Lee started speaking again and Tarin almost felt bad. She’d said these things before, if not in so many words, but here they were and she was having to do it again. Lee was speaking plainly though, more directly than she had in the past and Tarin listened as she spoke.

That was the best he could do, wasn’t it? He could listen to what Lee said, he could accept that she probably did know about this aspect of himself than he did…which was weird, but so were plenty of other things. He could trust that what she said was true and she wasn’t worried about it happening on a daily basis.

”Okay.” Tarin said, squeezing Lee’s hand back and nodding. ”Okay. I can understand that.”

He could do better too. Taking a deep breath he turned to look at the Doctor.

”It all started when I was a kid…my brother’s tried to play what they thought was a harmless prank on me, just feral kid stuff…but I ended up stuck in a small feed bin for several hours in the middle of summer.”

The memory still made him shiver, even all these years later. ”Ever since then I’ve had trouble with tight places. It got better for a while with some…questionable but effective training I had, but that doesn’t matter because like Lee said, it’s way worse after the collapse.”

Tarin paused for a moment, ”I’ve tried everything I know to try and nothing has worked…so here I am.”

As she looked at Tarin, Lee could tell that he was listening. Really listening.

When Lee finished, she felt Tarin squeeze her hand. And when he spoke, Lee smiled slightly at him. ”Thank you,” she whispered.

Then Tarin turned to face the doctor.

And actually started explaining more of the problem, where it had started. Alluding to, but not explaining the ‘training’ he had received when he was younger.

Lee gritted her teeth as he mentioned that part, but otherwise said nothing as she sat there looking at Tarin. It was hard for him, Lee had known it would be before they had even arrived. But he was actually talking now.

”Well, that certainly explains why you have difficulty with small places,” Dr Rossi said with a nod. ”How long were you trapped during the building collapse?”

Tarin had known that with the Doctor’s attention off of Lee it would turn to him. There was probably a limit to what he was going to be able to talk about today, but he knew that this was a start and if Lee was willing to put herself out there like she had then he could do it too.

The Doctor had a follow-up question, but it didn’t go in the direction that Tarin thought it would go. She wanted to know how long he had been trapped under the building.

”I’m not entirely sure…but I think it was about half an hour.” he said, ”But I can’t go thirty seconds right now.”

Lee nodded when Tarin told Dr Rossi how long he had been trapped. Then she turned to look at the doctor. ”It took almost 20 minutes for the first search people to get in,” Lee added details. ”So I probably got to Tarin and we’d dug enough to be able to see him by about 25 minutes? But it was probably almost another 10 minutes before he came out, because we were worried about the merge.”

”It only took about 5 minutes to find him? The news made it sound like the collapse was far worse than that.”

”Oh it was,” Lee confirmed. ”Like I said, once I calmed down, I figured out what to do next. By the time we went in, I knew, basically, where Tarin and about 6 others were trapped.”

Tarin shook his head as Lee explained things. Thirty minutes was a far-end estimate of how long he’d been trapped in the rubble. Lee thought they’d gotten the space opened up after about twenty. It had felt like he’d been trapped in there for hours.

The Doctor pointed out that on the news the collapse had seemed much worse and Lee spoke again.

”I still don’t know how she found me so fast. She said she remembered where the kitchen we were working in had been, but absolutely nothing looked the same.”

Tarin took a beat to think, ”It was really tight in there. I couldn’t sit up or put my arms or legs out. I don’t know why elevators are such an issue, it’s not like I’ve ever had an issue with an elevator before. It doesn’t bother me to be in here ,or at the apartment, or even in the shop. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Lee shook her head as she turned to look at Tarin again. Hadn’t she already told Tarin how she had found him so quickly? ”I was searching for where I could feel people’s energy before I could get back in,” she told Tarin softly. ”The kitchen was toward the back, so I knew that the 4 people I felt closer to the front weren’t you.”

But then Tarin was describing what it was like when he was trapped, how small it was. And pointing out that he didn’t have issues with places like this office or the shop, which were definitely on the smaller side.

”There is obviously something about elevators that is different from those other places. What thoughts and feelings come to mind when you think about getting in an elevator?”

Tarin just nodded as Lee explained how she had been able find him. It made sense and made it even more impressive that she’d been able to pull herself together to think so clearly.

The Doctor turned the question back on Tarin though and for a moment he kind of stared at the woman. If he’d known why elevators were different he’d have explained why they were different instead of saying he wasn’t sure.

But he sat there and he thought through the different places he’d described and frowned a little bit. What was so different about elevators?

”I think maybe it’s because I can’t leave when I want? All of the other places I’m walking in and I know I can just leave anytime I want. With the other places…I’m stuck and I can’t get out unless someone lets me out.” he said softly, not noticing that he’d switched from talking about things and started talking about people.

Dr Rossi asked what was different about elevators, and Lee had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. If they had figured that out, they would have been able to think of ways to deal with it.

But Tarin was seriously thinking about it, and after a short time, he even had an answer.

Lee leaned back against the couch as she looked at Tarin. That actually made so much sense when looked at with what was done to him in his teens. He wasn't stuck in the elevator in the same way, but he also wasn't able to just get out whenever he wanted to.

”Good. That's a great revelation to make. And how are you feeling about taking the elevator when you leave here?”

How did he feel about using the elevator when they left the office?

”The same way I felt about using the elevator to come up to the office?” he said, ”It’s not so much that I can’t do it. It’s not very far and can distract myself pretty well for a while…”

Things went on like that, back and forth for a while. The Doctor didn’t have a ton of specific advice, but Tarin figured that made sense considering the fact that they had just met.

More quickly than he had expected, the time was starting to run out and the Doctor had asked if there was anything else they wanted to discuss this week.

”Nope.” Tarin said, glancing over to Lee to see if there was anything else she needed to hash out.

Now that Tarin was actually speaking, the session was focused on him. Which it should be, Lee thought. Did she have things that Dr Rossi would want to discuss had the woman known about them? Oh, most definitely, Lee was sure.

But she was managing perfectly well. It was Tarin who needed the help right now because of how much of a problem his claustrophobia was being.

And as was the case when the talking wasn’t too difficult, the session was over sooner than you would expect it to be.

When Tarin looked over at her after Dr Rossi asked if there was anything else, Lee shook her head. ”No, I think that was good for today,” Lee replied.

At that point, it didn’t take long for them to get out of the office and into the hallway. But before they got too far down the hall, Lee pulled Tarin to a stop and looked up at him. ”Thank you, Tarin,” she said, her voice soft and sincere. ”I know that was hard, but I’m proud of how much you were able to do today.”

And just like that, they were done. Tarin was more than ready to go and as soon as Lee had said the words he was up and heading for the door after a quick thank you to the Doctor.

Out into the hall they went, and Tarin kind of understood the haste of the man that had been in the office before them. When the session was done, it was done and it was time to go.

Before they could get to the stairs…or the elevator, Lee pulled Tarin to a stop and thanked him. It felt kind of weird that she was thanking him, but he shrugged and looked down at her with a little half-smile. She was proud of him too? Now Tarin was blushing and he shook his head, ”Didn’t really do much of anything…but thank you.” he said, ”And you did things too…” he added. ”I’m sorry I didn’t get it.”

It didn’t really need to be talked about anymore, at least not right now in the middle of the hall.

”Let’s get out of here.”