Julienne had to admit, that was surprising. The fact Hannah knew at what exact moment the other client was about to be dragged out? There wasn’t an easy way for her to know that. At least on a surface level. There was a chance that during her mental shift, Hannah noticed the sounds of unfamiliar footsteps. The sound of the medics’ voices outside. Maybe she even heard them just barely as the music blared from the car.

All of those ideas seemed far fetched. The time travel idea was definitely more out there. Regardless, Dr. Fry was very sure Hannah wasn’t a danger to herself. If anything, this might be a form of protection to help her work through the immense pressure the poor girl was under. Only 25 years old and she was already struggling to run a company and deal with hostility from her brothers. 

From the way Hannah spoke in past sessions, she loved her brothers to no end. She would give her big brothers the world if she could. Sadly, all they wanted was a company she had no ability to hand over at this time. The delicate balance between respecting her father’s wishes and what her brothers desired was always in the back of Hannah’s mind. Much to the woman’s detriment. Yet, how the brother’s behaved towards Hannah wasn’t showing a two way street. 

All of the notes Julienne had showed a pattern of aggressiveness and dismissive behavior from both brothers. Getting Hannah to see that pattern was difficult. She had a deep seeded fear that the two brothers believed Hannah wouldn’t love them as much if it turned out they were only half siblings. It was part of the reason she kept wanting to cave into what they wanted. She loved them and wanted to prove it. And not have the relationship she perceived them having as being damaged due to some genetic test.

Julienne suspected the brothers feared more public gossip than their sister’s opinion. She couldn’t be sure without talking to them, and the family refused to come in for a group session. Not surprising. Most would feel that Dr. Fry would have a bias against the family by this point. She’d be professional, but the family couldn’t be sure of that. And Hannah didn’t want to see anyone else. 

She glanced up, pushing her glasses up a tad as Hannah finished her notes.

“I have more I want to write but this is the starting point. You… won’t show anyone else, right?” Hannah looked nervous. Not to the extent of earlier, where the words couldn’t escape the poor girl's lips. More like a small child worried they’d be in trouble with their parents.

“Of course not. We have patient doctor confidentiality.” Dr. Fry could see Hannah’s shoulders go down. The girl had been so stressed.”This will go into my personal notes. Which are the ones I take home.”

“Ok. That’s fine. You have a firebox or something for that right?”

“Of course. If you want you can have a potato candy while I look this over.” Julienne started reading over the paper. “I want to get my thoughts together before we continue.”

“That’d be great, thanks.” Hannah happily took one of the depression era candies with a sparkle in her eyes.

That was the look Julienne had been hoping for.

The notes were something else though. It seemed to go all over without a lot of exact dates. A band by the name Float Away would get locked out of their concert without pants on. There would be a buy out of a rival clinic in two months by her own clinic. Hannah’s fiance would be caught with three people in his bed two days before the wedding.

Honestly, that last one was almost a sure thing. Chip had already been caught five other times with other people since the engagement. And each time Hannah just insisted it was somehow her own fault. Even Mrs. Kerr seemed to encourage the behavior, by telling Hannah exactly that.

All of this seemed to just be different fears and concerns she had. There wasn’t anything on here that seemed really solid. Until the end of the list. Where there were items that were about Julienne directly. First, Julienne would get a dog that had an infinity symbol on its stomach. That had a date of tomorrow. A note of how Dr.Kent would attempt to force a transfer and how he couldn’t be trusted with Hannah’s files. There was something about forged paperwork, but the rushed writing made it hard to read. And finally, that on Julienne’s birthday her sister would come home. 

The fact that Hannah was so worried about another doctor taking her away was understandable to a degree. Julienne was the first person Hannah felt safe with. How could she possibly know what dog she was going to adopt tomorrow? Julienne hadn’t told anyone she was looking into adopting a dog. But the one she had her eye on was an older golden retriever. One that had been a former family pet before the family was forced overseas and couldn’t take him with them. She’d met the dog and he definitely didn’t have an infinity mark. Just a soft grey muzzle from old age. 

As far as the sister, Julienne did not have any sisters. Only younger brothers. Not only that but she hadn’t spoken to them in some time. Mostly because they believed, with their parents, that Julienne was wasting her life on so many levels. Including dressing punkish and choosing to remain single. Julienne had tried the dating scene before and it just wasn’t for her.

And it got so annoying hearing ‘You just haven’t met the right one yet.’

The right one was the dogs and pet snakes she wanted to raise. Cleaning up after them was far more understandable than after grown adults who just wanted someone to be their maid or mommy. True, not all couples were like that. Many couples were successful in behaving like adults with just minor issues here and there due to past baggage.

Julienne just wasn’t interested in that sort of life. Or in having kids. So of course, her family was sure there was something wrong with her. Which led to them repeatedly trying to cross her boundaries, set her up on surprise dates. Or take her to a priest at a public place. Or various other methods of ‘helping’.

That’s where the block function on her phone was wonderful. Along with moving to the other side of the country.

In either case, there was no way that a sister would suddenly show up. Not unless it was a 7 year old sister she wasn’t aware of. 

Her parents could still have kids. A surprise baby wasn’t out of the question.

But no. This was definitely starting to point towards a harmless delusion. Not the end of the world. Not surprising in the least. Just Hannah’s brain trying to protect itself while asserting the issues around her.

Or maybe it was just allowing her to enjoy the potato candy for a few minutes. Hannah’s face looked like it was in bliss as she popped in her third candy. So much for trying to fit into a too small wedding dress.

“I will certainly keep an eye out for the things you listed here. It looks like you ran out of time to write down what you planned to do for helping yourself.”

Hannah straightened up, and looked more serious. “I need to get evidence. And using what I know to make sure certain projects will not be sabotaged."

“I see. Anything else for the immediate future? You mentioned breaking it off with Chip.”

“Yeah I want to, but I need to gather some reasons first, or I’ll just be forced right back into the marriage. I may donate the wedding venue and everything to a charity auction though. Someone can get it cheap for that day. Have a nice and fancy wedding.” Hannah was smiling at the idea. “I bet that’d make someone’s day.”

“I bet it would. What else would you want to do? Anything involving Russett or Beauregard?” Dr. Fry quickly wrote down the names, curious what she’d say about them.

Hannah hesitated. Her fingers tightly gripping the cloud sweat pants. “I think… I need to not promote them. See how they take that. And go from there. I don’t know how much was directed by Mother versus them at this point. And I think I need to plan things here. With you.”

Dr. Fry nodded at that. “Understandable. You feel safe here.”

“There’s no cameras here. I’ll try and get the camera for you later so you can see. But they are there. At this point they aren’t everywhere yet. But soon.” Hannah trailed off. “The things they recorded me doing... The blackmail that was built up...”

Julienne’s pen froze in place. This could be a lot more serious if this new mindset was showing things that were concerns. She hoped this was just paranoia, but if it wasn’t? This could be signs of abuse. 

“Hannah, I want to give you my personal cell number.”

“Oh I already know it. 945-003-5392. Right?” She smiled a bit sheepishly. “When I started thinking I was hearing things you gave it to me so you could listen with me.”

“That’s right.” Julienne responded slowly. “Call me if you need to, ok? But let's spend the rest of this session going over some mental exercises.”

“Sure. I could use some centering right now… especially after dying.” Hannah gave a crooked smile at her little joke.

“Of course. Now. Let's start with our breathing.”

That…

That was strange. 

Dr. Fry really hoped this wasn’t a sign of being stalked. Because that was her unlisted number. She’d only gotten it a few days ago. After her session with Hannah.

What was going on?