Chapter 7 - What can be done?
Steve paces up and down the hallway. They'd arrived fifteen minutes ago in the ambulance and Bucky had been taken into the operating room. Steve had been told that they were doing an X-ray and would let him know when they found out more.
He looks up and sees Natasha and Clint rush into the waiting room with Sam, Tony, and Bruce right behind them. He sighs and walks over to let them know what is going on.
"Steve!" Natasha calls when she spots him "Steve, are you alright? What happened? How's Bucky?"
Steve takes a deep breath "I'm fine. I'm not sure what happened. Bucky fell from the tower somehow and...and I'm not sure how he is. They are doing an X-ray right now. The doctor said he'd let me know what they find out."
"Why don't you come and sit down?" Sam asks, "There isn't anything you can do by standing around."
Steve nods and follows them to sit down. They sit and he looks around anxiously for a few minutes before getting up and pacing again. It seems to take forever before the doctor comes out and motions for Steve.
He rushes over "Well? Is he alright?"
The doctor forces a slight smile "As it stands, no. He is alive but still hasn't regained consciousness, he went into a coma when he hit his head. He had to have seven stitches in his head. We had to remove a bullet from his leg. It went quite well and will be sore for several days because of having to stitch up the wound. With how things are looking, I suggest that he has back surgery. He has four fracture-dislocations in his spine. It can heal without surgery but with a case like this the surgery is our best option."
"When will he wake up?" Steve asks the doctor.
"It's hard to say," he says with a shake of his head "maybe in an hour or so. Maybe in a few weeks. We will have to watch and see before I could give you a proper estimate."
Steve nods, bites his lip, and looks back at his friends who are watching him with concern. "Can you do the surgery now?"
The doctor nods, "Yes. We need the patient's consent but seeing as he is unconscious we can't ask him. Is his mother or father here? Are you a relation of his?"
Steve shakes his head "His parents are dead. His sister died too, almost three years ago. I suppose I'm the closest thing he has to family."
The doctor nods "I see. So, would you say, knowing the patient, that he would want us to do the surgery?"
Steve's brow furrows in thought "Will he heal properly without the surgery? And how long will recovery take?"
"There is a possibility that his back would heal on its own but doing the surgery would definitely increase the ability of healing back to normality. It would be ten to fourteen weeks for healing. Maybe more" the doctor answers.
Steve nods "Ok. Ok, go ahead. How long will it take to do?"
"Surgery should only take three to four hours."
"Alright. Are you going to do it now?"
"Yes, seeing as we have the surgeon here already. Do you have a number we can call to update you?"
"Um yeah here" Steve writes down his number and hands it to the doctor.
"Thank you. I'll let you know when we are finished and what his room number is."
Steve walks back over and sits down with the others.
"Well?" Tony asks.
"Well they are going to be doing back surgery. They had to give him stitches on the back of his head and remove a bullet. He's not woken up. Surgery will take about three to four hours" Steve replies then buries his face in his hands.
"It's alright," Clint tries to comfort Steve "he's going to be just fine. I'm sure he'll wake up after the surgery. And then it's just a few months in a brace and a couple of weeks of therapy."
"I know. It's just," Steve looks up with tears in his eyes, trying not to cry, "he could have died!"
Bruce pats Steve on the back, "But he didn't."
"Do you want us all to stay here? Or do you just want to give us a call afterwards?" Natasha asks, standing.
"No you guys go ahead and, and I'll call" Steve nods "I'll call you when I find anything out."
Everyone else stands and either nods to Steve or pats his back on the way out the door. Natasha stays back for a moment and bends down to look Steve in the eye "Hey," he looks up at her "if you need anything, let me know. Are you sure you don't want someone to stay with you?"
"I'll call," Steve smiles "I'll be ok. Honest. You go ahead."
Natasha returns his smile then follows the others back to their car.
'Lord,' Steve prays silently 'Lord, please be with Bucky. Be with the doctors and nurses. Guide their hands and please God, if it's your will, heal my friend.'
Steve leans his head back on the wall and closes his eyes, continuing to pray.
Chapter 7.5 - Logic Says
Natasha slides into the passenger seat and buckles her belt "Do you still think that Steve is the one who tried to kill Bucky?" she turns her head and looks at Tony specifically.
He pulls out of the parking lot before replying, "There still is no evidence pointing to anyone else."
"Man," Sam says from the back seat, "did you not see the look on his face? That wasn't fake."
"Sometimes, Tony," Bruce adds, "you need to use logic and not just look at the facts. Sure, the facts point to Steve but logic would tell you that he is innocent."
Tony sighs as he turns a corner, "I've heard everyone's opinion except for yours, Barton. What say you?"
"You're asking my opinion?" Clint looks to Sam and Bruce who are as surprised as he is, "Well I say that we should be trying to find out who shoved Bucky from the tower. It's not Steve and it's not any of us - we were all together when it happened."
"We can check the security cameras and perhaps Bucky will remember what happened when he wakes up" Sam says.
"IF he wakes up" Tony says. Natasha whacks him. "Ow!" he moans.
"Be positive" she orders "and you better not be talking like that when we go back to see Steve later."
"Alright, ok" he says rubbing his arm.
"We don't want to push Bucky to remember either," Bruce adds, "if he remembers, it will be in his own time."
Tony parks the car and they all pile out then take the elevator up to their living quarters.
