the dark sapphire -Bucky Barnes-

70

"Still not clear what this is between you guys?" Sharon asked curiously as she walked with Ally down the hall to the EKG. Ally sighed. "let's just say it's complicated" she replied. "I can imagine,Bucky doesn't come across as a person who shows...." Sharon faltered. "...Who shows what he feels? Yeah, it's not easy, but he's trying. He does it well, even if it intimidates him sometimes" Ally finished Sharon's sentence. "I've definitely never seen him as tender and concerned as he is with you. Until now, I've honestly only seen him with that expressionless look too, where you feel like he's about to attack you" Ally smiled.

"Agent Carter!" an older woman with brown hair walked with quick steps towards the two as they stopped. "Doctor Raynor, how can I help you?" Sharon asked the woman politely. "I'd like to talk to Alison. Are you Miss Taylor?" The woman asked Ally, who nodded. "Doctor Christina Raynor, I'm James therapist" she extended her hand. "Alison Taylor" Ally shook her hand. "I'm sorry Doctor, we don't have time. Ally's schedule is full" Sharon smiled politely at the woman. "I just need five minutes. Just a quick one. It won't take long."

Sharon looked at Ally with a sigh. "If you want, we could push the EKG back five minutes and you could talk to her now, but only if you want" Ally nodded. "That's okay" She replied. "Alright. You guys can go in the room here. I'll stay here outside the door and let the doctor know we'll be in later" Ally nodded as Sharon unlocked the room and Ally and the doctor entered.

"Have a seat, Miss Taylor. I want to talk to you about James" Doctor Raynor pointed to the two chairs that were in the room. There were a few machines flashing on the wall, but Ally wouldn't let them bother her. She sat down in the chair across from the therapist and crossed her arms in front of her chest dismissively. "I heard you've been living with James for the past few weeks. How did he seem to you? Did he say anything about his mental health? About nightmares?" "Didn't you ask him that yourself? You did have a conversation with him before" Ally replied. She definitely didn't want to tell the therapist anything that Bucky didn't want her to know.

"James isn't really talkative when I try to talk to him, unfortunately, so I thought I would ask you. I got the feeling that James seemed to trust you. His body language changed when I asked questions about you" "Bucky and I are close, yes. We share common ground regarding our past at Hydra and he is very good at helping me and cheering me up because of it" Ally explained and she realized she understood Bucky, something about this woman made it uncomfortable to be in her presence.

"That means during all this time it was more about you and her health than James?" Doctor Raynor asked as she flipped open a file and began to write something down. "What are you trying to tell me?" Ally asked, aggrieved. "What I'm saying is, my feeling is that you're the reason James claims he's doing well" "You're accusing me of Bucky suppressing his problems because of me?" Ally asked offended.

"Yes, Miss Taylor. You have mental health issues too. I've skimmed your file, your parents' accident,the experience with Hydra, your ex-boyfriend Alexei Karpov. You have a lot of unresolved trauma. James cares about you, so he's suppressing his issues to help you. I told him myself before that this will have consequences for him and since he doesn't listen to me, I'm telling you again now. You have to be careful, James will break if he tries to suppress his problems."

Ally stared at Doctor Raynor in disbelief before jumping up. "How dare you! You don't know Bucky or me, so don't you dare make that kind of judgment about us. You don't know how much we help each other. You don't know that Bucky may not talk to you about his problems, but he talks to me about them, so you kindly leave me alone and don't accuse me of being the reason why you're not getting anywhere with Bucky" she yelled at the therapist before running to the door. "Your five minutes are up" she hissed before stepping out the door and slamming it loudly behind her, causing Sharon, who was standing outside the door, to wince.

"Hey, anything exciting here?" Bucky dropped into a chair next to Sam, who was staring at the screen on the wall in the large IT lab. "Not really. We're running all the programs right now to maybe somehow get a lead on Karpov or his followers, but so far nothing" Sam sighed "But, with Sharon's consent, Clark Wallet is being brought in here and interrogated. Maybe we'll find out what Karpov is up to" "Clark Wallet? Was that the scientist who was tortured by Ally?" Bucky asked, to which Sam nodded.

"Speaking of Ally, have you seen her?" Sam asked curiously. "Yes, I was with her briefly before. They're just running some harmless tests on her. She's doing fine. She still has to go for a stress EKG now" Bucky explained. "sounds good. How did it go with your therapist?" Bucky rolled his eyes with a sigh. "That good though?" Sam grinned.

About an hour later, Bucky and Sam had been sitting in their chairs staring at the screen the whole time, but nothing had happened, Sharon and Ally joined them. "Are you through for the day?" Bucky asked as Ally sat down next to him. "Lunch break. A psychiatrist wants to talk to me later" she explained. "Anything new here?" Sharon asked Sam, who shook his head. "But, there is something that could help us" Sam started telling Sharon about Clark Wallet. "Sounds like a lead. I'll have him picked up for questioning" Sharon smiled with satisfaction. "Now off to the cafeteria. It's lunchtime" she shooed the three out of the room.

"Miss Taylor, my name is Doctor Hugh Hinton" the fifty something year old man with gray hair extended his hand. After lunch Ally and Sharon had gone back to the science compartment while Sam and Bucky went back to IT to watch the progress. Sharon and Ally had sat down in a separate room with the Doctor, who had just introduced himself to Ally. Doctor Hugh Hinton looked very personable. Like his hair, his eyebrows were gray, but made his light blue eyes shine even more. On his nose sat a modern frame of glasses with black rims. His white perfect teeth shone through his slightly parted lips as he smiled at Ally. He wore a blue polo shirt and jeans, and at first glance you wouldn't think this man was a doctor.

"Doctor Hinton is the best in neurology and an experienced psychiatrist" Sharon explained after Ally shook his hand. "Agent Carter told me about your powers, telekinesis. She also mentioned that a terrorist group can bring you under their control with words, you do whatever they tell you" Ally nodded. "I think you know yourself that this is all related to your psyche. Those are trained commands, the words I mean. The telekinesis I'm afraid I can't explain yet, that's where you come in" he pointed at Ally.

"if you're okay with it, well only if you really want me to, because otherwise we won't do it and it wouldn't do any good, I'd like to examine you. I want to know how your brain reacts to the words, maybe I can find a solution to help you unlearn that" Doctor Hinton explained. "You might get it to release me from control?" Ally asked, surprised. The Doctor nodded. "At the same time, but also only if you agree to do it, I want to learn and explore what happens in your brain when you use your telekinesis powers"

Ally looked at the table in silence. Was that what Bucky had meant when he claimed they were treating Ally like a lab rat? Then again, they weren't forcing her to do it, they would only do it if she agreed to it. So she had nothing to lose. Besides, it would be a good thing to finally be released from the words, it would make a lot of things easier. "You can think it over if you want. Think about it and let me know your decision when you have one" Doctor Hinton stood up and walked to the door. "wait..." surprised, the Doctor turned to Ally and looked at her questioningly. "I agree. I'll go along with it" she said surely. "I'm glad" the Doctor smiled at her.

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