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He should’ve just done as Peggy said. If he had, Peggy wouldn’t be bleeding out from two shots to the shoulder. Instead, he had been reckless, throwing himself into battle like nothing could hurt him, deviating from Peggy’s plan, leading to her doing something equally as stupid and shoving him out of the way, taking bullets meant for him. Steve hadn’t ever thrown his shield before as hard as he did at the Hydra soldier that had shot her; he was fairly certain the man’s head was no longer on his shoulders and he didn’t feel a shred of regret.
They had done what they could, sulfa powder into the wounds, bandages wrapped tight, a morphine syrette, but the bleeding just wouldn’t stop, and they were still a couple hours out from the main camp with an aid station and surgeon.
Peggy was going in and out of consciousness. He hadn’t let go of the hand on her uninjured arm since they’d gotten into the transport truck, trying to give some of his strength to her. He knew it wouldn’t be enough.
“Morita, there’s nothing else we can do?”
“I’m sorry, Cap, I’ve given Peggy everything we have. Maybe if we had some plasma, but we used up the last of it. All we have left are the empty bottles.”
Steve sat quietly for a minute, rubbing his thumb over the back of Peggy’s hand, eyes roaming the back of the truck, before his eyes fell upon the box shoved into the corner.
“What if we gave her a whole blood transfusion? Would that be enough to keep her alive until we can get her to the surgeon?”
“And just where are we going to get whole blood from Steve? In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the back of a transport truck in the middle of nowhere France. ”
“Me,” replied Steve, “you’ll get the blood from me. We have a disposable transfusion set in the corner, it’ll have everything we need in it and we can use the empty plasma bottles to hold the blood since we won’t need to preserve it.”
Morita just looked at him, before calling out to Dugan to pull the truck over, and going to grab the box.
Steve laid his lips upon the knuckles of Peggy’s hand, hoping this would be enough to save her.
Steve fought Morita to try to give more than the 500ccs of blood the bottle would hold, but when he flat out refused and said not even he could recover quick enough to give more than one bottle, Steve relented. After that, all he could do was wait and hope they got back to a surgeon in time.
When the bottle was empty and the transfusion complete, Steve helped Morita turn Peggy on to her side to change the bandage wrapped over the wounds. He wasn’t quite sure what to take from the look that crossed Morita’s face when he removed the bandage and got a look at the wounds, but Peggy moaned and he was quickly distracted as her eyes started to flutter open.
“Hey, Peg, how’re you feelin’? We’re gettin’ close to camp and the surgeon’ll fix you right up.”
“I feel like I’ve been bloody well shot, Steve. That’s how I feel.”
Steve let out breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, and gave her a watery smile. She was going to make it.
As soon as they got back into camp, and the medics had whisked Peggy away to a surgeon, Morita quickly pulled him aside.
“Cap…we need to get rid of the transfusion materials. Right now.”
Giving Morita a look of confusion, Steve replied, “What are you talking about? Why would we need to get rid of them?”
“When I changed the bandages…Steve, her wounds didn’t look nearly as bad as they had. There’s no way they should have looked that different in that amount of time. All I can think is your blood must have done something to her, helped her start to heal.”
Steve’s feet had started moving toward where the other Commandos were huddling together in a circle before Morita had even finished speaking.
“We need to get rid of all of the transfusion materials. Immediately. There can’t be any traces we gave one to Agent Carter. Keep one of the other empty plasma bottles though, in case there are any questions.”
The guys didn’t even ask questions or hesitate before they all moved to the truck and began removing the evidence. Steve didn’t ask how they were going to dispose of it.
The surgeon must have heard that Captain America was pacing outside of the surgical tent, because he came out to personally give him an update on Peggy’s condition.
“Agent Carter is going to make a full recovery, Captain. We were able to remove both bullets without any problems. She’s very lucky they didn’t nick one of the arteries in the shoulder, I was surprised when we got in there that they hadn’t, actually. You and your team did a good job of stabilizing her in the field.”
“We were lucky enough to have some dried plasma on hand, sir.”
“It’s a good thing you did, it probably saved her life.”
“Can I see her? That is, I’d like to see her for myself, so that the mission report is accurate and I can let the others on my team know of her condition.”
The doctor gave him a knowing smile. “Certainly, Captain. But only for a few minutes. Agent Carter is going to need rest before we send her back to London to fully recover. Follow me.”
Steve followed the doctor inside the tent until they reached Peggy’s bedside and the doctor excused himself. Steve hardly noticed him leave. He quickly glanced around until he found a chair to pull up to her bedside, and gently grasped her hand in his, taking a deep breath before he began to speak to her.
“I’m so sorry Peggy. This was all my fault. I’m always tellin’ the guys, ‘Do as Peggy says,’ yet I seem unable to do the same. If I had just done as you said, you wouldn’t have been shot and we wouldn’t have had to…I’m so sorry, Peggy.”
“You’ve nothing to be sorry for, my darling, but it would do you well in future to do as I say. And what wouldn’t you have had to do?” Peggy rasped out.
Steve quickly glanced up from where he had been staring down at the blanket covering her and smiled at her sheepishly.
“I didn’t think you’d be awake yet.”
“Don’t deflect the question, darling, ignorance doesn’t become you. What wouldn’t you have had to do?”
Steve felt like he had a rock in his throat that the words couldn’t get past. But Peggy just looked at him pointedly and Steve knew he had no choice but to tell her. He looked around quickly to make sure they were alone before he started to speak.
“You were bleeding so much, Peggy, and you were losing consciousness, and we just couldn’t get the bleeding to stop, but we didn’t have any plasma, so we gave you a transfusion of my blood instead, and Morita said it looked like your shoulder had already started to heal and I’m so sorry Peggy, but I thought I was going to lose you and I didn’t think but if I had to do it again, I would, a thousand times, and…”
Peggy cut off his rambling with a finger to his lips, looking at him thoughtfully for a minute before she spoke.
“Well, when I thought about having you inside me, this isn’t what I pictured.”
Steve could feel his mouth drop open and his face heat, while Peggy just sat there, a smirk on her face.
“Do close your mouth darling, you look quite like a gaping fish. I would be dead if you hadn’t given me that transfusion, Steve, you saved my life. Whatever…effects, temporary or permanent, it has on me, we’ll just have to deal with it. Perhaps a conversation with Stark is in order when I get back to London, as I can only imagine they’ll be shipping me back there to recuperate. Although from what you’re telling me, it seems I won’t have to be out of the field for too long.”
“You mean you’re not sore at me?” Steve replied.
“Why would I be angry with you? I would have done the same if it had been you in my situation. Although we should probably make sure you have a supply of plasma with you on all missions going forth. I shudder to imagine what Dum Dum would be like with some serum running through him. He’d drink all the bourbon in Europe, most likely.”
Steve could only smile at her in response, a weight having been lifted off of him at her words.
“Now, you look a fright and I’m feeling the need for some sleep. Off with you to clean up, I’ll be here later.”
Steve gave her hand a finally squeeze, stood up, and turned to leave, when he was stopped by Peggy clearing her throat.
“Poor form to leave your best girl without a goodbye kiss, don’t you think, Captain?”
He couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he leaned down and kissed her.