Indefatigable || Bucky Barnes (4)

1

"How is that feeling, huh darling?" Basil asked as he gently extended the small arm in his grasp. The little girl, who couldn't be more than eight sniffed as he examined the inflamed joint. It was slightly swollen and obviously sore. He was ever so careful as he examined it. The girl sniffing, dried tear tracks on her cheeks. He spared her a warm smile. "It doesn't seem to be broken. Most likely badly sprained".

The girl's mother, a worn woman with tired lines on her face sighed in relief. Her hair hidden behind a worn and old cotton scarf that had obviously seen better days. Her clothing was a size too big and the sleeves were fraying. Basil turned his smile to a more reassuring one. Things had not been easy. For them or anyone.

It had been a few months since everyone had come back. Tony had retired and Captain America was gone. It was a strange new world. People had returned to find the world entirely different than it was when they had left. They were suddenly without homes and without money. People were gone and people had retuned. There had been death and new life. It was strange. He knew that the little girl he was currently treating was one of the ones who had disappeared during the blip and her mother was fretting over her like she would vanish again at any given moment. Basil understood the feeling. (You never got over watching your loved ones turn into nothing but dust before your eyes. Vanish into thin air with no rhyme or reason. Just gone. Poof and you were suddenly untethered and alone). He might have also disappeared but he had seen the others who went before him. The dust driving around the battlefield. He had seen the footage later of the chaos in the cites as dust filled the air. He had heard enough of nightmares and grief. He had lost people enough and had them return again to claim ignorance with what the rest of the world was dealing with. (It seemed in some ways that they caught up to the kind of trauma he had been dealing with ever since Bucky fell off that train in 1945. Now that was a sad and dark thought. He would have never have wished that fear in anyone).

"One of the nurses will wrap it for you. Over the counter pain killers and ice packs until the swelling goes down shall be fine. Just be careful with it for a few weeks. No more climbing trees", he reminded the child. She pouted and he chuckled. He reached for the drawer in his exam room and pulled it open to reveal a selection of sweets. Lollipops, skittles, chocolate. All in little packets. "May I? Since she was so brave", he asked the mother. She nodded with a received look and he gestured to the drawer. "Okay. Since you were so good you can choose one, Ali".

Ali picked out a green lollipop and grinned at him. She was missing one tooth. "Thank you Doctor Basil", she sung as she hopped off the bed. Her mother reaching for her anxiously as her trainers hit the floor.

"My pleasure. If you two wait here while I get a nurse to come and wrap that for you, I will be a second". He spared them another smile before leaving the white room.

As soon as he was out of the door the smile fell and he was yawning tiredly. The world had adapted to the lack of population and the sudden return of them was straining the resources. People were penniless and homeless. Many nonprofit charities had been set up to aid the returns with healthcare and housing. This was one of them, Basil having been volunteering for them for almost three months now. It was unpaid and long hours serving as a GP or A&E doctor to those who could not go to the hospital. People who no longer had insurance since they were written off as dead, or did not have the money any more. It was hard work and he was exhausted. "Townsen", he greeted one of the nurses at the desk. "There's a little girl in my office needing a sprained wrist wrapped. Could you send someone? I haven't eaten all day and I'm already half an hour over my shift". He leaned his elbows against the counter and ran a hand through his curls.

"Sure. You get some rest Doctor Parrish", she nodded with a freshness that Basil definitely did not feel.

"Thank the goddesses", he groaned as he headed round the desk, feet dragging, and into the small backroom that served as the medical staff's small changing rooms. The building they were in a old three story office block that had been renovated to become the clinic. The ground floors becoming emergency rooms. The first floor now minor injuries while the third was storage and staff rooms. Though, there were never enough rooms and hardly any supplies. Luckily after the first few months of working the rush of people needing help had died down as society began to adjust again. Today had started busy but had calmed, much to his relief. Manic to manageable.