"Hi, Stefan. My name is Doctor Gilbert. Why don't you take a seat?" She said while gesturing to the sofa in front of her. He walked over with a little bit of hesitation, something the psychiatrist picked up instantly.

"Are you nervous?" She asked without looking up from her notepad. Stefan nervously laughed and rubbed his hands against his thighs.

"Yeah, a little, I mean it's not every day you're declared 'mentally unfit' by the government." He said with sarcasm. Elena looked up from her notepad through her glasses and sighed a little.

"Let's not use that term here, this is an open environment, a judge-free zone. I am your health care provider. I've taken an oath to ensure you will be a positive and functioning member of our society when our visits are up. This is a 'go at your own pace' facility. And for the record, I don't think you're unfit, just a distraught. What you went through was pretty unfortunate, wasn't it?" Elena started the first step of her plan, which was to get Stefan to admit his experience was traumatizing.

"I'm not ready to talk about that." Stefan said through clenched teeth. His body grew incredibly tense and he had a look of hate on his face.

"Okay, maybe the next session, or whenever you're ready." Elena said softly as she wrote down in her notepad.

"What are you writing?" Stefan said with curiosity. Elena grinned a little bit and placed her hands neatly on her lap.

"Just a reminder, to not ask you any questions relating to your incident until you're ready. Like I said, we go at your pace." Elena nodded strongly and tucked her hair behind her ear. Stefan titled his head to the side and nodded in agreement.

"So… how many times a week will we meet?" Stefan asked with no interest. Elena perked up and lightly clapped her hands together.

"Three times a week, with two hour sessions. You're my last appointment of the day so if we need extended time, it won't be an issue." Elena explained with thoughtfulness.

Stefan scoffed and shook his head, "How much will that cost me?"

Elena looked at him with slight annoyance "Nothing. This is a pro-bono case."

"I'm not a charity case, I want to pay like everyone else." Stefan was angered, "God knows I recieve enough money from NASA to spend carelessly for the next three hundred years."

"That wasn't the agreement, Mr. Salvatore. I treat you and the government gives the money to my organization of choice. I took on your case because of my interest in your profession. Astronaut, right?" Elena changed the subject with a swift choice of words.

"Yeah. Dreamed of it since I was a kid. Now, I can think of a million other things I'd rather want to do." Stefan said in short breaths. Elena nodded and placed her hand under her chin.

"Why?" She asked. Stefan looked at her with his piercing green eyes and lightly smiled.

"I'm sure you have an idea. Didn't you read my file?" He asked with amusement while getting up to pace the room.

"I did, but I want your version of it, not all of that government authorized shit." Elena was blunt and Stefan appreciated that. He smiled a small grin but it was genuine.

"Another time. I'm interested in you." He said while looking at the framed degrees and awards hanging from the office walls.

"I'm not that interesting. But, I graduated from Yale summa cum laude, got my doctorate from Georgetown. Recently divorced. Mother to a French bulldog named Croissant. I was a mother to a beautiful little boy named Henry but… "Elena trailed off and stifled a laugh.

"I'm sorry, this is unprofessional." She explained while getting up to draw Stefan back to the sofa.

Stefan looked at her with sympathy and Elena was quick to notice.

"Don't pity me. If you don't want to be pitied then don't give me that look." Elena said while crossing her arms. The atmosphere in the room changed drastically.

"Can you sit down now? We only have 10 minutes left." Elena requested.

"I thought you said we get two hours together?" Stefan sat on the couch, still looking at Elena with sympathy.

Elena sighed, "We do but this was just an evaluation. Evaluations are supposed to only take 30 minutes but I became distracted. Let's go over the plan of treatment before you leave." Elena said keeping her eyes on her notepad the whole time.

"Is there a reason why you won't look at me?" Stefan asked with offense.

"Yes. There is. It's because I'm given that look every time I mention my deceased son. I don't want that look. Just say 'sorry' and move on. I did." Elena put on a face of determination and Stefan pressed his lips into a faint line.

"I'm sorry." He said sadly.

"Thank you." Elena said sincerely. "Now, there is no dead line for our treatment plan but NASA would like you prepared for their next mission which will be in a year. I wasn't disclosed any information about the mission but they would like you to be in better shape than you were before everything happened. That's our long-term goal. Through our sessions, we will make short-term goals and achieve them with in two weeks of the day you set them. Mr. Salvatore, I want you to understand that we will be spending a lot of time together so we need to be able to cooperate and communicate freely. I'm not rushing you but you cannot defer our sessions any more. I'm willing to share things about myself with you only if we have time for it, is that understood? My goal is to treat you, to get all of that darkness out of your head and your heart. What do you think, Stefan? How are you feeling about our plan?" Stefan looked at Elena and smiled sadly.

"It's all I can do, right? Let's do it." Stefan said with mild enthusiasm.

"Excellent. I'll tell my secretary, Bonnie, to schedule your appointments bi-weekly. I'm also going to give you a prescription to help you sleep at night. I can see it under your eyes, Mr. Salvatore. All though I treat emotional and mental trauma, I believe that one of the many factors in mental rehabilitation is rest." She wrote the prescription and gave it to Stefan in one swift move.

"You seem like a smart guy, take only one per night. This isn't something you want to abuse." Elena said truthfully. Stefan nodded and sighed with relief.

"Thank you, Dr. Gilbert. This will definitely be a relief." Stefan said with a smile.

"You're welcomed, Stefan. I'm afraid our time is up but I look forward to our next session." Elena smiled widely and shook Stefan's hand. Stefan returned the smile and walked out of her office.