~ Mental Ward at Mercy Hospital~ {chksng19}

[kimbra_ailis]

A smile came to her lips whens he realized that he was not angry with her. She had been afraid that he would be upset about this being a step backward in her progress. Dr Pytka and the nurses were always angry after a bad nightmare or an actaul self inflicted injury. Angry that she was not trying hard enough to be cured. The look reflected on his face that he understood. That was a surprise. It made her want to try harder for him.
On the ride Krista rolled the window down so she did not have to deal with her reflection. Cian was right beside her but he needed to concentrate on the road, not silencing her demons. If he had asked her, she would have told him it probably a bad idea. That after an episode it was not wise. But he didnt ask and seemed in control so she did not complain. The diner he pulled into was not over crowded. It gave her a chance to be around other people without being too crowded.
Pulling her knees up to her chest after they ordered. Keeping her voice low she leaned in slightly.
"Would it be too dangerous to pick up the son at the hospital.... maybe after his shift? I think we should work with him for a little while first.... Maybe a day or two of games? The ladies cant be that hard to control but all three might be a handful if he is not taught the rules ahead of time....."

[Chuckdom19]

Dinner went quickly as we discussed this plan, sotto voce, and alternatives that we might have. Skipping dessert, we went down the street to a Dog 'n' Suds, and let the waitress bring us our banana splits so we could keep focused on the details.

This place let me slide into the past. Service at the car without speakers, servers on roller-skates, big frosted real-glass mugs of good root beer. This specific one had to be 50 years old at least, with none of the 'modernization' it would get in a bigger town. Likely open from April to October as this was snow country, the owner had told me one day all he did in winter was to do snow plowing for other businesses and apartments. What a wonderful life!

We enjoyed the ice cream and root beer and she shared her ideas about how the 'activities' might be structured... and how we could explain it to Doctor Junior to get him on our side. Mostly I agreed, though some seemed a little bit outrageous. Talking about the plans as long as we were had Rusty animated and excited; she was laughing and almost merry. And I'd noticed that every truly happy time like this made her relapses further apart.

Getting home, I made notes and kept track of our discussions, changing dates for things and spreading it to allow the differences in plans. I stored none of this on my on-line accounts, keeping it all on my external hard drive so it was never trackable.