"Help! Please! Nurse! We need help!" You hear a rough voice call from the entrance of the medical tent.
Looking up you can see all of the other nurses are busy so you run over to the two soldiers standing in the doorway yourself.
"What's the problem?" You ask.
"One of our friends is really sick. He hasn't been well all week and he's even worse today. I think he might have a fever." One of them explains with worry in his expression. "Please help him."
"Where is he?" You ask seriously.
They hurriedly lead you through the muddy rows of tents. Everything is damp and flooded and dirty from the torrential rain the week before.
You enter a tent that is dimly lit with no one in it. Or at least you think that is until you hear the coughing.
"Bucky?" The other man who didn't speak before asks as you approach the bed in the far corner.
"Hmm?" You hear a quiet, pained groan in reply.
"Buck? We've got someone hear who's gonna help you." The first one says as you stand around the bed. "Isn't that good?"
"No no. I told you, I'm fine. I don't need any help." The ill man lying on the bed croaks before being cut off by a round of rattly coughs.
It becomes so severe that he has to sit up clutching his stomach and dry retch. His raspy breathing indicates that he is struggling to breath.
"No your not Barnes. I know you don't want to get shoved in that god awful hospital tent full of germs and disease but your too sick now. We can't leave it any longer." One of them says sternly.
"I-i can treat you in here if you'd like?" You say sheepishly, catching on to the issue.
"Really? You'd do that?" One asks looking up at you in shock, but with hopeful eyes at the same time.
"Yeah, I mean I don't exactly like it in there either. But it will have to be kept a secret. Don't tell anyone or I could loose my job. I'll need you two to help me bring all my gear in and as long as I don't hang around for too long at a time we should be fine." You explain.
"Wow, thank you! Did ya hear that Buck? You're gonna be okay!" One of the men exclaims and pats him on the shoulder.
The sick one, Bucky, smiles wryly and nods his head at his friend.
"Well I can't make any promises but I mean I'll try my best." You smile.
The truth is that you guys don't have many supplies to treat things other than wounds out hear and this guy seems pretty sick.
"Thank you." One of them sighs. "I'm Rick by the way, and that's Sev and Bucky." He says pointing to each of his friends.
"No problem Rick. If anything your doing me a favour by getting me out of there. I haven't actually managed to do anything for you yet so we'll just see." You say.
"Hey, it's the thought that counts right?" He grins.
You smile before glancing down at Bucky. He looks like he's about to pass out, eyes flickering back into his head and head lolling to the side.
"We better get started." You huff. "Do you two want to come with me and help me bring my gear over?"
"Sure thing. Hang tight Buck, we'll be right back." Rick says.
"Mhm." Bucky mumbles half conscious, nodding lazily.
You doubt he would even notice if you guys didn't say anything and still left.
Quietly you exit the tent and inconspicuously make your way to the back of the medical tent, making sure that no one is around who might see you.
"He hasn't been right since when we were out in the trenches last week." Sev explains.
"Really? Did anything happen to him while you were there?" You frown.
"Nope not that I know of. It was just really bad weather and we were out all night in the mud." He shakes his head.
"So no wounds that could get infected or anything like that?" You ask.
"Not that I can think of and I was with him the whole time." Rick says.
"Hm." You think to yourself. "Okay so I'm going to sneak in through the back and pass you guys each out some of my equipment. Between the three of us just one trip should be enough but since I don't know what is wrong with your friend Bucky I'm not one hundred percent sure yet."
"Yes ma'am, sounds like a plan." Sev says and salutes while Rick nods in approval.
"Got it. We'll be waiting right here." He says.
"And if anyone sees you just walk away like nothings happening." You continue.
"Gee, this is fun it's like we get to play spies." Sev grins.
You roll your eyes before slipping in through the back of the tent.
Luckily it's very busy inside and all of the nurses seem preoccupied. Your station is at the back so you go over to it and quickly pile up a tray with your stethoscope, your thermometer, a face towel and your medical flashlight.
"Here, one of you take this and be very careful not to break any of it." You whisper as you slip back outside.
When you've handed it off to Rick you return to your station and get two bowls, fill one with warm and one with cold water and quickly give them through the tent to Sev.
For the last time you duck inside and grab one of the first aid kits which has fever pills, bandages, scissors or anything else basic that you might need.
You return to the two soldiers and quietly make your way back to the tent. By the time you've done all of this Bucky has drifted off.
"Wake him up please. We need to keep him awake until I know what's wrong." You say as you arrange all of your stuff on the bedside table and pull up a chair to his bedside from the corner of the room.
"Buck, wake up buddy c'mon. We're gonna get you better." Rick says as he gently shakes his shoulder.
"Huh?" Bucky groans as his eyes flutter open and he looks around confused, then his eyes land on you. "Wh-who are you?" He mumbles nervously.
"Don't you remember?" Sev frowns concerned.
By now his two friends are gathered on the opposite side of his bed watching intently.
"If he's got a fever it's highly likely that he will be delusional and may struggle to remember things like that." You explain. "I'm (Y/N), by the way Bucky. I'm here to help you feel better."
"Mm, okay." He sighs and seems to fall back to sleep.
"No! Wait. Bucky I need you to stay awake okay? Just stay with me you can sleep soon." You explain and grip his shoulder.
He groans and screws up his face but obeys, opening his eyes and lying on his back.
"Is there a light in here?" You ask.
Sev gets up and comes back with a lantern, holding it up so that a light is cast over Bucky so that you can see him better.
Upon closer inspection you can see how truly unwell this man must be. His eyes are bloodshot and tinged yellow around the blue irises, his skin is a sickly pale, his pale pink lips are chapped and dry and his cheeks are unnaturally hollow. His scruffy brown hair is plastered to his head with a mixture of dirt and sweat and grease, probably old dried blood too if you'd known better and you can just tell by the light stubble dusting his face that he hasn't been well enough to maintain himself for the last few days.
But besides all of this, Bucky seems to be a very good looking man.
"When did you start feeling sick Bucky?" You ask.
"Um, I don't know." He rasps with a concentrated frown.
"He started acting a bit off last Tuesday." Rick answers.
"Right, and when did he last eat?" You ask the two friends seeing how Bucky won't be much help himself.
"Probably Thursday and we could only get him to eat a small bowl of oatmeal if that." Sev huffs and throws his hands out in exasperation.
You nod as you grab the stethoscope and put it on. You watch Bucky's expression as you lift up his loose fitting khaki green shirt and press it to his toned chest. He swallows nervously, his Adams apple bobbing up and down.
Although he is awake his eyes look glazed over and he seems quite distant.
Your stomach drops as you hear how raspy and croaky his chest sounds. This along with his shallow breathing isn't a good sign.
You move on to taking his temperature. Sure enough he's running a severely high fever.
"Well, I think it's safe to say that he's got a serious case of pnuemonia." You sigh.
Both Sev and Rick gasp. These days not many people survive pnuemonia there is only a very small, lucky group of a few people that you can think of.
"Oh boy." Rick huffs.
"What are we going to do?" Sev asks with a waver in his voice.
"We're going to do whatever we possibly can." You sigh. "And we can start with calming down this dreadful fever. Bucky have you been drinking any water?"
"A little." He croaks and clears his throat.
"Okay well can I get you to sit up and take these fever pills? You don't have to eat anything just yet, but if you take these you'll feel a lot better." You say.
"Okay." He grunts as he tries to sit up.
Rick and Sev help him while you prop up his pillow so that he can sit comfortably. Rick fetches him a glass of water and you fish through the first aid kit for the fever pills and give him two.
He gulps them down and sips away at the water for a few minutes. You set to wiping his face with a cold cloth in an attempt to cool him off.
"So Buck, can you tell me what exactly feels sick about you?" You ask him as you gently wipe the cloth over his forehead.
"My chest feels really tight and sore and it hurts to breath. I feel like there is a lot of mucus when I breath and my throat and nose feel really dry." He says hoarsely.
"Any dizziness?" You ask.
"Whenever I move too fast." He mumbles.
"Nausea?" You ask.
"Not really I don't think. I just have no energy and I'm really tired." He shrugs while settling down into his pillow. "And this splitting headache that seems to amplify everything." He winces.
"What do you mean?" You frown.
"Like y'all sound like your shouting and that light is too bright for my eyes. Even though I can bet that neither of those things are true." He rasps.
"And he's got this damn cough. Once he starts he can't stop and I can hear it rattling in his chest." Sev frowns.
"Yeah." Rick agrees. "We can hardly keep him awake."
"Yep, sounds like you've got a classic case of pnuemonia there Bucky I'm sorry to say." You huff. "Now I'll leave you to rest and I'll see what I can muster up to treat it. I'll be back later. Do you want a blanket?"
"Hell no it's boiling in here." Bucky says weakly and shakes his head a fraction.
"Thank you." Both the men at the edge of his bed say.
Bucky on the other hand is already drifting off to sleep, snuggling down into his pillow.
You leave and go back to the medical tent acting as if you never left. You search through all the supplies and all you can find is some weak painkillers.
"May, don't we have anything to treat the flu or pneumonia around here?" You ask the head nurse.
"Don't think so. We ran out of that stuff a while ago now and haven't gotten anymore since. Why's that?" She shrugs.
"Just cos I've heard about quite a few sick men around camp since that storm the other week and I was just thinking we might need some just in case." You explain inconspicuously.
"Oh, good idea. I'll get onto that." She says as if suddenly realising.
"Yeah." You say dumb founded before turning around, rolling your eyes and groaning in frustration. "Sorry Buck, this is the best I've got." You mumble in frustration.
How are you meant to help the soldiers when you've got nothing to do it with?
You store all the pills aside so that you can keep them all for Bucky since he's probably going to need them and get back to your usual work.
Quickly a man comes limping in with a wound in his calf claiming that he tripped on some barbed wire and cut it.
You get him to lie on the bed on his stomach so that you can pull his trouser leg up and get a good look at the wound. It's bleeding quite a bit but it's a lot better than some things you've seen.
"I'll just clean and wrap it as best I can and we will get you a tetanus shot just to be safe." You sigh, your mind preoccupied by Bucky.
"Thanks." The man grunts.
"This might sting a bit." You say as you start to squeeze saline solution on it to wash out all the blood and dirt.
You've just finished wiping it off and have gotten a needle for the tetanus shot when two familiar faces come barging into the tent.
You frown at Rick and Sev, it hasn't even been like half an hour since you left.
"(Y/N) we need you to come. Bucky's throwing up." Sev says quietly.
"Oh shit. He didn't eat anything did he?" You gasp, distracted from your work.
"No just the fever pills." Rick pants for breath from running over here.
"Crap. Okay. This isn't good. Um, you guys just get him a bucket or something. I'll finish up here and be right over." You say, trying to keep calm and they nod before running back out.
Quickly you give your patient his tetanus shot and wrap up his wound, it potentially could have needed stitches but in your mind you don't have time for that.
"Just rest it up for the next few days." You tell the man and don't give him a chance to answer as you grab the pain medication and race out and back to Bucky's tent.
When you arrive you are greeted by the all too familiar, awful sound of retching that you are far to familiar with due to being a nurse.
"Oh Bucky." You huff as you rush over to his bedside where he is sitting up. "What happened?"
While Bucky's head is busy inside a bucket Rick answers.
"He'd been asleep for maybe twenty minutes when all of a sudden he woke up feeling nauseous so we got him a bucket and two minutes later he was throwing up." He says.
"Yeah but it's not like he's been eating so there's nothing to throw up." Sev points out.
"That's exactly what I'm worried about." You sigh.
You look over at Bucky who's now coughing and spluttering, gasping for air. Feeling his forehead you can tell that it's still boiling hot.
"It's f-freezing in here." He stutters almost inaudibly.
"Someone get him a blanket please?" You ask.
Rick reaches under the bed and pulls out a blanket, you wrap it around Bucky.
"Alright well I'm so sorry. I've got nothing to treat him with except painkillers. So just don't let him eat anything until he hasn't thrown up for twenty four hours but I should be back before then anyway. Dab him with warm water when he says he's cold or cold water when he's hot. Listen to him, don't go by his temperature. Just let him sleep. That's the best thing we can give him, rest. If he wants the painkillers then give them to him but only one every four hours. I have to go now. Come find me if anything drastic happens." You say all at once.
That night you can't sleep. All you can think about is Bucky. Why do you want to help him so much? You've never gone to such drastic measures or cared so much about a patient before. Both Rick and Sev seem like really nice guys but considering his circumstances you hardly know Bucky. Sure, he's a good looking guy but you don't even know him. So why are you going to such desperate lengths to help him?
The next morning you decide to go check on Bucky before clocking in to the medical tent.
When you get to the boys tent you find that he's asleep. Curled up under the blanket looking rather cute.
"How is he?" You whisper to Sev who's by his bedside.
"Well he fell asleep around about midnight after he stopped vomiting and hasn't woken up since. It's the longest he's been out for all week.
"That's good then." You smile hopefully while brushing your hand across his soft forehead.
It's still scorching and he hasn't broken a sweat.
"He's still got a fever though. Can you run the cloth under a cold tap?" You ask him. "Where's Rick by the way?"
"Gone to fetch us breakfast." He explains as he turns on the tap.
"Oh I see." You nod as he hands the cloth back to you.
You carefully drape it on Bucky's forehead. He turns his head and flinches, stirring a little but doesn't wake.
Next you listen to his heartbeat again and can hear that his chest is still full of fluid.
Your heart drops and frustration rises up in you.
"Did he take any of the pain killers?" You ask.
"One just before he fell asleep, I think it helped make him drowsy." Sev shrugs.
"Yeah probably." You nod. "And um, just a heads up, I think he's actually unconscious. But don't freak out! That's not necessarily a bad thing. It gives his body time to rest and recover. Just don't wake him up. Let him do that in his own time."
"Okay." Sev nods just as you rush out to go to work.
Later that night after a very busy day you are absolutely exhausted and when you would normally trudge your way back to your room and collapse into bed you find your feet taking you back to Bucky, Sev and Rick's tent.
You're glad to see Bucky awake when you get there.
"Hi guys." You say to Rick and Sev who are plopped down on their own beds for once. "Oh hey Buck! How are you feeling?" You smile.
"I've been better." He rasps.
But there is a light in his eyes that wasn't there yesterday and he even manages a smile.
"Any improvement?" You ask hopefully.
"Well I think I've stopped throwing up." He shrugs sheepishly.
"That's a positive." You chuckle.
"Yeah." He grins.
He definitely seems a bit better.
"When did you wake up?" You ask.
"Only a few hours ago." Rick says from his bed.
"Wow, maybe a good long sleep will have helped then." You shrug.
"Here's hoping." Bucky sighs and then gives two solid coughs.
It's then that you notice the sheen of sweat on his forehead. You gasp and place the back of your hand on it to feel a cool, regular temperature.
"Oh my gosh you've broken your fever! That's great!" You exclaim.
"Yay." He croaks.
Although this is the most he's talked you can tell that he still must feel miserable.
"How's the chest?" You frown.
"Achy." He huffs and as he breaths out heavily, chokes on a few more croaky coughs.
You crease your brow as you think about what you could do for it. At the same time you start to become aware of the fact that he's wheezing when he's breathing. Although you didn't pick up on that earlier he probably has been doing it the whole time.
"When was the last time you had pain killers?" You ask, ignoring your previous thought since there's really nothing you can do for it.
"When I first woke up." He says.
"Do you think they did anything?" You ask.
"A little." He shrugs and pulls the blanket up over his shoulders. "They certainly didn't make me vomit that's for sure."
"Do you wanna try taking some more? I'm sorry, I've got nothing else to treat you with." You sigh sadly.
"That's okay, you're doing your best." He says calmly and smiles sheepishly at you.
"Thanks." You smile back. "Just drink lots of water too. Maybe in the morning if everything's good we can try and get you to eat some bland food."
Just then you feel a yawn coming on so you try to cover it up but end up failing miserably.
"You're tired." Bucky frowns, looking at you intently.
"A little." You shrug. "Just a busy day in the ward."
"Go get some sleep, I'll be fine." He says and then gives a faint, croaky cough.
"Are you sure? You don't want anything?" You ask frowning at him.
"I'm sure. Will I see you tomorrow?" He smiles.
"Of course." You grin before getting up to leave. "Goodnight Bucky, feel better."
"Thanks doll, goodnight." He sighs.
"Bye (Y/N)!" The other two boys call.
"Bye guys." You chuckle.
To be honest you had forgotten that they were there.
On the way back to your tent in the dark you feel butterflies in your stomach. That was a really sweet conversation that you two just had. And he called you doll. You'd never heard that before, but you liked it.
The next morning when you go to check on Bucky, you are distressed to find that he has been up all night vomiting again.
"Sorry we didn't come wake you. We figured there wasn't much you could do." Rick huffs.
"It's okay, your right."
"I-I don't understand! We didn't give him anything different!" Sev says and runs a hand through his short cropped hair in distress.
"I don't understand either!" You exclaim as you look down at Bucky's trembling form wrapped up under the blankets, eyes screwed shut in agony. "I thought he was getting better!"
But he wasn't. He really wasn't.
That day at work you can hardly focus. You're so worried about this man Bucky who you hardly know and all you want to do is be by his bedside.
"(Y/N)!" May calls as she comes running over to you near the end of the day. "I ordered more medication this morning like you said to. But it won't be here for a week."
"That's good." You say to her as a mild relief washes over you.
Bucky just has to hang on that long. But the truth is, you don't know if he can.
When you tell Rick and Sev, Bucky is asleep. But you can hear his rattly breathing from across the room.
They are ecstatic to hear that help is coming but nervous just like you to see if Bucky can survive that long.
And by the next morning your already not sure if he can.
He's gotten even worse.
It's now like he's gasping for breath. You take his temperature as he lays in bed to see that it's gotten ridiculously high all over again.
When you suggest he try sitting up to see if that helps clear his airway it just causes him to get a massive head rush and brings on a nasty, flemmy coughing fit.
You're literally just about to suggest seeing if he could stomach a piece of toast or something plane when he interrupts you.
"Oh god, can I have a bucket." He gulps.
Rick rushes to get it for him and barely makes it in time for him to throw up stomach bile, his thin body convulsing as he vomits.
Throughout the week all you can do is give him cold cloths and pain medication. But the cold cloths don't help break his fever and the pain killers do nothing.
Sometimes you sit him up and pat his back as he coughs to try clear the mucus but it doesn't really work.
Sometimes you'll come into the tent and he's rolling around groaning in pain because his headache is so bad.
You spend your days worrying about him, praying that neither of his friends come in with bad news at any point. Luckily they don't. But he still does get progressively worse.
By the end of the week he seems to be drifting somewhere between conscious and unconscious and he barely talks to you with more than a moan. He's so skinny you think it's dangerous and you're just hanging on to hope that he can just hold on a little bit longer.
Finally one evening as you are cleaning up in the medical tent you hear possibly the most amazing sound that you have ever heard.
A supply truck pulling up.
You rush outside to see soldiers unloading all kinds of stuff. Finally when a crate gets brought over to the hospital tent you are the first to dive straight in.
Rummaging around you know exactly what your looking for. Right at the bottom you find it. Penicillin.
You grab it and run off to Bucky's tent before anyone can ask what you're doing.
"Guys! Guys! I've got it! I've got the medicine that Bucky needs!" You exclaim as you run into the tent.
"It's about damn time." Rick sighs tiredly.
Both him and Sev are exhausted, you know it because you are too. They've been up all night taking turns tending to their sick friend for the past few days. It even got to the point where you stayed with them too.
All of your attempts seemed to be in vain though. The most you guys could do was wipe his head with a cold cloth, give him more painkillers for his chest and head whenever he woke up, have a bucket on hand if he threw up - sometimes he hardly even woke up when this happened, just kind of rolled onto his side and wined. The worst thing was when he woke up all distressed and not knowing where he was so the three of you had to try and comfort him.
The whole ordeal has been awful and you've all put in so much work to keeping Bucky alive that you'd hate for it to all go to waste now.
"What is it?" Sev asks.
You look at the two men. They both seem to have lost the spark they had when you first met them. There are big, dark circles under their eyes, their chins rest in there palms as they lean on the side of Bucky's bed.
"Penicillin." You state. "It's a new medicine they've been using for pneumonia and so far it's been pretty successful."
"Well then what're we waiting for?" Rick says and sits more upright. "Buck. Wake up. We've got your medicine!" He says quietly as he shakes Bucky's shoulder gently.
He gives a chesty cough as he wakes up.
"Mmm." He groans. "Yay."
Although he doesn't sound anywhere near enthusiastic.
"Okay so I've got to inject it." You explain. "It shouldn't really hurt, just stay relaxed."
"No problem." He sighs and his eyes flutter closed.
You roll up his sleeve and easily push the needle through his skin, injecting the medicine that could save his life.
"There you go." You huff as you roll the sleeve back down and tuck the blanket up to his chin.
"Alright well I'll be off now. Goodnight guys." You say tiredly.
"You know you're more than welcome to stay here again." Sev says. "The bed's still set up for you."
"Well I suppose that will give me a good chance to keep an eye on him over night." You shrug. "Thanks guys."
"No problem, goodnight (Y/N)." They both say in unison as they stretch and hop into their own beds.
You crawl into the spare bed on the far side of the room and are asleep before you know it.
In the morning you are surprised to find that you got a full nights sleep. It's the first one in a few days that you haven't been interrupted by something happening with Bucky.
When you go to check on him you find that he's already awake.
"How're you feeling?" You whisper since the other two are still asleep.
"Better actually." He shrugs and sits himself up a bit.
You check him over and are delighted to see that his fever is gone. It's working. He's still a bit raspy and wheezy but even his chest sounds much better already and there is a bit more flush to his cheeks.
"You think you might want to try eat something?" You ask hopefully.
"Why not." He shrugs and smirks a little as he sits himself up against the pillow.
"Awesome, I'll go get you some toast then." You smile and rush off.
You get yourself some breakfast too and then take a piece of toast back to him. You sit with him as he eats it.
He's not that hungry so he only has about half of it but it's a start. After waiting with him for half an hour to make sure he doesn't throw it up you bid him goodbye and head to work for the day.
The day goes by so slowly and all you want to do is check on Bucky. So finally when you clock off you rush back to his tent.
What you see shocks you and makes you feel so happy. Bucky is up and walking around the room.
"Well isn't that a sight for sore eyes!" You exclaim as you walk in.
"Oh hey!" He smiles as he turns around to see you.
He looks happier then you've seen him all week. The smile on his face is wider then ever. There is more colour back in his face and his eyes are sparkling blue like you've never seen before.
He strides over to you and embraces you in a hug suddenly.
"Thank you." He murmurs.
"It's good to see you up and about! I take it your feeling better." You chuckle as you pull away, butterflies in your stomach at the fact that he just hugged you.
"I'm feeling much better already." He sighs. "I ate a whole bowl of porridge before you know."
"That's great! Where are the other two?" You ask.
"Oh I told them to go get some fresh air. I mean they've been in here all week with me I thought they would've needed a break. I feel fine enough now. Thanks to you." He smiles.
"It's just my job." You blush.
"No seriously. You saved me (Y/N). You have no idea how much that means to me. Thank you." He says softly and then takes your hand in his.
You watch him intently as he lifts your hand up to his lips and kisses it gently, never taking his eyes off of you. You smile up at him through your lashes.
"Thank you." He repeats. "I owe you one."
After that, your secret meetings with those three men don't stop. Well, with Sev and Rick they do. But not Bucky.