Standard disclaimers apply.  These characters aren't mine,
except for Dr. Frodel, I'm just messing with their lives a
bit.  Permission is granted to archive on fkfanfic.com, the
ftp site, and the cotk site.  Thanks to my beta reader, Lois
Frankel, not for beta reading this time, but for the idea
for this story.  When I was rather tangled up in finishing
Rage, she jokingly mentioned LaCroix and Nick seeking some
sort of vampire counseling, and well, this story was born.

As with all of my short stories, this has not been beta read
except by me, so be warned :)

Comments, questions, feedback, and all that good stuff may
be sent to Diane Harris at [email protected]!
 

"I can't believe you talked me into this..." LaCroix
mumbled, excessively irritated and unhappy, providing what
could only be classified as a very nasty glare towards his
blond protégé.

"Oh relax.  Maybe it'll help..." Nick whispered back with a
sidelong glance, obviously trying to speak quietly enough so
that the other individual in the room wouldn't hear their
exchange.

"Nicholas, I very much doubt that," LaCroix hissed back, a
menacing leer erupting across his face.  "Are you sure I
can't have him for lunch?"

"LaCroix!"  Nick glared at him, shifting heavily in his
overly plush chair so that he was in a perfect position to
pounce if need be.

"Just kidding..."  But he wasn't.  Not really.  He stared
at the dark-haired man sitting across from them at his
oversized executive desk, still too intent on consolidating
his notes to really pay attention to them.  Such a
delectable morsel and damn it all, he couldn't indulge.
LaCroix groaned, glancing sidelong at the door that was so
close, and yet so far away.

He was trapped...

The man finally looked up, his eyes framed with the ugliest
pair of tortoise-shell glasses that LaCroix could ever
recall having set eyes upon.  "So.  You must be Nick, I
already talked with you on the phone, and you're..." he
paused, looking down at his notepad, "LaCroix, the father?"

LaCroix nodded mutely.  God.  Of all the things he'd ever
considered himself stooping to, this was just not one of
them.  He glanced at the door again with longing in his
eyes.  Nope.  He couldn't make it before Nicholas would
notice and stop him.

"All right then, I'm Dr. William Frodel.  Let's get
started, shall we..."

LaCroix sighed a terribly long sigh.  Of all the stupid,
mundane, idiotic ideas Nicholas had ever had, this one took
the cake...  URGH!  This was probably even worse than the
time Nicholas had gotten them locked in the basement of...

No.  Don't go there.

"I understand that you two are having some..." Dr. Frodel
paused and held up his fingers to imply air quotes,
"differences of opinion..."  Dr. Frodel's voice rose in
question, right along with his eyebrows.

Nick nodded enthusiastically.  LaCroix stared at the ground
like it was the most interesting thing since those damnable
'moving pictures' that Janette had been so fond of when
they'd first come out.

"Well, Nick, why don't you explain what the problem is?"

"He's obsessed with me!  He won't leave me alone, I've moved
all over the globe and he keeps following me, even after
I've changed identities...  He's like a bloodhound!" Nick
complained, growing more incensed the more he spoke.

LaCroix rolled his eyes, so much that his head practically
lolled right off his neck.  If Nicholas would just stop
running away, then he wouldn't have this problem!  Duh!

Dr. Frodel politely cleared his throat.  "LaCroix?  Do you
have anything to add?"

"I think this is stupid..." LaCroix stated in response, his
tone flat and cold.  Damn but that doctor looked so
deliciously scrumptious.  His stomach was growling furiously
at the thought of having Ph.D. for dinner...

Dr. Frodel stared at him for a moment, obviously startled
by LaCroix's admission.  "Well, LaCroix, it seems as if you
have some unresolved anger here.  Do you want to tell me why
you're feeling this way?" he asked curiously.

LaCroix stared back at him.  "Actually, to tell you the
truth, I'm rather hungry..." he responded with a glare.

"LaCroix!" Nick hissed, trying to silence LaCroix before
things got out of hand.

Dr. Frodel put a hand up, successfully quieting Nick.  "I've
got some crackers.  Would you like to have a few?  I'd like
everyone here to be as comfortable as possible..."

LaCroix growled.  "No."  Crackers!  What did this
psychiatrist think he was?  A parrot?

Dr. Frodel again looked surprised by LaCroix's bluntness.
"Um... Well then, why don't you tell me why you follow Nick
around?"

"He is my son!" LaCroix exclaimed.  As if this concept
needed any explaining...  Holding back a growl with utmost
restraint, he stared Dr. Frodel in the eye.  Will not eat
the psychiatrist...  Will not eat the psychiatrist...  "He
belongs to me..."

"I do not!" Nick responded quickly, obviously getting into
this whole maudlin concept of 'therapy', but Dr. Frodel
hushed him again, obviously more interested in LaCroix for
the moment.

"LaCroix, it sounds like you've got an over-attachment to
your son..." Frodel began slowly, pausing briefly.  "How
were you treated by your own parents?"

LaCroix sighed.  "They trained me to be a soldier..."

Frodel smiled in understanding.  "Ah, so you were in the
military then?"

"Yes.  I was a general."

"And you don't think that maybe that need to be in charge
is rubbing off on your relationship with your son?" Dr.
Frodel asked, his voice containing an air of sympathy that
was so incredibly fake LaCroix wanted to strangle the man.

He hated sympathy in general, but _fake_ sympathy was the
ultimate sin.  Who the Hell would want to imitate such a
useless emotion?

"No," LaCroix replied rather gruffly.

"Ok..."  Dr. Frodel looked at LaCroix suspiciously.  "Well
Nick, why don't you continue?"

Nick looked relieved that he was finally being allowed to
speak.  "Well, as I was saying, he chases me everywhere.  He
even came back after I killed him!"

"You killed him?"

Nick scratched his chin.  "Well I thought I did..."  He
turned to LaCroix.  "Just how _did_ you survive that?"

LaCroix opened his mouth to launch an incredibly witty
insult back at his son, but Frodel began before he could
think of one.  "Uh huh.  So you're angry that LaCroix is
being so possessive of you, and you acted out in aggression
because of it," Frodel attempted to summarize, scribbling
notes wildly on his clip board.

"Yeah, I suppose..." Nick began hesitantly.  "Although it's
not just _me_ LaCroix tries to take control of.  He even
tried to kill my best friend too..." he added as an
afterthought.

"Hah, more like lov..." LaCroix began with a sneer, but
Frodel cut him off.

"Wait, wait," Frodel said, shaking his head back and forth
as he raced to cross out whatever scribbles he'd made on his
page.  "So as I'm to understand this, you tried to kill
LaCroix and L..."

"Well only after he tried to kill me..." Nick added quickly
in his own defense.

"He tried to kill you?" Frodel's eyes were widening slightly
as he shook his pen and continued to scribble on the
sheet...  In fact, LaCroix noted with a slight smile, that
the good Dr. Frodel was beginning to sweat.

"Yeah, with a meat cleaver," Nick responded absently.

Dr. Frodel swallowed in disbelief.  "A meat cleaver?" he
asked with a heavy gulp, as if his throat was closing up.

Nick blinked at his distress, but didn't seem to realize
what was causing it.  "He was trying to get me to embrace my
true nature."

"Your true nature?"

LaCroix wanted to laugh at this poor excuse for a therapist.
The good doctor was on his way to getting shell-shocked.  At
this rate, he would never make it through the session, even
if LaCroix refrained from snacking on him.

"He thinks I'm a killer..."

"Ok, so let me get this straight..." Dr. Frodel said with
pure disbelief in his voice.  "LaCroix tried to kill you
with a meat cleaver in an attempt to draw out your supposed
killer instincts.  He failed, so you tried to kill him.  You
failed, and he came back after you, but in the process he
tried to kill your best friend..."

"His lover..." LaCroix corrected with a smirk, despite
Nick's murderous glare.

Dr. Frodel shook his head.  "Whatever."

"Yeah, that about sums it up," Nick said matter-of-factly.

"Uh huh," Frodel concluded, looking down at his frantically
scrawled notes in amazement.  He looked from Nick to LaCroix
and back to Nick.  "Will you excuse me for a second?" he
asked, his voice hoarse.

Nick nodded with a smile, LaCroix just stared.

Dr. Frodel got up hastily and exited the room.  With his
acute hearing, LaCroix could easily pick up what was going
on outside the small office.  "Marie, would you cancel all
of my appointments for today?  I'm going to make a fortune
with this one..."

LaCroix broke into maniacal gales of laughter.

Perhaps this visit was going to be interesting after all.
It was certainly better than another boring game of chess.

THE END

And no, I do not claim to know anything about the field of
psychiatry :)