At first, Bucky wouldn't look at you. He sat in silence on the staircase, staring straight ahead with his eyes glazed over. Steve had attempted to comfort him, but to no avail. When he knew it was a fruitless effort, he and Sam turned their attention back to you. Sam lifted the drying towel from your lap and began rubbing the dried blood from your arm. He took your hand and started at your fingers, working his way up. Steve took this time to finally lean you forward and look at your shoulder. He lifted your shirt tenderly and inspected the aching area by poking and moving your arm occasionally. At every poke and prod, you made small noises of pain, but Steve knew that to find out what all was wrong he had to move you around.
"Is there any pain in your chest when I do this?" He was asking you various questions in a soft voice. You would wince, but shake your head. All the pain was in the shoulder. "Is there any pain in your collarbone area or ribs when I do this?" He moved your arm again. You made another noise in protest, but shook your head.
"The only pain is my shoulder," you croaked. Your voice was steadily regaining strength now that your throat wasn't so sore.
"Put your fingers -if you can - on the spot that hurts the most," Steve instructed.
You took your hand from Sam and gently rested your pointer and middle fingers right on your shoulder blade. Steve nodded.
"I think it may only be severely bruised. Do you remember anything about what happened?"
"Bucky.." you started but you saw his jaw twitch when you mentioned his name. You lowered your head sheepishly. "He uh...punched..me..."
"With which hand?" Sam sounded concerned. He reached up to take our hand again so he could continue cleaning your arm.
"His...his right one," you remembered. "It was his right one because his left one..." Suddenly it came back to you, the fear of the moment. "His left fist was in the ground," you continued, stealing a glance at the man responsible. His jaw tensed and he was rubbing his left arm. Shouldn't he be feeling the repercussions of that?
You looked back and saw Steve looking at Bucky with an expression you didn't quite recognize. Was it fear? Sadness? Concern? You couldn't put your finger on it, but you watched him intently until you felt a sting on your right arm. Your head snapped forward and you saw that Sam had gone back to cleaning your wound. He patted your hand when he saw your head turn to him.
"Sorry about that, didn't mean to take you by surprise."
Steve let his hand drop to your shoulder, inspecting it again. "He punched you," Steve repeated. He traced his fingers lightly around the bruised area. "I can see it, but it was at an angle, right?"
You nodded. "I used it as a push off the ground," you stated, replaying the scene in your head. "Then I started running and that's when-"
"That's when you pulled that fence stunt," Steve cut you off.
"Yeah, Steve told me you did some baseball shit earlier," Sam chimed in.
You let a look of confusion cross your face before you understood what they were talking about. "Oh, you mean when I slid under the fence."
"And completely blindsided Buck in the process," Steve added. Bucky turned his head slightly at this, curious about what you'd done.
"It was just a slide, I've done it before."
"In what other context would you need to slide under a fence other than running from a massive tank of a man that's out to rip you to pieces?" Sam's statement made Bucky cringe.
"Well, I use it when I'm running from massive bulls that want to rip me to pieces," you replied. "Sometimes the bulls get really testy and I use that maneuver to get away from them. I just don't usually let them punch me first though," you added, hoping to dissolve some of the tension that still hung in the room.
Steve chuckled quietly and you thought you saw a smirk on Bucky's face.
"I didn't realize how tough you had to be to work with animals," Sam said thoughtfully.
"Well, we work with one all the time, you should have known," Steve laughed, following your example of being humorous. Bucky turned his head so that none of you could see it, but you were certain he was hiding a grin.
Sam stood up, groaning as he did. You cocked your head and Steve chuckled. "Where you off to, old man?" Steve seemed to be more at ease.
"Who are you calling old man?" Sam retaliated, laughing to himself about something. You looked back at Steve, wondering what that meant.
"I'm going to get a new rag," Sam said, holding out the now red hand towel that was once light tan. You looked down at your arm. There were still faint smears of blood and dirt, but you weren't caked in it anymore. You could clearly see the cut now which ran deeper than you'd initially thought.
"Hey, Sam, do you think you could look for some cotton and gauze? There should be some in a bathroom or in the laundry room somewhere. Probably in the metal first aid box we have," you said quietly.
Steve pat Bucky on the shoulder. "I'll go look for the box, Sam can go get a fresh towel. Bucky, you take the rubbing alcohol and finish up cleaning her cheek." He handed Bucky the second hand towel they'd brought in and walked towards the kitchen. "The laundry room is..." he asked, waiting for direction. You pointed and he followed, leaving the living room. Sam pushed past Bucky and went up the stairs.
You leaned back to stretch your lower back and pulled your legs out from under you. You twisted from side to side, popping your back but being careful not to disturb your shoulder too much. You rolled your head around a few times to stretch your neck and then took a deep breath before looking to Bucky.
"Bucky, you-"
"Listen, I don't know what they told you, but I want you to know that I didn't mean anything that happened tonight."
"Bucky, I-"
"It's a long story, but there's a reason behind what I did. I'm so sorry that I hurt you like this, and when Tony gets back I'll have him find another place for me to go."
"Buck-"
"I know you must be confused, but I'm not safe. I shouldn't have come here with everyone. I knew something like this could happen and I let them bring me here anyway. I don't know what I was thinkin-"
"Bucky!" He finally looked at you. You sighed and pushed your hair back over your shoulder. "Bucky, I'm fine. You really haven't done much worse than what these animals have done to me before. I'm not holding anything against you, really. I don't understand why it happened, but I know there must be a reason. I don't understand superheroes, and I probably am not the most prepared person, but I'm willing to try. Tony brought you all here because he knew he could trust Kyle, and Kyle knew he could trust me. Tonight...it was something I never expected. It will have consequences. But don't throw yourself out just because-"
"[Y/N], I'm dangerous! You saw what I can do, and that wasn't even the worst of it. I have killed people, [Y/N], and I won't let you be next."
Silence filled the room. There was an awkward tension and you shifted uncomfortably. "Bucky, I-"
"I'll stay and take responsibility for what I've done. But I am talking to Tony once he returns." His voice was forceful but was filled with sorrow. You let your eyes drop to the floor. Your tough girl act wasn't going to hold up with him. Is this my fault? The thought crossed your mind so quickly. You didn't know the answer, but you felt almost at fault here.
Suddenly you felt a hand under your chin. Bucky lifted your head so that you were facing him as he was now standing over you. You hadn't heard him move and his sudden touch had startled you a bit. His eyes pierced into you and your mouth hung open slightly. He brought the rag up to your cheek, focusing only on the cut on your face. You sat quietly and patiently as he cleaned your wound. He moved from your cheek to the tip of your nose where the cut ended. He rubbed gently, using his fingernails to chip some of the dry blood off from time to time.
You closed your eyes, letting this man cradle your head in one hand while he cleaned your face with the other. You didn't think anything of it until he said something.
"You trust me." His tone of voice was somewhat critical, but gentle at the same time. You opened your eyes, questioning him with them. "You trust me," he repeated. "You wouldn't have closed your eyes if you didn't."
"I mean," you thought for a moment. "I do trust you. You haven't really given me a reason not to." He looked unamused. "Whoever hurt me wasn't Bucky," you clarified. "You and Steve both told me that it wasn't really you that did that. I trust you." You poked a finger at his chest and his expressions softened. He looked down at the cut on your arm and let his fingers brush the skin close to it. He did the same with the cut on your cheek.
"I'm sorry this happened to you, [Y/N]. And I'm sorry I got upset with you. You have to understand that this can't happen again."
"We'll make sure it won't, Buck." Steve's calm voice suddenly filled the room. He smiled to you and crouched beside you, setting the large metal kit on the coffee table.
"It's 4:28," Sam said, looking at the wall clock.
"Well, guys, it's time to wake up," you said, attempting to get them to smile again. Sam had returned and finished wiping the blood off of your face, Steve had patched you up, and Bucky had inspected your shoulder for himself. He seemed relieved that it didn't look worse, which you took as good news.
Steve chuckled as he closed the first aid kit. "I suppose you're feeling a bit better, [Y/N]."
"What can I say, it takes a lot to get me down and out," you smiled.
"Even still, we should probably take you to a hospital for that shoulder," Sam said, looking at Steve for agreement. Steve nodded and opened his mouth, but you quickly cut him off.
"Before anyone goes anywhere, that fence needs to be mended."
"[Y/N], you're more important that a fence. We can fix it after we make sure you're okay." Steve seemed personally offended that you would even suggest mending the fence first.
"No, I'm actually not," you snorted. "I don't know that you guys understand. If we leave that fence with a huge hole in it, the cows will get out. If the cows get out, they'll get hurt, lost, or maybe even killed. Do you know the damage that would do? That fence is pretty important," you said, regaining your voice more and more. You pushed yourself up out of the chair, giving a groan. Once you were on your feet, Sam put his arm around you to help steady you. You leaned into him and looked at Steve. "We have to go fix that fence. Then we'll see about a hospital."
Steve lifted his hand to rub his forehead. "Fine, we'll go see what we can do. But then we are taking you to get professional help," Steve said matter-of-factly. He had a commanding voice, but you knew he would listen to you. You smiled sweetly at him and he sighed.
"Come on, Buck, you're helping too."
"Before we go, can we make a sling or something for my arm? It's really the only problem now."
"Then why are you leaning on Sam?" Bucky raised an eyebrow at you.
"I dunno, he smells good," you said, looking away from them all. The three of them laughed and you smiled in return. One bad, weird, painful night can't get between them, so why should I let it get to me?