Chapter 15 - Perhaps Poison

"Someone get down to the room at the end of the hall. I need help here as well!" the young nurse calls.

Heather rushes over to see what has caused the commotion. "Oh dear! What happen to Mr. Rogers?" she bends down to check his pulse, "He's still alive, thank the Lord. I thought he was dead."

"Me too," the first nurse took off to find the doctor and a stretcher.

"Hurry back, Tracy!" Heather calls.

"I'm going to go get Doctor Paul!" she rushes to the doctor's office and knocks urgently on the door.

"What's wrong, Tracy?" he asks when he opens the door.

"Mr. Rogers passed out in the hall. We don't know why. We need to get him to a bed," Tracy explains.

"I'm coming!" Doctor Paul grabs his bag then rolls a stretcher, from a nearby closet, down to the desk. "Jace!" he calls to a passing intern, "Give me a hand, will you?"

Jace and Doctor Paul lift Steve onto the stretcher, which takes quite an effort. "Doctor Paul," Jace says, "there is an empty room at the other end of the hall," he points down the right-side hallway, "it's the last door on the right. I just changed the sheets."

"Thank you, Jace," Doctor Paul grabs one end of the stretcher and motions for Tracy to come with him so she grabs hold of the other end. Together, they wheel the stretcher down the hallway.

"Heather?" Jace asks, "What did he need?"

"All I heard was something about Bucky. I should go check on him. Why don't you see if you can help Doctor Paul?"

"Alright," Jace heads down the hall at a jog to catch up with the doctor.

"Mr. Barnes?" Heather calls as she walks in the room, "Did you need something?"

"Heather. Uh, no. But I take it that Steve is all taken care of now? Where is he?" Bucky asks and motions for Heather to sit down.

Heather declines his offer to take a seat then responds, "He came down and said that you needed, something. He never said what though. He passed out before he could finish."

"Passed out?!" Bucky sits up straight, "Tell me he is fine!"

"Uhh," Heather stutters, "Doctor Paul is seeing what he can do for him right now. Do you have any idea why this happened?"

"No. I mean, if it had been seventy years ago I would have expected as much, but not now that he has had the 'super soldier serum'. He was just sitting here drawing," he waves a hand towards the sketchbook laying open in the floor, "then he started acting like he was in pain. When he wouldn't go get help, I told him to get a nurse for me."

"I see. Thank you for letting me know. So, there isn't anything I can do for you?"

"Just update me on how Steve is. I'm really worried about him."

"I can do that," Heather nods.

"Thanks, Heather."

Heather walks from the room and heads back to the desk where Dillion, another intern, is sitting. "Hey, Dillion," Heather says as she passes to go back to her desk.

"Oh, hey Heather. Doctor Paul said for me to tell you that he could use your help."

"Ok. Thanks Dillion," Heather smiles as she turns and heads to the other end of the hall.

She knocks lightly on the door and enters the room when she hears the doctor say "Heather? Come in."

She walks in to see Steve laying flat in the bed, almost awake. His eyes were open but it was as if he couldn't move them. Or anything else. He seemed paralyzed. "What happened, Doctor? A heart attack? A stroke?"

"No," Doctor Paul shook his head, "his heart is in great working order. Actually, I can see no cause for this to have happened."

"Poison," Jace whispers.

"What was that, Jace?" the doctor asks.

"What if it was poison, sir?" Jace looks to Heather and Tracy to see what they think.

Tracy shrugs, "It is possible. And would make sense actually. Someone tried to kill the Winter Soldier, why not Captain America too?"

Doctor Paul nods as if thinking over the possibility, "Could be. Why don't we run some tests? Jace, run and get me tests 3, 76, and 658 to start with."

"Yes sir," Jace says and leaves the room.

"What happened?!" they hear a panicked voice behind them say.

"You passed out," Doctor Paul walks over and stands in Steve's line of vision, "How do you feel?"

"Bucky! He needed... can you help?" Steve mumbles.

"He is fine. How are you?" the Doctor asks again, with a little more force.

"I, I can't move," Steve says in shock.

"Try to raise your right arm," Doctor Paul says gently.

Steve closes his eyes and groans. His arm doesn't budge. "I can't. Am I paralyzed now?" he asks beginning to panic, "I can't be. This can't happen! I need to, to be with Bucky while he heals, to help the others. Can you help me?"

"Calm down," Doctor Paul says trying to comfort Steve, "I'm going to run some tests on you to try to figure out what caused this to happen. What can you tell me about this situation?"

"I was just sitting in Bucky's room, sketching and talking to him," Steve says as he tries to lift his head.

"That was it? Are you numb? Describe how you felt and how you feel now," Doctor Paul helps Steve to prop himself up.

"I felt perfectly fine until I sat back down from refilling my cup of water. Then my head started pounding, my stomach churning. Everything got tight and it was like all of my mussels were cramping. When I stood up, the ache in my mussels went away but my head started to fill with fog. I felt like I was going to throw up and when I got to the desk, I couldn't move any more. Then I woke up, here."

"How do you feel now?"

"I don't. My entire body is numb. All I can feel is my head and it's throbbing like I was hit with a sledge hammer. My chest and arms are tingling slightly, as if they are asleep, but I can't move."

Jace comes back in wheeling a computer and a tray with lots of medical tools on it, "Here you go, Doctor Paul. Is there anything else I can help with?"

"Thank you. Not at the moment. Heather?" Doctor Paul turns to her.

"Yes?"

"You wrote down what our patient said?" at her nod he turns back to the tray, "Heather, Jace, why don't you go back to what you were doing. Tracy and I will be fine here," the doctor begins picking up tools.

Heather and Jace nod then walk back down the hall. "I still think it's poison," Jace says.

"I agree. It does make sense after all," Heather picks up the stack of papers she'd dropped and sets them back in an orderly stack. "I'm going to tell Mr. Barnes what's happening with Mr. Rogers," she heads back down the hallway to Bucky's room.

"Is he alright?" Bucky asks as soon as Heather comes in the door.

"Doctor Paul is taking care of him. At the moment, he is unable to move. The doctor is trying to find out what caused this. The most valid assumption we have at the moment is poison."

"Poison?"

"If someone tried to kill you, why not Captain America too?"

"I see. But as far as I know, no one has been in here. Unless the cook poisoned the food in the cafeteria," Bucky points to the tray on the side table.

Heather walks over and picks up the cup of water, "Was he drinking this?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Because this could have had the poison in it. If someone, somehow, snuck in here - they would have put poison in his water. It was sitting here when he went to get his food, right?"

Bucky nods, "It was. That would make sense actually."

"I'm going to take this to the doctor," Heather heads to the door but pauses, "Do you need anything?"

"Would you hand me Steve's phone? It's on the window sill."

Heather smiles and hands him the phone then leaves the room.