On The Run) Romanogers

Part 8

Bucky P.O.V.

Steve was spiraling out of control, it was obvious to me and everyone in the damned hospital. He would sit by Natasha's side and hold her hand almost all hours of the day, and when he wasn't doing that, he would be pacing back and forth like a caged animal. He jumped at everything that moved and became increasingly paranoid at hospital staff. He stopped taking care of himself, ate less, slept less, and most of his hygiene had ceased. His small stubble had turned into an almost beard and, being completely honest, he was starting to stink. Sam and I had tried to break him out of this funk several times, all attempts in failure apart from the one shower I got him to take two days ago. He made me swear to stay with Nat while Sam continued to get supplies and check the hospital for anyone who might be here with the intention of turning us in.

Nat was... well to be honest I wasn't sure. The doctors kept saying any day now, but she wasn't waking up. Her vitals had been unstable the first two days, but as of late they had leveled out well. They weren't ideal, but they had stopped jumping so dramatically which was a good sign. As previously stated, Steve was almost always with her, but she and I had a few moments alone when he would go on a supply run or something of that nature. It was only a few moments, but I talked to her too. I don't think it was the same way Steve was talking to her, but I hoped that she could hear. This was one of those times that Steve and Sam were out of the room, so it was just us.

"Nat, you need to wake up," I stated, standing and facing the window, not looking at her. I knew if I did I would tear up. "You know how to be on the run, you know staying in one spot this long is risky... so wake up and we can get out of here, okay?"

I turned to her now, no change. "Come on, Romanoff, this is getting old," I laughed a bit, frustrated that there was absolutely nothing I could do. We were vulnerable here, there was no denying it. I'm shocked that we hadn't been made yet, every hour someone didn't come and drag us back to that ocean prison was a fucking miracle.

I crossed the distance and held her hand. There was so much I wanted to say and I couldn't get my train of thought to make a logical string of words. "Наталья, пора просыпаться," I spoke in a cold voice. It was classically conditioned into the Red Room girls to wake up to that, if they didn't... it wasn't pretty. It was similar to how my activation word training was started, I hated that I even tried it. I-

Something moved in my hand, I looked down, I had to have imagined it. Did she actually move? Fuck, I wanted her to wake up so damned badly but I was really hoping that this wasn't the thing she would wake up to, those words that would scare her. "Пожалуйста, не надо," she whimpered in pain and fear.

"Oh, oh my gosh," I started, she was awake. My eyes bulged out of my head as my pulse started to race. She was going to start moving and that would hurt her, so I carefully put my hands on her shoulders, avoiding that injury as best as I could, "easy Nat, take it easy. It's just me, you're okay."

Her face contorted in pain, a tear slipped down her cheek, "we're not there Nat, we're not in the Red Room, we're safe. Okay? How about you open your eyes for me?" I asked, she needed to see that she was okay.

"Нет," she stubbornly held her ground, her voice was rough from not using it. I couldn't tell if she was saying no to opening her eyes or no to what she thought was going to happen since she was disobeying.

"I'm not going to hurt you, okay?" I was trying to reassure her, Steve needed to get back fast. Him being here would snap her out of this funk, would help her realize she wasn't in the Red Room. She started to push back more, started to writhe to weakly, she groaned out in pain. "Nat, stop it," I tried to hold her still more, but it was also causing pain. "Please, don't do this, come on!" I was begging. I was about to reach for the nurses button when her eyes started to flutter open a bit.