Chapter Text
Bucky had been on a mission for a few days. Not the longest he’d ever been away from home but he was really looking forward to getting home and putting his feet up with a beer and watching some tv with Alpine. It was his favourite way to relax in the evening or when he came home from work or a mission.
Alpine had been part of his life for about 6 months and he knew now how people treated their pets like children. He struggled to remember when Alpine wasn’t with him but he did remember the emptiness that was filled when she trotted through his window one night and just stayed.
He entrusted her care while he was away to Amanda, one of the Shield agents stationed at the Avengers Tower. She would go into his apartment, feed Alpine, change her litter and play with her for a bit. At least, that’s what he thought was happening. That’s what had seemed to happen every other time he was away on a mission.
This time was different and Bucky had no idea right now, what he was going to walk into when he opened the door of his apartment.
Bucky hung around the Tower for a bit, after they landed, submitting his mission report and chatting with a few of the other team members. He bid them goodnight and headed home, looking forward to seeing his Number 1 girl.
After about a half hour bike ride, Bucky parked his bike out the front of his apartment building and headed up the stairs. Unlocking the door, he expected to see Alpine trotting across the lounge/foyer towards him but that didn’t happen.
“Alpine, come here girl, I’m home” he said loud enough for her to hear no matter where she was in the apartment.
Bucky checked the lounge, bathroom and bedroom before heading into the kitchen. What he saw in the kitchen horrified him. Alpine’s litter tray was clean and her food bowl was full, almost overflowing. And she wasn’t answering him or coming when he called. He couldn’t hear the little bell on her collar and he was starting to panic.
He took out his phone and called the Tower.
“Avengers Tower, Hannah speaking, how may I direct your call.”
“Hannah, Hi, it’s Sergeant Barnes here, can you patch me through to Amanda please?”
“Sure Sergeant Barnes, one moment please.”
Bucky listened as the phone rang at the other end and just as he was about to hang up, Amanda answered.
“Hello, Amanda speaking.”
“Umm, Hi Amanda, it’s Bucky.”
“Oh hey Bucky, what’s occurring?”
“Umm, I’m really trying not to panic right now Amanda, did you happen to take Alpine back to your place at all?”
“Uhh, No Bucky, I didn’t. Why’s that?”
“Well, I just got home and her litter tray is clean and her food is full but I can’t find her anywhere. She didn’t meet me at the door like she usually does, she’s not coming when I call her and I’ve checked all her favourite spots and she’s nowhere. When were you last here?”
“Well… I mean, I was there this morning of course, you wanted me to go over and feed her every morning before work, and obviously I cleaned the litter as well.”
“And was she here when you were here this morning Amanda?” Bucky had gone into interrogation mode and spoke in sharp, clipped words in a no-nonsense tone. He wanted answers and Amanda was damn well going to give them to him.
“As far as I remember she was.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Bucky was getting angrier as the moments ticked by with no sign of Alpine.
“Well… Ok, so, my boyfriend surprised me with a trip away. I knew I wasn’t going to get to your place for a couple of days, so I put extra food there the last time I was there, but I’m sure she was there”
“When did you go away”
“We were only gone for 2 days, Bucky I’m so sorry.”
“Amanda!” Bucky shouted “I asked you to go over every day. So this means Alpine could have been missing for almost 3 days now and .. You know what, I’m just going to go out looking for her, and I’ll be finding a new cat minder.” He hung up abruptly, so angry at Amanda for putting his little fur ball in jeopardy the way she did.
**********
Bucky called Sam and let him know what was going on. Sam offered to fly around the neighbourhood and see if he could see her from the air, but he didn’t hold out much hope.
If she’d been missing for nearly 3 days now, she could be anywhere, or in any state. He tried not to think about her lying in a gutter somewhere but he had to be realistic that it could come to that.
Bucky went around the block on foot, calling Alpine and looking everywhere he could think of that she might hide.
Sam & Bucky met up back at his apartment, they were sitting at the kitchen table trying to work out what to do next, when Bucky thought he heard a very quiet meow. His super hearing obviously helped as when he asked Sam if he could hear it, Sam said no.
Bucky got down on his hands and knees, crawling around the floor trying to find where the sound was coming from.
Eventually he narrowed it down to the lounge area and following the faint mewling, he found Alpine. She had fallen down between the lounge and the wall and got her paw caught on something so she couldn’t get herself out. Given Amanda hadn’t been there for at least 2 days and the litter hadn’t been used, that means Alpine had been stuck there since not long after Amanda left last.
“Sam, she’s here, OMG, she’s so weak, she’s been without food or water for nearly 3 whole days!
“My car is downstairs, wrap her in a blanket, and I’ll drive you to the local vets.” Sam offered.
Bucky found the warmest, fluffiest blanket he could find and wrapped Alpine carefully and they headed straight to Sam’s car.
“Oh sweet girl, It’s going to be ok, we’ll get you help, just stay with me Malysh (Baby). Sam, get us there fast, please, I can’t lose her.”
“On it Buck, hang on.”
Sam got them to the closest vet clinic in around 8 minutes - a minor feat in almost peak hour Brooklyn traffic.
**********
Yn pov
It had been a busy day in the clinic and I was looking forward to heading home and relaxing with a glass of wine and a bubble bath.
I’d been in the back room for about half an hour, sorting through the drugs and equipment we had used today and noting down what we needed to re-order when I heard some shouting from the front. I put down what I’d been doing and peaked out, seeing 2 very large men, one with something wrapped in a blanket, shouting and very agitated.
Lacey, the receptionist yelled for me “Yn, can you please come out here - we have an emergent patient for you to see.”
‘Good afternoon gentlemen”. The larger of the 2 men, the one holding the bundle in the blanket, looked at me with panic in his eyes. I quickly registered the brilliant blue of his eyes which made my breath catch in my chest for a split second.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and quickly recovered “I’m Yn, the vet on duty this afternoon, what’s the trouble?”
The other man, obviously knowing how panicked the first man was, stepped in. “I’m Sam Wilson, this is Bucky Barnes, and the bundle is Alpine, his cat.” Sam quickly relayed the events as they knew them to me as Bucky stood there just cradling and rocking Alpine.
I held my hands out to Bucky and said “May I?”
He just nodded and handed the cat over to me. I carefully unwrapped the bundle as I walked back into the consultation room with the men following me. Lacey called out “We haven’t got all their details yet.”
“That’s ok Lace” I responded “ This is urgent care, we can work all that out afterwards.”
“So, Mr Barnes, go through with me again what happened please?”
“Bucky. Sorry but can you just fix her please? I need her to be ok.”
“Mr Barnes, I know how stressful this can be, please just sit and take a few deep breaths for me. I just want to go over once again what happened and how long you think she’s been without food and water while I’m examining her and taking her vitals please?”
Bucky went over everything that had happened, including the phone call with the person who was supposed to be looking after Alpine. During this time I took her temperature, checked her heart rate among other things. She lay on my table very listless, which was to be expected.
A few times she tried to lift her head to look at me and each time, I stroked her head and got my head down close to her, giving her forehead kisses and whispering various phrases to her like ‘that’s a good girl’ and ‘I know’ and the like, to make sure she stayed calm for her as well as for her owner.
“Ok Mr Barnes..” I began
“Bucky, please?” He offered.
“Sure, Bucky, your little one is severely dehydrated. That’s the most pressing concern, cats can go up to 2 weeks without food but only about 3 days without water. I would like to keep her here for a day or so, if that’s ok with you. We can set her up on iv fluids to rapidly infuse her body with hydration. But once she’s a bit better, I’d also like to do an x-ray on her paw, just to make sure that she doesn’t have a break or anything and that’s why she couldn’t get out from behind the couch.”
He looked a little lost so I went over to the chair he was sitting in and bent down so I was eye level with him.
“Bucky, this isn’t your fault. We have to trust other people to look after our animals when we have to go away.” I reached out and put my hand on his, causing him to snap his head up and look me directly in the eyes. Once again I noticed the striking blue of his eyes and felt like I could totally get lost in them.
“Doc” he said, and I could hear the tears in his voice “Is she going to be ok?”
I squeezed his hand and said “Look, Im not going to sugar coat this for you, I want to be honest with you so you are prepared. She is in about as bad a condition as she could be in, but I will do everything in my power to make sure we get her through this and home to you as soon as possible. Ok?”
He nodded and squeezed my hand back. “Now, I’m going to give you my card and it has my mobile number on there as well, so you can call me any time for an update, and you’re welcome to come in and see her during normal working hours if you need to have a cuddle or just be with her.”
“Thank you Doc, thank you so much. She’s about all I have, except my friends at work and I just..” His voice petered off to nothing.
I stood up and gave his shoulder a rub “I understand Bucky. Now, If you can head out to see Lacey, I’ll get Miss Alpine situated and then you can come back here and see her again before you leave if you want.”
Bucky & Sam headed out to reception to get the paperwork sorted for Alpines stay. While they were gone, I set her up with a drip to rehydrate her. While I did this I thought about her condition - I had wanted to be as honest as I could with Bucky, when I told him she was in the worst condition I’d ever seen, that was no lie. What I didn’t tell him was that I was so worried about her that I was going to stay here through the night to make sure that everything was ok with her, he didn’t need that extra stress.
I cradled her little head in my hand, rubbing soft circles on her forehead with my thumb and said softly “It’s ok little one, I’m here with you. We’ll have you up and running around and annoying your Dad in no time. Just hang in there for me, ok?”
I started singing to her and her little eyes closed.
**********
Bucky pov
We’d finished the paperwork and I left Sam in reception and went back to see Alpine one more time before I left her there for the night. I knew I wasn’t going to sleep much tonight, I was used to her little body curled up against mine or on the pillow next to mine while I slept.
As I stepped through the door I could hear singing but I couldn’t tell what the song was. I cleared my throat so Yn would know I was there and she looked up, her cheeks flushing pink at being caught singing to Alpine.
“Sorry Bucky” she said “I think music is a great healer and I love singing to the animals to relax them. She’s asleep now, but I’m sure she’d still love to hear your voice and feel your touch. Go ahead”
I nodded to Yn and spent about 10 minutes just stroking her and talking to her like I normally would sitting there watching TV.
“Thanks again Doc, I don’t want to leave her but I best not keep you any longer and try and get some sleep myself.”
He held out his hand and I took it in mine and said “No problem Buck. Use the number on that card, whenever you need to. And we have your number on file so if anything happens, we’ll call you.”
“Well, I hope I don’t hear from you Yn, in the nicest possible way of course.” He chuckled and it was good to see him having a genuine positive emotion in amongst all of this.
“I understand, try and get some sleep ok?”
With that he turned and headed out the door, leaving me with his precious bundle.