Broken Soldier [#Wattys2015]

Chapter Twenty-One

Safe House, New York, 2015

Maria

I woke up after some time and found myself hunched over Barnes' muscular chest. My head lay on top of where his heart would be and my left hand rested on his right pec muscle. I wondered why the other men were being so quiet.

Maybe they're all sleeping?

No - they couldn't all be asleep. I opened my eyes completely and instantly remembered that I was not still entrapped in a Hydra cell with Barnes but was instead still laying on the bedroom floor with him. There was a silver light encasing us like a bauble, that's when it hit me. Scenarios of what had happened to Barnes suddenly smashed into me like a brick wall. I sat up quicker than lightning and checked his pulse. It was still there.

"Oh my god you're still alive," I whispered.

His face was blank and white due to loss of blood. I could slightly see his nostrils move every now and then.

I grinned a small bit, relieved that he was still alive, then studied the silver half-sphere around us. It was beautiful, emitting all sorts of patterns and glinting rays of diamond silver. I was too in awe of it to realise that Valerie was watching me, satisfied.

I jumped when she started to speak. "It's times like these that I love what I can do."

I glanced at her and nodded. "You and me both kid. So, what are you doing anyway?"

"It's giving enough energy to Bucky to keep him alive for a bit longer until Steve gets here." She explained.

"Steve's coming!?" I was beyond happy.

"Yeah," Valerie started. "I called him again when you fell asleep on Bucky and he picked up. He said that he didn't pick up my first call because he accidentally had his phone in his hand when he threw his shield at some annoying man called Tony and it smashed."

I stifled a small giggle at Steve's ridiculousness before going serious again. "I hope he gets here soon."

**********

About twenty minutes later, Steve and Sam came rushing through the Safe House door and up the stairs into the bedroom. Steve seemed slightly hysterical about the situation but managed to calm his nerves well. Sam was completely under control of his emotion.

"What happened!?" Exclaimed Steve.

I glanced at Barnes then looked back up at Steve, my nose crinkling a little. "Someone's shot him I think," I paused. "At first I thought he'd shot himself but the bullet wound is at the back of his head. It would've been impossible for him to have done this."

Steve bobbed down in front of me, nodding his head at my words. He seemed almost heartbroken, which I'm sure he would've been considering that the person laying on the floor while bleeding out was his best friend. Who wouldn't be heartbroken?

"We need to get some sort of help. Sam, can you contact a boy named Peter Parker please? And tell him to bring Gwen Stacey. I think they'll be able to help is out here without endangering anyone." Steve said to Sam.

Sam nodded twice. "You got it. I'll be back in a second." And he left the room to telephone Mr Parker and Miss Stacey.

I gave a sort of skeptical look to Steve at the mention of Peter Parker. "Isn't he that spider guy?" I asked Steve.

"Yeah," he replied. "He's also a very good scientist, along with his friend Miss Stacy. They should be able to help Bucky."

I nodded, hoping that that decision was the right one. To keep conversation going, I began to ask Steve questions.

"Hey Steve," I said and he look at me. "Do you remember when we first started in the Army?"

He grinned, his eyes twinkling with delight. "I sure do ma'am. I remember it all. I even remember when you helped me out of the barbed wire that Hodge made fall on me."

I laughed. "Yes, I helped you with a pair of pliers that I nicked." I started to turn serious. "Do you remember Ryan Feld?"

Steve's eyes and nose scrunched in thought as he reached back as far as he could to grab the right memory. "Yeah, I sort of do. He was the tall guy right? The one that wasn't mean to me but ignored me at the same time?"

"Yeah that one." I confirmed.

"Why's that anyway?" Steve asked.

I took my gaze away from his and looked at the ground before looking back towards Valerie. Steve followed my gaze then studied my facial expression, beginning to put two and two together. I saw him take in a breath, signifying the giant 'oh' that was about to escape his mouth.

"Oh," it came. "He's the father, isn't he?"

I nodded and started to tell him everything that Valerie and I had figured out until finally Peter and Gwen rocked up.

I got up and moved closer to Barnes, Valerie hopping off the bed and sitting with me. Her small hand rested on his hand. Steve had already hopped up to greet the pair.

"Parker, Miss Stacy," he shook their hands. "Thank you for coming."

"It's no problem, really," Gwen said. "We were in town anyway and wouldn't miss a chance to help you guys out."

Peter smiled at Gwen's words and I knew that they were more that just 'friends'.

"So, what happened?" Gwen said, getting straight into business.

"He's been shot in the head but he's still alive. Is there anything you can do to save him?" I said.

"We'll figure something out," Peter answered. "There's no way that we're letting the best friend of Captain America die."

I smiled at him, and then at Gwen who had an amused look on her face because of Peter.

How cute.

Both Gwen and Peter worked for up to three long, excruciating hours, figuring out special injections and procedures to save the super soldier. It was like watching a dance; Gwen was the leader and Peter followed. But then they would swap leads without the skip of a heartbeat and continue working. It was magical.

"So if we inject him with this one, it'll basically boost his adrenaline and get his heart to make more blood?" Gwen asked Peter.

"Yes, but now we have to find a way to fix the wound or it'll be a bust," he rubbed his chin. "We need to do something more than just stitch it up."

"Shouldn't he be healed by now though? Being a super soldier and all." Gwen stated.

This put Peter into deeper thought. They continued like this for another hour, which made up the three hour total, until they had a final decision on the injection to be used and the procedure to fix the bullet wound.

"Ok, so you're one hundred percent sure this is going to work?" Peter asked Gwen.

"Yes Peter." She replied.

"Absolutely one hundred percent sure?" He asked again.

"Yes Peter." She replied more sternly.

"Absolutely, positively, no going back, one hundred percent sure?" He was ticking Gwen off.

"Yes! Peter!" She yelled at him.

"Ok," He put his hands up in surrender. "I just had to make sure because I've already done it all." He laughed.

She gave him a state of death before punching his as hard as she could on the arm, only to have her swing captured by Peter's quick reaction time.

"You're a brat." She said.

He smiled widely. "But you love me."

"Would you two can it? My head hurts." Someone said, that someone being Barnes.

I jumped up and rushed over to him. He was still laying on the floor but he was wide awake. It must've been the adrenaline boost.

Without thinking, I threw myself onto him, embracing him in a huge hug, and for the first time since we met up again, he hugged me back - full and sincere. A proper, loving hug.