"The kind of exhaustion I'm talking about is the helpless feeling of being at a loss after intense emotions you haven't felt in years." Natasha shook her head. "I don't know what will happen later. If I'm cured, can I still be an agent? Or should I really retire and, like young people nowadays, supposedly enjoy life? Is that really a good thing?"
"With all due respect, ma'am," Schiller said with a smile, "Nick probably won't approve your retirement application. He'll make you work for another hundred years."
Natasha laughed too. "You're still being conservative. He'd love for me to work for him like this for ten thousand years."
"Let me ask that original question again. How do you feel now?"
"It's like a thread that was slowly pulled taut and then suddenly loosened. I know that if things continued as they had before, it would snap one day. I also know that even if you've helped me relax now, the thread will slowly tighten again. But all I can say is—yes, it feels good."
"The Doctor Schiller you know insists on one principle: psychologists are not here to eliminate a patient's pain. Pain cannot be eliminated. Our ultimate goal is to help you accept living alongside your pain."
"That doesn't sound very kind."
"I may be unscrupulous, but I'm no quack." Schiller rose from his chair. "Now, let's discuss my plan. The part involving you was only to fulfill Greed's request. You may not believe it, but he isn't very good at dealing with the opposite sex. So although he saw your problem long ago, he never made a move."
"Then why did he suddenly change his mind?"
Schiller turned and stood before Natasha. Looking down at the female agent still seated in her chair, he said, "If you