An hour and a half. That's how much sleep he managed to get. It was an hour and a half between the time he finally collapsed – freshly showered and changed – onto the king-sized bed in the suspiciously posh apartment to the moment his cell rang. A fucking hour and a half.
Bucky stands in the hall, just outside Tessa's hospital room, listlessly shifting from foot to foot. He glares at the unfamiliar doctor before him and runs an exhausted hand down the length of his face. "Okay," he says, the word coming out as a resigned sort of groan. "What does that mean?"
The doctor gives him a wary look, as though he's not sure the man in front of him is even really awake, let alone processing what he's saying. "She has a fever," he repeats slowly, patronizingly.
Bucky blinks rapidly. "Yeah, I know. You said that." He stares at the man for a long moment before asking, "What's your name again?"
"Dr. Harlen," the gangly man replies, obviously annoyed. "Look, I'm not very familiar with your wife's case –"
"Fiancée," he corrects quickly, shaking his head as his mind reels over how naturally the word falls from his lips.
He nods. "I just started my shift a few hours ago. And as I already explained, things have been…" He tosses a glance over at the chaotic nurses' station behind him. "hectic. Here's what I can tell you. About an hour ago, one of our nurses checked in on your fiancée and noted that her temperature was…" He looks to the tablet in his hand, letting out a long, pained sigh when he sees that it's frozen. "Damnit!" He turns on a heel and shouts, "Mary! This one's busted too."
"It's not busted," the nurse tells him as she hurries over and takes the tablet from his outstretched hand. "It's the system. I told you. They're working on getting it back up."
"Well in the meantime, how am I supposed to access patient charts?" She gives him an impatient look, seething with a calm sort of hostility.
Bucky watches the exchange with disinterest. "What about my wife?" he interjects, eyes blowing wide as he realizes what he said. "Girlfriend," he quickly corrects before stuttering out, "Fiancée."
Dr. Harlen snatches back his tablet and begins to furiously tap at the unresponsive screen. "Her temperature was…"
"Ms. Sullivan?" Mary asks, glancing past Bucky and at the name on the whiteboard outside the door.
Bucky shoots her a bit of a dirty look. "It's Doctor Sullivan," he corrects with a huff.
She raises her eyebrows to indicate just how terribly impressed she is. "Doctor Sullivan," she states, "had a fever of 103.2."
The doctor grits his teeth – incensed at the useless contraption in his hand – and looks quickly back up at Bucky. "103.2," he repeats. "We're trying to bring it down now. And we should have her labs back shortly so that we can determine what's causing the fever." He drops both his head and his voice when he utters angrily, "If the lab is up and going, that is."
The nurse turns to Bucky, her countenance more calm than just a moment ago. She sighs, releasing as much annoyance as she can before speaking. "I checked in on her a couple of hours ago and she was fine, so the fever must've just hit. And as far as I know, the lab's systems were unaffected."
"It's probably a post-op infection," Dr. Harlen chimes in. "No idea why she wasn't started on antibiotics already. If the infection's in the bone, she could lose the leg."
Bucky pulls in a short breath, his mouth hanging agape as he works to process that information through his still-foggy mind. "Uh," he sputters. "I'm sorry, what?"
"She had no signs of infection leading up to this," Mary argues before looking back to Bucky. "As soon as we know what's causing the fever, we'll treat it. There's no need to go jumping to any conclusions," she finishes, throwing an exasperated glare at the doctor.
"She uh… she's supposed to have another surgery. Later this morning."
Dr. Harlen simply shakes his head. "Not possible. Not until her fever's down."
Bucky glances down the hall and sees Steve approaching. He raises a questioning brow, confusion settling in. "Well, did you call Dr. Hammond? Her orthopedic surgeon…"
"She should be in in a few hours," the doctor informs him before turning to leave. "I'll speak with her then."
"Hey." Steve is at Bucky's side the moment Dr. Harlen disappears. "What happened? Was that the doctor?"
Mary steps back to let the two men speak, saying to Bucky before she goes, "I really have to get back. If you need anything, just…" She turns and glances around at the handful of people scattered about the hall – mostly maintenance men and harried nurses. "Well, you'll be able to find someone, I'm sure."
Steve follows her with his eyes as she scurries back over to the nurses station. "What happened here?" he asks, just now seeming to realize that the entire floor is aflutter with activity.
Bucky shakes his head and pulls in a deep breath. "There was a blackout or something. Some of their systems are still down." He spins around so fast, he almost slams into Steve's shoulder. "They called you?" he asks suspiciously. "I thought I updated her emergency contact."
Steve shakes his head. "Nat called."
"Ah, yeah," he breathes out. "You should take her home."
He narrows his eyes at his friend, studying him closely. "Did you get any sleep?"
Before he can answer, Natasha appears in the doorway to Tessa's room. Her face is so pale she's very nearly translucent. She's holding an ice pack on the back of her head and teetering rather precariously, a hand shooting out to take hold of the doorframe as she pulls in a deep breath. "Damn," she mutters, shaking her head.
Steve's eyes widen as he reaches out to steady her. "What the hell happened to you?"
"She tripped when the lights went out," Bucky supplies, slowly sidling around her to sneak into the room. "Hit her head." She frowns at him, a nervous, tentative glower. "Like I said, you should take her home."
Natasha and Steve both watch as Bucky moves over to Tessa's side. He sits lightly on the very edge of the bed so as not to disturb her, reaches out hesitantly to brush the sweat-soaked hair from her forehead.
"She has a fever," Natasha says, voice deep and strained. "Probably an infection somewhere." She leans into the door jamb, her eyes momentarily fluttering shut.
Steve nods absently. Concern flashes over his face as he watches Bucky pull Tessa's hand into his, fold it neatly between both his palms, and bring it gently to his lips. All the while, she barely stirs. He sighs deeply and looks over at Nat, his eyes moving up and down the length of her body assessingly before settling on her drawn face. "Are you okay?"
She opens her eyes and considers him seriously for a long moment, her gaze cool and piercing. "We need to talk," she says finally, pulling herself upright and starting down the hall, assuming he'll follow.
000
"I thought you tripped during the blackout," he says confusedly, accepting the steaming cup of coffee she offers.
Natasha shakes her head, sitting down next to Steve at the small table in the corner of the cafeteria. No one else is around, save what looks to be a single med student passed out over his open books on the far end of the room. Still, her voice is low when she speaks. "That's just what I told the nurse when she found me."
"But…" He shakes his head, further furrows his brow. "Are you sure? I mean, if you hit your head… maybe you're not remembering…"
"Steve, I know what I saw."
He leans back and sighs. "Okay. Okay. But… are you sure?"
"Steve," she chides, voice rising in intensity as irritation rolls across her face. "Her eyes were glowing." She holds her right hand out to him, flipped up so that he can see her blistered fingertips. "She burned me." He stares down at her fingers for a long moment, saying nothing. "Look," she goes on, "I don't really know what happened. But I sure as shit know that something did. And that blackout? The machines all going haywire, all of that?" She looks him dead in the eye and says, "That was Tessa."
"Maybe," he starts, not sure where to go next. "Maybe… having a fever did something to her powers."
She leans back into her seat and shrugs. "Maybe. But…"
"But what?"
She shakes her head distractedly. "I've never seen anything like that. I mean, she's showed me things before… things she can do."
Steve sniggers a bit, showing off a crooked smile as he stares down at his black coffee. "She boil water for you?" he asks lightly.
"The opposite, actually. She turned my coffee to ice. A giant chunk of ice." She flexes her fingers, wincing a bit at the pull of her burnt skin. "It kind of pissed me off."
"Yeah, Tess of all people should know better than to ruin someone's coffee."
"In fairness, I had said I should've gotten a cold brew." She rolls her eyes, thinking back and remembering Tessa's shit-eating smirk, her barely stifled laughter. Steve gazes over at her and they share an amused grin. "I've never seen anything… like that, though."
"Not even in Sokovia?" he asks, brows knitted.
She shakes her head. "I saw her drop some bots, but… She just kind of held out her hand and… they fell."
He nods slowly. "I've seen… light before. When she dropped a guy in Mexico… sucked out his energy. That's what she called it. Or…" he stops for a moment to think. "What did she say? Energy pull. That's what she called it." He shrugs and looks back over at Natasha. "Anyway, it looked like… like blue sparks."
"From her hands?" she asks hurriedly.
"Yeah," he nods. "Did that happen?"
"Yeah," she says dreamily, as though just now remembering. "Yeah. It was like blue and white sparks, dancing on her fingertips. I probably would've thought it was pretty if I hadn't been slowly dying from getting my energy pulled."
Steve's face twists in thought for a long moment. He chews the corner of his lip before setting down his coffee and letting out a long sigh. "I think something's up," he says frankly. He catches her curious look out of the corner of his eye and he swivels to face her. "She's been acting weird, right?"
Natasha sucks in a deep breath, setting her shoulders. "Steve… she was traumatized. The thing with her drowning… that was only…" She wrinkles her brow for a moment, thinking back to that fateful mission. "Six months ago?"
He shakes his head, his own brow creased in thought. "I don't think it was just that, though. I mean… having nightmares is one thing. But she couldn't remember any of the dreams. She kept spacing out. In the middle of a conversation, she'd just… stop. And she was always cold… like, always cold."
"Sometimes she talked to people who weren't there," Natasha interjects quietly, reluctance lacing her words.
Steve gives her an alarmed look. "What?"
She shrugs. "Sometimes she would say things… kind of off to the side, over her shoulder. She'd say things or whisper things like she was talking to someone. But no one was there." She blinks up at him. "Guess you never noticed that."
"No," he issues out, eyes wide. "No, I think I'd remember that."
"It hasn't been as bad lately. I thought… whatever it was, she must be working through it." She looks up at him, her face suddenly flooded with concern. "What do you think it is?" Her voice holds a sort of childlike quality, like she's desperately hoping that he somehow has the answer. "You think it's something to do her mutation? Maybe the drowning… triggered something?"
He shrugs, dropping his elbows to his knees, his eyes falling to the stark white tile floor. "Maybe." He huffs out a tired, exasperated breath, the sound almost a growl. "Yeah," he says looking back up at her. "Yeah, I think that makes sense."
She lets out a psh and rolls her eyes. "None of this makes sense."
He pulls himself upright, his soft blue eyes boring into her as he speaks. "She wasn't heading into the city," he tells her. "When she got into the accident… she was headed north. Bucky said that someone from her past had come to see her the day before and asked her to come home."
"Home?"
"The boarding school she lived in is upstate somewhere."
Natasha purses her lips as her eyes widen. "Don't suppose that school is the secret base of the X-Men?" Now it's his turn to give her a quizzical look. "Didn't you read the SHIELD files that were released?"
"There were decades worth of files in there," he replies, looking at her like she's lost her mind. "Did you read all of them?"
She shrugs. "I read that SHIELD believed that a boarding school for gifted children was actually a cover for the X-Men's base of operations."
"Huh," he mutters, his face taking on a thoughtful expression. "I guess it never occurred to me that her home would be…" He turns his gaze quickly back to her. "You think they just… recruited kids? Children? And… used them as…"
"Soldiers?" she asks with a raised brow. "Wouldn't be the first time someone thought to do that."
He notices her shoulders drop as she pivots away from him. The Red Room, he thinks. What kind of world are we living in? "I don't suppose there was an actual location in the files?"
"They gave the name of the school." She takes a quick pull of her coffee before rising and awkwardly stretching out her back. "Let's head back to the compound. I need some sleep." Steve gets up to follow her, making sure to bring his coffee along. "You should talk to Vision," she says, tossing the words over her shoulder. "Jarvis had access to all of the SHIELD files, so they should've been… downloaded into Vision. Asking him might be easier than digging through the decades worth of files on your own."
"Yeah," he breathes out. Then, stopping short, he says, "Listen, I think we should keep this between us for now." She turns to him with a serious but otherwise unreadable expression. "I just think… I think that Buck has enough to worry about right now. And Tessa, obviously. I mean… she's hurt… if she's sick too…"
"Okay," she agrees quickly. "We'll go check out this school on our own." He gives her a curt nod. "But I'm not taking the heat when your boyfriend finds out we did this behind his back. You're gonna have to deal with that shit storm on your own."
