It was simple, in theory.
Jade pulled up her email and stared at the black message window. She took a calm, steadying breath to channel her clear, professional voice.
She typed: “Maddox, can you meet briefly after your shift? We need to discuss your therapy arrangements. Nothing urgent, but I’d like to talk today if possible. —Jade.”
She hit send before she could second-guess the wording, and Maddox’s response came back within five minutes: “Is everything okay?”
Jade's chest tightened at the concern evident even in three words.
“Yes,”she typed back. “Just need to talk through some logistics. 6pm? Honey and Hearth? It’s the coffee shop on Main Street.”
Maddox’s response came even quicker this time. “I'll be there.”
Jade set down her phone and let out a long breath. Okay, one conversation at a time. First, the therapy transfer, then everything else can come after. She looked at the clock. Four hours until she saw Maddox again. It felt like an eternity.
The afternoon crawled. Jade tried to work, but session notes, treatment plans, and email responses that should’ve taken minutes stretched into hours. She checked the clock: 2:47, then 3:15, then 3:58.
By 5:30 p.m., she gave up pretending to be productive and headed back to Honey and Hearth.
The cafe was quieter now than it had been during lunch since the after-work crowd hadn’t yet arrived. Jade claimed the same corner table where she'd sat with Carla earlier and ordered another coffee she didn't really want. She pulled out her phone, set it on the table, then picked it up again to check for messages she knew weren't there.
She was rehearsing different versions of this conversation in her head when the door opened and Maddox walked in ten minutes early, still in uniform.
When Maddox walked through the door, her eyes found Jade immediately. The tension was visible in her shoulders, the way her hand flexed at her side like she was resisting the urge to reach for something that wasn't there. Zeus, probably, or her sidearm, which she kept locked in her vehicle when not on duty.
Jade stood as Maddox approached. For a second, neither of them seemed to know what to do—hug? Handshake? Stand awkwardly?—before Jade gestured to the chair across from her.
"Should I get coffee first?" Maddox asked.
"If you want,” Jade said, warmth tinging her voice.
Maddox ordered at the counter, her movements efficient, then returned with a plain black coffee and sat down. She wrapped both hands around the mug but didn't drink it. "So," Maddox said. "Your email sounded official."
"It kind of is." Jade took a breath to calm her nerves. "We need to talk about your therapy."
Something flickered across Maddox's face—understanding, maybe resignation. "Right. Because of last night."
"Because of us," Jade corrected gently. "I can't be your therapist anymore, Maddox. It's not ethical. There's no way to maintain a therapeutic relationship while we're..." She trailed off, realizing she didn't actually know what they were.
"While we're what?" Maddox's voice was careful, like she was trying to see how Jade perceived them.
"While we're trying to figure out what this is," Jade said. "If we're going to explore this, whatever it becomes, I can't also be your therapist."
Maddox was quiet, her thumbnail absentmindedly scratching the ceramic mug handle. "Okay."
"Okay?" Jade had expected more resistance or at least more questions.
"It makes sense." Maddox finally met her eyes. "I get it. Professional boundaries. You're saying I need to find someone else."
"I'm saying I already found someone else for you," Jade said. "If you're willing, that is. My mentor, Carla, the one I've mentioned before, she's offered to take you on. She has extensive experience with PTSD, and she's trained in EMDR, which might actually be really helpful for processing the Titan stuff."
Maddox's thumb stilled on the mug at the mention of Titan, but she nodded slowly. "And if I don't want to transfer?"
Jade forced herself to hold Maddox's gaze. "Then you don't have to. Your therapy is your choice, but if you don't transfer, then we can't—" She stopped. "This can't happen."
"Right." Maddox looked down at her coffee. "Ethics."
"It's not just ethics," Jade said. "It's about doing this right. If we're going to try, I want to do it without that complication hanging over us."
