Chapter Text
Rachel had continued to needle her about that murderer, whom she insistently referred to as Zack. In an effort to get her to calm down, and hopefully help her recovery along, she'd arranged a meeting between Rachel and "Zack". She would be present at all times, as would be a prision guard.
She'd told Rachel about this, of course, but all she got in response was a simple "okay". She was beginning to worry about her patient. She was hardly showing any progress so far, and seemed to be utterly unaffected by and numb to nearly everything. Of course, living through such traumatic events could do that to a person; she was very well aware that she needed an extrsordinary amount of patience with Rachel. Which she had, but that didn't stop her from worrying about the girl.
When the day of the first visit comes, Dr. Yang, still expecting Rachel to show some sort of emotion, is surprised to see Rachel's calm demeanor.
"We don't have to go if you don't feel up to it, you know?" she asks gently, wanting to make sure Rachel understands it's her choice (and maybe hoping to finally get some sort of reaction from her).
Rachel stops for a moment, and looks up at her, expression set in her usual dead-doll stare. She nods slowly, and Dr. Yang sighs internally. So they are going, then.
The prision looks less well protected than she imagined, given the type of criminals they keep there, but Rachel doesn't seem much concerned with it, walking ahead of her for once instead of trailing behind.
They get a few weird looks when they state their reason for being here, but Rachel doesn't seem to notice.
They are instructed to keep anything sharp away from Foster, and to please place their belongings in this box, so it can be scanned while they go through the metal detector.
They are led to a visitor's room. It's not very big. There is a wooden table, two equally wodden chairs (that don't seem very comfortable, Dr. Yang notes with some concern. She doesn't want Rachel uncomfortable in a situation such as this). Isaac Foster is already sitting on one of them, garish orange uniform contrasting startlingly with the white bandages around his body. He doesn't look up when they enter, or when Rachel sits down in front of him.
Rachel seems content to let the silence stretch between them.
Dr. Yang continues to examine the room. There is a window a ways to her right, while a uniformed guard sits diagonally opposite her. He nods at her in greeting when he notices her staring.
Rachel breathes out forcefully through her nose.
Foster doesn't react.
"Zack," she says, voice flat.
His head shoots up. He stares at her, swallows thickly.
"Hi," he says, voice strained.
"I'm okay," Rachel says, and it seems to loosen something up in him - he rolls his eyes. Hard.
"I can see that, you brat!" he snaps.
Rachel smiles. Foster stares at her for a minute, perplexed. Then he leans forward. The guard tenses. Wasn't there something on the news about facial expressions setting him off? Dr. Yang shivers. He can't hurt her, she reminds herself. Has to do so multiple times.
"Ray," he says, slowly. Draws the word out. The Doctor feels herself tense even further. All Rachel does is blink back at him. No sign of intimidation to be found. Dr. Yang is impressed by her patient, truly.
"Ray," Foster says again, "did you get worse?" He sounds so incredulous, she would be affronted if she knew for certain what he was talking about. The only thing that comes to mind is Rachel's mental health, and while she's not so great on that front, she also hasn't gotten any worse, so what does he mean.
"You know I ain't gonna do you any favours if your face is this fucking boring again, so you better start practicing," Foster says. Commands, really. Rachel nods, and even without seeing her face, Dr. Yang can tell that she is determined to practice whatever Zack is talking about.
He changes the topic.
"I'm on death row, did you know?"
Rachel looks uo from the table. She makes no sound at all, but Dr. Yang still gets the impression of disappointment. Sadness, too, maybe. She can never really tell with Rachel.
Foster must see something else, or more, because he rolls his eyes again.
"Stop worrying," he says shortly. "If I can't think of anything, you can."
What is that supposed to mean? Dr. Yang is fairly certain the questionmarks are visible on her face, so she wipes her expression clean of anything and settles it into something neutral.
Rachel nods. Asks: "Electric chair?" in a dull sort of voice. She and Foster hold eye contact for long enough that it makes Dr. Yang uncomfortable. Then Foster leans back in his seat and giggles.
"Oh," he gasps, slumping forward with shaking shoulders, "I'd like to see them try. That thing was, like, some one-of-a-kind sort of shit. How're they gonna top that? No, I think it'll be... oh what'd they call it... something to do with execution. Drugs, I think." Rachel thinks for a moment.
"Wat if you get vitamins?" Rachel's voice is perfectly level, no emotion behind it whatsoever. Dr. Yang imagines that her eyes look the way they usually do when she employs that tone of voice.
Internally, she frowns. Why would Rachel ask a question like that? Not that she usually asks any sort of question, so Dr. Yang is just as astounded by that fact alone as she is by the content of the question. To her further surprise, Isaac Foster snorts. "Gotta get working on your jokes, that was shit" he mutters. There is silence for a few minutes, but it's not awkward. Dr. Yang takes a few seconds to think about their behaviour. She had been aware that Foster had asked after Rachel, since that had been made public during an interview with an investigating officer, just as Rachel had asked after him. She had thought Rachel to be worried about her own safety. But observing the two of them being civil, and, dare she think it, halfway to affectionate with each other lead her to the conclusion that she might have to rethink that assumption of hers.
That evening, she watches Rachel, who is staring at her reflection in the floor length mirror of her room, attempting to do something with her face. She watches as Rachel makes this part of her routine, staring at herself every night before bed.
Their visits to Foster continue, and finally Rachel seems to be getting better.
And then comes the day where Foster cracks another of his horrible jokes about corpses and death, and he looks at Rachel and freezes.
He stares at her for a few long seconds, the sudden silence stretching endlessly. He shoots up from his seat. So does the guard. Dr. Yang shrinks back. Foster rounds the table, yanks Rachel out of the chair, grips her shoulders; his eyes roam over her face.
"Back to your seat!" growls the guard, but Foster doesn't listen. Instead, he pulls Rachel ito a bone crushing hug. Her patient stands there, frozen. They've turned in such a way that Dr. Yang can see Rachel's face, and what she sees makes her blood boil just a little.
Rachel's eyes are blown wide open, while her arms hang limply at her side. Dr. Yang understands. She wouldn't want to hug a murderer either, especially not one who murdered her own parents. But between one breath and the next, Rachel goes limp in his arms, while her own come up loosely around his sides to lightly pat him on the back. The guard's left hand twitches towards his gun. Foster must see, because he mutters something in Rachel's ear and returns to his seat. The second he does so, her expression closes off completely, like she has pulled the curtains to her bedroom window closed.
"We gotta work on your hugs, too," Foster remarks casually. Rachel shoots around to face him.
Foster sighs dramatically.
"No, you brat, I'm tryin' to turn ya into an actual human! Pretty sure wet cabbages can give better hugs than that one, what the fuck."
Dr. Yang stares, astonished. She had never seen anything even hinting at an emotion in her patient's face, yet Foster is able to read her like an open book. Teach me your ways, thinks Dr. Yang, and immediately shakes herself out of it. She is a professional therapist; she will get Rachel to talk to her eventually.
Rachel stands motionless for another second, and then walks over to Foster's chair, pulls at his arm so that he's almost falling off of it, only still sitting because he is leaning against her, and wraps her arms around his neck.
It is Foster's turn to stare helplessly at nothing, his arms hanging at his sides like wet spaghetti. She pulls him closer. He recovers remarkably faster than Rachel, and wraps an arm tighltly around her torso.
"Who'd've thought you're actually okay at this," Foster says, his voice quiet. Dr. Yang must be imagining the teasing lilt to his voice, just as she imagines Rachel's huff as she pulls him closer still.
They stay like that for a while, the guard apparently too stunned to react.
"Ray," Foster croaks eventually, "my back's gonna break if you keep this up." Rachel releases him immediately, takes half a step back and dimples at him. She has never even so much as lifted the corners of her mouth before - where did the dimples come from?
Foster waves his hand in front of her face, seemingly unimpressed.
"Shoo," he says sternly, and Rachel, back to being an earnest little doll without any sort of expression at all, returns to her seat.
"Not bad," comments Foster, and, once again, Dr. Yang is horribly confused. This seems to become an ongoing theme for her, watching the two interact and not understanding a thing.
How is it that she can have such a clear understanding of Rachel in everything elese (Rachel had scoffed when she had read that while rummaging through Dr. Yang's desk drawers in the middle of the night - that's what you get for not installing cameras), but be so utterly clueless when it comes to her interactions with Isaac Foster?
Dr. Yang is lost in her thoughts for the rest of the visit, head only clearing when they are back on the hospital premises.