Coward
Charlie was terrified, he had never seen Bailey so angry before. He knew she could blow her top some times, but she had never been close to something like this in the workplace. She was practically snarling at him whilst he spluttered his words. Dr Armstrong and Dr Jennings hurried over, Steve hovered behind Bailey making sure she didn't take it too far.
Charlie was scrambling, "I don't know, I don't, he just freaked out! He must have had a nightmare and it set him off!"
"Bullshit! He was fast asleep when I left!" Bailey shouted.
She had just revealed to the room that she had stayed over, but she hadn't realised. Alan and Joseph gave one another a look, Steve noticed them.
"I swear, I swear!" Charlie lied, "He must have had some kind of relapse. I came in and he was wrecking the place!"
Bailey was seething, she knew he was lying. Bucky was in a good place, the night before they had fun and he laughed then more than the entire time he had been at the complex. She could see it in Charlie's eyes, he was lying through his teeth with no remorse. A spineless coward, she thought. Bailey was taking deep, heavy breaths in an attempt to keep herself cool but her eyes glowed.
She lurched forward and grabbed Charlie's throat, hitting his head off the wall. Everyone rushed in, the room intensified. Bailey's power charged through her hands and into Charlie, his eyes frosted over turning completely white. Alan and Joseph began to shout in confusion, presuming he was having a fit or some kind of medical emergency. When Steve and Bailey did not respond in the same way, they slowed their calls for help and for Bailey to stop. They looked at her, her eyes mirrored his. The two doctors were bewildered at the scene in front of them, all they could do was watch it unfold.
Steve stepped forward, "Bailey no, you can't do that."
She gripped his neck a little tighter, "Tell me the truth Charlie, what happened?" She demanded.
The fear and pain eased from his face, till it presented no emotion, it was as if he had been switched onto autopilot. Charlie's stance relaxed and he stopped struggling with Bailey's grip.
With Bailey compressing his vocal cords, his voice was off-tone when he spoke, "I used the words on him."
"God dammit," Steve said, "Bailey, that's enough, you can't get the truth from him this way, we'll look at the CCTV instead. It's not fair."
"You know what's not fair," She was nearly shouting, but kept her eyes on Charlie, "This asshole ruining months of progress of someone who has experience severe fucking trauma."
Steve held Bailey's wrist, a zap of white passed through her to him. It shocked him, forcing him to retract his hand, "Bailey!" He said, emotionally hurt at that she would do that to him.
Dr Armstrong and Dr Jennings continued to stare with their their mouths open. They had no idea what was going on. They knew it wasn't normal, and they guessed it was something Steve was aware of with the way he was calm with her and trying to handle her.
Bailey ignored Steve's protests, "Why Charlie, why did you do it?"
It was like he was computer programmed, or as if Bailey was asking a smartspeaker for the answer, "I have low self esteem and I am prone to attention seeking behaviours."
She scoffed before demanding, "But why, why did you do this to Bucky?"
With his face turning a strange colour from being choked, he managed to speak, albeit robotically, "I have feelings of jealousy towards him, and this is an emotion that in the past has led me to act out of control and do things that could hurt people."
Bailey's face dropped. Jealous. Charlie was jealous of Bucky. What was he, fucking 15? She thought. Bailey had turned him down for drinks, she had every right to say no to him. Saying no did not justify any sort of retaliation, never mind an act of betrayal such as this. Dr Thomas was meant to be a professional, someone involved in the care and rehabilitation of James Buchanan Barnes, he betrayed him as a patient, and the loyalty he was supposed to have was nothing but dust.
Bailey had never been so repulsed by someone's actions before. He was so selfish, egotistical, and juvenile. The lack of dignity and respect Charlie's actions had displayed had cemented Bailey's feelings of disgust towards him. He was never going to have any kind of relationship with her after this. Bailey needed a word worse that immature, something much more serious and repulsive to use to describe Charlie, but words were failing her. Bailey could barely look at him. She felt sick. She let go of his neck, and instantly, his eyes returned to normal.
Charlie gasped for air and hunched over, "What the fuck was that?"
He looked up to Bailey, he was confused, aware that she had done something to him but unsure as to what. It was painted on his face that he was still afraid of her.
Alan and Joseph hastily moved out of the way as Bailey turned her back on Charlie. She began to walk out the room, attitude in her strides. Steve gave the two doctors an apologising look, as if to say 'I'll explain later,' then followed her out.
She called over her shoulder, "Don't you dare show your face on the psych floor, you're fucking fired Charlie."
Many of this floor's staff had left their tasks to see the scene at the back of the room. Their eyes peered over the tops of the monitors and cameras, some sipped their coffees as they watched it all play out.
Bailey huffed as she pushed open to doors to the stairwell, with Steve hot on her heels. She ran her fingers through her hair away from her face. The stairwell was drafty and much cooler, or maybe it was just the comparison to how hot her face was from anger. She took a deep breath and leaned against the wall, Steve joined her, he sighed too.
Bailey felt like she couldn't catch a break, all she wanted was for her grandmother to be well and Bucky to be helped and then maybe she could relax and be happy. She stared at the ground in thought, leaving her and Steve in silence, letting the moment soak in. She thought about her life before she was given the task of The Winter Soldier; it was boring. There was no meaning, she had no sense of drive. She would go to work, go home, go to work, hang out with Patsy, go home. Every day was the same, nothing stood out, nothing was challenging. But James Barnes, he was a challenge that sparked life back into Bailey.
"I get how mad you are Bailey, I am furious. It's disgusting what he did but he'll get what is coming to him properly. He completely betrayed us and violated Bucky, but you know you can't do that to him."
"And why not?" She snapped.
Steve stayed calm and collected, he always knew what to say. "Because you're violating him too. You're invading his mind, his personal thoughts. You're better than that."
"I never have been and never will be." She said bitterly, before turning sullen. "We deserved to know the truth, for Bucky."
"Bailey," Steve said sadly, "You're incredible, you've been through a lot and you're so strong because of it. And of course we deserve the truth, but not in that way. There's other ways around it, okay?"
Bailey felt small, like she was a schoolgirl again. It was as if Steve was her teacher but he wasn't shouting at her and telling her off, but giving her the 'I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed' speech. She nodded and Steve allowed there to be more silence for her to calm down and be with her thoughts. Where Bailey had done so much for Steve, being his therapist, that shoulder to cry on, that friend to lean on in their time of need, and vent when you feel like the world has turned on you. Steve had been the same to her. He knew her better than the others, having been around her the longest.
He was that male influence in her life that she had always lacked and craved. Where she was brought up by women to be strong, brave, and independent, it inadvertently brought her up to be wary of men who were also strong, brave, and independent. To her, they came across as a threat, she saw them to be arrogant, selfish, and like they were there to take her down. On a few occasions she found that this was not the case and was able to have male friendships, a couple of teenage relationships, but at the same time, she did find men who also did not like how Bailey was and they found her as a threat.
As she grew, she learnt how to play the game in a man's world; to be complacent, whilst staying true to herself. She would manage to get what she wanted from them and then, when the moment was right, she would cut them off. The only man she couldn't get rid of was Director Michaels, as he too knew how to play the game, and he had been playing it a lot longer than her. There was an unspoken understanding between the two, he needed her as much as she needed him. They used one another to their benefit, he gave her a job and therefore the means to live and provide healthcare to the woman who raised her, and she gave him to ability to keep the most powerful people on the planet sane. If she could do it any other way, she would but Michaels has given her more than she ever could have dreamed of.
Steve nudged Bailey with his elbow and gave her a soft smile. He wiped a tear that trickled down her cheek. Steve had seen the feistiness in Bailey on her very first day, where she was nervous, he saw the way she carried herself and spoke to those in power. He knew she was the one for the job and one that would stick around. Steve caught a glimpse of the potential she had to do great things that day, even if she did not believe that herself just yet. He helped her along the way and coaxed it out of her in the beginning, but she soon rolled with it, bringing herself to the top. Bailey was eternally grateful for Steve and his friendship in those first months of meeting, over time she shared more with Steve than she ever had with a man before. He knew Bailey as well as he says she knows him. Steve was one of a kind and Bailey knew there was no one else like him.
"I don't think you're ready yet," he said, breaking the silence. "But when you are, just know that I will be there for you. Like every time before."
She looked to him, puzzled. "Ready for what?"
"For you to be honest with yourself."
Where Bailey felt like a schoolgirl before, she now felt herself shrink down to the size of a mouse. She felt timid and slightly embarrassed, like she had just been caught doing something she shouldn't. Everyone saw it apart Bailey and Bucky. Everyone allowed themselves to acknowledge it, even if it were only slightly, apart from Bailey and Bucky. Her cheeks blushed, she can't, she thought to herself desperately.
Bailey's phone rang. She looked at the locked screen, it was Director Michaels. Steve looked to her, she went to put her phone back in her pocket.
"I think you ought to answer that." Steve warned.
Bailey sighed, "Hello?"
"My office. Now."