I took a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves. There was no going back after this. My index finger tapped frantically against the cot I was lying on. My surgery was only minutes away. Me and Arrow were waiting in the hallway, while Christin was having a last-minute discussion with the doctors.

"Just breath, soldier," Arrow said, "Though, if you do make yourself pass out, you'll probably make it easier for the medics."

"That's not funny," I mumbled.

"Sorry," she said, crossing her arms.

Arrow glanced down at the floor for a moment, before she looked back up at me. Her hand reached out and gripped mine gently. I looked up at her face, it was mostly covered by the deep green mask she was wearing that day, but her golden green hazel eyes were the same as I had first seen them. They brought a feeling of familiarity and comfort to me.

"You're going to be fine," Arrow said.

I believed her and nodded, "You'll be here when I wake up, right?"

She nodded, "I will," she smirked, "With a camera. Cause I know you're going to say some weird junk when you first wake up."

I chuckled. Taking another deep breath and I squeezed her given hand. It was probably only a few minutes later that the medics wheeled me away, and I had to let go. I swallowed thickly as we entered the operating theater.

I was placed on the table. A bright light was above me; I flinched back when it hit my eyes. the room was surprisingly dark, most of the lights were on me. There were so many people in there with me; either prepping something or counting, very sharp looking, tools. My index began to tap again.

"Good to see ya Bucky, how ya doin'?" A familiar voice spoke, as an older woman with a medical mask walked up to me.

My eyes widened, as I realized who it was, "Dr. McClain?"

"Yep, haven't see ya in a while, sugar."

"What are you doing here?"

She chuckled, "Well, I work here. And guess who was assigned to help with your operation."

"Oh."

"How are ya feeling?"

I swallowed again, "F-fine."

"A little nervous?"

I didn't even try it hide it anymore and nodded.

"Ya'll be alright, my baby girls know what they're doing."

Someone handed what looked like a mask to her and she placed it over my face. The air. Or what ever I was breathing, was cold and smelled funny.

"Deep breaths. In through the nose and out through the mouth," Dr. McClain said.

I did as she asked, wanting just get this over with. But soon I was panicking as it wasn't working. I didn't feel like I was falling asleep. This wasn't working, I was going to stay awake!

Darkness.


Everything felt light and tingly, and my throat was terribly dry. My eye lids were heavy as lead, so opening them wasn't an option. Then the low grinding deep ache from my side made itself known to me. A low groan escaped me as I felt my face twist in discomfort.

There was a voice trying to call out to me, but it was like it was miles away form me. A scream that I could barely hear or understand. Slowly it became clearer, and I started to understand it.

"Bucky?" someone said.

I groaned again, and tried to open my eyes again. I got them to flicker for a moment before finally opening them. Everything was crazy bright and slightly blurred, but that slowly faded and returned to normal.

"Bucky?" someone, said.

I looked over finding Arrow at my bed side.

She smiled, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"One plus your thumb," I rasped, before coughing.

Arrow groaned, as she reached over to a table and grabbed a glass of water, "Aww, Dad already showed you that one, didn't he?"

I slowly slurped up the water through the offered straw, before stopping to say, "What happened?"

"Well, you passed the finger test so I guess you aren't completely sky high anymore," Arrow said.

"What do you mean?" I groaned. God I was so tired.

"Bucky, it's Friday."

"Friday? It's not Friday," I glanced around, "This isn't my room."

Arrow chuckled, "No, it's your recovery room."

"Recovery room? Recover from what?" Realization slapped me in the face, "The surgery."

"Yep, it's all over. You did great."

"Go me," I cheered weakly.

She chuckled, "How you feeling?"

"Tired, sore."

"Not shocked, I'm just glad you're not loopy again."

"Again?" I looked at her confused.

"Bucky, like I said, it's Friday, your surgery was on Wednesday."

I felt my eyes widen, "I've been out for two days?"

"Not for the whole time. You woke up a few times before this, and you were loopy as heck."

I groaned, "Oh no. I didn't say too embarrassing, did I?"

"I got a lot of it on video, so, I'll let you be the judge of that."

I grimaced at the thought of whatever horrors Arrow had recorded.

She started laughing, "Oh don't worry. I enjoyed it, and it wasn't all bad. You waking up thinking dad was a shark, was quite entertaining."

"Oh man," I moaned.

She erupted into a new fit of giggles.

I sighed, "So, what changed? I don't really feel all that different."

"Wait a few more hours and you'll feel it, right now you're still a little loopy."

I nodded, and leaned back into the pillow. I was so tired. I knew I was slipping back under, But I still caught Arrow smirking. She was clearly fine with embarrassing me later.


The for next few days, I mostly slept. I had to be on pain medication, as even though my nerves were connected to the metal, they were still freaking out. The one time I denied the drugs, I ended up falling asleep in tears. It had felt like it was ripped off all over again, and that wasn't all that far from the truth.

I would have to be checked every few hours, to make sure there wasn't any infection and to change the dressings. I was asleep for most of those times, so after those few days was the first time, I really saw it. I knew that this needed to happen, and it would be getting better, but it was still jarring.

When they unwrapped the number of tight-fitting bandages around my whole upper torso, I felt my stomach churn. My shoulder was gone, and in its place was the neural net connector. The connector didn't stick out like my shoulder did, it was nearly flush to the rest of my body. Metal enveloped half of the left side of my collar bone, and went at least four inches down from where my arm pit used to be. Where the metal met my flesh, it wasn't a clean defined line like I had hoped, it was a messy raw fresh scarlet scar, that stung when touched.

After I managed to avoid a panic attack, Mara Jean brought in my new arm. They waited the few days after my surgery, to allow my shoulder some time to heal, before attaching the prosthesis. God, the thing looked like it was from another planet! It looked like a normal arm, just metal. The hand and forearm were sterling silver, with deep navy detailing, and on the wrist, was a built-in watch. She really went all out.

I had to lie down on a hard table, shirtless, not that these people really cared about that. The arm was moved from its transport cart and next to me. Moment of truth, here we were.

Mara Jean stood next to me, the arm in her hands, "You ready?"

I nodded.

"Alright, take a deep breath. First time is always a little shocking, so let me know if you feel anything."

She held the arm's shoulder close to the connector, with one hand. Her other hand hovered over the shoulder. Small periwinkle sparks crackled from her hand and the metal of the shoulder began molding to allow the connector to attach perfectly. I felt my eyes widen at the display. Then she shoved the arm into place. I gasped, as the connection solidified, sending an electrical tingling sensation through my whole body.

"You good?" Mara Jean asked as she finished attaching it, and backed away from the shoulder.

"Yeah, tingly," I panted, "That was weird."

"It can be."

"How did you-What was that?"

"I'm a technopath, I can basically build and design machines with only my mind."

I nodded, "Fancy."

She chuckled, before her face turned serious, "Now, I want you to try to move a finger."

I calmed myself and stared down at the monster of metal that attached to me. Move a finger. I didn't remember how to do that. I guess I couldn't blame myself for that, it had been months, well technically decades, since I had a working left hand. For a split moment, I was scared that this wasn't going to work, then the metal index finger twitched.

My breath hitched, and my eyes widened. I tried again, and this time the reaction was almost instant. I could feel the smile start to grow on my face.

"Good," Mara Jean said, "Can you make a fist?"

I swallowed, and slowly and shakily the gleaming fingers enclosed into a loose fist.

"Can you lift up the arm?"

Breathing deeply, I focused, and then I heard the gears and servos whirring and pumping. Jerkily the arm lifted off the table. I huffed out a breathless laugh, and I felt the tears slip from my eyes, but I didn't care. I had two working arms again.

I looked up at Mara Jean and Cari (she had been in the room to make sure I didn't pass out again), and mumbled, "Thank you."

"Don't thank us yet, you're still not completely recovered," Cari said, "For the next few weeks you'll have to wear a harness for extra support. Just until your body adjusts."

"This thing is also a quite a bit stronger than the average human hand. And while it does have basic touch sensors, it still is nowhere near the level of a regular hand. It might take you some time to figure out the right level of strength to grab certain things. So, be carful if you ever hold hands with someone," Mara Jean winked.

I nodded, "Got it."

"And you'll, also have to learn how to care for it. I made it detachable so you can take if off if needed, it also makes cleaning it much easier, just pop it in the dish washer. Though, you should probably warn your roomies beforehand. Which, brings me to the best part, it makes it great for pranks."


A/N:

Well, here is the chapter y'all have probably been waiting for. I hope I did everything alright, and got the emotions down. Sorry we didn't get a really drugged up Bucky in this one, but it didn't really fit in this emotional chapter. And I'm not down making you folks cry yet, we got a lot more story to go through.