This is Part One in a mini series that is an AU of Nightingale from Chapter Thirty-Two on.

"What happened?" Bucky asked, still feeling ice cold as he sat in the aircraft. "She was with you all day, how could this have happened? You were just sight-seeing!"

T'challa laced his fingers together thoughtfully. "No we weren't. She and I went to South Central Hospital-I wanted to show her what Shuri and I were planning with the simulation there. I was trying to entice her into accepting a position in our trauma department. I thought seeing the space we would use for the lab and meeting Shuri would be a good pitch."

Bucky frowned as the jungle flew by around the ship. "I don't understand."

"You want her to stay, don't you?"

"What?"

"I couldn't help but notice how close you two seemed," T'challa said with an apologetic shrug. "I've said nothing to the others, but I thought it'd be easier to be together if you were on the same continent."

The truth hit Bucky a bit slowly, but he saw it now. T'challa knew about him and Melody. "Yeah," he muttered. "It would be." He took a deep breath and refocused. How T'challa had figured it out when neither Steve or Sharon had could wait. "How does that account for what happened?"

"Doctor Frasier got pulled into the ER, another portion of my sales pitch and she was left alone in a trauma room with a patient. He got violent and she was harmed in the process."

"How badly?"

"She suffered a broken jaw." Bucky winced hearing that, broken jaws were excruciating. "I was there when they took the X-rays, but none of her other injuries were that extensive." T'challa sighed, "Though her X-rays showed that she was no stranger to injury." He glanced sidelong at Bucky as he said that, silently questioning but he couldn't answer. Upon hearing that Melody had been hurt, Bucky hadn't thought of much else. Not even this, not what it would do. The body always remembered trauma. The X-rays would show everything. Oh God, Nightingale. This was going to be much more than a violent outburst and a wired jaw, this was going to be the very thing she'd been avoiding her entire life. There was a bit of a bump as the aircraft glided down and Bucky got onto his feet, feeling cold again as he saw the looming glass structure of South Central Hospital.

"She's in recovery now, third floor, I've already cleared the area and she's in a private room." T'challa told him as they entered, Bucky tensing up as they entered. Yes, he'd been given a pretty decent disguise with the beard he'd recently grown and the fact that he was missing an arm but still, being out in public felt weird. Thankfully, the walk to the elevator was brief and once they were up on the correct floor, it was vacant, just as T'challa had told him.

"How can this be empty?" Bucky asked as they walked, "her doctors, the other patients-?"

"Other patients are being housed in the clinic which has shut down for the day and her doctors are here-people whom I trust with my life. They won't reveal your presence here, you have my word."

"Thanks," Bucky said as they approached the room at the far end of the ward. He saw a doctor and nurse there talking softly though their conversation died down as they approached and they greeted T'challa in typical Wakandan fashion, crossing their arms over their chests. The nurse departed not long after leaving them alone with the doctor.

"Hello Your Highness," he greeted with a swift glance at Bucky who tried to smile.

"Hello Doctor Bello, how's the patient?"

"We were able to wire her broken jaw and reset her shoulder. She should be waking up any second now."

"Can I see her?" Bucky asked and the doctor nodded. "Of course."

"Thank you," he muttered, skirting around the man and entering the tiny room. The walls were glass, a brightly patterned curtain partly hiding the tiny bed from view. The mechanical beep of various machines made the room sound eerie to Bucky. Cold and alien. Hospitals had not been like this in nineteen forty-five. Pushing aside his discomfort, Bucky stepped around the curtain and saw Melody and she certainly looked like she'd been beaten. A large purple bruise had blossomed on the left side of her face along with a narrow gash. Around her head, three pillows were clustered, he had no idea why but he was guessing it was due to limited mobility. Her right arm was held in a sling. Nightingale, he thought, sitting down in a nearby chair and taking her hand in his, careful not to jostle her IV. The hospital gown had short sleeves and he could see the scar. He had to wonder how many others were spotted when she was prepped for surgery. Probably most of them.

Her face twitched and she made a groaning noise. Slowly, her eyes started to open, bleary as she tried to focus. "Hey," Bucky whispered, squeezing her hand. "How you feeling?" Melody shook her head slightly and winced, showing the metal brackets across her teeth that held her jaw together. "A patient went a little crazy," he told her, "he attacked you and broke your jaw. I think you had a dislocated shoulder too. Not sure what else, I just got here." Melody seemed more focused now and made another sound. An attempt at speech he was sure of it, but he had no idea what it was supposed to mean. "I'm sorry, I don't understand you." Bucky sighed. "It's going to be okay."

Melody tried to speak again. This time, Bucky had a pretty good idea of what she was saying. Probably something along the likes of 'yeah right' or 'how'? He leaned closer, lowering his voice so only she could hear. "Nothing is going to happen to you, I promise. Just give me some time to think."

"Bucky?" he looked up and saw Sharon staring at them, her face pinched with rage. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Same thing as you," he replied. "Let's not do this now okay?"

Sharon's face was quickly going from white to red. "No, we're doing this now," Bucky had to give her some credit her voice was very level considering. "First off, this is crazy dangerous! The wrong person sees you and the international hunt for you comes to Wakanda and it's not going to be pretty."

"I know that."

"And for another," she glared at him, "I already told you back off Mel. This isn't backing off and I already-."

"Ahem," Sharon stopped cold and her wide eyes went to Melody. Apparently, she had not realized her friend was awake. "Mel, are you okay?" She made some sort of sound again, words Bucky couldn't make out and from the blank look on Sharon's face, she was just as lost. "Here," Sharon reached into her pocket and grabbed her cell phone. "Here use this."

Melody let go of his hand and tapped the screen several times and then a robotic voice sounded off. "Sharon, knock it off. I want him here, he stays."

"What?"

Melody tapped something else on the screen again and robotic voice went off again. "He stays." She moved again, this time her gaze shifting from Sharon to Bucky. "Stay," the phone said again and Bucky nodded.

"I'm not going anywhere," he promised. "Not until you send me away."

She smiled again though it looked terribly pained with the brackets and bruises. She tapped a few more words across the screen. "I love you."

Bucky smiled as he heard Sharon's sharp gasp behind him. "I know."

Thanks for reading! :)