*Reagan’s POV*
When the screen went black I redialed him several times and got no answer in return. I could feel my heart beat pick up and Channel caught on to my reaction as well.

“What is wrong Rea-tard? We’re supposed to be relaxing and you’re freaking me out. You look like you’re about to have an attack like the one you did that day I dropped you at the airport.” She looks at me with concern etched on her face as she takes a seat next to me on my pool chair.

I tighten my towel around myself before I shake my head at her trying to redial Harry's number in secret. She looks over my shoulder and snatches my phone from me before I can hit talk. Why does she always do this to me?

“Channel, give it back, please.” I hold out my hand trying to remain as calm as possible.

“No. Calm down, I’m sure Harry is just fine where he is. You need to relax Reagan. Give you and him some space for a while. How can you get better if he’s your every thought? He sent you here to focus on you and that’s what you need to do. He said he was at a party. He’s obviously fine.”

I know that she’s more than likely right and that I’m probably over reacting, but I can feel myself seething under her glance. She doesn’t know Harry like I do and I would rather check on him myself than hear it from someone who doesn’t even like him. Channel prepares to hand me back my phone, but snatches it away just as it grazes my fingertips making my annoyance spike again.

“Promise you’ll just sit out here and relax with me. He’ll call you tomorrow.” I look at her and nod my head slowly, keeping my mouth closed to keep all of my snide comments in.

She hands me back the phone and watches me to see what I do. Before glancing at the sleeping screen one more time, I put the phone down on the table next to me, but not before turning up the volume in case he calls me back. Channel gave me a small grin, one that said she was proud of me before she lie back down sipping on lemonade and eyeing me over her sunglasses like the glamorous diva that she is.

She moves her Oakley's down her nose before she stares at me giggling slightly.

“What?” I ask wanting to know what about me has tickled her this time.

“How are you going to get a tan if you leave that towel around you like that Rea?”

I look down at myself forgetting that I had it on, but I don’t want to take it off, “I’ll be fine. I’m tired anyway. If I take it off, I’ll probably fall asleep and burn.”

Channel furrows her brow and then stands from her chair before she starts to chuckle, walking towards me and making me nervous. She grabs the towel and my hand tightens around the soft cotton security blanket.

“I won’t let you burn if you fall asleep. I won't let you fall asleep now anyway, it’s still too early. Plus your parents will be home soon won’t they? You’ll want to be awake for them.” She pulls and I can feel the towel slipping.

“If you didn’t want me to fall asleep then we should have went out and did something eventful! Please, Channel stop! I don’t want to take it off!” She throws her hands up in defense as my tone goes from playful to serious.

“It’s okay Rea. What is going on?” I look over at her before I start to fidget with my fingers.

“I don’t know, Channel. It's nothing. Just leave it alone please."

"No. That's bullshit Rea. I will not just leave it alone. You just freaked out for no reason." Channel stands in front of me with her arms crossed and a no nonsense look on her face.

"I have this thing about nudity now, specifically with me. After I shower I get dressed as quickly as possible and I really do try to avoid mirrors, because I don’t want to look at myself. I can’t even...” I pause and look at Channel and then burry my face in my hands out of pure embarrassment and shame.

“You can’t what? Talk to me!” She nudges me with her elbow as she takes a seat next to me again and then pulls my hands from my face. Channel is the aggressive one and has been since we were kids.

“Harry and I haven’t had sex in almost two weeks, well it'll be longer now since I'm away. I get so scared and I freeze up so can you just please let me keep the towel?” Channel looks at me with her mouth hung open slightly before she closes it quickly not saying anything.

“I’m fucked up I know, but I can’t right now.”

Channel looks at me again and I know she wants to say something, but she keeps her mouth shut. Instead she stands from my seat and holds her hand out for me to take. I look at her hesitantly but, take her hand none the less and she pulls me to my feet.

“You’re not fucked up babes. Don’t let him win. This is what he wanted to do to you. This was his intention and the more you fight against what’s normal the more he wins and the longer his hold over you will last. I’m obviously no expert in it, but I want to help you take a baby step right now, okay?” I look at her and nod my head as I rapidly blink away tears.

“This is me we’re talking about. There’s no one else here to see you.” One of her hands grabs one of my wrists and the other grabs the towels edge before she starts to count.

She yanks the towel down on the count of three and the warm breeze caresses my body. For a moment I have the urge to pull it back up again, but it eventually passes. Baby steps.

“You’re sexy, bitch!...And hippy. You’re hips have spread a bit since you’ve been in London. It may almost be two weeks, but Harry’s been doing a number on you I see.” I put my head in my hands to hide away from her embarrassing comment and laugh at her momentarily before I pull her close to me in a hug.

She backs us up and we fall into the pool laughing and screaming as if we were care free children again. Care free is a phrase that I haven’t thought to use in a while, but it feels good to not be concerned and weighted down by so much that my lungs feel like they would collapse at any second. I feel like I’ve been able to take the tiniest breath of fresh air and thought the feeling falls away after a few minutes, to know that I was able to do that at all felt like a huge accomplishment on my part.

I can hear my phone vibrating and ringing loudly against the table and I’m immediately out of the pool, wrapping myself in my towel again. I can feel my shoulders fall slightly when I see that it’s only Dr. Koch, but I answer quickly. Before I can even say hello, he begins to speak.

“How are you Miss. Stoger?” His voice is grave and raspy and I know that he has to be tired, despite the fact that he wishes people to think that he’s some form of rare robot. It’s at least two in the morning in England right now.

“I’m alright. Is everything okay Dr. Koch?”

“It could be better. Dr. Adams and I are terribly behind on the case from lack of able work, but we won’t dwell on that. I’ve emailed you files that I want you to look over, annotate and send back to me and I’ve also set you up appointments to see a therapist not too far from your home. Everything will be in the email. If you can have the work sent back to me by tomorrow night that would be ideal.” I bite my nails still feeling the intensity of Dr. Koch’s voice and I’m all the way across an entire ocean. There’s little to no emotion in his voice. Everything is about business. Maybe he is a robot.

“Of course I can. Thank you Dr. Koch.”

“Mhm. I’ll talk with you later.” The phone line clicks and even though the conversation was dry, I am happy to start up work again. Idle days spent in the house are not ideal for me.

---

Channel and I toweled off and went back inside the house shortly after my phone call had ended and as she showered, I went into my email, eager to see what Dr. Koch had sent for me to start reading over. There were two folders that loaded fairly quickly onto my Mac Book and a third that was just beginning to download. Each of two that I had opened had an astronomical amount of papers in them. I sighed and rubbed my hands over my eyes. How could he expect me to have all of these done by tomorrow afternoon? Once again, I find myself forgetting who I’m dealing with. If James Koch wants them done by tomorrow night my time, I had better figure out a way to do so.

As I look through the papers in the first file I’m relieved when I see that they vary in length and detail, not all of them are as difficult as they seemed to be. I also notice that he’s pulled me off of the case that we were studying originally seeing as none of these cases have anything to do with the schizophrenic who murdered her boyfriend. This is nothing more than Dr. Koch’s busy work that he would have had to deal with when our business in London was finished. It’s psychology work, but petty work none the less. Does he not see me fit to help in the previous case anymore?

I roll my eyes at his assumption and open the third folder labeled H.E.S finally finishes it's downloading.

They’re initials, ones that I know all of the ins and outs of. I warily double click on the zip folder and a series of documents are inside. As I scroll down the list of papers without opening them to read what’s inside, I finally realize what it is I’m looking at.

Dr. Koch sent me Harry’s case files and several of his progress session notes.

“Why would he do this?” I whisper to myself as I continue to scroll down the list. It seems endless and I stop myself somewhere in the middle, before scrolling back to the very top of all the documents inside.

There was a letter attached, addressed to me, but dare I open it? I stared at the screen for several minutes unaware of what it is I should do. It began to put a strain on my eyes and dried out my contacts as I continued to look, memorized and dumbfounded at the same time.

I’ve wanted to look into these files since the first sit in session that I had with Harry, but I know him now. I would have no reason to. Surely I could stand to do more research on Bipolar disorder, but Harry I know. He’s told me everything that I’ve asked for and he doesn’t keep anything from me anymore.

I close the folder and moved it to the trash bin on the desktop of my laptop, more than annoyed that Dr. Koch would do this to me. Our disagreement the day that Harry was arrested pops into my head and I find myself staring at the trash can icon as his words make themselves present in my memory once again.

“There is no cure for what he has! It can only be tamed and I’m sure two years in Maudsley has done nothing but merely corner it.”

I take a deep breath and shake my head, hoping to rid myself of Dr. Koch’s negative energy, before I close the laptop and set it on my bed. Channel walks in causing me to be startled by her sudden entrance.

She looks at me and laughs at my reaction and I roll my eyes at her as she takes her seat next to me on the bed, unwrapping her beautiful thick locks from the towel so that she can continue to dry it.

“You were always so jumpy. I haven’t seen you in a while but I see not much has changed.”

“Channel, its only been a couple of months. You act like I’ve been gone for years.” She grins at me before she speaks again.

“A couple of months without my best friend feels like years. I’ve missed talking to you and you being here. You’re my partner in crime.” I roll my eyes again playfully this time at her cheesy comment, but it’s true and I know exactly what she means.

I stand to go shower and when I get in, the water is almost scolding, but I welcome the sting. H.E.S. I can see the folder in the corner of my mind taunting me as I try to push it away. There’s a reason he sent that to you. My focused side kicks in once again where she’s not wanted. For once I wish I could get out of my own head and maybe be someone else, who doesn’t have a curious mind and is carrying on without a care in the world.

I wash my hair and the rest of my body to free it of the chlorine from the swimming pool, but even when I’m done, and the dirt that I feel was once on my body now escapes down the drain, I stand under the heavy stream of the water and try to imagine Harry being here with me. Should I tell him what Dr. Koch sent me? Then again, what good would that do him? If there is anything that H. doesn’t need a reminder of, it’s his past. He’s progressed, and is continually progressing and bettering himself.

I can almost see snarky focused me as if she were my twin standing in front of me. Before she gets the chance to open her mouth and cut down my thoughts however, the sound of the garage door opening shuts her mouth and ends my thinking patterns.

My parents are home.

Notes

Hi Loves!!! How are you all doing today??? I have an update for you all because its FRIDAY annnd because I LOVE YOU ALL TO BITS!! And the Plot thickens ;] What did you all think of this chapter? What is it on H.E.S. that Dr. Koch want's Rea to see so bad, and do you all think that Koch is out of line for what he's doing? I cant wait to read the comments on this so please make the website crash because you're leaving me so many! You guys know I love reading your comments and responding to you all as much as I love writing the story. You guys are my inspiration, so please make me happy and continue to inspire me with comments, votes and subs if you're reading the story enjoying it (fingers crossed and hopefully) and haven't done so yet! a HUGE THANK YOU to those of you who do comment, because when you do it literally makes my day! <3 As always, I love you all of you beauties for reading! Xx