Sane // A Winter Soldier Story

chapter two // arrival

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"Close my eyes for a while, and force from the world a patient smile." -I Gave You All by Mumford and Sons

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〘Athena〙

When she woke up the following day, Athena was still thinking about her session with Sam. This friend  he had mentioned had haunted her all night. She desperately wanted to see who this person was, to get inside his head and see exactly how he thinks.

As she began getting ready, she tried to picture him in her head. Would he be old, driven insane by the deaths of his friends? Would he be a juvenile, too young to be as sad as he is? Would he have short cropped hair, or have an unruly mane that he's hardly tried to upkeep? Is he suffering because of a past trauma, or does he have a mental disease that's plaguing his mind and giving him unruly thoughts?

She wondered if he was schizophrenic. Or maybe he had Dissociative Identity Disorder, her favorite disorder to work with.

She got ready quicker than anticipated thanks to her racing mind, and eagerly rushed to her car so she could get to the facility early and ask around. She wondered if anyone knew about Bucky already.

Twenty minutes later, she was walking through the doors, hair in a loose blonde bun and coffee in her hand. She wore black dress pants, a black blazer and a white dress shirt, her outfit complete with a pair of nude heels. She smiled and waved to a few people as she flew by, hurrying to go talk to her boss. As she passed them, she noticed a few of them gathered together, exchanging quiet words amongst themselves and staring at the doors, as if waiting for something. She wondered if their anxiousness had anything to do with her own.

Thirty breathless seconds later, she arrived at her bosses' office and flung herself inside the door. "Mr. Caraway?" she asked immediately.

He turned around, not surprised that Athena was in there. She was known for kind of doing what she wanted around here, and if she hadn't been such a good psychologist, she'd get in trouble for it. He cleared his throat.

"Miss Evans, I really wish you'd stop just walking in. I do have things to do, you know," he said, exasperated. Athena nodded without really meaning it, already putting what he said out of her head. They both knew she wasn't going to stop.

"Sorry, Mr. Caraway. I just, I had a question-"

"I'm sorry, Athena, but I don't have time to answer your question right now. We've got a new patient coming in any moment now, and I need to see to it that the new ward is secure enough for him."

Athena's eyebrows shot up, her heartbeat racing. "Is his name Bucky, by any chance?"

Mr. Caraway frowned. "How did you know that?" He asked, though he wasn't particularly surprised that she did. Somehow, Athena always found out about things seemingly before they happened. She didn't answer his question.

"I've heard that he's going to be a fascinating case. Do you know who's going to work with him yet? I know I have a lot of patients, and a lot of paperwork to do, but I would be MORE than willing to-"

"No, Athena. You're not going to work with him," Mr. Caraway deadpanned, and Athena's breath left her.

"What? Why not? I'd really like to help him, if I co-"

"Athena, this man... he's more than just a threat to himself. He's also a serial killer. We usually don't take criminals like him here, but we were federally ordered to," Mr. Caraway explained, sounding stressed and apprehensive about the situation. Athena didn't care that Bucky was a serial killer; her mind was still a whirlwind of curiosity, excitement and confusion, and she was desperate to be allowed to talk to this man.