Green Day, Part 3b/3
Oct. 22nd, 2009 07:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
boogieshoes**********************************************
Title: Green Day, Part 3b/3
Fandom: Magnificent 7
Universe: ATF LB Green Day AU
Pairing: N/A
Summary: JD has a meltdown at school, and Chris and Buck are baffled. Vin still isn't sure he can trust the adults enough to confide in them, but he may need to, if he's going to help his little brother. Green Day Universe information here.
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My Warnings Policy Post is here.
Warnings:
Kinks:
Rating: PG-13; the adults cuss.
Archive Information: Feel free to archive, just drop me a note if you do so.
Additional Links: Part 1/3; Part 2a/3; Part 2b/3; Part 2c/3; Part 3a/3; Part 3b/3; Part 3c/3
*****************MAG7: ATF LB AU**********************************
“So, Vin,” Dr. Will said after they had both settled into their respective chairs in his office, “what happened yesterday sounded pretty scary.”
Vin shrugged. He looked down at his hands, reminding himself not to twist them in his lap.
“You weren’t scared?”
Vin stared at his shoes.
“At all?”
His shoes were quite fascinating, really. The chair was so deep he couldn’t hang his legs down unless he sat almost all the way forward – he didn’t like that. For one, he liked having his back supported when he was sitting. It also brought him too close to Dr. Will, who had a tendency to ask him questions he didn’t want to answer. So he sat against the back rest and his feet hung just off the edge of the chair. He wiggled his toes; the laces bounced.
“Vin?” Dr. Will’s voice was a little more forceful and Vin shot him a sideways look.
“I know I would have been scared, just watching JD like that.”
Vin looked at his hands again, and began to set each finger on his right hand behind it’s neighbor.
Dr. Will sighed. “Vin, did Mr. Chris or Mr. Buck tell you why you’re here today?”
Vin nodded, but waited for Dr. Will to prompt him before answering. “It’s ‘cos they want you to find out what’s wrong with JD. And they think mebbe I know somethin’ that’ll help.”
“What do you think about that?”
Still Vin hesitated.
Dr. Will narrowed his eyes at him, and Vin groaned internally – that expression meant Dr. Will had picked up on something Vin’d rather he not have known.
“What do you think will happen if we find something wrong, Vin?”
“I – “ Vin choked to a stop, unaware of the desperately pleading look he gave Dr. Will.
“Are you worried that Buck and Chris will send JD away, Vin?”
Vin curled up on the chair and nodded miserably. “They said they won’t, but they tried to say last night that mebbe the ranch is bad fer JD. That mebbe Chris ‘n’ Buck are bad fer JD. It’s not - *they’re* not. I don’t want JD to leave.” Vin sniffled and scrubbed at his nose furiously – JD was counting on him, even if he didn’t know it. He had to be brave.
“Vin, I promise, Chris and Buck won’t send JD away – you won’t lose your brother.”
“How d’ya know fer sure?” Vin hadn’t meant it to come out quite so accusingly, but Dr. Will smiled gently at him.
“Two reasons. One, Buck loves JD, and would fight any attempt to remove your brother from his custody tooth and nail. Two, Chris loves you, and he wants you to have everything you need to be happy. He knows how much you love your brother and need him to be around him. So even if we found out something very seriously wrong with JD – and I don’t think we will – both Chris and Buck will make every effort to keep him with you. OK?”
Vin nodded, sniffling again. He hadn’t been here very long, but already he was tired.
“So, you said Chris and Buck think you might know something about how JD behaved yesterday,” Dr. Will began again. “Do you?”
Vin still wasn’t sure he should say anything – what if JD was too different for these adults to handle? It had happened before. About a month before Chris and Buck had found them, he and JD had gone to a Hallowe’en store on the off chance they might be able to grub some candy. Vin especially liked Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, while JD really wanted some SweetTarts. But the nasty old woman at the counter saw through their ‘innocent lost child’ act, and had chased them through the store.
Vin had hurried to hide them in among the costumes – there was a whole section of vampire’s capes that hung all the way to the ground. But JD had begun to shake and cry, rocking and rocking, and Vin couldn’t get him to stop, and even touching him seemed to make JD cry harder. The counter-lady pushed aside the costumes a few minutes later, muttering about them being bad, trying to make her feel sympathy for two ‘filthy little thieves’. She reached for JD, and Vin had jumped into action, telling the woman he’d get JD out of there himself if she’d just leave him alone. But she touched JD anyway, and the younger boy reacted by trying to make himself smaller, reflexively kicking out, just a little, nowhere near the lady.
“Ugh! Little rat!” she’d exclaimed, and had hauled JD up and pushed him down the aisle toward the door. But JD wasn’t able to walk or stand, and had fallen, not even trying to catch himself. “Stupid little brat – what’s wrong with you?!” the lady cried, and kicked, pushed, and smacked the boy right on out the door. Vin, helpless and scared, had followed, only able to shield JD from the worst of the blows.
The episode had really worried him – how could he protect JD if the kid couldn’t even respond to him? And Chris had touched JD yesterday when Vin told him not too – what would the other adults do if JD had too many problems for them to handle? Panicked, he blurted, “I don’ think nothin’s wrong with JD – he’s just different, that’s all. Ever’one says it’s ok to be different.”
Dr. Will nodded. “That’s right, Vin, it’s ok to be different.” He paused, glancing at the office door for a moment. Vin hoped he could leave then, but nope – Dr. Will wasn’t finished.
“So, how is JD different?” Again a pause, and then Dr. Will changed tactics on him. “Vin, I know you weren’t scared yesterday, you’re strong and brave and tried to protect JD, right?” Vin nodded, frowning. “Do you think JD was scared?”
“Yeah, he was scared,” Vin said softly.
Dr. Will nodded. “I think so, too. Do you think he deserves to be scared?”
Vin’s head shot up and he glared. “What? No! He should be safe an’ happy an’…”
“He shouldn’t have to be around scary stuff, should he?”
Vin agreed; no one deserved to be so scared they couldn’t do anything but cry. But he also knew that sometimes it just happened. He wasn’t sure anything could be done about it, and he said so.
“But if you could do something, could help JD not be scared anymore, would you do it?” Dr. Will asked.
“Yes!” Vin cried.
“Well, there is a way you can help him, Vin. You can tell me if you know what set him off. We’re all trying to help JD be not so scared, but we need to know what hurt him in order to help him. Will you tell me what you know so we can all help JD?”
Vin frowned. Could he really trust Dr. Will? It had scared Vin when he couldn’t get JD to stop crying, but he hadn’t been able to do anything about it then. But Dr. Will had helped Vin with scary feelings before. He had also helped Vin with his dyslexia, making it easier to handle and learn in school. Vin nodded to himself; this problem was pretty big, and he knew he needed someone’s help to handle it. Maybe Dr. Will could really do something to help JD.
“He…,” Vin stopped, trying to order his thoughts while Dr. Will waited patiently. “He doesn’t like some of the colors.”
“Oh?” Vin could tell by the surprise in Dr. Will’s voice that that was the last thing the therapist had expected him to say. But Vin forged on, a little desperate to make the man believe him.
“He tells me stories about them, sometimes.”
“Like what, Vin?”
“He says black feels bad to him – all slimey and gross. Dr. Will, I don’t understand – black is just…. *black* to me. It doesn’t feel like anything except crayon on paper!”
“What do you feel when you see black, Vin?”
Vin looked down, clutching his hands around his knees. “’Minds me of Mr.Chris,” he muttered.
“And that makes you feel…?”
“Safe.” Vin met Dr. Will’s eyes. “But JD, it’s like he don’t even see Mr. Chris – all he sees in the black clothes. And he’s scared of ‘em.”
Dr. Will was silent for a long time, then, thinking about what Vin had said. He was quiet for so long, in fact, that Vin began to get nervous. Had he done the right thing? It did seem kind of silly when he said it out loud like that. “Ah, hell, this is stupid!” he grumbled to himself.
“No, Vin, it’s not stupid,” Dr. Will said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you wondering. I was just thinking about what you said. It’s not so hard to avoid black – except for Mr. Chris’s clothes, of course. Can you tell me about another time when the color black gave him problems?”
So Vin haltingly told Dr. Will about Hallowe’en store, and the counter-lady, and the black vampire capes that would have hid them if JD hadn’t had a breakdown.
“Thank you for telling me that, Vin,” Dr. Will said gently. “That was very important for me to know.”
“Ca- Can I go back now?” asked Vin, feeling smaller than he had in a long while.
“Of course,” said Dr. Will, and opened the door for him. “And Vin? It wasn’t wrong to want some candy. She shouldn’t have hit you or JD.”
They walked back down the hallway to the play room, where Vin sidled to Chris’s side. He wanted so very much to feel Chris’s arms around him then, even though he wasn’t sure he deserved such comfort. He stared hard at the child-sized table and wished fervently for Chris to give him the comfort he couldn’t quite bring himself to ask for. He concentrated so fiercely that he was a little startled when Chris gently picked him up and settled Vin in his laps. Vin gasped in surprise, but immediately snuggled back into the arms of the one man he was beginning to really trust with his heart.
“Well, then, JD, would you like to come talk to me?”
“Yeah! I can tell you about school and the pups and….” Vin listened to JD’s voice fade as he trotted down the hallway to Dr. Will’s office.
“Are you ok, Vin?” Chris asked softly, rubbing his arms.
Vin nodded, hugged himself and stifled a sniffle. Dr. Will had needed to know about JD so he could help his little brother. It wasn’t a betrayal, he reminded himself firmly. So why did he feel so bad?
*****************MAG7: ATF LB AU *********************************
When Dr. Lowery came back with JD from the therapy room, he looked thoughtful, a look which Buck figured did not bode well for either JD or himself as JD’s guardian.
“Well, what do ya’ think, Doc?” he asked, deciding to take the bull by the horns.
“I have some ideas, but I’d like to talk to you and Chris alone, if I may,” Lowery replied. “Why don’t you two come on back to my office while Vin and JD have some free time here in the play room?”
“Sure – I guess the ladies can watch them for a while,” Buck said, with a smile and a wink at the receptionists. They grinned back; Chris rolled his eyes.
Dr. Lowery led the way, and waited for them to get comfortable before closing the office door and taking his own seat.
“So?” Chris had waited as patiently as he could, but when it came down to it, he just wanted the problem to be fixed.
“This… may be difficult to explain, Chris, Buck, so please bear with me. My preliminary testing indicates that JD may have synesthesia.”
“Syne-what?” Buck asked. Chris had never heard of it before, either.
“Synesthesia,” Lowery repeated. “It’s what happens when the brain interprets stimulation in one sense as stimulation in another sense. One of the most common variants is seeing colors associated with numbers or letters. The letter ‘R’ might be seen as an orange color, or the number 2 might appear in red to a patient. JD appears to be experiencing this with his letters and numbers.”
“Appears to be?”
Lowery smiled slightly at Chris. “Yes, appears. We must all admit that JD has a vivid imagination and while that is to his credit, it can make diagnosing a sensory issue such as this a bit difficult. The only real way to be sure is to record today’s results and repeat the tests several times. Consistent answers are the key: If JD is consistent in his answers, it’s a good bet that he has grapheme-color synesthesia.”
“Ok, so he sees different-colored numbers,” Buck said with a puzzled frown. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Good question, Buck. People with one type of synesthesia often express other types of synesthesia. There isn’t an easy way to tell with what I’ve got available here, but that might be going on here. JD could well have another form of synesthesia that he doesn’t cope with quite as easily.”
“If that’s the case, how do we deal with it?”
“There are some sensory integration therapies we’d use, but I’m afraid that synesthesia might not be all of JD’s problems.” Lowery hesitated. “JD’s exhibiting some… developmental delays that I have to admit I just didn’t expect.”
“Development delays?” Buck’s voice rose incredulously. “Doc, that boy is the smartest kid I know! Heck, he’s smarter than me, and it’s just about all I can do to keep up with him sometimes!”
Lowery made a soothing gesture with his hands. “I’m not talking about his intelligence, Buck, not exactly. There are several developmental markers outside of intelligence that most children display by his age. There’s a chance that it’s something intrinsic to his brain structure.”
“Like what? You can’t tell me he’s brain damaged!”
“No, this would be an issue similar to Vin’s dyslexia, if what I suspect is correct. However, given the diagnostic complexities involved, we need to confirm my suspicions before we move ahead.”
Diagnostic complexities? Chris frowned. “What aren’t you telling us, Doctor?”
“I think JD may have Asperger’s syndrome. But I don’t have the expertise to diagnose something like this myself. The symptoms can be very subtle, and given the boys’ past, it’s best to be certain. JD’s current responses may all stem from some of his experiences on the street, and if we misdiagnose him now, that could be disastrous later. We need to be sure of what we’re dealing with. The only way to do that is some rather exhaustive testing.”
Chris hesitated, looking at Buck. Since Buck was JD’s legal guardian, it would be up to him to make the final decision. The big man looked troubled and worried.
“I don’t want to say ‘no’, but just how much is this all going to cost? Is it covered by insurance?” Buck asked.
“It’s rather fortunate that you are just legal guardians of the boys right now. As wards of the state, these tests will be paid for by Social Services,” Lowery said, much to Buck’s obvious relief.
“All right, Doc, what’s the first one?”
“I’ll make some calls, but I believe the first step is to have a complete assessment of his intelligence levels – both emotional and intellectual.”
3 Months Later:
It had been grueling few months, filled with a bewildering array of specialists and their tests. One by one, the diagnoses came in. A slight case of dyspraxia. Mathematical and verbal intelligence through the roof. Emotional intelligence through the floor. Difficulty in recognizing body language and facial expressions. Easily overloaded senses. Senses that were cross-wired. Finally, it was all over; today’s appointment with Dr. Lowery was just to hear his summary diagnosis: Asperger’s syndrome. Chris watched the boys play in the therapy room and listened to the child psychologist explain one of JD’s more urgent issues. If Dr. Lowery was to be believed – and Chris wasn’t sure he did – the thing with the mixed-up senses was the reason for JD’s meltdown back in March.
“Gr-Green?” Buck stuttered in bewilderment. “A color hurts him? How is that even possible?” Chris was completely sympathetic. Bad memories and triggers, he was prepared for, but this… this was just bizarre.
“Remember when we discovered JD’s synesthesia?” Dr. Lowery said quietly, as the three men continued to watch the boys play through the one way mirror. “Apparently JD has a color-touch variation. Such a perception is more difficult to diagnose than the more common cross-connections, but it’s important you understand that he’s not making this up. He’s having a consistent reaction to colors in the form of physical sensations, and it is as real to him as night and day is to you and me.”
“I have to admit it sounds crazy, doc.” Chris didn’t bother to hide his skepticism.
“I know. But listen to them a minute.” Dr. Lowery pressed a button on the intercom beside him.
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-bs
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 02:26 pm (UTC)I like how JD did going down the hall, too.
You're moving along nicely! I foresee this being finished very soon! CONGRATS!!!
no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 02:36 pm (UTC)*hugs* i'm so glad you like it, though!
-bs
no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 02:39 pm (UTC)Looking forward to it!
no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 02:51 pm (UTC)-bs
no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 05:12 pm (UTC)-bs
no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 09:16 pm (UTC)Thanks for sharing.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 09:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 11:07 pm (UTC)if you follow the Green Day Universse Information, i made sure to put up some starter links for people more interested in exploring Asperger's and some of the other things that happen(ed) in this universe.
thanks again!
-bs
no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 11:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-23 02:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-24 06:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-26 02:42 pm (UTC)-bs