Counselor to Counselor

Posted on Sat Apr 6th, 2019 @ 1:03pm by Lieutenant JG Ilan Rol

1,707 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 97 - Cultural Exchange
Location: Counsellor's Office, USS Sutherland
Timeline: MD 07 1100 hours

ON:

Not wanting to burden a still recovering Ariana with her problems for now, Freya transported across to the Pegasus to speak with Rol. She hadn't yet had chance to meet him so this would be their first meeting both as colleagues and for her as his client.

** USS Pegasus **

Rol sat down on the sofa in his quarters feeling exhausted. He'd just sighed the final papers from his Step Father. It had been a shock to learn that he was the heir to a Cardassian.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose feeling a monster of a headache. The last few days had been trying, painful, exciting, and just exhausting. He rested his head on the sofa and closed his eyes fully expecting to take a nap.

Freya arrived at Rol's quarters, she was hoping she wouldn't be intruding on her colleague. She pressed the chime and waited for an answer.

Stirred from the brink of sleep Rol startled awake. It took a moment for him to process that the chime was ringing. He stood and dusted himself off. "Come in."

Walking inside Freya looked apologetically at Rol. "I'm sorry Lieutenant, I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time?"

"No just tired." He motioned, "Please come in. I don't think we've met."

"No we haven't, I'm Freya Ross the new Counsellor and Marine Medic." She smiled as she looked at him. "I err....I have a problem that I need to talk about. Ariana already knows about it but she's still recovering and I don't want to be adding to her concerns right now."

"Absolutely. Ilan Rol at your service. Super counselor." He laughed, "Can I get you anything to drink?"

"No thank you" Freya smiled. "Just some tissues please." She grinned. "I'm still getting over Vulcan flu!" She shrugged her shoulders.

He smiled and got some tissues but also some water for her. "I am always here to help. Please tell me your thoughts."

Freya nodded as she took a seat. "I...I think I was..." She paused uncertain at first which way to word it and she didn’t want to verbalise the word that hurt so much. "Attacked." She looked at Rol. “Doctor Corrigan has confirmed that there’s signs of old scarring that confirm the nightmares I’ve been having.”

Rol stared at her a moment his face a mask of concern. "When did this happen?"

“Not recently” Freya looked at Rol as she spoke. “It was a few years ago, I was...bothered by some boys who didn’t like that I was a Betazoid dating a Human. Kaden came to my aid but it must have been while he was away giving his statement to the police that I was attacked.” She shrugged her shoulders. “The details aren’t clear to me yet!”

Rol reached out and took her hands. "I am so sorry you went through that. You said the memories surfaced in dreams? Often times we repress that which causes trauma. Betazoids especially. Talk to me a little about how you are feeling."

Freya nodded. “I feel...” She looked at Rol uncertain what to say. “In bed after the dream I just wanted to cry but now...” She shrugged her shoulders. “I want to shout, scream, generally let go but I can’t! It’s like it’s just a bad dream I had and now it’s over.” She shook her head. “My Counselling training tells me that’s not a good thing but it also tells me that it’s normal.”

"It is normal to have these feelings. We'll come back to that," he said. "Tell me about the dream."

“My dream?” She tensed up as she thought back to the previous night. “It was the night I was looking after my parents house on Earth, they had a neighbour who was xenophobic in the true sense of the word. He didn’t like that they were Betazoid and he didn’t like that I was dating a Human.” She sighed. “He and some friends decided to have fun tormenting me at the house, I called Kaden and he came over to help me. Once they were sorted Kaden had to go make a witness statement to the police so I waited at my parents boat house for him.”

She stopped talking for a moment gripping Rol’s hands tightly as she thought about what happened next. “There was someone there....I didn’t know until it was too late! All I remember is being grabbed from behind. I was....” She frowned. “Dragged into the boat and he...he...” Tears were streaming down her face as she let go of Rol’s hands. Just the thought of being touched by another man, any man other than Kaden made her feel ill.

Rol handed her a tissue box. He understood her feeling, he'd seen it with many Bajorans during the occupation. "I am truly sorry Freya." She sighed, "The fact that you did not remember until now makes sense. Trauma does then to put up a block. Betazoids have a defense mechanism for trauma." He studied her. "What happened was not your fault. Let me try an exercise with you." He stood and walked over to a mirror indicating that she should join him and stand in front of it.

Freya moved across to the mirror as Rol had motioned for her to do so. “I hate that I’m a Counsellor and here I am being the one counselled!” She looked into the mirror as she spoke uncertain whether she liked what she saw or not.

"Yes well doctors and counselors make the worst patients." He pointed to the mirror. "Tell me about the person in the mirror. What is she like?"

“What is she like...” Freya looked in the mirror. “She’s normally happy, go lucky, with a husband who loves her with all his heart.” She hung her head. “Now she’s...uncertain how she feels with a husband whose struggling to come to accept what he’s just found out.” She raised her head and looked in the mirror again. “I’m angry, hurt, and I wish I’d never remembered this!!”

He sighed, "Alright let's tackle one thing at a time in what you just said." He looked at her through the mirror's reflection. "Sound good?"

Freya nodded. "Sorry I didn't mean to spout off like that! It's been a long couple of days."

He smiled, "No spouting off. That was a great first step. Let's analyze. You said that your husband is struggling to accept the things he found out. Let's look at that first." He hit a few buttons on the mirror and what looked like a mirror shifted and the image was of Freya's Husband." He smiled at her. "I review all incoming files. I don't have Betazoid abilities since I'm Bajoran but I pride myself on knowing every person old and new to the station. Alright now look at his image, really look at him. If he told you something horrible happened to him Tell me how you would feel. Just the feelings."

“I....” Freya looked at the image of Kaden. “I’d feel....angry that he’d been hurt, sad that I couldn’t stop it. I guess I’d also feel....guilty for not being there.” She looked at Rol.

"So when you say he's struggling to accept it it's not that he's denying that or that he's angry with you he's feeling angry that it happened to you, that you've been hurt, that he couldn't stop it. He's feeling helpless to make your pain go away. Right?"

Freya nodded. “He feels he should have protected me and I think he feels I’ve been....spoilt by another man.” She sighed. “I’ve only ever been with Kaden, he was my first and until I remembered this he was the only man I’d ever slept with.

He sighed, "Okay let's try this. If something like that happened to him would you think him spoilt?"

"Heaven's No!!" Freya shook her head. "I'd be there to support him no matter what." She sighed. "I love my husband Rol, I want to have a baby one day. I'd be lost without him!!"

He looked at her, "Yet you think he thinks this of you? Why?" It was a simple question but it made him wonder if they needed couple's counseling.

“Because he more or less told me so!” She looked at Rol “I had a boyfriend before Kaden but I was never...touched at least not in an intimate way. To Kaden I was unspoilt when we met and have always been that way to him. Now it’s like I’ve been used by another man! He loves me but I know that thought is there, lingering in his mind.”

Rol sighed, he motioned back to the sofa. "Alright lets set down. You said 'more or less' told you. That means you are assuming or reading into. Have you ever confronted your husband? Asked him flat out? I think that a first step is to talk to him and then maybe couples counseling to assist you both in getting through this."

“You’re probably right...in fact I know you’re right” Freya nodded. “Kaden has always had Ariana as his Counselor in the past but with her pregnancy I didn’t want to off load all this on her. Could we...talk with you?” Freya looked at Rol.

Rol smiled, "Absolutely. That is why I am here. These things don't get solved in a day but we will work as a team so that you and Kaden can get through this. I am always here to listen and help."

Freya nodded and smiled. “Thank you Rol. I’ll arrange it once we’re back at the Starbase.”

He gave a nod. "You will get through this. I promise.”

Freya stood to leave. “Thank you Rol. I’ll leave you to enjoy some peace and quiet.”

He smiled, "Trust me I don't think I'll b getting any peace and quiet. We'll set something up for you and Kaden when we return to the station."

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