Eminence Front // TFATWS

08

Bucky and Mary walked into the main room, with a sour expressions.

Dr. Raynor walked up and said, "Sam. I've heard a lot about you. I'm Dr. Raynor. I'm James and Mary's therapist."

"So nice to meet you," Sam replied. "Thank you for getting him out."

"That was not me."

"Christina," John called. "It's great to see you again."

"You've got to be kidding me," Sam muttered. "You know him?"

Dr. Raynor shrugged. "Yeah, we did some field ops back in the day."

"I heard you were working with Bucky and Mary, so I thought I'd step in," John told them as he walked closer. "Bucky's not gonna be following a strict schedule any longer. Mary won't be following her schedule either."

"We haven't finished our work. Who authorized this?"

"They're too valuable of an asset to have tied up. So, just do whatever you got to do with them, then send them off to me."

"Got some unfinished business, him, Mary and I. You too, Wilson. I'll be outside."

John walked away.

Mary scoffed and walked up to John. "Hey! You call me and Bucky an asset again and I'm gonna kick your ass. We're not assets, just like you're not really Cap."

John frowned at her. "You killed people. You and Bucky were an asset for a Soviet organization."

"We were used by them, jackass. There's a difference."

He narrowed his eyes. "Do you know who you're talking to?"

"Anyone who says that isn't confident or is too arrogant for their own good. Oh, and you have no right to call my boyfriend Bucky. That's an earned right, and you definitely haven't earned it. It's James to you." She flipped him off and stalked away, returning to Bucky.

Bucky had a lightly amused expression. "Remind me to never piss you off."

Mary smiled. "That wasn't even the worst I could do."

"I don't doubt it."

"Pissing a Winchester off is never smart. Dean especially can get pretty unhinged. Sam can too."

"And so can you."

Mary shrugged and nodded. "I guess so."

Dr. Raynor said, "James, condition of your release, session now. You too, Sam, Mary."

"That's okay," Sam replied. "I'll be out here with..."

"That wasn't a request."

They made their way to an interrogation room.

Dr. Raynor pulled up another chair and set it between two chairs. Sam and Bucky sat in the side chairs while Mary sat in the middle chair. "So... Who would like to start?"

"All right," Sam said, "look, Dr. Raynor? I get it, why you want me to talk to Freaky Magoo and his girl over here. But I'm 100% fine."

"It is my job to make sure that you're okay. And so, yeah, this may be slightly unprofessional, but it's the only way that I can see if you're getting over whatever's eating at you."

"This is ridiculous."

Bucky and Mary nodded. "Yeah, I agree."

"See?" Dr. Raynor stated. "Making progress already. So, who wants to go first?" The three remained silent. "No volunteers? Wow. How surprising. Okay. We're going to do an exercise. It's something I use with couples when they are trying to figure out what kind of life they wanna build together."