Walking into the training room felt different today. It was the first day of serious training. I was so nervous I had to push my powers down to not overheat anyone.
"Alright Ana, let's start with some self defense" Natasha lunged at me, dodging as much as I could but she was much faster than Sam was. She began showing me how to block since it would take less energy than dodging. After about half hour I was laid out on the floor catching my breath. "You're good, you need more training but..you're not a waste"
"Um...thanks" I breathed out trying not to feel insulted.
"EMERGENCY AT THE HELIPAD, TWO INJURED. MS. GARCIA IS REQUESTED IMMEDIATELY" FRIDAY yelled through building. I got up as fast as I could jogging to the elevator to reach the helipad.
Steve had James's arm over his shoulder. James was limping and bleeding from one leg. Pietro had a gash on his arm. "What the hell happened? This was supposed to be basic recon of a HYDRA facility" Natasha asked Steve, I twitched at the word HYDRA.
Steve didn't look at her, he was too busy with James "It was covered with agents, we started taking hits the minute we landed."
I go to Steve first since James's injury looked worse. "Assessment soldier" I don't know why I called him soldier but I could see a slight smirk through his worry.
"Metal shard lodged on his left leg, bullet wound on his left thigh, and a damn hard head" I nod looking down at James's leg. He was chuckling between the groans of pain.
"I can't do anything about the head but take him to the lab get him on a cot. Tell Bruce to start an I.V. and morphine" I turn to look at Pietro "What am I going to do with you always getting hurt?" He chuckles
"I am fine, just a scratch" He waved me off. I stopped him grabbing his arm making him groan in pain.
"Let me be the judge of that." I look his arm over. "You need at least five stitches, Bruce can take care of you while I handle James." I turn on my heel "I MEAN IT PIETRO" I knew he was going to try to avoid the lab to let everyone concentrate on James.
When I get there I take one of James's knives to cut his left pant leg down from the hip to the ankle. "Buy a guy dinner first doll" I side eye him. Even though he was covered in blood I couldn't help but notice how toned his legs were..his thighs...I shook my head to get out of those thoughts.
"Did you give him morphine?" I called out to Bruce.
"Medicines burn up in our bodies too fast, the serum" Steve stated standing next to his best friend with worry on his face.
"Fine, elephant tranquilizers, this shit is going to hurt. Steve hold him down. Bruce give him three times the morphine dosage, I just need it to work long enough to get this damn thing out." I look around for surgical supplies. "Tony, any surgical kits?"
"Yea we were just stocking the new medical rooms, I'll go get it"
"He's losing too much blood. Do we have blood bags Bruce?" I start taking gauze and cleaning the metal shard so I can see it better
"On it" He runs out the room.
"FRIDAY, I need a leg scan now. I have to see what I'm doing." A scan of his leg appears on the wall above his head. I can see him start to get woozy. Alright.. "FRIDAY start the clock, If I can't get this out in fifteen Bucky is going to rampage and go into shock." Steve looked at me scared.
Bruce walks in attaching the blood bags to James. Thank god we had universal donor blood bags. Tony followed in after getting me the surgical kits, he began sterilizing them for me. I grab clamps to hold his veins and muscles in place while I take the metal piece out. Once I got it out I start sowing everything I can up as fast as I can.
I hear him groan. "FRIDAY TIME" I yell.
"Two more minutes Ms. Garcia" Fuck..I won't be able to sow him up completely or get to the bullet.
"Steve, I hate to ask you this but..you are going to have to sit on James and hold him in place while I finish, someone get Vision to help out"
Steve reluctantly does what I say just in time for James to start thrashing. "Bruce are you done with Pietro?"
"Yea what you need?" He sounded out of breath and nervous.
"You are doing great doc okay..I need you to get his bullet out while I finish sowing him up" He nods. He whispers sorry then digs in James's thigh to get the bullet. James let's out the most horrible scream I have ever heard. "James you got this! Think about it. The old days, the ladies would be all over you for a scar like this one. Doesn't that make you happy?"
He groans holding back another scream "No" he manages to let out.
"Why not? Scars are sexy..."
"Time is up" FRIDAY states
"Yea no shit..." I finally start sowing up the skin layer after double checking everything inside his leg was fine.
"Because.." He mumbles through painful groans "You will never be mine" I pause for a second. The whole room seemed to stop what they were doing at his words. I see Steve look back over his shoulder at me. I shake my head.
"That uh.... morphine must have been something good huh. Alright Bruce you good to sow him up over there? I got a few more stitches." He nods grabbing a kit to start working. "Steve I think he's over the hump you can let him go now. You too Vision." Steve gets off James and Vision steps back cautiously.
When I do the last stitch, I check his wound over to make sure it was alright. I could already see healing on the edges...good. I take my gloves off and switch to new ones. I head up to check his face he was almost unconscious. "FRIDAY vitals please"
"His temperature is 102.6, heart rate is beginning to settle at a steady rate, initial scans show no infections or permanent damage. His healing has begun to work rapidly" I let out a big sigh
"Well James, you will survive..for now, I doubt anyone will let go you scaring them half to death, especially Steve"
"Sorry.."
"No don't talk, just sleep. Your rapid healing is starting to kick in. Don't move either or I'll sedate you." I warn him seeing he was already moving around. I turn to Steve giving him a smile.
"If you want to stay to keep an eye on him you can, everyone else has to leave, he needs rest"
I walk over to Pietro to make sure his stitches were good. "Same rules as before Pietro" He nods at me looking at James
"He saved my life. I didn't see the bullet, he was shot because of me" He looked down to the floor feeling sorry for himself.
"Hey, everyone here would do the same for anyone else, you are a damn Avenger, act like it, suck it up and walk it off" He nods again walking towards Wanda who was now by the door horrified. "Alright everyone out. Me and Bruce gotta clean and a cry baby super soldier has to sleep. SO shoo, out" I push everyone out turning around to clean the mess I made around the cot. I grab some blankets and cover James with it seeing his temperature starting to drop.
"What he said..." Steve began as soon as James was asleep.
"He was on drugs, he didn't know what he was saying Steve" I take off all my surgical clothes and toss it in the medical bin. Bruce and Tony grabbed the surgical equipment to get them cleaned and sterilized.
"He meant it. Ana...he likes you. He told me he did. He said he won't do anything about it though, I didn't think he..." He pinched the bridge of his nose trying to stop from crying. I walk over to him putting my hands on his shoulders and standing between his legs.
"Your friend, is on a cot. Healing from being a hero to your team. This conversation, his feelings, your fear about it...it's nothing compared to the fact you almost lost your friend..again. You guys can have that conversation later, but for now, be there for him or you will regret ever moment" He looked up at me sad with tearful eyes. He laid his hands against my legs then planted his head on my stomach. I've never seen him so broken before it tore my heart out. I stroked his hair to comfort him. After a bit of time he pulled away leaning back on his chair and letting me go.
"Do you need anything? Were you injured?" I almost whisper fearing my voice will break him into crying.
"I'm fine, bruises go away in a few hours" I nod heading to the exit.
"I'll be back in a few hours to check on my patient. If you or he needs anything before that, have FRIDAY call me in" He doesn't say anything, he doesn't even move.
I go up to my room to take a quick shower and change. After, I head down to get something to drink. I see Natasha and Pietro talking about the mission. I avoid them, I had enough to worry about. I grab a bottle of water and a protein bar for Steve. When I make it back into the lab Steve was asleep and James had woken up.
"Hey" I whisper. "You should be sleeping"
"I'm fine. How long have I been out?" He pushes himself up to sit. I fix the cot and move some pillows to help him.
"Almost two hours" I hand him the water and bar since Steve was asleep. "I'm going to check your recovery okay" He nods taking a big gulp of water. The stitches Bruce did were healing nicely, I'd say two more days and it'll be gone. The big one on his calf was taking it's time though. "FRIDAY, make another infection scan, his healing should be faster on the larger wound, relay the information on the screen we have a sleeper" I move to the table across from James and look at the screen. Everything seems normal. No infection. No unknown contagion. "Looks like your healing will take a few days. I want you off of the foot until it fully heals, then you need to do physical therapy to get the muscles to work properly again."
"Are you benching me doc?" He furrows his eyebrows at me, I giggle a bit
"How horrible of me to care about my patients well being. No missions for at least a week soldier, that's my final word" He smirks and salutes me taking a bite of his protein bar
"Yes ma'am" he whispers while he chews
"Someone needs to teach you manners" I groan turning to see the details of his scans.
"Why don't you?" He looked up to me licking his bottom lip
"See that, you need to stop"
"Why?"
"You know why. Steve told me how you feel about me. I've seen you give him permission to be more physical with me, I've seen you stay away. Then today you cry out you won't be happy because I won't be yours..You touch me like you can't breath unless you do, at least a little. Then this, you flirt. Steve was heartbroken, and confused. So am I"
"What do you want me to say?" He looked like he didn't regret flirting with me at all
"I want you to say your friendship is more important than I am. IF I do end up dating Steve, I need you to not do..." I wave between us "...This"
"So you really do like him more than me" I sigh crossing my arms over my chest
"I won't lie, I've been more attracted to you than him. Just..the funeral..my mothers wishes for me...the attack." I sigh "When it came to men all my mother wanted was for me to date someone like Steve, to be with someone who would be there when I have nightmares, be there when I needed comfort, when I needed to cry. He has been there for all of it. Not you"
"Wait..you think I wasn't there when..." Steve opened his eyes and shot up seeing James was sitting up
"Buck..how are you?"
"Hard headed" I say giving James a glare. "I'll leave you to your girlfriend Steve" I walk out angry Steve woke up. James was going to say something, I had a feeling it would be important. I'll have to wait for later.
Another thing I needed to know...HYDRA. I need to know everything I can about them. I still didn't know why they came after me. Was this mission about me? Was James hurt trying to get information about why they came after me? I try to take the thought out of my head. Last thing anyone needs is another person blaming themselves for what happened.