Not That Lucky

#30: End of the Line

"You didn't—"

"I didn't shoot you, but this pain?" Bucky motioned to my arm. "That's on me. I let you sit in a dirty hostel with a hunk of metal in your arm."

I shook my head at him, "Hey, I thought it was a good plan."

"Yeah, you also thought coming to Romania was a good plan and look where that has gotten you, doll." He argued.

"Still don't regret it." I replied back softly. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

Bucky looked frustrated, like he wanted to argue, but Dr. Escu came back in with a handful of supplies. He motioned for me to lay down on one of the exam tables. Bucky stood by my head as I watched the doctor rub alcohol over his hands. Not an ideal sterilization. He came back over with more gauze, alcohol, and some metal instruments.

Escu peeled off the wrapping that Bucky had done last night and looked it over, humming to himself in thought. I glanced around at his supplies and sat up a bit, "Where's your local anesthetic?"

"What part of this clinic makes it look like I have access to local anesthetic?" Escu raised an eyebrow at me.

I frowned, "You have an x-ray machine."

"It was easier to come by that than medicine." Escu replied. "All I have to offer you is antibiotics for after."

"Jesus." I mumbled and laid back down nervously.

Escu began to speak Romanian and Bucky argued with him in the same language. That wasn't reassuring either. After another minute, Bucky sighed and came around the table so he stood over my head. He leaned forward some, his hands on either side of me, and I was looking up at his upside down face.

"I have to hold you down, doll." He quietly. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes." I replied even though the answer was 'no'. Going to a hospital was for sure a bad idea, too many risks, and the more I bumbled through this the more Bucky would blame himself. Better to get it out now, fast, and let it be forgotten.

Escu said something else I couldn't understand. Bucky sighed again and set his hands on me. His gloved, metal hand clamped down on my left upper arm pushing it down into the table and making me hiss in pain. He set his right hand on my right shoulder and pressed down there as well.

"I will be as quick as I can."

I felt my fingers began to tremble as my heart raced in my ribcage. Bucky leaned down further, "Hey, you can do this. You're so strong, doll."

Then, pain.

Hot, white, searing pain.

Instinctively, my body tried to jump from the table, but Bucky held down tightly. I gnashed my teeth together trying to hold back a scream as Escu dug around in my wound looking for the bullet.

"You're doing so good. Almost there, doll." Bucky whispered comforts to me. Another sharp jab had me crying out and Bucky looked away only to yell at the doctor in Romanian. His eyes were back on mine. My vision went blurry as my eyes filled with tears.

The sharp pain swapped to an ache when Escu pulled out of my shoulder while speaking in Romanian. I gasped, "Did you get it?"

"Where's the bullet?" Bucky pressed.

"When did you say you got shot?" Escu asked with a look of confusion on his face.

I lifted my right hand to swipe away the tears before answering, "Last night. Why?"

Escu narrowed his eyes at me, looked to Bucky, then back to me, "You've already begun to heal. There's tissue over the bullet. That may be why it shifted. The tissue is pressing it down."