Awkward
Bailey spent most of the day in the meeting room, going over the footage of Dr Thomas and Bucky, discussing the possible effects and potential setbacks this incident could have had on him with her remaining team members. She was back to the grind and forced to write yet another report. It had been a long day full of stress and emotion. Bailey felt like things were flying at her in all directions and she was needing eyes in the back of her head to cope. For the rest of the day, she sat in her calming work space with her trusted employees, she was trying to feel normal.
Patsy was writing one of her own reports about her first hand experience; what she saw when she entered, how the guards handled things, and how she dealt with Bucky once her and Steve were inside. The pair of them were not security's favourite people right now since they ignored their orders, but Patsy knew she and Steve had handled things as best as they could.
Bailey was on her fourth coffee of the day. When she paused from typing her hands were shaking although this could have been the caffeine or the after affects of the adrenaline she had experienced today. She could feel a coffee induced migraine coming on, or at least it could have been the caffeine or the fact that she had been staring at her screen for hours and hours on end. She pinched the bridge of her nose in an attempt to stop the headache in its tracks and took a deep breath.
"Bailey, I think you should take a break. You look exhausted." Dr Armstrong noted.
She shook her head, "No, no, I'm fine. I'm nearly done here, and once I'm done I still need to go see Barnes for a couple hours." She leaned forward and began to type again, brushing it off. This was another report she was struggling to maintain a professional narrative with.
The elevator doors opened and Steve came through. He said hello to everyone as he walked over. Under the arm of his brown leather jacket he carried a paper file, he handed it to Bailey proudly.
"I haven't wrote a paper in decades, so please go easy on me."
"You need a C to pass Rogers, no excuses." She joked as she took it.
Bailey flipped it open and read over the first few lines. She smiled at his hand writing, there was something about a man's handwriting that she found so endearing. Anyone else would have typed up and emailed over a report like this, but not Steve, he did things old school.
"I worked really hard on it, can I at least get an A for effort?" Steve continued the joke before laughing then changing the subject. "Is he okay? How was he with you?"
Bailey spun around in her chair to face Steve, "He was very forgiving." She said honestly.
Bailey felt a twinge of guilt when she expressed this. She thought back to Charlie admitting he was jealous. Bailey was not completely honest with Bucky when he asked why he did what he did, he deserved to know but she was scared about what it could lead to. Was this something Bucky should know? Would it affect his progress? Would it derail the entire programme and affect their relationship?
She continued, "He's angry of course, and I reassured him that he wouldn't have to see Charlie again. Thankfully, it doesn't seem like this wasn't the set back it could have been, and that's all I can ask for right now."
"Thank God." Steve breathed a sigh of relief, "You must be doing something right Bails." He teased.
Steve calling Bailey 'Bails', as sweet as it was, stabbed her in the heart. It was something only family called her. She found it almost strange that Steve decided to call her that in this moment when he never had before. She felt an ache in her chest, there was the sense of longing for her grandmother. She felt like she hadn't seen her in so long, when really it had been a couple of days. Bailey was making herself feel so guilty for not being able to see her grandmother every day, but she felt like she was spreading herself so thin. She promised herself that she had to see her tonight.
"It's not me, it's all the hard work Buck is putting in. He's doing a great job, you should be real proud of him." Bailey took Steve's hand and rubbed the back of it with her thumb.
"Always have been always will be." He smiled but with pain. Steve was well aware of what Bucky has done, but it wasn't him. Steve gave her hand a squeeze.
"You two are like proud parents." Dr Jennings said in ignorant bliss. He had either forgot or not even heard the small piece of information Bailey accidentally revealed when arguing with Charlie this morning.
Everyone went silent and awkwardly looked at Joseph. Instantaneously, at the other end of the table, Patsy nearly choked on her drink from laughing. Everyone then looked at her, Alan pressed his lips together and squeezed his eyes shut to stop himself from laughing too.
"And that's my cue," Steve said before retreating out of the conversation.
"What did I say?" Dr Jennings asked, confused.
Alan just shook his head and laughed at him again. Patsy wiped her mouth before mouthing 'sorry' to her friend at the end of the table. Bailey thought it was best to stay quiet and returned to her work.
___
Bailey spent a few hours with Steve and Bucky in the complex. Things were calm and relaxed, but Bucky looked so tired. The TV was playing a made for television movie with bad acting and an even worse plotline, but no one was really paying attention to it and were talking over it instead. At first, Bucky entertained Steve and Bailey's enthusiastic attempts at making conversation, but his answers soon decreased to one or two polite sentences before they were one or two blunt words.
Bailey and Steve gave one another look as if to say, let's back off a bit. The three of them ended up watching the second half of the film which ended in a race to the airport to stop her from catching her flight and a kiss in front of a crowd that gave them a round of applause. Bailey was so into the film at this point, she too clapped for the couple. Steve and Bucky rolled their eyes and scoffed at her. Bailey laughed at her amusement and their disamusement at her.
Steve's phone rang. He excused himself and walked over to the kitchen. Both Bailey and Bucky unintentionally eavesdropped since the film had finished. It was Director Michaels, he wanted to speak to Steve about the events of the morning. There was a shift in Bucky, he gripped the edge of the sofa cushion he was sat on.
Bailey leaned forward so that her hand was in the middle of the seat between them, "Hey, you're not in trouble. You've got nothing to worry about."
Bucky looked at his hands as he spoke, "He doesn't want to help me, I bet he's been looking for a reason to get rid of me."
Bailey shook her head so aggressively it made Bucky look up, "No, no. There's no way that is happening, not if I have anything to do with it."
"I never asked, why do you have so much faith in me to get free of this?" He asked, sounding broken.
"I think that anyone who has gone through what you have, and survived, can come out the other side. You deserve and will get to live a happy life." Bailey paused and sat back, she lifted one arm to rest along the back of the couch, "I don't think that it is too brave of me to say I promise you'll get to live a happy life eventually, there's just a few hills to climb first."
Bucky gave her a quick smile with eye connection before looking back down to his hands.
"I gotta go guys," Steve called over from the kitchen, "I'll see you both tomorrow."
Bailey turned to face Bucky, "I can go too if you'd like, you look really tired and I could do with seeing my Grandma."
"Yeah, sure, by all means." Bucky granted.
Bailey began to get herself ready to go. She stood up and finished off her glass of water before taking it to the kitchen sink. Bucky followed her over.
"I had a dream about you last night," he said to her back as she rinsed the glass out.
Bailey knew she had to be careful here, she couldn't let on that his dream was her doing. She didn't want him to think she could access his memories and wipe them, like he requested on the roof. What she did was a major risk, she only skated on his subconscious, she did not fully submerge herself into his psyche. Bailey knew she shouldn't be taking that kind of risk, but in the moment, the pain he was in, she felt inclined to ease it for him.
"Oh really? What happened?" She asked as she continued to wash the glass which was most definitely clean at this point.
"We went to this tropical beach together."
"A tropical beach," Bailey repeated before turning around to face him, "We couldn't be further from tropical."
"I know," he laughed and took a glance out of the window at the city skyline. "God, I'd do anything to go to the beach. Reckon you could get Michaels to sign that off?"
"Pfft. I wouldn't be counting on any restrictions being lifted as per my request anytime soon, not after the way I spoke to him today."
The laughter disappeared from his face, "I don't want you getting in his bad books for fighting my corner Bailey, I don't want him to be making your life hell."
Bailey rolled her eyes, "What can I say, I'm a bad girl so I'm always in his bad books, and my life not being hell, where's the fun in that?" She winked.
Bucky's tired face perked up a bit at her response, he wasn't expecting her to make such a suggestive and cheeky comment like the small ones he had been brave enough to make recently. It took him by surprise so much he was scrambling for a response, he just made a breathless laugh and looked at her. This made Bailey smile and feel a sense of smugness.
Bailey wished Bucky a good night and walked to the door, she could feel Bucky's eyes on her back as she left. She had to wipe the smile from her face as she reemerged to her co-workers.
___
Bailey arrived at the hospital half an hour before visiting hours were up. She left on the top of the reception desk a bag full of biscuits, instant coffees, tea bags, and milk for the night staff. Their faces lit up when they took a peek inside the bag.
"I promise it's not a bribe." She smiled.
"Honey, you can stay as long as you like!" One nurse called after her down the corridor as she took out the biscuits.
Bailey stood in the doorway to Grandma Josie's room. She was tucked up in bed with layers of sheets and blankets, her head resting on a number of pillows to prop her up. She looked so small and fragile. Her hair was thin and dry, her skin pale and tight, she was a ghost of the grandma Bailey remember.
Bailey tilted her head against the frame of the door, she let out a gust of breath as the tears tsunami waved through her barriers. Bailey must have made more of a noise that she thought as Josie stirred before waking up.
"Bailey, what are you doing up?" She said groggily. "You have school in the morning. Did you have a nightmare?"
"I did Grandma." She said as she wiped away her tears with her sleeve.
As best as she could, Josie untucked herself, "Come get in with me."
Bailey quickly kicked off her shoes, they clattered underneath the chair which she threw her coat on top of, and climbed in with her Grandma. Josie began to stroke her hair, particularly over her white streak and started to sing a song. Before she knew it, Bailey was dreaming of the same beach she and Bucky visited in his sculpted dream.