You and Me ch 4
A/N – Putting a bit of Avengers 2:AoU trailer in here… sorry.
The morning light was fuzzy through his closed eyelids. Turning away from the brightness, he nuzzled closer into his pillow, pulling up a sheet over his shoulder. Warmth and comfort enveloped him, just like when Bucky used to tuck him in when he was suffering from the flu in the 30's.
Sapphire eyes flashed wide open: Bucky. Sitting up rapidly, the world swam in spirals as the concussion in his brain reasserted itself. Pressing a hand to his head, grimacing, he crushed his eyes shut against the light. As if his head didn't give him reason to lay back down, his ribs became slow burning blow torches in his torso and his leg throbbed.
Where is Bucky, Steve, he criticized himself, and Natasha and I have to have a little talk later. Slowly opening his eyes he saw he was in a private room in the Avengers Tower. James was nowhere to be seen or heard.
Standing tenderly on his sprained leg, head throbbing, he noticed a robe hanging nearby and slipped it on. Taking halting steps to prevent the bolts of lightning coursing through his skull, he gingerly stepped down the hall to where he knew the ICU was. Oddly, the hallways were empty, which both made Cap feel good yet slightly concerned.
The glass doors slid back silently and cooler air rushed forward onto Rogers' face. There were sounds of beeps and chirps and all sorts of whirrs from equipment motors. One of Stark's nurse-bots stood near a bed that was occupied; in fact it was the only bed in the infirmary built for a small army. The robot turned to face Rogers as he hobbled closer, blocking the view of the patient. It looked like a slightly softer and slimmer version of the Iron Man suit but had comforting tones of blue and silver over the metal instead of red and gold. "Captain Rogers. How are you today?" the machine said in the most tranquil voice.
Not surprised at the attendant and wishing it were gone, Steve replied, "I've been better." The robot regarded him quizzically as he continued, "Can I have some Tylenol?"
The machine appeared to be thinking then replied, "Yes. I will fetch some." Mechanically, it moved away to the dispensary. Steve almost rushed the bedside, his head a cannon blasting stars into his vision or were those tears?
James looked the same as yesterday; intubated with a respirator, wires taped to his exposed chest and an IV in his right arm. A large white bandage covered Barnes' right side where a small tube dripped translucent yellow liquid into a plastic container with milliliter markings. Rogers felt his gorge rise but quickly pushed it down. Barnes' skin was milky white as the blue rivers of his veins stood out in contrast. Where his prosthetic arm was attached, the skin puckers and scars were a tint of grey. His eyes, though closed, appeared to sink into their sockets casting a hollow, skull-like look over his youthful features. Brown hair lay limply against the pillow, in stark contrast to his pallid skin. "Bucky." Cap breathed, afraid that if anything moved he'd break Barnes.
Silence filled back in like a tide, except for the approaching robot's servomotors and quiet movements of the medical equipment.
"Your Tylenol, Captain Rogers." The nurse-bot handed him a cup of water and two pills from metallic fingers.
"Thank you." Steve managed to keep himself together for a moment. With a delicate swallow, he consumed the pills. The drug couldn't work fast enough to rid him of this headache, but any pain was better than what his heart was feeling right then.
"Seargent Barnes is still in critical condition." The nurse-bot volunteered, cocking its head at Cap, pale blue LED eyes focusing on him.
"I guessed that." Rogers replied hollowly, not looking at the robot but at Barnes' ghostly body.
"I think he will survive." The robot responded making Steve pause. Why was this machine talking to him?
"Are you programmed to talk to me for comfort or something? Stark? You here? What are you doing with your robot? It's not funny." Cap replied and then became angry looking around the large room for any sign of the inventor. Steve's head began to pound again, the agony almost bringing him to his knees.
The nurse-bot waited patiently while Steve obviously in pain scanned the space. Leaning heavily on a nearby table, Steve looked directly at the bot as it spoke, "I have many algorithms in my programming. Some of them are to encourage autonomy. I see your friend here has some technology." The robot pointed at the prosthetic arm, "And I think, to me, he has very brave and resilient programming. You also have similar programming. Let me get you a chair."
The robot quickly departed and returned with a chair. Sinking gratefully into it, Cap responded, "Thanks." The robot remained impassive. "Well… yes. He is very resilient." Rogers then asked, "You friends with J.A.R.V.I.S.?"
"We share a connection." The nurse-bot responded, again tilting its lipless head like a curious bird.
"Then the Tower knows I'm here?" Cap replied, tired sounding, holding his head gingerly.
"They have known the whole time." The bot answered soothingly. It was cryptic who "they" were.
"So why are you here?" Steve asked with an edge, getting a bit uncertain about this machine.
Before the nurse-bot could answer, Natasha burst through the sliding door, almost shattering the glass, "Rogers! Why are you out of bed?"
Steve winced at the loud sound of her voice, "Turn it down."
"Answer me. Why are you out of bed?" Natasha asked again, only slightly quieter, hands on her hips, defiant.
"Can't a guy get up around here?" Rogers responded annoyed, "I was just talking to…" Cap looked around and the bot was gone.
"Talking to who?" Widow looked around incredulously, trying to avoid the private tragedy in the bed behind Steve.
"A … robot." Steve trailed off, also looking around the room.
"A robot. One of Tony's?" Romanov looked angrily at him. "They are all locked up. You are hallucinating with that concussion. I need to get a doctor."
"No. There was one here. I was just speaking to it. Some sort of nurse robot." Steve wanted to stand up but knew if he did, his legs would melt into the floor, so he stayed seated giving Natasha the upper hand.
"His medical tech is not even close to being online yet. You are definitely hallucinating. C'mon, lets get you back to bed." Widow held out her hand to help him up.
Steve knew it was still here in the room and he was oddly comforted that it seemed to like Bucky and James wouldn't be alone. Cap decided to drop the subject with her, for now. "Fine." He relented and let Widow half carry him back to his room, "But I am telling you, it was here."
"Sure Steve. If that's the case, I have a bridge to sell you." Natasha disagreed good-naturedly, groaning under the weight of Cap.
As the glass doors closed behind the pair, a faint blue glow in the shape of eyes appeared from behind Barnes' bed, watching over the Winter Soldier healing like a robotic angel.