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He saw it happen, saw how it all unraveled and he still wasn't quick enough to get out of the way again, no one could have.
One moment he was still climbing up the abandoned car to get to higher ground, to get to Wanda and help her keep her focus, and then he saw how the kid with the fire abilities spun out of her red mist. One second just, really. One short second of freezing on the spot was all it took to have escape be impossible.
The kid saw him, his hands flew up. T'Challa saw the fire and threw himself back.
But it was too late.
And he screamed as the flames touched the suit, and then everything went black as the car exploded under him.
--
Tony paced.
He was good in pacing, unbelievangly good in pacing, he had excelled in pacing at an age where most kids were still stumbling along on their feet. Just one more thing to add to his list of neuroses, pacing was more important than breathing sometimes.
And he was being watched.
But that was something he was used to for even longer still, there had always been eyes on him, welcome and unwelcome ones. These ones now, they were neither really, not annoying but also not really calming either.
"It wasn't our fault, not yours, not mine, not Wanda's, you know that right?" Sam asked him and Tony huffed, brought both hands up into his hair and pulled, hard, for a long moment until he finally stopped pacing again and turned to face the other Avenger. Turned to face Cap. It's been years by now, years, you could read it like a breathing timeframe on not so little Riley's face.
The boy was six now, was going to school. Six years of Sam being Captain America, and they had become friends, it had taken time, long time, but they had talked, worked alongside another, trusted each other now.
"Of course, I know. I know what the facts are telling me, still doesn't mean I'll stop blaming myself anytime soon. My team, my responsibility, all of you are." He reminded the man still wearing Cap's uniform, sitting in one of the hard chairs in the waiting room area of this damn hospital.
"T'Challa is not an Avenger." Sam pointed out, his voice was calm, just as calm as his face looked to be for someone who didn't know him better, his eyes spoke a different language, and his hands, constantly turning over the phone in them, they showed the real amount of worry.
It had looked bad. Really bad.
"He might as well be an honorary one. He came to our aid because we asked, because he knows this damn city better than any of us and he was in the city anyway." Tony grumbled, he wanted to do something, rip something apart, punch something, destroy something and then put it back together again. He just needed to get something to have his hands busy.
"We asked, yes, but he came to help us because he wanted to. He knows what he is doing, Tony, sometimes I think he is the only one who really knows what he is doing." Sam huffed and then looked down when his phone buzzed again. He grimaced and Tony sighed, all potential fight bleeding out of his limbs as he slumped into a chair next to Sam.
"Barnes?"
"Steve. Said he got a text from Buck that points to him being home again. God, this conversation is going to suck." Sam whined and Tony snorted, but quietly agreed. Just because they didn't name whatever they had, or spend every free minute with each other, didn't mean that not everyone could see just how much they loved each other. He pulled out his own phone, send another text to Rhodey, asking after clean up progress and if he needed any help with the officials.
'Everything running smooth. No one is throwing a hissy fit yet. Any updates on T'Challa?' The reply came not a second later, and Tony let his heart calm down a little bit more, knew that leadership was in good hands with his husband as long as Sam and him were preoccupied with hospital business.
'Not yet. Still waiting.' He send back quickly and then looked up when Sam got to his feet.
"I'm gonna take this outside, if you don't mind. He's gonna...well, freak out is gonna put it mildly." Sam said and the grimaced again, reaching up to rub a hand against his temple, before he sighed and then walked towards the small balcony at the end of the corridor. Tony leaned back in the chair and began to tap his foot against the ground.
Three hours.
And counting.
--
"I need you to sit down."
No matter how you did it, or to whom it was, no matter how close you were to them, delivering bad news always sucked.
"Preferably alone."
Sam flinched and grimaced when he heard Bucky's gasp, as if his words had been able to let him imagine anything else than something bad having had happened. God fucking shit. He heard fast steps, then a door closing and someone sitting down on a bed.
"Sam..." Bucky turned really quiet and hesitant, voice becoming pleading, "What happened? Did Steve....is Riley okay?" He wanted to know, strained control quite obvious in his questions and Sam winced when it dawned on him that Bucky thought he had been calling as himself. Oh fucking hell.
"Buck...Steve and Riley are okay, I was out...The Avengers are in London right now and..." He wasn't even able to get the smallest of explanation out because Bucky got it within the next breath.
"No!"
Of course he would know where T'Challa had been this week.
"No, Sam, please tell me I am wrong, please don't tell me that he..."
"I'm sorry, Buck." He apologized, bringing up a hand to cover his face when Bucky's breath got hitched for a second, "I've called Shuri, Raji and her are on the way already, they should be here any second now. Raji already called ahead to talk to the doctors, they are doing everything they can to ensure that his pain is as minimal as possible." He explained and Bucky gave a muffled sound that quite vividly portrayed the image in Sam's head of someone pressing a fist against a mouth.
"Can you tell me what happened?" He wanted to know after a short moment of silence and Sam turned to lean back against the balcony railing, watching Tony who had picked up his pacing again.
"We were called out to detain a group of teenagers, four of them, enhanced powers, it seems that each of them is able to control one of the elements. And they were angry, we are still in the guessing phase, but chances are high their powers consumed them. It was...not easy, middle of Piccadilly Circus, public everywhere, we couldn't risk getting them hurt, even if it was just one scratch. T'Challa came to our help when we asked for back-up, we needed more man-power... It was an accident, we lost control over the fire kid for a split second because the air kid had conjured up a tornado that forced Tony and me to the ground. The fire kid focused in on Wanda, T'Challa was hit when he went to support her...and then again when the car he landed on exploded."
Bucky was silent again, and Sam would have honestly preferred him screaming, cursing or yelling, even blaming him, everything would have been better than this utter silence. He saw through the glass door how Tony straightened up suddenly, feet stopping and he already made a step back towards the door. In the next moment, Raji raced by Tony, white coat flying and vanished behind the no access doors, and Tony stretched out a hand to greet the woman in the red coat.
"Raji and Shuri are here, Buck. It's gonna be okay, you know that, he is a tough nut, nothing will crack him so quick. You hear me?" Bucky's reply was a long exhale, colored with relief.
"I need three plane tickets." He answered, still shaky, but also mixed with that old familiar stubborness, "And don't you dare try and talk me out of this now, Sam. I need to be there."
"I understand, Buck, I'll see what I can do, hang on a second..." Sam promised him and then held out an arm when Shuri stepped onto the balcony, "I'm so sorry."
"Not your fault, Sam." She smiled weakly and then briefly hugged him, "Bucky?" She wanted to know and Sam nodded, holding out his phone when she held out a hand questioningly, "Buck?...Hi...You know him, he's gonna be fine, he wouldn't want us to go crazy with worry...Yeah, I know, I know. I send Naomi over with a jet, if you...Yes, of course." Shuri agreed to whatever Bucky must have said, "No, no, I understand. I'm sure he will want to see them, too. It'll mean much to him to have them close...I promise....He ended the call." Shuri told him in the next second and Sam took his phone back.
"Waiting game, now?" He smiled at her and she nodded, but groaned.
--
Bucky found himself staring at the mirror over the sink in his bathroom minutes after he had talked with Sam and Shuri, his head a complete mess. T'Challa had been hurt, he had been hurt bad enough that he was in the hospital now, bad enough that Raji had needed to come in. Bad enough that Shuri had flown in, had left Wakanda for the first time in years to get to her brother's side.
He felt sick.
He felt utterly sick to his stomach. Fire. Exploding car. Who knew what could have all gone wrong? Just how bad T'Challa was...
"Papa?" The little voice had him jerk his head up, muscles in his neck complaining but his heart screaming even louder when he caught sight of Tereza's little worried face peeking around the door to the master bedroom. Her bottom lip tucked under her teeth, that nervous little tick she had picked up from him. Bucky sighed, fluently knelt down, he felt so tired suddenly, so scared and tired as he opened up his arms and let Tez scramble over and into them, hugging his daughter close to his chest, burying his face in her hair to let him breathe for just a second.
He could feel the headache growing at the back of his head, had been feeling it since this morning already, it hadn't been a good day. The farm was running smooth as always, but Lia had had nightmares all night, proceeded to cry for the better part of the morning and then screamed herself hoarse whenever Bucky had needed to set her down for even a second. He had thought the planned trip into the city to fill up their storage would distract her, but instead she had tripped on Niculai's front door steps and had knocked open her chin, both knees, her right hand and elbow and banged her head against the floor.
That had been the last blow and Lia had screamed until her voice had broken and Bucky had dropped Tez off with Maria so that he could get Lia to a doctor. His little angel looked like a mummy now, sleeping in her tiny bed with bandages and bandaids from head to toe, knocked out by the painkillers the doctor had given her and Bucky had thought he could take a breath before starting on dinner with Tez.
Seemed like fate had had other plans in check.
"Did something happen, Papa?" Tez asked, wide round eyes looking up at him when he had pulled back again a little.
"Baba hot hurt, my sweetheart." He explained quietly and she teared up immediately, "But Raji is already there and he will take good care of him, Tez, you know that he is a very good doctor." He could do this, and if only he was able to pull himself together to be strong for the girls, he could do this, he had to be strong for them.
They would go to London, they would be there when T'Challa woke up again. Everything would be fine.
"Can...Can we go to Baba, Papa?" Tez asked and Bucky could feel and hear how quick and hard her little heart was thumping, his ears also picking up on the sound of a jet setting down on the field outside the half repaired paddock.
"Naomi just landed, go and meet her, alright? And then let help you pack a bag?" He proposed and she nodded, going in for another tight hug, he kissed her head, "It's gonna be okay, my sweet, it's gonna be okay." He promised her and wiped some tears away with careful thumbs, then watched how she raced off.
He remained kneeling until he heard the front door open and close, and then somehow managed to find the strength to stand up and walk into the bedroom. He pulled out the dufflebag and rushed to throw in some clothes, just some stuff they would need and didn't have in T'Challa's apartment in London. He tiptoed into Lia's room and nearly went to his knees again when he saw his baby sleep, eyes all red from crying, clutching the black cat so tightly to her chest.
He grabbed some clothes for her, the book he had started to read to her yesterday and some other favourite toys of her. He had just zipped up the bag and sent a message to Niculai to ask him for looking after the farm and the animals for a few weeks whena thin but warm hand got placed against his neck, having him breathe out heavily.
"He isn't critical, it's bad but it's not life threatening." Naomi told him, turned him around slowly until she could hug him, "Tez is packing her bag, you need me to get anything for Lia?"
"No, I got everything." He whispered and Naomi tipped up his chin, "I'm sorry, it's just been a very long day already, didn't get any sleep in two nights, and then everything with Lia today and now this...I'm not used to him getting hurt, I don't know what to..."
"Hey, Bucky." She shushed him,tenderly stroking over his arms, "He's gonna be fine, he will complain and bitch but he will heal. And he will be so happy when he sees the little ones. And you. Come on, get Lia, I'll take your bag and get Tez strapped in."
He stole another hug before he let her go and then walked on quiet feet into Lia's room again, grabbing the soft blanket from the rocking chair. Lia stirred only briefly when he picked her up and wrapped her into the soft blue blanket that the girls had gifted them with months ago.
"Shh, my little angel." He soothed her and hummed that Romanian lullaby she had loved from the first second of him trying it out, Lia wrapped her uninjured arm around his neck and then fell asleep again, still clutching the black cat tightly in her small hands.
He locked the house, locked the gate and then walked over to the black jet, letting Naomi drop a soft kiss into Lia's hair before sitting down in a seat and strapping them in. Two minutes later the jet shot off into the sky.
--
The waiting game had reached a point where Tony really needed a toaster to just keep himself from combusting, lucky enough for him and the hospital stuff, Sam was prepared and had spend enough time with Rhodey already talking about their husbands' nervous ticks. He shoved a disassembled work phone into Tony's hands when he couldn't stop touching the lamp standing right next to him.
From across the room Shuri raised an eyebrow, but whatever face Sam made at her seemed to be answer enough.
And then things got so interesting anyway that Tony didn't need the phone anymore.
The woman with the long black hair who stormed into the waiting room was familiar, Tony knew her as one of the Dora Milaje fighters who was also T'Challa's cousin, even though he couldn't recall her name right away. She rushed over to her Queen, spoke some quick words in Wakandan and had Shuri get to her feet with a small frown, Tony and Sam tensed up.
Only, Sam relaxed immediately again when the next person came around the corner from the elevators, face set into that way too familiar scowl and wearing a jacket that Tony had seen often enough jumping off of balconies to get to trapped civilians.
Barnes.
He wasn't the surprise that drew Tony up short, had his mouth drop open and his mind coming to a complete and utter stop for at least four seconds. He had half expected Barnes to show up, Romania wasn't that far from England, and the man clearly loved T'Challa with all his heart.
No, what drew a small shocked noise out of his lungs was the small pre-school kid clutching his right hand and the miserable looking toddler carried on his left hip.
Kids?
Barnes had kids?
Both girls looked clearly tired and worn out, both girls had only recently cried, which as his mind provided him now with not a small amount of sarcasm was probably normal when one of your parental figures was so badly hurt that they had to be in the hospital.
Because if Barnes had kids, T'Challa had too, so much was clear, and holy fucking shithole, they had daughters.
And no one was telling him anything anymore. For real. He glanced over to Sam when he could finally move again and was met with a smirk and a shoulder shrug. Right, privacy. Not being buddies with Barnes, why would the guy tell him he became a Dad.
Barnes stopped when he was standing somewhere between Shuri and Sam, let go of the older girl who looked torn for a second between Shuri and Sam but then glanced at the for her unknown man next to Sam and hurried over to the Queen of Wakanda. Shuri smiled, leaned down and picked her up, talked to her quietly and hugged her back when the little girl wrapped both arms around her neck.
Barnes kept hold of the toddler, wrapped in a soft looking blue blanket the girl was scowling just as bad as her father, grumpy and visibly tired and done with everything. Tony wondered what had bloody happened to the kid who looked bandaged up from head to toe, Sam was thank the heaven's on the same line.
"Jeez, Lia, what have you been up to, little wolf?" He asked and moved over to Barnes, reaching up to squeeze his shoulder once and then leaned in to greet the girl who twisted away and buried her face in the black cat plushie she was holding. Sam pouted, Barnes sighed.
"Bad day, really bad day. Don't ask." He begged and Sam knocked their shoulders together, Barnes turned to look at Tony, "Stark."
"Barnes." He sent right back, really proud of himself when he didn't immediately blurt out questions after questions after the two kids he had brought along. Both girls had hair like Barnes, were lightly tanned like Barnes, the little one had the same stormy blue eyes like him, while the older ones had brown ones, like T'Challa. But they couldn't be biological now, could they? Tony did the math in his head, the older girl looked to be around five, the little one was maybe two, and only one year ago both Barnes and T'Challa had without an ounce of hesitation come out to assist in taking down another AIM rebellion.
They wouldn't have done that if they had had a little kid and a baby at home.
He really needed explanations, answers, but he also didn't want to annoy anyone right now with his questions. He knew they were all more than just worried about T'Challa, had reasons to, and it was quite obvious that Barnes was on edge, clearly holding himself together and away from a nervous breakdown just because of the kids.
Tony could wait.
--
Raji stepped back out into the waiting room not long after Bucky had finally sat down in a chair, Lia clinging to him now, not even looking up when Sam tried to play with her cat. Shuri was on her feet immediately, Tez on her hip, and Naomi ended the call she had been making back to her sister in Wakanda, both of them hurried over, but Raji walked over to Bucky first, drawing them along.
"He's an idiot." Raji began, ducking away from the slap Shuri directed at his head, "But a lucky one, he'll be fine." He continued and everyone seemed to take a collective breath of pure relief, "He'll need to take it easy for a little bit, even he can't heal over night from these burns, but it's all gonna be okay. They're settling him into a private room now, but he'll still be sleeping for some hours." Bucky sighed and dropped his face into Lia's curls, Raji squeezed his shoulder.
"He's not in pain, more or less high as a kite right now, but he is sleeping comfortable." Raji soothed the last worry away, "I can't say the same thing about this little kitten though." He declared and crouched down so he could look into Lia's face who ducked behind her blanket again, "Ah no, don't hide from uncle Raji. What have you been doing, Lia, hm? You look like your Baba."
"How about Mimi and I take Tez down into the cafeteria, get something to eat?" Shuri directed at Bucky who slowly looked up again while Raji leaned closer to Lia and tried to coax her out of hiding, "Raji can look over Lia and you can take a breath, go and see Chall." She proposed and he nodded, the hard thudding behind his temples made it hard to focus already.
He was gonna be okay. T'Challa was going to be okay and Bucky felt like crying. Felt like crying and like relief crashing through every part of his body, making him so undeniable tired. So he only nodded and Shuri set Tez down onto her feet again, took one of her hands and let Naomi take the other, and then the three of them walked off towards the elevator.
"I'm..." Tony spoke up and Bucky looked over to him, "I'm gonna tell the team and drive over there to see how they are doing. Wilson, stay here if you want." Sam nodded gratefully and then Bucky nodded at Stark as well, he left towards the exit.
"I have to call Steve, but I'll find you after, yeah? Bring you some coffee?" Sam offered up and Bucky rolled his head upon his shoulder as a sign of the gratitude he couldn't put into words right now, Sam patted his head and then stood up.
"Come on." Raji said when Sam had walked around a corner, "Let's find an empty treatment room and I'll take a look at both of you."
"I'm fine." Bucky protested and slowly got to his feet, Lia complaining quietly as well, Raji hummed and didn't say anything as he directed him along the corridor towards a set of doors.
--
"Okay, now let's look at those ouchies, little wolf."
It had taken a couple of minutes of convincing and pleading but Lia relented finally and let Raji set her upon the bed, stretched out legs and arms for him, quiet still but cooperating, and not creating any of the fuss and fight she had put up for the doctor in Bucharest. The kids trusted Raji, let him be doctor and uncle. They loved both sides in him.
"Oh that looks painful, my angel." Raji said after he had unwrapped her little hand, Bucky leaned against the window and let the cool glass soothe his headache, "You want an ice pack?" Raji asked, grinning down at Lia who didn't smile back but at least didn't duck away again, as she held still for him to put some healing salve on her cuts. Bucky glanced over to him, tired eyes catching brown ones.
"Do I get a chance to deny the headache?" Bucky asked and sighed when Raji looked at him, challenging look in his eyes. It had taken quite a while for Bucky to get used to Raji's gift, his powers, after he had spent so much time getting perfect at playing it off, denying the truth and pretending he was completely fine. T'Challa had seen through most of his evading tactics quickly, but it had been Raji who had been able to detect even the smallest twitch in him without even blinking.
"Right." He concluded and walked to sit down on the bed behind his daughter, carefully stroking a hand through her curls, "It's fine, Raji, it's been a tough couple of days."
"For both of you, huh?" The Queen's fiancé mentioned and breathed a quick kiss to Lia's fingertips, finally having her giggle, "Lean back, Buck, get ten minutes of power napping. I got her."
Bucky did lean back and closed his head, kept one hand at Lia's back to show her that he was still around, but he couldn't cut himself off just yet.
"You know...I know that he isn't invincible." He started off quietly while Raji playfully hissed and oohd over Lia's knees, "But he...he doesn't get hurt, he never gets hurt, not like this. He calls when he goes out, or texts me, and then he calls when he gets home again."
"He's stubborn." Raji told him, "Stubborn and too damn lucky sometimes. He likes to hide himself away when he got hurt in the past, just waits it out til he is healed on his own. He isn't invincible by far, but he is good, a very good fighter, a good diplomat." Raji chuckled and Bucky sighed, "He knows you worry, you know, it's a good motivation for him to get home in one piece, gives him more focus out there than he ever had before."
Bucky went silent then, tried to shut off for some minutes, he knew all of this might have not hit him so hard if the last days had been easier. And not filled with not a single minute of sleep, with late night phone calls to T'Challa in a desperate hope that his voice might calm their little angel down.
When he came to and blinked open his eyes again, Lia was sitting on the bed next to him still, once more looking like a baby mummy, sucking on a lollipop and playing with Raji's keychain while he was humming to himself on the spinning chair right next to her, quick fingers wrapping her black cat into bandages.
"Nurse came by, they have his room ready, if you want you can see him. I can take care of Lia." Raji offered up when he got aware of Bucky pushing himself upright again, an ice pack had been sitting on his head and Bucky caught it with a quick hand. He turned to look at his younger daughter.
"Lia, Papa will go and see Baba now, okay? Uncle Raji will stay with you, but Papa will be right back. Okay? I won't be long." He spoke to her in Romanian and Lia held up her unbandaged hand, Bucky smiled and dropped kisses all over it until she was giggling, "I'll be very quick." He repeated and Lia pulled her lollipop out of her mouth.
"Papa kiss Baba better?" She wanted to know and Bucky grinned, headache for a moment forgotten as he nodded and looked down at the bright eyes of his littlest wolf.
"I promise."
--
A nurse pointed him to the right room and then closed the door behind him and Bucky took a very deep breath before he looked up and dared to glance at the sleeping man in the bed. Raji hadn't been wrong, he thought and walked closer, T'Challa certainly looked like his youngest daughter right now. Both of them banged up, and bandaged up, though Bucky doubted that Raji had kissed his best friend's fingers, knees and feet like he had done with his daughter.
Raji was more the kind who was already collecting his breath for the lecture that Shuri and Naomi would give him all freedom for, he knew like no one else except for Bucky maybe now how to push T'Challa's button all the way down.
But right now, that didn't matter, and Bucky slowly sat down on the chair by his bedside, eyes taking in the bandages burns. Hands. Arms. Legs. Neck. His chin.
"You're an idiot." He spoke up after a long moment of silence, only the sounds of the heart monitor echoing off the walls, "You're a selfless idiot and I love you. And I need you to come back to us, Chall." He whispered, one hand carefully reaching for so still fingers on the white bedsheets. T'Challa hated white sheets.
"On the flight here I tried to blame someone...I was so tired and angry suddenly, I wanted to go and yell at someone, to have someone to blame for this, but there is no one to blame. It was an accident, and you wanted to help, because you're you. And I love you so much." He said and leaned forward, let his forehead drop onto the edge of the mattress, "We're all here for you, and you're gonna be okay." He continued and rolled his head to the side, watching the steady rise and fall of T'Challa's chest, the peacefulness of his face, "You're gonna be okay and you can be damn sure we're not gonna go back home to the farm until you're all good again."
Stretching up he pressed a soft kiss to T'Challa's lips and cheek, tracing his fingers over his hand and up his arm, skipping over the bandaged parts, "Come back to me, babe." He whispered and then closed his eyes when the tears began to fall.
--
Back in the waiting room, Sam was pouting over Lia refusing to leave Raji's arms now, no longer using her blanket as a shield or hiding her face behind her cat but absolutely refusing to let go of the man with the bright grin directed at Sam's face.
"You're just jealous." Raji chuckled and Sam stuck his tongue out at him, making a grand show out of cuddling the black cat to his chest.
"Jealous? Of you? Never man, never. Have you seen my husband and my son?" Sam countered and Raji raised an eyebrow, inclinged his head towards Shuri who was coloring with Naomi and Tez at the table in the corner.
"Have you seen my fiancée?" Raji protested quietly and Sam rolled his eyes, making a funny face at Lia when she glanced to him again, still playing with Raji's keychain.
"You guys are doing the uncle competition all wrong." Shuri pointed out without looking at them and Sam snorted.
"Says their only aunt." He hit back at her, prompting her to deadpan at him and Naomi and Tez to snicker. When his phone buzzed and then rang, Sam looked away from them and quickly smiled when he saw the display of his phone, "Hey, Tez, wanna come here and say hi to Uncle Steve?"
Abandoning her pencils and picture, Tez jumped down from her chair and ran over him so fast that all four adults blinked at her for a moment or two.
"Ha, who is the coolest now?" Sam wanted to know with a smug grin and pressed accept on the video call, holding the phone out for Tez to take.
"Riley." The three Wakandans chorused back at him together just as Tez started grinning and beaming and lighten up like the sun itself, Romanian spilling from her lips in quickfire while the boy on the other end of the line replied in excited French. And Sam had to admit as he glared at the others, his son was the best.
"I'm still the only uncle who can fly." He muttered and then looked to his left when someone snorted, spotting Bucky leaning back against the no access doors, eyes red now, looking more exhausted than ever, the signs of having cried still all over his face. But he was also smiling.
"They both love both of you to pieces, there is no competition." He said quietly and Shuri walked over to him, hugged him, held him for a very long moment, "Nurse said family can see him now, stay with him until he wakes up."
"My clue to finally face that mountain of paperwork and Stark's curious questions." Sam announced and Bucky looked over to him.
"Thank you, for being here, Sam." He told him and Sam nodded, didn't need to use any words to show Bucky that he would always do it again. He finished up the conversation between Tez and Riley, promised a reunion in the near future and then kissed the girls goodbye before walking off.
--
The very first active thought in his head was 'hospital', he was in the hospital because no other place in this freaking city smelled this clean, this much after antiseptic and disinfectant spray. The bed was uncomfortable, the pillows way too soft and he already knew everything would be white, white, white. He hated white sheets, you only had white sheets in hospitals, and he hated hospitals.
He sensed at least six people in the room, all of them breathing more or less calm and steady, sitting more or less close by. One of them very much right on the bed with him, little hands tapping away on his shoulder and chest, tracing along the tattoo on his upper arm, and he could have recognized those curious little fingers everywhere.
T'Challa smiled and then slowly blinked open his eyes, needing a moment to get used to the light but then coming face to face with his older daughter. Tez squeaked and then leaned down to press a very loud kiss to his forehead.
"Baba!" She cried out in pure joy and happiness and he brought up a hand to cradle the back of her head in one broad palm, he distantly felt how sore his body was, but there was no pain.
"Hello, my little wolf." He whispered and then let his smile broaden even more when Bucky appeared behind Tez, smiling tiredly but looking so relieved, "Hey." T'Challa breathed out and reached out a hand to him, Bucky intertwined their fingers, "I'm sorry for being an idiot."
"You're awake, you're forgiven." Bucky told him, squeezing his hand before letting go and picking up their oldest, Tez happily curled against his chest, beaming down at him still.
T'Challa turned his head to the other side, brows furrowing when he caught sight of the sleeping baby girl in his best friend's arms, covered in the blue blanket but still visibly bandaged up.
"What..." he began but Bucky hushed him, setting Tez down and letting her bound over where Naomi was sitting at the foot of his bed, he leaned down and kissed him, careful.
"I'll explain later, it's not important right now. She's okay, Raji's looked her over again already. The two of you will heal together now." Bucky soothed his worries at least a little away and T'Challa looked to his sister next.
"I'm gonna get a lecture, huh?" He wanted to know quietly and Shuri deadpanned at him, letting her look be answer enough, "In my first still drugged up defense, I thought the suit was fire prooved." Bucky sat down at his side again and snorted, resting his head against T'Challa's neck.
"There is fire prooved, brother, and there is kids with enhanced fire powers and exploding cars." Shuri pointed out for him and he grimaced, memories kicking in through the painkiller fog in his head.
"Can you turn the morphine down?" He turned to look back at his best friend, but Raji shook his head, T'Challa fought harder against his already closing eyes again.
"No, my friend, I cannot. I have my hands full, you see, no Doctor Faraji home right now, just uncle Raji." T'Challa grumbled under his breath in reply to that but Bucky tapped his cheek softly and had him refocus his attention again.
"You need to rest, Chall, sleep some more. We're not going anywhere, we'll stay here in London until you're back to your usual grace again. I love you, take it easy, babe." Bucky said, adding the last piece in Romanian and T'Challa smiled, letting his eyes fall close again.
"I love you, too." He was still able to mumble and then sleep claimed him again.
--
Four weeks later, Bucky was brushing his teeth in the morning, listening to the faint singing of Tez in the living room when T'Challa came walking into the bathroom, carrying a whole basket of bandages.
"You need to wrap me up again."
"Whut?" Bucky asked and then spit out toothpaste into the sink and turned to fully look at the man who had just yesterday told him how happy he was over finally being rid of even the last bandaid, "What? You're healed, you don't need the bandages anymore."
"Have you seen how Lia looks at me since yesterday?" T'Challa grumbled and dramatically sank down on the edge of the tub.
"She is two years old, of course she will hate that her father heals so quickly while she has to keep wearing the icky bandaids. Kiss them, hug her." Bucky pointed out and leaned down to rinse out his mouth, T'Challa whined at his back.
"Come on, Buck, please, it's Sunday, I got nothing to do today. I just want her to stop looking at me like some traitor." He pleaded and Bucky groaned.
"She doesn't even know what that word means."
"Please." T'Chall said and held out a bandage, Bucky sighed, deep and long but then turned around and grabbed it, gesturing for T'Challa to pull off his shirt.
"You're impossible, you're hooked around every little finger on those tiny hands." Bucky grumbled and then started to wrap up T'Challa's arm, smiling a little when he leaned in to kiss him.
It was a little worth it though when he stepped back into the living room some minutes later, finally ready for family time and found Lia perched on T'Challa's lip, magic marker in her hand and drawing little hearts on her Baba's arm.
Family. Family and Home.
It could heal everything.