A Safe Place by Xenasgrrl

Is it unethical if a teacher has a loving and/or sexual relationship with a student? Is it ok for an employer or manager to have a romantic liaison with an employee? Is it unethical if the coach has a relationship with a player on her team or a doctor with her patient? Well I might be a prude, but sometimes one of the stories that I read online will display a relationship or a situation that I feel is unethical, even if it’s just part of a storyline and definitely not real life.

Of course I’ll dismiss the story immediately and never return …. well …ahrg... I think perhaps not always. I may well be a bit inconsistent in my moral attitudes; if the story is captivating enough I might hang on to it, even if it’s going against my morals! Yeah - I hear someone laughing, but at least I’m honest – that’s important isn’t it?

“A Safe Place” by Xenasgrrl is one of the stories that I have a bit of a moral issue with, but it hasn’t stopped me from saving a link to the story or from returning to it from time to time, so perhaps you should go and see if is bothers you – it might not. I can tell you that it has quite a good rating on The Athenaeum.

The story centres on Paige, a young woman deeply disturbed by a brutal rape and the lack of support from her parents in dealing with the after effects. Without the help of Madison, Paige might not have been able to work through her troubles and return to a life of her own.

You'll meet Paige when she checks herself into Palo Alto Mental Health Facility one Friday night – probably not quit voluntarily - she can’t sleep because of the nightmares, she won’t take drugs even temporally, and she keeps hurting herself, not looking to die, but to find peace. Well Paige is a mess, but you really can’t blame her.

Dr. Nicols or Madison is the newly appointed chief of staff at the young women’s unit at Palo Alto a prestigious position for someone thirty-three years of age. The position takes quite a toll on Madison’s life and leaves her with little time and energy to look for a close relationship or to really take care of herself for that matter. But Madison is more than just a doctor with a prestigious job, she is also a compassionate soul and takes quite an interest in Paige and the pain she so openly displays. Madison really do want to make a difference in the young woman’s life.

If you choose to look into this story you’ll be able to follow the slowly emerging positive improvements in Paige mental state and to see what effect the young woman have on the life of the straight, lonely and overworked doctor.

I will tell you that this is where my problems with the storyline comes in **SPOILER ALERT**. Even if Madison and Paige don’t have a doctor – patient relationship when they begin to take their relationship to a new level, and even if it is “real” love, I still think that a loving relation between the doctor and her former patient is a bit unethical.

Anyway I do think that the story is very well written, with a catching storyline and a good character development. The story is focused on the story of Paige getting well and the development of a relationship between Paige and Madison, but it’s all entertaining enough with bits of drama and obstacles to the budding love.

While we are on safe places – Kim Pritekel wrote a disturbingly dark tale also displaying a safe place – a place created for a woman to seek refuge in while her body was in harm's way. The story is called “The Collector” and was reviewed by The Rev some time ago.

[If anyone should know of more fic's form the pen of Xenasgrrl I for one would love a link.]