Love and the White Wolf - Book 2

5. Stuck in Hospital

Kyle and Laurel met me for breakfast the next morning where he broke the news that Nick Fury had offered him a job as junior logistics operator and he would be learning the job from the ground up. It normally would have gone to someone with military experience but James had convinced Nick that Kyle was up to the task. He had to go away for a month to learn the basics but the rest of his training would be online or on the job.

"I was happy as an orderly and happy to get a promotion to laundry supervisor but Mr. Fury said he was convinced I was wasted there," he said excitedly. "Now, I'm going to be in the heart of operations. I still can't believe it."

Laurel was excited as well. Once they got married her security clearance would be upgraded to a higher level so she could watch missions in the operations gallery. She asked about the portrait and I assured her it would be done before we left.

"I heard you met drunk Bucky last night," she said with a smile.

"I wasn't impressed at first," I admitted, "but the more I thought of it the funnier it became. What is in that painkiller?"

"It's a concoction Dr. Banner came up with," explained Laurel, "combining fentanyl with an extract of a plant found only in the Amazon rainforest. He has to mix it precisely for it to work properly. Buck usually isn't lecherous, just ribald humour and bad poetry."

"Great," I joked, "I got the drunk oversexed bad date from hell."

Kyle and Laurel offered to take dogs for a walk. I said okay but warned them they couldn't peek at the portrait. I walked up to the medical centre but had to wait as James was giving his mission report to Nick Fury. Bruce came out of his office and stood next to me.

"I'm sorry," he said simply.

"For what?" I asked.

"For drunk Bucky," he replied. "It's hard to find something that will work on someone whose metabolism is so off the charts that nothing else will work. I gather he didn't tell you either."

"Actually, he did," I replied. "On the night we met I broke my tailbone and they gave me a shot of something. I called him handsome to his face and said he smelled so good. He just laughed and said he had been affected by painkillers too."

Nick Fury came out, nodded at me and pointed to Bruce's office. James was sitting partially upright and his right leg was elevated. It was bandaged but not in a cast. He looked fearfully at me and started to explain. I shut him up by giving him a long slow sweet kiss.

"I thought you'd be mad at me," he said when I broke the kiss.

"I was, until I remembered you told me on the night we met that you had your tongue loosened by painkillers before," I replied. "Honestly, I can understand why you didn't want me to know."

"It was pretty bad," he admitted. "Friday played it back and I just cringed."

"I understand drunk crying Bucky is worse," I teased.

"Carol told you about that, didn't she?" he moaned. "Just shoot me now."

He buried his head in his hands. Sam walked in with a big grin on his face watching the footage on his phone.

"I deleted it!" exclaimed James. "Someone sent it out first? Whatever happened to patient privacy?"

"Drunk Bucky is a phenomenon that transcends patient privacy," he said with a smile. "Oh, by the way, you're welcome for saving your life."

"Thank you, Sam," he said gratefully. "All I can remember is seeing that well cover tipped upwards right where I was landing. I twisted to avoid it and still hit it."