Sane // A Winter Soldier Story

chapter five // clean

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"And no one cares, there's no one there.....But did you see the flares in the sky?" -Flares by The Script

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〘Athena〙

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Mr. Caraway seethed, his eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. I glared at him and ripped my arm from his grasp.

"There was an emergency and the patient specifically requested me, so I came to help him," she shot back. Mr. Caraway didn't look convinced.

"You directly ignored my rule."

"His guards came and got me-"

"You ignored my rule to not go anywhere near him and made up an excuse to do it anyway."

"Made up an excuse? Ask the patient yourself! I didn't make up any of this!" Athena shouted, her hands shaking with anger. She had had it with Mr. Caraway's inexcusable actions towards her. "Mr. Caraway, I have done nothing except be a loyal and hard working employee here for the last four years. Why do you suddenly distrust me so much?!"

Mr. Caraway was taken aback by that. His eyes softened, and he opened his mouth, looking at a loss for words. He'd never meant to make her think that he no longer trusted her, nor did he ever mean to hurt her. He suddenly realized that if he'd just told her the truth, he could've saved them both a lot of anger.

"I- I don't mistrust you..."

"You clearly do. If you actually trusted me, you would listen to what I have to say and wouldn't assume that I was making things up just to get near that man," Athena growled. She was sick of having yelling matches with him. She thought that he needed to smother his pride, grow up, and accept that she was fully capable of handling herself with the Winter Soldier.

Mr. Caraway sighed, his entire demeanor changing rapidly as he tried to backtrack.

"Athena, it's not that I don't trust you...God, I...I went about this all wrong. I'm sorry I ever made you doubt that I trusted you. I should've just been honest with you from the beginning. The truth is...I care about your safety, and Athena, that man is not safe to be around. He's dangerous. If he wanted to kill you, he'd no problem doing so, and I don't want to lose my best employee to a patient that's a lost cause. It's not worth it," Mr. Caraway finally let out, upset and tired and frustrated and guilty all at once. He regretted his actions. This new patient had stirred up so much activity, paperwork and media attention that he'd hardly had time to run his facility, let alone realize how he'd been making Athena feel. He desperately hoped Athena would accept his apology.

But Athena didn't like his apology one bit, because she still wasn't seeing a window through which she could get to the Winter Soldier. She also didn't appreciate his hopelessness concerning Bucky's state of mind.

"I understand your concern, but I can assure you that I'm more than capable of handling myself. He's not dangerous and he's certainly not a lost cause. Despite what everyone thinks, he's fully capable of healing. And you of all people should know that I'm not gonna stop until he's my patient."

Mr. Caraway's face fell as she told him this. He'd assumed that she wouldn't stop until she'd gotten her way, but he'd hoped that he would be able to keep her safe for longer than this. Athena's gaze didn't waiver, and Mr. Caraway cracked under its intensity.

"Fine, Athena," he sighed reluctantly. "He can be your patient."

Athena's face lit up and she threw her arms around her bosses' neck, giving him a quick squeeze before letting go and pulling back. A wide grin broke across her face.