The Flames of Amarra - DR STRANGE x OC - COMPLETE

HELP IS ON THE WAY

It wasn’t a great way to leave her apartment for the first time in weeks. Nora would’ve rather been anywhere but here. But she agreed, and now she had to wait. At least no one asked her to stop smoking and she had something to do while other people were entering the building. 

As it turned out, her therapist was a real therapist. Except that he was using his knowledge to destroy Nora’s life, along with the help of Nora’s worst enemy : Nora Keller herself. And together, they did a marvelous job. If he was still alive, he’d be proud. The plan was probably to let Nora believe that the ring destroyed her life and convince her to take it off on her own. 

Rhodey said it himself. Nora had been a public figure for years, and everyone forgot that people were still actively trying to get her ring for themselves and were ready to do anything to get it.

And now, everyone was feeling like shit. Nora included. 

When Sam and Bucky appeared in the parking lot, Nora joined them and shook her head. “I shouldn’t be here.” She looked at Sam and smiled. “Congratulations, by the way.”

“Thanks,” he laughed. “So what, you’d rather be in jail ? When you’re done here, you’ll have to go see that doctor. What’s her name ?”

“Palmer,” Bucky said. 

“Yeah, her. She’ll give you a nice collection of pills.”

Nora didn’t like that either. She agreed to things she didn’t want to agree to. As they were walking towards the entrance, she stopped and grabbed Sam’s arm. “Why am I not in jail, Sam ? It doesn’t matter if I’ve been manipulated. I’ve killed people.”

“Because you spent three weeks waiting to be arrested before you called someone. You didn’t think about escaping and now, you’re gonna get some help.”

“Here ?”

“Here.”

She turned to Bucky and arched a brow. “Why are you here ?”

“He likes to follow me everywhere,” Sam sighed. “Becoming Captain America comes with babysitting him.”

“I’ve been through some stuff too,” Bucky said, ignoring Sam. “If you don’t want to talk to them, maybe you’ll talk to me.”

“Do I have to ?”

“I’d rather not,” he said. “I just came because I have to attend these meetings too.” He looked at Sam and smirked. “And I need Sam to know that I’m doing good so that he lets me-”

“You’re not dating my sister. End of discussion.”

For the first time in weeks, Nora laughed. She followed them inside and silently walked in a room filled with people. Some of them waved at Sam, someone stopped by to shake her hand, and Bucky left to talk to the group, away from the stand. 

Sam turned to face Nora and smiled at her. “You’ll have to come here twice a week until you feel ready to go back to therapy.” When he saw Nora flinching, he nodded. “Not for a while,” he quickly added. “When you’re ready. I stayed for the whole thing, you know. No one will force you to go back until you want it.”

When everyone sat down, Bucky came back and gave them a slight nod. “I told them.”

“Good,” Sam said. “Now, Keller. Go up there and say hello to your new friends.”

It seemed like the most embarrassing thing Nora had ever done in her life. It didn’t even feel right. These people were all from the army. They all went through horrible things, and Sam expected her to come here regularly. She didn’t need to come here to know that a lot of people had it worse than her, she was already aware of that. She shouldn’t be complaining.