Bring Me Home // Bucky Barnes

Chapter XXXVII - Waiting For Them

Day One

Her temperature would not stabilise. One minute she was burning up with a fever that consumed her, leaving her shaking violently as Bruce pumped more medication into her veins and the next she was ice cold, her lips turning blue as Steve and Bucky took turns holding her, warming her. She was not alone, not for one second.

Bucky waited with her now, his eyes strained from a lack of sleep and tears he had shed, as Bruce continued to scribble notes on her chart and nurses came in and out to check on her. Each nurse seemed afraid to touch her, like she might fall apart if they did, like they might hurt her.

"How's she doing?" The red headed woman asked, her body half in the door as she hung on the door frame.

Bucky sighed as he held her hand, not looking away from the way her hand sat perfectly in his.

"No change."

"And how are you doing Mr Barnes?" The nurse took another step in and Bucky looked up. She was in her forties at least with a shock of red curls that cascaded down her face like a waterfall of flames. Standing at five foot three she was small and her face was a splatter of freckles. She looked friendly; she looked calm.

"I don't know Ma'am." He turned back to Lizzie, willing her to wake up.

"Sergeant Barnes, can I be frank with you?"

He took a moment to answer, shocked by the use of his military title. One he still had no recollection of receiving. "Of course."

She smiled at him as she moved around the bed. "She's strong. Stronger than anyone I know and has been since the moment she was pulled from the ice. Now, I know she is a lot older than I am technically speaking, but I look at her and I see this beautiful young woman, like a daughter or niece I don't actually have, who has seen a lot in her life, and who still lives to tell the tale." She brushed Elizabeth's hair back and placed a cold, damp cloth against her head. "She is strong but she is tired too."

Bucky glanced up at this woman, his eyes stinging as he tried not to cry.

"She hasn't known peace in a very long time Sergeant Barnes. Not since 1945. So right now, while we're all patiently waiting for her to wake up, I think she's just taking some time in the peace. She'll come back to us when she's ready, so you should rest because she won't be happy if you're half dead when she does."

Bucky smiled sadly at the woman as she left without another word before he lowered his head, resting it against their hands entwined with each other and countless wires.

Day Two

She was swimming in a sea of colour. Beyond the realm of reality was something extraordinary and it was mind-numbingly beautiful. Elizabeth basked in the glow of harmony and peace and serenity as she lay among the stars. She could think of nothing more than this. She would think of nothing more than this.

Here she felt no pain.

Day Three

Wanda didn't know who to talk to. These people all knew each other. These people all trusted each other. They all worried for Lizzie, she did too, but Pietro lay cold and alone and she was the only one who went to him. Until today.

She walked with her head hung low, avoiding the eyes of those who didn't know whether or not they could trust her, and her hair swept over her face like a barrier between them. She had muted her mind, avoided prying into their pain and their inner thoughts, afraid to see what they may think of her. It was isolating and devastating in this place alone.

Pushing into her brother's room in the medical suite with a handful of books she had found in the room they had given to her she was blind to the thoughts of Captain America, scanning through her brothers charts. She jumped as she nearly crashed into him, dropping everything she held, panic rising in her chest.