Part Three of "Knuckles Goes To The Doctor"
Knuckles Sees A Therapist
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Part One
A tone drawls out and a consecutive set of beeps follow as the number dialed into the payphone plays out, then begins to ring.
"Hello?" says a sultry, female voice.
"Yes, hello!" Knuckles responds from a phonebooth, "The name's Knuckles. We spoke a few days back."
The girl listens.
"Look, I just wanted to call to book an appointment? I really gotta talk to somebody."
He waits for an answer.
"4pm, friday the 12th. 5th floor, psychiatry," he hears. His heart almost melts listening to her voice, albeit short spoken, but sweet.
This was Doctor Albany, a well-renowned psychiatrist, and she was known as one of the best in town.
He'd met her leaving the hospital after a doctor's visit that had taken place just before.
She was very kind, and very beautiful, with snow-white fur and ruby gem-like eyes.
It was difficult to wipe them from his mind.
"Great!" He says, almost sounding too excited, then clears his voice to lower it back down to a manly, chesty decibel. "I'll be there."
"You better," she says playfully, "I don't usually take new patients on such short notice, so I'll see you there."
She hangs up.
The echidna's heart starts to pound as his wide eyes stare at the receiver.
Finally, he thinks. I can tell somebody what's happened.
There's a knocking on the glass behind him, and Knuckles turns to see a walrus.
"Hey, man. You done in there?"
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Part Two
Knuckles leaves the elevator and turns down the hall toward the Albany Psychiatry Center.
He inhales deep and walks in through the frosted glass door and toward the main desk. It was sort of built into the far wall, but only a short walk away with an orange cat sitting behind the glass wall dividing them.
The cat greets him. He's young and handsome with a bright smile, dressed in a dark blue suit and white tie. "How are you this evening?" he asks.
Knuckles rests his hands on the short counter in front of him. "Could be better, I guess," he answers honestly.
"I assume you're Mr. Echidna?"
The other nods, and the cat gets to work on his computer. "Brilliant. Now, if you would like to take a seat over there, Doctor Albany will see you soon." He gestures to the small waiting room just around the corner.
Knuckles goes over.
The walls were gray with intricate black and white paintings all hung about, dark red sofa chairs lining the short wall to the left with a small white table dividing them, covered in magazines about mental health. A door was just beside the chairs which Knuckles presumes she would come from.
He sits. The chair he chose was very comfy.
It's not so quiet here as there was a soft medley of oriental songs playing on the speakers from the ceiling.
It was a nice change surely from the doctor's office just four floors below with its ominous silence and ticking clocks.
The door opens and Doctor Albany steps through.
Knuckles's heart leaps.
"Mr. Echidna," she greets him.
He takes a moment to look over her outfit as he stands from his seat.
She was wearing a cheetah-print skirt with a white button-down blouse that barely looked functional as her breasts could seemingly spill and snap the button right off at any moment, and she wore black-rimmed glasses this time that really complimented those blood-red eyes he'd been longing to see again.
He tries not to smile, but fails as he fights his pulling cheeks. "H-hi again."
She turns to lead him down to her room from a narrow hallway beyond the door. The walls here were a darker gray, windows lining the right side all the way down.
The sun was just hanging above the city skyline, and the roads below were filled with mobians all going about their day, most of them heading home from work.
Knuckles watches them for a moment as they walk down the hall, then turns his attention back to the lovely rabbit in front of him as she continues through the doorway into the room.
The room was contemporary and simplistic with two-toned gray to green walls and large windows that were blocked off by long, forest-green drapes. The sun still shown through them as they weren't intended to shield light, just to heighten the mood and give the room a nice glow. There were candles lit in some corners of the room on respective, black short tables, and accompanying them were odd statues of anatomical models and one was a realistic heart-shaped vase with roses protruding from the top of it.
Knuckles takes this all in as he's led to the center of the room by the rabbit who closes the door behind them. "Please, be at home," she tells him in a calm tone as she gestures to the great black lounge chair. He sits in it as she gets comfortable in a black, leather circular chair across from him
She crosses her legs and takes up a small laptop that she places on a small rollating stand that slides over her lap with ease without having to rest on her.
The echidna lays back and places his hands over his torso, never taking his eyes off her from the moment she starts.
"How are you, Knuckles?" she asks.
It was more personable, hearing her call him by his first name.
"Alright, I guess." He can't understand why he's so nervous, but he feels something in the back of his throat and tries to swallow it.
"You guess, but you don't know," she states.
Damn, she's good.
"Y-yeah, you're right," he admits, defeatedly. "I got something that… Well, something happened, and… I think I gotta get it off my chest, cause it's been bothering me."
She's quiet for a moment as she allows him to decompress.
"I think, well, after talking with my friend, that I might be feeling uncomfortable when I have to go to the doctor."
She begins typing. "...And you're uncomfortable going to this doctor, because you've never seen one up until now?"
"Well," he goes on, "it's not exactly that, but that's part of it, yeah."
She waits for him to continue.
Can I really tell her what happened?
"You can tell me anything, Knuckles."
He nearly jumps at the words, so reassuring yet scary.
"Can you read minds?" he questions.
She smirks and can't help but to giggle a little. "No," she responds, "but I can read your body language, and I can tell you're uncomfortable with being honest about what's troubling you. Perhaps it's your pride, but fret not. I'm fairly good at what I do, and I take your personal business very seriously."
He listens to every soft word that leaves her plump, red lips and finds himself staring at them as they form sentences.
"Anything that happens, and is said within these walls, stays within these walls. I am not allowed to speak to anyone about you or what we discuss without your written consent."
That's reassuring. "So, I really can tell you what happened."
She switches her legs, crossing the other over top. "If you'd like."
He inhales through his nose and closes his eyes.
"Take your time."
Knuckles exhales slowly. "I got my first exam, and I was very uncomfortable with the process. I...passed my test, but what happened that day still hasn't sat right with me."
She quietly listens, studying his feet as they start to sway in and out repeatedly. It was a nervous tick, she could tell.
"You know what they do, right?"
She hums in agreement and he turns his head away from her to open his eyes and watch a cluster of candles burn next to the heart-shaped vase.
He counts each rose.
"I'm having a hard time sleeping. I get hot, I get chills. I start to sweat. My dreams have been...weird."
"Tell me about these dreams." She fixes her glasses and types a little more on her laptop.
He pauses. "It's hard to talk about it."
"I'm not one to judge."
He swallows hard. "I…" His eyes close once more, imagining it. "They're about this place I've never seen. There's others like me there, in a hot desert with temples and sand for as far as the eye can see. Where heat waves look like water holes."
Her brows lift slightly and her lips purse, but he doesn't see how invested she is.
"There's this...guy, that… He…"
She realizes how tense her patient has become and moves her laptop aside to stand and walk over to a long, black rattan table.
He hears her heels click against the hardwood floor and turns to see her light an incense and place it in a wooden burner atop the table, then return to her seat.
It smells nice.
"This guy," she says softly, "he's also made you uncomfortable?"
He's amazed she's able to piece things together so flawlessly. "Y-yeah."
"Perhaps because you were touched in such a sensual way," the rabbit continues as she rolls the small stand back over her lap once more, "that your mind has created other scenarios including the natural, lustful ways our bodies find most pleasing."
Knuckles's heart sinks into his gut.
She's figured it out.
He starts to panic internally, and sweat externally.
"You've never experienced pleasure with anyone else, but this doctor-"
Knuckles leaps out of the chair and walks over to the window with his hands on his head. This was way too much.
How can she tell all that with so little information!? No context!
She gives him a minute. "Knuckles," she finally calls out in a hushed voice.
He shakes his head and starts to pace, not knowing what else to do. He felt cornered, seriously cornered.
"Knuckles."
He finally snaps.
Tears start to form and his face flushes, his throat choking on cries as he tries to find comfort somehow in the brightly lit green curtains.
She feels awful, but knows he's been harboring these feelings for a while.
"You don't understand!" he finally croaks, his nose sniffling as he continues to walk back and forth, trying not to show the psychiatrist his face. He wipes his nose with the back of his hand as he cries. "I'm the last of my kind!"
He hears a tissue rip from a box and he finally looks back to her as she offers him one. He takes it and looks away.
"Thanks." He blows his nose.
"I can't even fathom what it must be like for you," she empathizes, "being the last echidna, that is. As for your desires…"
He glances at her from the corner of his eye.
"That's completely normal."
Somehow, those words were relieving to hear.
He sits back down on the black lounge chair, his hands ringing together slowly between his knees as he looks at the floor where her feet were. His left leg starts to bounce uncontrollably.
A shaky sigh leaves his lips.
"It appears you're suffering from a mixture of Desiderium and Hypersexuallity disorder."
His eyes go wide and he slowly looks away, feeling his cheeks burning up with embarrassment. "Are you saying I'm a sex addict?"
"Not quite," she corrects. "You've merely only suffered abstinence your whole life up until now, probably knowing you could never produce another of your kind with anybody, and that desire to mate…"
They lock eyes.
She looks serious, but sympathetic. "It's finally set your drive into motion, and now it can't be helped." She looks back to her computer and types as she continues talking. "Perhaps you should consider finding someone who can help you fill the gap you're feeling, someone who can take care of your desires. Sex is a very natural and recurring method of releasing hormonal stress and creating satisfactory results."
She meets his eyes once more and realizes she's lost him in too many words.
He blinks.
"Have sex with someone," she says, point blank.
His face contorts.
"Don't be afraid to make a move on someone who reciprocates your needs, or perhaps…" She thinks for a moment. "If someone makes a move, let them."
He squints. What is she implying?
"I get the feeling that you're someone who doesn't care for gender."
He jumps a little, flustered at the notion she would assume such a thing. "I couldn't possibly-!" He crosses his left leg over his right and then his arms over his chest defensively. "I'm not gay," he almost mutters, looking off toward the door.
She smirks behind her hand before moving her laptop aside and leaning in toward him a little, gaining his interest once again. She meets his eyes and her smile deepens earnestly. "Knuckles."
He breaks, shivering.
"Say it."
He bites his lip and shakes his head.
She says it for him. "You're bisexual."
A harsh sigh leaves his nostrils and he stands up once more to walk it off.
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Part Three
Doctor Fiddles moves the cursor of his mouse over the file name on his disk-drive, Echidna, Knuckles T.
He clicks it twice and pulls up the file, eyes widening when he finds that his patient is currently logged in as present.
He reads the name of the specialist he is seeing and his brows pull together, his mouth forming a hard scowl.
"Mary Anne…"
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Part Four
Doctor Albany's soft fingers brush through the echidna's dread-like quills as his head rests on her lap. "It's alright," she assures him, hushing him as he cries.
"I don't even know my mom," he gets out between sobs.
She pats his cheek with a tissue. "I didn't either."
He looks up at her. "You too?"
she nods with a soft smile.
"That sucks." He rolls onto his back, head still atop her warm thighs. "I can't believe I'm bisexual. I never would have realized this." He smiles through his tears. "I'm sorry you have to see me like this."
She wipes his eyes and holds his face. "I'm glad you've come to this conclusion, Knuckles. I'm sure someone is going to make you very happy-"
The door slams open.
Doctor Fiddles enters, then stops, his hand gripping the door handle.
Doctor Albany stares at him in surprise.
Both of their expressions falter to that of irritation.
Knuckles looks horrified.
"Mary Anne," Fiddles says in a rough, deep voice.
"Zephyr," she replies.
"Doc?" Knuckles squeaks, and they both look at him.
Doctor Albany's eyes widen as she realizes that her husband is the doctor who touched her patient.
The dingo storms in and Knuckles sits up defensively and jumps back off the seat away from him, but Fiddles isn't after him.
He grabs Albany's wrist and forces her up out of the seat. "What did I tell you about seeing male patients!?" He yells, eyes burning into hers.
She doesn't look too phased, and Knuckles is too shocked to do anything in the present moment.
"He's also my patient! You think I wouldn't have figured it out!? How could you start this shit again!?" He sounds really mad.
She glares up at him. "Zephyr, that was ten years ago." Her voice is stern, but soft.
"Ten years, ten months, ten days!?" he shouts back at her. "You want to fuck this guy behind my back too!?"
Knuckles's mouth drops open.
What the hell is going on?
"We've gone through this, my love!" She raises her voice in defense.
Knuckles's brows furrow. My love?
"Yeah, and here I thought you were done with your games!" Fiddles growls back. "I can't believe you'd do the same shit to me again! You were gunna sleep with him!" His grip tightens on her wrist and she winces.
"Zephyr, you're hurting me."
"You cheating, lying, kniving bitch!"
"HEY!!" Knuckles suddenly shouts.
They both shoot looks at the echidna who sticks out his chest and starts cracking his namesakes.
"She said you're hurting her," he growls deeply, teeth baring and eyes a blazing amethyst as his pupils bore holes through the dingo. "Let her go or I'll put you in the emergency room."
Doctor Fiddles looks nervous and lets go.
Albany rubs her wrist. "I think…"
They both turn their attention to her.
"...we all should sit down and talk about this."
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Part Five
"I didn't realize…" the dingo says softly with a hint of remorse in his voice.
The rabbit nods. "You're the cause of his current frustration," she states.
Knuckles nods too in agreement and looks away.
Fiddles looks over to his patient. "I'm sorry you've been experiencing such difficulty because of me."
"That's a start," she encourages.
The echidna shifts uncomfortably. "Whatever."
"As for our relationship," she tells her husband, referring to Knuckles and herself, "he's my patient too, and I'll have you know I have no interest in sleeping with him."
The dingo is the third to nod in acceptance.
She finally stands and takes a deep breath. "Our time here is up for today."
Knuckles glances in her direction as she walks toward the door.
"So," the dingo says as he follows her and takes her waist with one arm, pressing her body against his, "I'll see you at home?"
She smirks and pokes his nose. "Not in front of our patient, Mr. Jealous."
The doctor huffs and leaves, and she turns her attention back to Knuckles who looks sad.
He finally stands and walks over to the door. As he passes by her and starts heading down the hall her voice calls to him.
He stops.
"Next week," she says sweetly, "same day, same time."
His tail perks up slightly and he turns his head to glance back at her. He smiles. "Okay."
