Save Us First (Bucky)

27

Ivy woke up in a sterile white hospital room.
Her whole body seemed kind of numb, she couldn't feel most of her face.

When she looked around, she saw Loki sitting next to her bed.
"Hey, darling", he said softly,
"How are you feeling?"
"I- I'm not dead?"
He chuckled.
"No. You're not. You've got a broken nose, a couple of broken ribs, a bad concussion...the doctors said...well they said you're lucky he didn't break your back. And didn't hit any organs when he.."

"Stabbed me?", she sighed and he nodded.
"What happened?", she asked softly.
"Tony knocked him out. He, Sam and Rhodey dragged us all into a jet and flew us out."
She was almost too afraid to ask.
"James?"
"I don't know. They brought him in but he ran away as soon as he woke up. Tony's blast busted his belly a little, but they stitched him up good. Should be fine. If he comes back."
She sighed.

"Okay. And how are you?"
"I'm fine. Minor concussion, a few scratches. Your boyfriend has a mean swing."

She flinched at the word 'boyfriend' and he bit his lip.
"Ivy...I'm so sorry."
"Not your fault. Nobody could have prevented this - we didn't even know it was possible to bring him back, right."
"Yeah. Still. You didn't deserve that."
She just nodded again and sighed.

He stayed with her the rest of the day, and through the night, because she was too afraid of going to sleep.
"I don't know if I'll survive those nightmares Loki", she mumbled and he took her hand.
"I'm with you."

In the morning the doctors allowed her to get up and walk around a little, which hurt like a bitch, but she didn't want to just lie around all the time.
In the hallway they met Steve, who was very delighted to see her up, and Tony.
Steve had a few bruises and also a mild concussion but was otherwise fine, and Tony didn't have a single scratch.
She smiled and thanked him, when suddenly a door was opened and Bucky entered the hallway.

Everybody immediately stopped their conversations and all eyes stared at him.
His jaw muscles moved when he swallowed, then he saw Ivy and pain and fear flickered over his face.
He made a few steps towards them and suddenly she felt thrown back into that room again.

"No...No, No, No, No..", she whispered, stumbled backwards, against Loki, tears running over her face and a second later she was having a full on panic attack.
"Get her out of here!", Steve shouted and Tony carried her away, while Loki stormed to Bucky and his Therapist, who had brought him.

"What the hell is he doing here?! Are you insane?!"
"Loki, it wasn't him...", Steve said, trying to calm him down.
"He almost killed her!", Loki shouted angrily.
He grabbed Bucky, lifting him of the ground a few inches.
His eyes were glowing in a rage they had never seen before.

"Get out of here Barnes, or I swear to god I will kill you!"
"Loki...", Bucky began, but Loki just closed his fist around his throat a little tighter.
"I will rip your throat out, Bucky, get the fuck out of here. You're never ever gonna go near her again. If you so much as look at her, I will rip your heart out, are we clear?"
Bucky swallowed and nodded.

Loki let go of him, took a deep breath and walked back to Ivy's room.
She was sedated again, the tears on her face weren't even dry yet.
Loki sat down, buried his face in his hands and sighed.
He had no idea how to help her.

-
When Ivy woke up the next time she was actually feeling better.
"Ivy..James is talking to his therapist about the incident. They say you can watch from the other room if you want to", Loki explained to her.
"Will you come with me?"
"Of course, if you want me to."
"Yeah. Steve too."
"Alright. We'll be there."

Bucky was sitting on a metal chair, elbows on the table, his face buried in his hands.
"How is she?", he asked immediately, when his therapist entered.
"It's alright, James. She's okay", Dr. Raynor said, sat down across from him and he scoffed.
"She  had a panic attack just from seeing me! How does that mean she's okay?!"
"I mean, she'll be fine."
He scoffed again, shook his head and buried his face in his hands again.