You'll Never Walk Alone

08

Mattie walked into the main room with a sour expression. She caught Bucky's eye and her expression softened slightly.

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

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

Bucky glared at John as he stood next to Mattie.

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

"We haven't finished our work," Dr. Raynor said. "Who authorized this?"

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

"Got some unfinished business, her and I. You too, Wilson. Mr. Barnes, you as well. I'll be outside."

John walked away.

Bucky narrowed his eyes at his retreating figure and said to Mattie, "You're not an asset, doll."

Mattie didn't meet his eyes. "Sure, Buck."

"Mattie. You're not. I promise you."

Mattie gave him a false smile, one she hoped was believable.

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

"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 Mattie 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 the staring 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 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. Are you familiar with the miracle question?"

"Absolutely not."

"Of course not," Sam replied.

Mattie frowned. "No."

"Okay, it goes like this," Dr. Raynor told them. "Suppose that while you're sleeping, a miracle occurs. When you wake up, what is something that you would like to see that would make your life better?"

"In my miracle, um, he would... he would talk less," Bucky replied.

"Exactly what I was gonna say," Sam said. "Isn't that ironic?"

Mattie let out an irritated sigh as she leaned back chair.

"You guys are leaving me with no choice," Dr. Raynor told them. "It's time for the soul-gazing exercise."