Captain America Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Steve Rogers Fan Fic - The Constant

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Constant & The Patient - Prevention

He leads you to the main room and you can see they are preparing to bring the patient around.

"Get her a chair, for God's sake, before she falls down!" one of the other doctors snaps, and you realise you were leaning against the wall in an effort to keep yourself upright. The world isn't spinning quite as much as it was but you still feel as if you are seeing everything from far away.

As you sit there is a increase in the pain in your lower stomach but you try to ignore it; you need to be here for the patient. He needs to see you. You are his Constant.

Doctor Jakobs is usually here, but you can't see him. Doctor Taffeteer comes up and you ask where Doctor Jakobs is but he tells you he is busy and won't be attending this particular awakening. He crouches down in front of you, concerned about your pale skin, and he gives you a cup of water and two more tablets. You shake your head and explain that you have had some tablets but you gratefully accept the water. He cannot meet your eyes, however, and that is when you begin to know something is wrong. It is not just your paranoia.

Something has happened.

You ask him, but he colours slightly and is evasive. You can see he doesn't know what to say. "Nothing. Come on now buck up, we need you for the patient." He smiles and pats your knee and then walks back to in the rest of the doctors. They are now totally concentrated on the patient, on bringing him out. You sit back and watch the procedure, knowing that you are not needed yet.

Ten minutes later the pain killers have kicked in and you are feeling slightly better, but still as if you have been kicked by a mule. They are ready to give the patient the final injection which will bring him back to consciousness. They get you to move next to the master chair so you are in his line of sight; he needs to see you, recognise you, and know you are not a threat. He needs to be kept calm, just in case. You hear them engage the arm clamps.

They are counting backwards and the chair is swinging up into the seating position. You watch as his eyelids flutter and you see his hands start to clench around the seat handles. You place your hand over his right one.

In the future, when everything is up and running, they will wipe him before every cryo-freeze so that when he comes around his memory of certain things will be blank. At the moment they have not attempted a wipe because of the problem of sorting out the two personalities. You know that Zola has invited another doctor to see if they can work out a way of combining the personalities. Since then Lehmann has seemed a lot happier about the situation.

The count finishes and for a moment nothing happens, then he opens his eyes. This part always makes your stomach flutter. You watch him blink. He catches sight of you. Those blue eyes drink you in; his whole body seems to relax and it takes a few moments for you to realise everything is going to be all right.

"You've just awoken from the cryo freeze testing, and you are going to feel a bit strange for a few moments. Just breathe and take your time," you say to him. He is looking straight at you and you feel relieved. He nods at you, understands what you are saying, he remembers. He leans back and closes his eyes and you move back away slightly so the doctors can start their barrage of tests.

You know they now need to check him over, and you also know he hates this part but you stay with him to translate. The patient is coming on extremely well with learning Russian and some of the time he replies before you have any need to on his behalf. He is calm and does everything asked of him but there is a flatness in his gaze, almost like that of an automaton.

At the end of the session you are shattered. It makes no sense at all. You tell him you will see him later back at your room. He frowns and you tell him you are just tired and your head hurts.