The week after their holiday break was a wake up call from reality.

Brent turned back into his usual angry and arrogant self the second they set off for work that Monday morning. With as far as he had come over the past couple of weeks, he took ten steps back. Anger was written all over his face and disappointment was on Maisie's. It was almost as if nothing good and happy had happened over the break. It was all because Brent started to have feelings that he had never before had.

And Brent was afraid of change and new things. He was afraid to feel.

The pair silently walked into the building that morning, both of them wearing expressions that absolutely shouted 'don't speak to me'. Maisie had yet to address the elephant in the room that morning-for which Brent was extremely thankful.

Though, after a silent day thus far, when lunch rolled around, Maisie finally found her voice, "Do you want to tell me what's going on, Brent, or are you just going to pout all day and shout at everything that moves?"

"You know, I think I'll take you up on that second option. I'm not in the mood to talk," Brent replied, speaking to her just as harshly as he had everybody else that day.

"Well, I'll let you in on a little secret: you don't really have an option," Maisie's voice came out with a little more sass than she had intended, trying to play it off and recover, she continued with her usual soft-spoken tone, "something is clearly bothering you and for me to be able to help you and do my job, I need you to at least attempt to talk about it."

After a few silent moments, Maisie soon realized that she wasn't going to get a response from him. Finally deciding that she'd try one more time, Maisie walked over to his oversized oak desk and took the seat across from him. In a voice so soft that it was almost a whisper, she spoke again, "Brent, help me help you, please."

Letting out a tired sigh and running his hands through his hair, Brent gave in, "Maisie, I really don't want to talk about why I'm upset. I will in time, I promise. Just, let me ask you something for a change: what do you do to take your mind off things?"

With a light smile playing at her lips, Maisie responded, "Although I'm not the best at it, I rather enjoy to draw, or color in one of those adult coloring books. Sometimes I read, as well. I like to do time-consuming things that don't require much thinking, allowing my brain to relax, but also help me forget about the real world for a while. What about you, what do you do for fun?"

"As sad as this is going to sound, I don't do fun. The only thing I do on a regular basis except overwork myself is yell at people which, apparently, is frowned upon. I don't really know what else to do, if we're being honest."

"Yes, well, yelling at people is frowned upon, I'm glad I've at least taught you something in this past month and a half I've worked with you. Have you ever tried something like painting, reading, working out, or something like golf?"

"I don't really have the patience required for painting or reading. I already work out every day and clearly that hasn't done anything to ease my mind or improve my temper. And, about the whole golf thing, I tried it once. I got so mad that I wasn't getting the hang of it that I threw the entire golf caddy into the pond and beat the windshield of the golf cart so hard with a club that it cracked. So, yeah, definitely not allowed to do the whole 'golf-thing'."

Nodding her head as if she could relate with his struggle, Maisie sat in silence, trying to think of a solution. After a few moments, she piped up, grinning from ear to ear, "I've got it! I am hereby officially prescribing you to an all-Brent-weekend-getaway. My family owns a house in Madison County, over by the lake; you can take a nice relaxing drive up there and spend the weekend surrounded by nature! You can even visit the Chittenango waterfall that's up there! I mean, it'll be a little cold and it's four and a half hours to drive there but you really need to take a couple days away from all the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple. Oh, Brent, that would be so wonderful for you! You need to take sometime for yourself!"

Maisie excitedly rambled on for a few more seconds before Brent stopped her, "I think that that is an absolutely wonderful idea, Mace. Though, it'll have to be and all-Brent-weekend-getaway-plus-Maisie because, ever since she hired you, my mom doesn't really want to let me go anywhere for an extended period of time by myself. Basically, I need my babysitter to come with me so she doesn't have to drive for hours to come bail me out of jail. So, really, what I'm doing is inviting you to your own parent's property. What do you say, deal?"

"Deal," She answered with a triumphant grin. It wasn't a very big step, but it was a step, nonetheless and, for that, Maisie once again wore her proud smile.