Asylum

Cold water

Bucky slept for over 10 hours, but it was the most restful sleep he had had in months. Although he had experienced one of his worst days in the hospital (as if there were good days before that), in the end he had met the kindness of two complete strangers. People could still be kind.

When he woke up, only Darcy was in the room. The alpha was gone. It made sense, why would he want to stay and take care of Bucky? He'd done enough with staying the night before.

Darcy was sitting on the edge of the bed, drawing. As soon as she noticed that the brunette was awake, she came to hug him as if she had known him forever.

"Hi," Bucky said.

"Are you hungry? Steve went to breakfast and I stayed to take care of you, but if you are hungry you can go first. I was not hungry half an hour ago but now I am, I think I should have chosen to go first... whatever, are you hungry?"

The brunette smiled and shook his head gently.

A few minutes later Steve arrived, balancing two trays of food.

"I'm here, Darce," said the blond. As he sat up, he met Bucky's gaze and flushed slightly. "Uh, you're awake."

Before the alpha could ask how Bucky was feeling, Darcy chimed in. "Steve, you know you can't bring food to the rooms."

"Nah, it's okay," he shrugged.

"Well I warned you," the girl replied as she exited.

Steve pulled his chair closer to the bed and placed a tray of food on a nightstand. "Don't worry, you won't get in trouble for this," he smirked.

Bucky just smiled back, he couldn't think of anything good to say.

"How do you feel? Do your wrists hurt?"

"No, I feel better than yesterday. Thanks for asking. I mean, thanks for everything," he replied in his husky voice. He didn't like feeling like this, so worthless that he couldn't even express himself well.

"I brought you this tea for your throat, it must be hurting you. There's also bread."

Bucky tried to get up to eat, but the alpha wouldn't let him. "Let me help you, don't put weight on your wrists." He wrapped the brunette in his huge arms to lift him up to a sitting position.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because you needed help. We couldn't leave you here alone, bleeding and with a fever."

"They certainly could."

"But I'm not them. My name is Steve, by the way." The alpha reached out his hand to gently shake the brunette's. "You are James right?"

"It's Bucky."

The blond smiled widely. "Nice to meet you, Bucky."

Suddenly, the omega remembered the terrible way in which they had met. "Listen Steve. I wanted to apologize for the way I spoke to you the other day. I think you were just being friendly and I... made you feel bad. I'm so sorry."

"No, nothing like that. Please don't apologize. I was invasive and you were in a very vulnerable situation. At least now I have a chance to apologize. I wouldn't want to..." Steve stopped speaking because he noted the omega's scent had changed. He was scared.

"What's wrong, Bucky?"

"Here comes Rumlow."

Steve heard Rumlow's boots (no other nurse was wearing boots) approaching. A few seconds later, the other alpha entered the room and was surprised to find the blond.