Bucky howls at the moon and chases after Steve. He pounces on him and licks his face. Steve laughs and shoves his furry head away.
"Stop licking me. Go catch your dinner stupid." Steve grins. Bucky gets off and bounces away. Steve hears a crack and a whine. Fearfully he races towards to the source of the noise.
"Bucky?" He calls, he gets a whine in response and leans over the edge of the little gorge. It was maybe ten feet deep and Bucky was at the bottom, he was on his side. One of his legs at an awkward angle.
"I'm going to get help Bucky. Just hang on." Steve calls before racing away. He hears howling and follows the sound. He sees Natasha, her red fur gleaming in the moonlight.
"Bucky fell. He's in the gorge." Steve explains in a hurry. She looks at him before howling. She waits for him to get onto her back before taking off. She stops at the edge and howls. Bucky whines back, quieter than he'd been before Steve left. Tony appears across from them and Thor comes to the edge as well. The massive chocolate brown wolf that was Fury joins them at the edge next to Steve. He howls at Bucky who was attempting to get up. Bucky falls back down again with a whimper. Steve looks at Fury who was communicating with the others. Natasha wanders off along the edge and they all go separate ways, leaving Steve staring down at Bucky. Natasha howls and soon she and Thor are approaching Bucky. Bucky tries to stand on his own but he can't. Thor moves to his right and Nat goes to his left. They help him out of the gorge before letting him lay down by a tree. Steve rushes over anxiously.
"He needs to go back to the tower." Fury says. The two wolves nod. Tony throws a bundle of clothes at each of them.
"I'll call Brucie when we get to the car." Tony informs Steve. Putting a hand on the side of Bucky's face. "We'll get you home buddy." He assures. Bucky whines softly and Tony sighs. "I know. I know."
"I'll get his head." Nat speaks up, coming over to Bucky who licks at her hand.
"I'll help Steve with his middle." Clint hums. Tony helps support his bottom. Fury walks ahead and opens the back of the van they drove here in. They carefully lay Bucky down in the back. Tony and Fury go up front while everyone else stays in the back. Nat scratches Bucky's side absentmindedly and Steve pets his head. The drive seems longer than the thirty short minutes it really is. Bruce, Clint, and Jane meet them outside and help move Bucky into the building.
"Stay awake for me Buck." Bruce pleads, getting him onto the stretcher. Bucky whines softly. Bruce gives him a small amount of anesthetic to numb the majority of the pain. Bruce gets Jane to help him do some X-rays.
"Internal bleeding. Seven cracked ribs, three broken. And his right front leg's broken. Need you to stop the bleeding Jane." Bruce instructs. Steve paces until Nat grabs his shoulders.
"Calm down. He's going to be fine. I need you tell me what you guys were up to. Because Bucky knew that gorge was there." She holds his muscular shoulders tightly.
"Well, he brought me a stick so I threw it a few times then he jumped on me and was licking my face like he usually does when he's excited. I told him to go catch dinner and he ran off then I heard him yelp and so I found him. Then went and got you." He explains. She sighs.
"He's been behaving strangely lately. Do you know why?" She asks. Steve nods reluctantly.
"He bit a hunter, they were going after him the other night and they nearly managed to take him away." Steve explains. Nat shakes her head and swears.
"We have to tell Fury. We need to make sure the hunter wasn't drinking silver." She scowls. Going off to Bruce. She explains to Bruce what happened he promises to run the test when Bucky wakes. Tony massage Bruce's shoulders.
"Thanks for helping him out." Tony purrs softly. Bruce nods.
"He should wake up in about an hour and I have to do a silver test." Bruce sighs. Tony tenses.
"Silver's not good." Tony mutters.
"No. It's not. But I feel like he'll probably be fine." Bruce assure him. Tony nods. The test comes up positive for silver. Bucky sneezes constantly, laying his big fury head on Steve's lap.
"So he can't change back until he's completely healed?" Steve asks Bruce who nods.
"It'll make things much worse if he tries." Bruce sighs. Bucky huffs through his nose. They all keep a close eye on Bucky during the never ending month that the silver works it's way from his system. It was painful to watch. He was currently on the couch beside Steve. Steve rubs his back, careful of his broken ribs, now he could see each of Bucky's ribs due to the last month. Bucky hadn't been able to keep anything down. Steve pets his head, listening to him snore.
"You're not supposed to let him get on the couch. He sheds too much." Natasha scolds, although her words weren't very angry and she was smiling.
"You sit on the couch." Steve argues.
"But that's because I don't shed like he does. Isn't your bed completely furry?" She asks.
"Okay. Yes. I get it." He smiles. Bucky yawns and licks Steve's hand.
"Stop drooling James. It's gross." Nat tells him. He barks at her and gets off the couch slowly. He hobbles over to her and puts his paw on her shoulder. He rests his muzzle on her other shoulder. She wraps her arms around his furry body.
"It's okay honey. He understands." She tells him. He whines softly again and gets down on all fours again carefully. He licks her hand and sits down. She smiles slightly and pats his head.
A few months later once he's completely healed he's allowed to change back. He shifts and it's painful and slow. He stands up and falls into Steve's arms. Steve covers him up with a blanket and hugs him tightly. Bucky kisses Steve passionately, clinging to him like a life line. He gets hugs from everyone in his pack and their human friends.
"I wanna go to bed Steve." He whispers, his voice cracks at the end from the lack of use. Steve carries him down to bed and helps him get into pajama bottoms. Steve crawls into bed beside him. Bucky hugs him tightly.
"I love you Steve." He whispers.
"I love you too babe."
