Chapter Text
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He knows he's being looked at by a medic, but he can't get his eyes to focus to see where he is.
The bed feels softer than usual and he's in a pleasant fog rather than an anxious stir.
He must be really hurt... Pierce only brings in medics when he's seriously hurt.
The pain in his arm didn't count, they didn't care about that as long as he can still fight. He remembers his last fight had been brutal and the punishment after was nearly as bad, it must have all added up.
He senses things, people, shifting around him, he tenses. He tries to stay still, if he angers or scares one of the medics he'll be in more trouble.
It makes his head hurt.
He closes his eyes and decides not to think for just a little while.
Everything fades into the distance as sleep takes him again.
St Mary's Hospital, Brooklyn, NY, Friday October 21, 2016, 6:10 pm
Sam is still surprised that Bucky remembered him. He's been trying to wrap his head around it since Bucky told him to stay two and a half hours ago
He'd seemed so singularly focused on seeing Steve when they met, Sam didn't think the kid was taking in any information about anyone else.
He looks worse than when Sam saw him last. It's been over two month and it looks like the last good meal he had was the mac and cheese that Natasha made.
Sam wonders what damage had been done.
He'd been in pain when Sam had seen him last, bruises on his face, his left arm held protectively against his body. Now he's bruised, bloody and wrapped in bandages.
He stirs and opens his unbruised eye. He looks around but Sam doesn't think he's actually seeing anything.
Steve leans forward in his seat and the FBI agents start murmuring in the doorway. But Sam watches as Bucky's eye slides shut before he says anything or anyone else can.
Steve has been in a daze most of the day.
If you'd told him this morning that he'd be sitting by Bucky's bedside by dinner he wouldn't have believed it, but here he is.
He's here and Bucky's here and it's surreal.
So far Bucky's been out of it since Steve and Sam have got here, drifting in and out of sleep but not fully waking up.
He's looked so tired and confused when he has opened his eyes that Steve hopes he keeps sleeping.
The FBI agents who want to question Bucky have been hovering at the door, and every time he seems to wake up a bit the agents inch closer.
Steve wants to tell them to back off.
A couple nurses have come in and out, checking Bucky's vitals and making notes in his chart.
His doctor was in but didn't say anything except to tell the FBI that they needed to be patient. Apparently they consider what Bucky may knows as important to their case and feel it's imperative they get the information he might have sooner rather than later.
Steve's noticed the floor they're on is really quiet for a hospital.
There's no one going up and down the hallway except the nurses and doctor he's seen and the FBI agents they've talked to and two more in tactical gear. There are no patients in any of the nearby rooms. He saw they were all empty when he went and found a vending machine to get him and Sam some food.
It's like the FBI has Bucky purposefully placed on an empty, isolated hall.
Steve's thinking about what that might mean when Sam nudges him. He looks up and Sam nods in the direction of the bed.
Bucky's eyes are open but just barely, His head's turned towards Steve.
Steve leans over trying to see Bucky's eyes just a little better. “Bucky?” He asks softly. “Are you awake?”
“Steve?” His un-swollen eye seems to focus a bit more than it has the other times he's been conscious.
“Yeah Buck it's me, how ya feeling?”
He moves his good hand like he's going to rub his forehead but winces “ow...” Apparently the only un-bandaged part of him hurts too. Steve winces sympathetically.
“Just try to take it easy.”
Bucky blinks and looks back at Steve with so much pain and sorrow in his expression Steve can't help but be concerned. “Is is real bad Buck, should I get the nurse?”
Bucky swallows and Steve almost doesn't hear the soft words that make it past his dry throat. “I'm sorry.”
He's not sure he understands “What?”
He wakes up slowly. He feels like he's trudging through a heavy fog to get somewhere important.
He gets one eye open. Even before his eye can focus he knows who's there with him.
He's had this dream before.
Steve is sitting next to him. He's with Steve and happy and not forced to fight and get hurt and everything is fine and nothing hurts.
Except he's hurt now. Every breath is sending a wave of pain radiating down his arm and through his chest...
In those dreams he isn't bruised and broken, his arm doesn't shoot hot sparks from his shoulder to his fingers. His head doesn't pound and his knee doesn't ache.
Something is wrong.
If this isn't a dream...
If this isn't a dream than that means Pierce has Steve.
He feels his breath catch in his throat, he tries to swallow against the panicked feeling starting.
It's his fault, he'd gone to Steve's apartment. It's his fault Steve was in Pierces sites.
He wondered if the other's, Steve's friends, are alright. He hadn't meant to put anyone in danger. He still did.
He apologizes like that could make anything better.
Steve doesn't understand, of course he doesn't he's got almost no sense of self preservation, no sense of the danger he's in.
“Can't protect you from them.”
“You don't need to protect me or us.” Steve tries to assure him.
Bucky looks for a second like he didn't realize anyone else was there with them, Steve thinks it must be the pain killers or perhaps the concussion.
Bucky looks past Steve and sees Sam who gives him a small wave.
“sam” Bucky breathes out. For a moment Steve thinks Bucky's going to smile, then the heart breaking look falls back into place on his face. “I'm really sorry.”
Sam's eyebrows crease “Just relax man, the nurse'll probably bring you some jello in a few minutes, it's almost dinner time.”
“What?” Bucky looks confused looking around at the room they’re in.
“You're in the hospital Bucky.” Steve explains evenly.
“How?” His voice is rough and emotional.
“The FBI.” Steve informs him.
“You're safe.” Sam adds quickly.
Bucky looks like he's not ready to believe that. “But... but Pierce.”
“Pierce is dead.” A new voice carries from the doorway.
Bucky flinches and blinks at the new person. “How?”
“I shot him.” Agent Fury steps into the room, followed by Agent Coulson.
Steve stands up ready to tells them to back off but Bucky wants to hear what they have to say.
“You shot Pierce? When?” there's a skeptical look on his pale face.
“The raid of his facility last night. I shot him and we rescued you.”
“Who are you?” Bucky looks tiredly across the room at the agents.
“The FBI, Mr. Barnes and we've got some questions we'd like to ask you.”
Bucky narrows his one good eye at them.
“Bucky you don't have to answer anything...” Steve tells him. “They can come back when you're feeling better.”
Bucky nods his head slightly. Steve is surprised when he doesn't decline the agents. “What questions?” He asks Fury, who's moved to the foot of his bed.
The agents pull notebooks and pens from their suit pockets and Steve gets a pretty good look at Agent Fury's gun. He wonders if that was on purpose.
“Mr. Barnes do you know what the date is?” Agent Coulson starts their questioning.
Bucky thinks and then shakes his head. “no.”
“Do you know what year it is?”
“no.” He says, frustration clear on his face, as Steve stands by his bedside and Sam sits forward in his chair to listen.
Fury changes course. “Do you know when you were sent to Pierce's Reform School?”
Bucky grimaces. “November 2014.”
“It's October 21, 2016.” Fury informs him.
“what?” Bucky's voice isn't as strong as it should be and the question comes out rough and broken, his confusion is evident.
“He had you for almost two years.” Fury states.
Bucky breathes out painfully “two years...”
Steve feels sick and he hears Sam's soft expletive.
They'd known the dates and seen the videos but the reality of it all with Bucky in front of them was somehow more sobering. He'd lost two years of his life.
“Were you ever at the school?” Agent Coulson asks.
Bucky moves to hold his left arm protectively with his right. “No, they put me in a van and took me to a cell right away.”
“When did you start fighting for them?” Fury asks coldly.
“I didn't fight for them, they made me fight.” He looks paler then he did even a few minutes ago as he makes the important distinction.
“Noted,” Agent Fury nods satisfied with the answer. “When did they start making you fight?”
“As soon as they got me there, I tried to refuse, that was worse then fighting.” He winces.
“Why you?” Agent Coulson waits with his pen at the ready.
“i don't know... but Pierce...” He swallows sorely and Steve thinks to offer him some water. Bucky waves it off. “he made sure to remind me, I didn't have anyone.”
“Were there others? Did Pierce have others fighting for him?” Coulson asks after writing down a note.
Bucky nods once “yes”
“What happened to them.”
He shrugs and then winces because he shrugged.
“What other places would they take you, fight venues, gyms, doctors?”
“I don't... I don't know where we were.”
Steve wonders is Bucky was taken across state lines or maybe even out of the country. Maybe that's why the FBI is so interested in what he might know.
The videos Tony had found certainly showed that there was international interest in whatever Pierce was doing.
“We heard you escaped for a short time, how?” Fury asks now.
Bucky sinks a little lower into his pillow and his eyes seem a little less focused. He's worn out. “the doors to the van opened, I ran.”
“Why didn't you go to the police?”
“couldn't trust them, Pierce works with police.”
“You've seen him with police?” Coulson follows up.
“yes”
“Would you be able to ID who you've seen with Pierce, do you remember who was making you and the other fights fight?”
“I remember all of them.” Bucky says lowly. “But Pierce will know, know it's me...”
“Pierce is dead.” Fury reminds him.
“and Rumlow?” Bucky asks, it's the first time Steve's heard the name and he can see it causes the agents to tense.
“He escaped, we need you to help us find him.” Fury admits. “Do you know where he might go? Who would he go to?”
Bucky looks tired. “He'll come after me.”
“Are you sure he'll come after you?”
“Yes”
Coulson turns to Fury “Could we use that?”
“We could flush him out, get word out that Mr. Barnes is here.”
Steve blinks and realization comes crashing down on him “You're talking about using Bucky as bait, to catch this Rum... Rumlow. You can't do that.”
“He's not a minor, it's up to him.” Fury says directly to Steve.
“Isn't there something about not endangering civilians.” Steve doesn't let the agent intimidate him. Sam's standing next to him now.
Bucky just looks drained and nearly as colorless as bandages covering him. “steve... don't worry... they don't have to do anything, he already knows where I am.”
“How?” Steve and the agents all look to Bucky, surprised.
“there's a tracker.” Bucky's eyes close and open slowly like he's trying to stay awake.
Sam shakes his head. “Bucky that was a joke. No one really does that... right, put a tracking in someone?”
The agents give Sam a serious look. Sam sits back down.
Agent Fury steps out of the room with his cellphone in hand, Agent Coulson follows him.
Steve's more concerned now than he was before, he tries not to show it. He watches Bucky who is fighting sleep now. He puts a hand on Bucky's shoulder and sees the blue of his eye briefly before it slides shut. “It's ok, get some sleep Buck.”