Just Another Day of Therapy

Lilian sighed as she set her purse on the kitchen island. Catlin, who’d be in the middle of cooking, glared at her until she removed it, setting in on the floor next to her as she melted into a bar stool.

“Work that bad today?” The Siamese returned to creating whatever dish she’d been making, pausing only briefly to look over her shoulder at the she-wolf.

Lilian groaned, resting her head on an area of the counter that was clutter free, sighing as the chilled surface cooled her forehead. “Remind me why I decided that becoming a therapist of sorts was a good ideal?”

“Because you enjoying helping people, because you’re barren, because it relieves stress, because you like having something to do,” Catlin paused for a moment. “Because you like helping people.”

“You said that already,” Lilian raised her head and looked at the cat. “Just because I enjoying helping doesn’t mean it gets to be listed twice. I don’t like it that much; especially when one of the clients gets utterly hands-y and refuses to listen, even to ‘Dr. Fleur’.”

“Because you’re good at it?” Catlin shrugged. “If you hate it so much, then quit. You know very well that Victor’s letting you do this because you want to, not because you need the money.”

Lilian frowned at her friend. It was true; she hadn’t taken the job because they needed the money. Catlin was granted a free ride through her culinary school, and she’d taken the free ride to attend her own classes. Victor was wealthy enough – being an assassin for hire of sorts paid more than enough to last his lifetime and then some, so money was no problem.

Maybe it had been the way Catlin had said it. Victor let her because she wanted to. Though, that shouldn’t bother her either; Victor would ‘let her’ sit at home all day if she so desired, Victor would ‘let her’ go shopping through France’s most expensive stores to supply clothing for all three of them if she wanted, Victor would ‘let her’ do whatever the hell she wanted, and he had.

“I don’t hate it, Cat,” she sighed again, drumming her fingers on the counter top. “It’s just frustrating sometimes. Even after I threaten to kick them out if they can’t follow my rules, they still don’t want to play along. I’ve lost several clients that way and I’m worried my name will be slandered because of it.”

Catlin rolled her eyes and shoved a bowl into the wolf’s hands, ordering her to stir. “Seriously? With that kind of therapy, if I was a client you kicked out, I’d be more afraid of people finding out that I visited a therapist for sex than spending time bitching you out. Hello, you don’t even like talking about the time you and Josef-.”

“Got it, Cat,” Lilian interrupted quickly, glaring at the Siamese. “Don’t need to be reminded about that, okay? I get enough self-reminders at work; I don’t need backhanded hints from you too.”

“Right,” Catlin huffed. “You’ll have to talk to him about it eventually, if he hasn’t completely figured it out already. But, moving on; isn’t all that therapy supposed to be relaxing? You know, stress reliever and all that?”

“Maybe, if I wasn’t the one in control and having to make sure my clients aren’t going to go overboard or do something stupid. It’s not quite that easy for me. For them, sure, it’s the best stress reliever in the foutu monde.”

“The whole world, hmm?” Catlin chuckled. She tilted her head, smiling over the she-wolf’s shoulder. “Well, I’m pretty sure you’ve got a therapist here too, you know. Speaking of your very own therapist, he’s home now, you should probably get him before he gets the two of us together.”

Lilian glanced back and nodded. Blinking, she glanced back again and laughed. Victor leaned against the wall, arms crossed across his chest as he stood, watching them. He smirked as Lilian finally noticed him and she briefly wondered if he’d been standing there the whole time. Knowing him, she’d probably missed him as she’d come into the kitchen, and he’d just stood there and let them talk.

“Need some therapy, doll?” He pushed away from the wall and held out his hand. Lilian stood and took it, letting him lead her towards the bedroom. “I’d be more than willing to help you out.”

“Why thank you, Dr. Ragnorrock,” she grinned.

“So work was interesting today then?” Victor raised an eyebrow. “Nothing horribly exciting or traumatizing?”

She hummed softly as she nodded. “It was just another day of therapy.”