Can't See the Truth

“So what should I do?” the man asked quietly over the phone. “She seems to be doing better, but that’s because her former doctor put her on some anti-anxiety medication. Plus with her being in the loony bin, it’ll be harder for me to slip her the drugs.”

“Well then, I guess you’ll have to put in extra effort, won’t you?”

“Please, ma’am,” he begged. “If I get caught, I’ll go to prison!”

“Oh please,” the woman cooed. “I think you’d rather get caught for doing what you’re told than defy me. You know what happened to the last person who crossed my path.”

A shaky breath came from the man on the other line. “I understand, ma’am,” he said quietly. “I will not disappoint you.”

“You better not,” she replied, a twisted smirk spreading across her lips. She moved the phone away from her ear and ended the call, still smirking evilly to herself.

“Madame?” the waiter asked. “Would you care for another coffee?”

She shook her head, placing the appropriate amount of baht on the table. “I think I’m going to keep touring the city, thanks.”

The waiter smiled at the retreating American guest. “Enjoy your stay in Bangkok!”

As CJ walked out onto the street, her phone rang again. She looked at the caller id, and answered.

“Tell me you have good news,” she spat. “Franz just fed me some bullshit about-”

“She’s getting better,” the woman on the other line said quickly.

CJ froze. “What did you say?”

“The girl who got shot, she’s getting better.”

It took a second or two to process, but CJ finally opened her mouth to speak. “Run that by me one. More. Time.”

“Brooke is getting better...?”

CJ paused. “Why the fuck would you let that happen?!”

“I’m sorry!” she apologized quickly, in a begging fashion. “All the SHIELD doctors thought she wouldn’t make it through the week, but now she’s awake and doing better. I mean, she’s all hopped up on morphine but-”

“You were supposed to make sure that didn’t happen!! What the hell werer you doing when you should’ve been doing your job?!”

“Ma’am, please!” she begged, tears obvious in her voice. “I didn’t mean for it to happen! I can still fix this!”

“No,” CJ replied calmly. “Leave it to me. I will deal with this myself.”

“No, please!” she said frantically. “Please! Give me another chance! I promise not to fail you again!”

“Once, my dear, is too many times.”

With that, CJ hung up the phone and slipped it back in her pocket. With a sigh and a shake of her head, she carried on down the street, humming quietly to herself.

****

"How do you feel?" Clint asked as he sat next to Brooke's hospital bed.

With a roll of her eyes, Brooke looked at Clint with annoyance. "Yippie ky-ay, mother fucker," she half-slurred. "How do you think I feel?"

"Are you in pain?" Steve asked.

"Guuuurl," she said, giggling almost uncontrollably. "I'm feeling the opposite of pain. I feel high as...fuck..."

Tony chuckled and shook his head. “So that morphine’s pretty great, isn’t it?”

Brooke continued to giggle, almost forgetting how to speak. “It’s...I...woow.”

“Brooke-Brooke!” Pamplemousse said excitedly as she ran up next to the hospital bed. “Guess what! Tony’s going to build that castle for me!”

Brooke rolled over dramatically, giving the ten-year-old an odd look. “What on Earth are you talking about?” she slurred.

“Remember when Tony said he’d start working on the blue prints for my castle when Nick was giving you those flowers?”

“Who’s Nick?”

“Your boyfriend,” she replied. “But Tony’s actually going to build me a castle! Isn’t that AMAZING?!”

“Call a code!” one of the doctors shouted from the hallway. “She’s seizing!”

Pamplemousse ran outside, wondering what was happening. There on the floor was Patty wearing scrubs writhing on the floor as foam spilled out from her mouth.

Bruce rushed over and pulled the young girl aside, trying to hide her from the horror of watching their friend suffer.

“Doctor, what’s happening to her?!” one of the nurses shouted.

“I think she was poisoned,” he said quietly. “There’s nothing we can do for her now.”

Suddenly, Patty reached up and grabbed the doctor by the collar of his lab coat and pulled him down near her. “You have...you have to tell Stark...CJ did this.” Patty nodded once, still foaming at the mouth and spazzing. “She did it...”

Then, her body went limp. Her chest was still. A nurse offered to do CPR, but the doctor held her back. “Don’t bother,” he said quietly. “She’s gone.”

****

“Hi, Toni,” the black-haired, freckled woman said as she sat across from Toni. “I’m Dr. Jessa Swartz. I’m taking over your case from Dr. Harris.”

Toni nodded. “It’s lovely to meet you.”

Dr. Swartz opened the file and started looking through, noting some unusual things. “Dr. Harris thought you had some form of PTSD. Does that make any sense to you?”

Toni shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean...” she trailed off, thinking of all the things Daddy had put her through, along with the death of Natasha, the two or three years she spent away from her family and got into drugs, and everything that happened in the stasis. “Yeah,” she finally said. “Yeah, it does make sense.”

Dr. Swartz leaned forward ever so slightly, pushing the file to the side. “What happened?”

“Have you...” she paused and thought about what she was going to say. “How many patients do you get through here that have been sexually abused?”

“A lot more than you think,” she responded truthfully.

Toni nodded. “Yeah. That was me,” she muttered. “My mom’s boyfriend...he abused me a lot while I was young. I managed to get over that, though.”

Dr. Swartz nodded. “Well, what else has happened?”