Retaliation

Chapter 40 Questionable Therapy

We followed the cops to the police station. By the time we got there, I was starting to recover a little bit. The constant phone ringing and people running around still made me anxious but it didn't affect me as much. I was more tired now than anything. 

I still held onto Sam's arm for not only support but to make sure nobody could make him leave me. We were currently sitting down in the waiting area when a middle-aged woman dressed in a long green coat approached us.

"Sam. Elara. I've heard a lot about you two. I'm Dr. Raynor, I'm James's therapist." She greeted.

"So nice to meet you." Sam stood up and shook her hand. I stood up with him.

"Thank you so much for getting him out." I thanked.

"That was not me actually." She corrected.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Christina!" I heard a familiar voice shout. "It's great to see you again."

No. Anybody but him.

We all turned around and saw John Walker taking photos with all of the officers and people standing around. "You've got to be shitting me. You know him?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. We did some field ops back in the day."

"I heard you were working with Bucky so I thought I'd step in." John approached us. "Bucky's not going to be following a strict schedule any longer."

Dr. Raynor looked at him with a confused expression. "We haven't finished our work. Who authorized this?" John smiled and scoffed like it was a stupid question, he pointed his fingers towards himself.

I heard a buzzer go off and I turned to see Bucky walking through a door with a couple of officers in tow. I was about to run up to him but an officer held his hand up, telling me to back off.

"He's too valuable of an asset to have tied up," John explained. "Just do whatever you got to do with him then send him off to me."

"He is not an object and that's not how therapy works," I spoke up. "This sort of stuff takes time. You can't just sit someone down and expect everything to be fixed in one session."

"This isn't his first session, princess. I'm sure he's capable enough to know what needs to be done. Got some unfinished business, him and I. You too Wilson. Elder."

So, he looked up my last name. I wonder what else he was able to find. 

"I'll be outside." He said with a wave as he walked off. A crowd of people closed him off as he walked out the door.

"James. Condition of your release session, now. You two Sam and Elara." Dr. Raynor shouted.

"That's ok, I'll be out here with-"

"That wasn't a request, Sam." She cut him off.

"Come on, it can't be that bad." I nudged him.

"Fine."

All three of us followed her into a secluded room all the way in the back of the station. This room was an interrogation room, there was a metal table with four chairs in the middle of the room. It was small and dimly lit, the bricks all painted a dark bluish-grey. This was not at all the typical therapeutic environment, though I guess I couldn't blame her for that. She was just as forced into this as we were.

The three of us sat down on the line of chairs on the side closest to the door while Dr. Raynor took the lone seat across from us. I sat in the middle while Sam took my left and Bucky was on my right. She took off her coat and took out her notebook, opening it.