Bucky heard the pounding of footsteps approaching him even though the haze of darkness, shock, and pain. It took everything in him just to pry his eyes open and even then he all he could see was the vague, blurry shape of someone coming towards him. He tried to snarl a warning as the figure came to its knees in front of him, but all that he could force past his lips was a dull moan. His fingers twitch around the gun. His muscles quivered with effort, but he lifted the gun, pressing it to the underside of the hazy intruder's jaw line.

"Bucky," Steve said in a cracked voice. He reached up, quickly, and carefully disarming his injured friend. The gun slipped heavily from Bucky's fingers. He had had barely enough strength to hold it. "God Bucky, what happened, there are agents everywhere!" His gaze fell to the blood spreading across his old friend's chest and Steve's face went white. "What-" He started, and then immediately stopped, changing tack. "I'm calling a paramedic. Lie still."

Bucky's pain-numbed mind tried to wrap itself around what was happening. "S…Steve?" He rasped, seeing Steve's fuzzy outline as he pulled his phone from his pocket.

"It's okay Bucky, I've got you, just stay still. You'll be alright." He said his voice tight with anxiousness and fear for his friend. Bucky felt himself slipping again as Steve spoke urgently into his phone. His eye's felt so…heavy…he wanted to sleep… Bucky allowed his eyes to close again, succumbing to the throbbing numbness that encased his entire body.

Steve moved back over to him as soon as he closed the phone. Fear pierced into him like a dagger as he saw Bucky's eyelids lowering again, his breathing becoming shallower. "Bucky!" He said franticly, grabbing his forearm in a white knuckled grip. "No! No Bucky come on! Stay awake, don't you- Don't you dare. Bucky!" The other man's head tipped to his chest and Steve reached out, grabbing Bucky's chin forcefully. "Bucky!" He shouted, and his eyelids fluttered weakly. "Come on…" Steve pleaded. "Just a little longer Buck….please…"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

He was strapped down. Why, he didn't know. All his could see was a flickering fluorescent strip bulb on a indistinct white ceiling. His body felt like he had been set fire to, and then plunged into glacier water. Everything hurt. He was burning, and freezing, but not alone. He could hear someone else moving not far away.

Bucky blinked hard, trying to clear his vision, which still seemed blurry on the edges. His hand closed into a fist, the muscles tightening all up his arm. Pain flooded his body. An unwanted cry escaped him.

"Bucky?"

The sound of that voice, for an instant, soothed everything away.

"Steve!" He called, his voice sounding so…young…so scared…he didn't hardly sound like himself. And then he could see him. Steve moved to his side, gripping his forearm anxiously.

"Hey, its okay, I'm right here…" He murmured, knowing Bucky was on a lot of medication right now. He was vulnerable, and confused he was sure.

"Why…" He croaked his voice breaking. "Why am I tied?" Bucky asked miserably, feeling completely shattered. He wanted to cry, and urge that hadn't been this strong in his incomplete memory. Had he know a little more about the medication that was swaying him and inhibiting his ability to cope with his emotion he would have been less frightened. As of now though, he felt like pieces had been tore out of him, like he had been robbed of the skills he needed to cope with his situation.

"Don't worry, you're in an ambulance, the straps were to keep you from moving while the paramedics took care of you."

"I want them gone…" Bucky whispered, sounding almost childish. Steve gently brushed his friends over-long hair away from him face.

"Okay…" he agreed softly, a reassuring smile touching his lips. Steve looked up to the medic who stood quietly in the corner of the ambulance. "Would you please undo these?" He asked, knowing that if he did it wrong he could end up hurting Bucky even more. The paramedic, one of the younger men on Fury's extensive staff, looked uncertain. This was the winter soldier after all; he was supposed to be quite dangerous and unpredictable.

"No, I don't think that's a wise idea." He said, his gaze flickering uncertainly down to the clipboard in his hands. He didn't want to be trapped in a small enclosed box full of needles and sharp objects if the Winter Soldier decided to go on a rampage.

Steve blinked, taking this in before straightening to his full height. His face was calm, and impassive, but just the increase in height was enough to make the medic question his decision. Steve stepped over in the cramped ambulance, standing directly in front of the man.

"My friend is scared." Steve said, his voice deathly serious. "He's injured and he's drugged. I'd you're your help to unstrap him please." The medic swallowed uncertainly, his gaze flickering from Steve, to Bucky, and then back to Steve. He wouldn't say another word, but it was also clear that he wouldn't be backing down. A long span of silence stretched between them before the medic became decidedly uncomfortable and stepped around Steve, moving over to Bucky's side. A tiny smile ghosted across Steve's face and he followed him over.

"Hey Buck," Steve said gently, making sure his friend knew he was there with him. "Just lie still okay? We're going to get rid of these straps, but you still shouldn't move understand?" He coaxed gently. Bucky licked his lips hesitantly.

"Okay…" He whispered. Steve had said that he was drugged. That made sense. He understood now why he didn't feel like he could filter or control his own emotions.

Mercifully, the straps that held him to the gurney loosened and then pulled free. Bucky swallowed hard. It hurt to breath.

"What happened?" He asked quietly, looking to Steve for answers, all but ignoring the twitchy medic. Steve drew in an uncertain breath.

"One of Fury's men…he…someone in his family got hurt Buck; while you were with Hydra." He met Bucky's gaze uncertainly, wanting to make sure he understood. Bucky nodded slowly, ignoring the throbbing pain it sent through him. Steve buffered a moment before continuing. "Really….He was looking for a reason to take a shot at you. My guess would be he was the first one to aim for you the day that you and I walked out past the perimeter too."

Bucky took this information in silence before hesitantly replying. "His family member…who was it?...Are they dead?"

Steve shook his head grimly. "His oldest sister…she wasn't a target of yours, just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but there was an explosion nearby where she was. She was thrown back, landed wrong…she's paralyzed now…" Guilt phased across Bucky's face but he swallowed it back. He knew what Steve would say. It's not your fault. You couldn't have helped it. It didn't matter though. It was just another someone to add to the list of the people who's lives he'd destroyed.

"Fury's livid." Steve continued. "Most of the men around the perimeter where outrages as well…But I guess the edge of the yard was close enough to the border for him to justify trying to kill you." Bucky had still said nothing, his mind still concentrated on the woman he had paralyzed, and the brother who had been driven to the point of murder.

"Buck?" Steve asked quietly, trying to shake him back to reality. "You're going to be okay, you know that right?"

Bucky reluctantly tore his eyes from the ceiling, looking back to meet Steve's concerned blue eyes. "I know…" He said. His voice was flat, now devoid of all emotion.

"Perks of being a genetically enhanced super soldier I guess." This earned the tiniest hint of a smile from Bucky. "You'll heal up okay, it'll just take a while…" He assured him. "But, in case you needed something else to get you back on your feet, and your arm will have to be in a sling for a while…I brought you something."

Bucky painfully turned his head, his brows drawing together in a confused frown. Steve lifted a box out from under the gurney, opening it up. The blond haired man reached in, and drew out the sleek automail arm, looking exactly as it had the day it had been taken from him. Bucky's eyes widened and he surged forward, trying to sit up.

"Whoa! Hey!" Steve protested, pushing Bucky's weakened body back down with ease. "You can't move right now Buck! You know that!" Bucky looked like he wanted to argue, still tense under Steve's palm. "Don't worry," Steve insisted. "I'll help you reattach it. It'll be good as new."