Playlist
Dr Johnson had stuck around for another hour or so to see if Barnes would reappear from his room. He had stayed in there all evening, not even coming out to see Steve. Steve eventually decided to leave it for the night and left the same time as Bailey.
Steve had his hands pushed deep into the pockets of his jeans as the pair left the reception of the tower and headed towards the parking lot.
"He was upset.." He noted.
Bailey rubbed his arm, "Don't worry about it, crying is a good thing for him." She reassured.
They walked up to Steve's motorbike, he picked up the helmet and handed it to Bailey.
"Come on, I'll give you a ride home."
She smiled and pushed her hair back before taking the helmet. Steve helped her fasten it underneath her chin. He swung one leg over and sat on, Bailey pulled her handbag up onto her shoulder as far as it would go. She climbed on, tucked her bag under her arm, then wrapped her arms around Cap's waist. This would always top a cab ride home.
__
Dr Johnson brought another coffee for Barnes to try this morning, this time it was a latte. He had just finished his breakfast; he was drying the bowl and putting it back in the cupboard as she entered.
"Good morning Mr Barnes," she greeted.
"James," he said quietly.
"Hmm?" Bailey did not catch what he said as she focused on putting the hot drinks down carefully.
"You can call me James," He said more clearly, Bailey's eyes widened. "Since we are sort of, part time roommates, I guess the formalities can be dropped."
"Oh," Doctor Johnson was surprised, "Whatever you are comfortable with." she said and smiled.
This was great news, when Bailey had asked him who he was, he responded with The Winter Soldier. Now he was identifying as himself: James Buchanan Barnes.
Dr Johnson spent the morning showing Barnes the internet, it was a daunting task. Bailey found herself on the phone to Patsy the night before asking how would you explain the internet to someone. Patsy responded with how does someone explain a chemical that makes someone super in every aspect of their being. Bailey scoffed, it was true, James had come across stranger things.
She sat at the kitchen island with Barnes sat beside her and navigated Google, showing him how to search for things, how to open links, how to go back, and suggested things he could look for if he were interested. Bailey showed him YouTube, explaining that pretty much any video he could want would be one there; live concerts, tv interviews, documentaries, news reports. All he had to do was type it in and search.
"I would advise you not to search any reports about yourself." she said.
"Why's that?"
Dr Johnson was honest, "The media don't always put things straight, you may find yourself feeling incredibly frustrated with the things they have written and portrayed as the truth, and there is little you can do about it."
Barnes bit his lip.
"It will cause you more torment than peace, and that is the past now anyway. We are focusing on James, not The Winter Soldier."
Barnes looked Bailey straight in the eye, he liked the sound of his name passing her lips. "Okay." He nodded.
Bailey searched for Barnes's favourite baseball team he mentioned in their first session. He couldn't believe they were still going and the amount of money that was now in the sport.
"Oh I know what to search," Barnes said and stood up. "I wanna know if that Tolkien guy wrote any more books."
He stood behind Dr Johnson and leaned over her shoulder to start typing. The change in proximity between her and Barnes startled Bailey, she swiftly moved out from under his towering torso.
She laughed, awkwardly from her sudden movement, but tried to act like nothing had happened, "You're in for a treat then."
Barnes was well aware of the change in his doctor when he got a little closer to her, he didn't ask any questions but he made another mental note of it. Something most definitely is different, he thought. Bailey left Barnes in the kitchen to type out J.R.R Tolkien with one finger per hand, one letter at a time. She headed over to the bookcase and scanned the shelves. She found what she was looking for and went back to Barnes, all he had left to type was "ien."
"If you enjoyed The Hobbit, I think you'll enjoy this James." she smiled.
She handed him a large book with a drawing of an eye on the front that read The Lord of the Rings, Volume 1, The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R Tolkien.
"Oh wow," he said as he took it from her and examined it.
"You don't strike me as a nerd." Bailey said with a grin.
Barnes was smirking, but he was pretending to be offended, "'Excuse me?"
Dr Johnson laughed. Barnes took the book to the sofa with him, he kicked up his feet and spent the rest of the day there in various positions. Bailey stayed up in the kitchen catching up on notes, reviewing her co-workers' reports, and religiously checking her phone for any update from the hospital.
Evening soon came around and the dumbwaiter sounded, announcing that dinner had arrived. Barnes finally put down his book and went to retrieve his meal. He was confused when he opened the hatch to find bags of groceries instead.
"I guess I'm fending for myself tonight." He said as he carried around 4 packed bags through to the kitchen with ease.
Bailey took the pen from her mouth, a bad habit she had when she was concentrating.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, I organised for groceries to be delivered. I thought maybe cooking would be a good idea for tonight!" she jumped up out of her seat and hurried to unpack the bags.
This was the most animated Barnes had seen Bailey so far, her face had lit up as he dropped the bags onto the counter. He laughed at her rushing over and presenting all ingredients out on the kitchen top.
"Good idea if you want me to starve, I haven't cooked in, like, 70 years." He said sarcastically.
"Then you best get practicing." She smiled.
Dr Johnson had requested the ingredients for spaghetti bolognese be purchased, and they had everything they needed: pasta, beef, tomatoes, onion, garlic, cheese, puree. Bailey talked through the recipe to James whilst she put away the rest of the groceries; milk, cereal, bread, butter, and fruit. Barnes began to chop the tomatoes. She turned on the kettle and filled up a pan before putting the spaghetti in to boil.
Bailey felt stupid with her gloves on whilst cooking, she thought about it for a moment and told herself to be careful, she took them off and shoved them into her back pocket. She then grabbed a large pan, placed it on the gas, and added oil then the meat. Bailey turned around to see James finish dicing to then casually flip the sharp knife around and catch it again. He looked over his shoulder to see her stopped in her tracks.
"If there's one thing I do know, it's how to handle a knife." He said with a tinge of sadness before slipping into teasing. "Did you forget there was an assassin in the kitchen?"
"I did actually."
Barnes scooped up the tomatoes and threw them in the pan, Bailey stood a few feet away and leaned over to sprinkle in some pepper and garlic granules. He noticed straight away her hands were exposed. He inspected them once again, and like before, there were no physical flaws. He began to think maybe Steve was serious about the germaphobia. What else could it be?
The two turned back to the island, both reached out for the same onion. Bailey snatched her hand back. Barnes lifted his up out of the way just as quickly.
"Sorry!" He said.
Bailey pressed her hands onto the back pockets of her jeans and stepped away. She forced a smile.
"No, sorry, um, no worries." She stuttered, "You seem like you know what you're doing anyway, um, why don't I just leave you to it?"
She awkwardly left this side of the kitchen and returned to her seat on the hide behind her laptop. With her mind running a hundred miles a minute, panicking over what could of been, Bailey hastily put the gloves back on knowing fine well this whole encounter would appear so strange to Barnes. Out of a sense of unease, she put the pen back in her mouth and chewed on the lid.
James continued to chop, he didn't say a thing, but he was more certain than ever something was going on with her. There was more to his doctor than she had led him to believe, something strange, and private, and personal. It can't be the germ thing, he thought, a germ freak wouldn't stick a pen in her mouth.
"How about some music?" He asked.
Bailey was caught off guard by the suggestion. Barnes was trying to comfort her and break the awkward silence between them.
"Yeah, what do you want to listen to?" she asked.
"Show me what you're into."
Bailey laughed, "Oh I don't know about that, I have terrible taste."
James laughed too, "How am I to tell?"
"True," she shrugged. She logged into her music account and shuffled her Sunday Night Wine playlist which Barnes loved the name of. "You're lucky to be hearing this actually, it's quite a personal playlist. Something I listen to when I want to be drunk and sad and alone, or drunk and sad with a friend."
James raised his brow, "Friend as in singular?"
"Ha. Ha."
The 6 pin code beeped, Barnes looked up and Bailey swivelled around on her chair to see who was coming in.
"Oh shit."
Director Michaels, accompanied by two guards either side of him, marched inside and the team of doctors followed as per request.
~All you have is your fire, and the place you need to reach.~
Bailey quickly hit the spacebar to pause the song. Barnes turned off the gas, then dipped his head low to hide behind his hair.
"What is this? A date?" He asked, furious.
"Professional." Dr Thomas quipped under his breath. Patsy jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.
"It's progress." Dr Johnson stated.
"It's dangerous." Michaels gritted his teeth. "Are you stupid Johnson, putting an asset like yourself at risk like this? I thought better of you."
Bailey shook her head with her lips pursed, she knew that Michael needed her more than he wanted her, she just did not think he would say it so openly.
Barnes picked up on 'asset,' Dr Johnson was valuable to him but he treated her like property. What was so special about her? What did she have that he needed?
"I am the lead of this case, if I see something fit for practice in terms of therapy I do not need permission."
Michaels was so angry, he was silent.
Bailey continued to fill it, "This one on one, this is the best way to get the best progress with James."
She tried to play into how the Director wanted the job completing sooner rather than later, but all Michaels noted was her use of his first name.
"This is necessary." She declared.
"I swear to God Johnson, if you go behind my back again, you're gone." He threatened.
He turned sharply on his heels to face the rest of psych, "That goes for you lot too. She may be your boss, but I'm hers. If you want to keep your livelihoods, think with your head not your ass."
The four of them nodded before being dismissed.
Michaels looked back to Bailey and Barnes, "Watch yourself." He said to the two of them.
The door closed behind them and the pair of them exhaled all their tension. Not knowing how to re-engage with James, Bailey pressed play again.
~ Don't you ever tame your demons, but always keep them on a leash.~