Never Alone Again |N.R|

Are you okay?

The blood from my hand had poured down Bucky's suit, well and truly ruining it. "I'm so sorry about your jacket" I exclaimed as he lowered me onto the bed. "Don't worry darl, I'm just glad you're okay. Now, I'm gonna leave you with Nat and the nurse." I watched his back as he disappeared from the room, and now I was forced to face her. Natasha.

We were both silent for the first couple of minutes. Then the nurse unwrapped the blood soaked towel from my hand and I basically screamed out in pain. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. The cuts are really deep, they'll all need stitches." As drunk as I was I could still feel the agonising pain, so the thought of someone pushing a needle into that skin made my heart race. Natasha was still standing a distance away, making no effort to provide me with comfort so I didn't ask for her to. I didn't want to give her the satisfaction.

As the nurse pushed the needle through I screamed, loudly. So in an effort to fight off the pain I bit down on my other fist. But as she pushed it through again my whole body writhed and she had to stop. "I know this hurts, but I need you to stay still." I nodded at her, bearing down in an effort to stay still as I anticipated the next puncture. As it pushed into my skin again I writhed even harder, and tears sprung from my eyes. "Please can you hold her down for me? I need to stitch these cuts up before she loses more blood." She was motioning to Natasha. No I didn't want to be held down, I wanted her to stop stabbing me with that needle. But before I could protest Natasha held both of my legs down with one arm whilst pressing another one down on my chest. She had me pinned to the bed, and I knew what would come next.

The nurse started stitching again and all I could do this time was scream. She said that the amount of alcohol I had would be more effective than any pain relief. "Get off of me!" I shouted at Natasha as another stitch went in, but she just ignored me as she watched the nurse work. Eventually the constant screaming and pain was enough to knock me out, probably along with the vodka and whisky that I'd drunk. When I came round the nurse was bandaging my hand and Natasha was gone. "Where did she go?" I questioned her. She looked up at me for a second to reply. "I told her that you'd be fine so she said she was going to head to bed, that she was tired." I'd sobered up a little now, remembering more of the details of the night and I felt guilty. Natasha was trying to look after me and all I'd done is be rude and disrespectful. Unappreciative of her unwavering kindness.

So once I was done getting patched up I headed straight to Natasha's room. I knocked lightly and waited for her to speak, but there was only silence. So I knocked again, this time adding "it's Rue." Still silence. I then figured that even if she was awake, she probably wouldn't have wanted to talk to me. So I just spoke to her through the door, hoping that she was awake and listening on the other side. "Natasha, I'm really really sorry. For everything. All you've done is be nice to me and I've just been throwing it back in your face. I'm really sorry. Goodnight." I then let out a sigh before heading to my room, tripping as I went and cursing loudly. Once inside I collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

Natasha's POV

I'd heard every word Rue said last night, and almost went out to help her when I heard her fall. I could hear in her voice that she genuinely felt bad, but she needed to learn that acting like that was unacceptable. Mostly because she'd gotten herself hurt. But Rue didn't seem to care about her health at all, always throwing herself around before considering the consequences. And her drinking. She'd stopped for weeks before the mission, and I'd thought that she'd finally moved past it. But last night was proof that one bad thing, although it was awful, was enough to send her spiralling again. I'd let her get away with this for long enough. Even though Rue was 18 now, I was still older and I needed to be the adult in her life. Just like I was before Wakanda.

So when I woke up I got myself ready for the day, showering and getting dressed, before heading down the hallway to Rue's room. I knocked on it harshly but there was no voice on the other side, just the sound of covers rustling. So I knocked again, even harder this time, making the door shake. "WHAT?" A voice shouted from inside.