tower was very big. Very impressive. I’m sorry it fell” The doctor says, seeing the tension the child has while moving the blocks back.

Yes, I think it almost hit a cloud,” Caroline praises. The girl nods, slightly less distraught. Still. She pushes the box back to its original place. Curling around her plushy and onto Max’s lap, looking forlorn at the offending bricks. Still brushing away tears.

“It’s not that bad bug, we can build another one someday” Fawn nods into her plushie. Now the Doctor gets up, carefully walking over to Fawn and Max.

“Would you like to try a game?”  The girl looks up cautiously, as Monroe gets out an UNO card deck, then sits back into her armchair.

“Have you ever played UNO?” She shakes her head. And that is how they proceed to explain how the game works and play a few rounds.

Monroe first explains a simpler version of the game. Making it more about matching the colours and numbers. Watching sharply for any developmental delays. Eventually, Fawn seems to get bored of that. She doesn’t show it, just obediently continues to place the cards. But the experienced psychiatrist notices. Cautiously, the doctor introduces the special cards. Reverse, plus two and so on. The child catches on quickly. That’s noted down. 

Eventually she tires out, doesn't want to play another round and retires back into Max’s lap, to fell less scared.

“Alright. I think I have everything I need, you all did very well, thank you. For now, I can say that I don’t see any developmental delays, at least cognitively. Emotional development is a bit more difficult to tell for the little time I had, but there are definitely some markers. I will write my evaluation. Perhaps we see each other soon,” She smiles, getting up. So do the two women and Fawn

“Thank you so much, have a niche day”

Max nods, noncommittal. Unable to decide if that was good or bad.