Broken Together

Chapter 22

Cassie's POV

    I wake up in another white room. Gosh I need to be more careful...I'm sure Bucky's going to get sick of meeting me in hospitals. I try to open my eyes completely but it really hurts. My head hurts and throbs as the light hits my eyes. It takes a few minutes to adjust my eyes to the light and when I finally look around I don't see the familiar face I was expecting.

    "Steve?" He jumps up out of his chair as if he was half asleep when I called out.

    "What- Oh, Cassie! You're awake, good. Everyone will be happy to see you awake." He rubs his eyes and I can tell something is wrong, but I know Steve isn't ready to say anything.

    "Where's Bucky?" My throat hurts and I can taste metal in my mouth, but I discard everything and put all my focus on Bucky. Steve stutters and thinks before he responds to my question, and that is when I knew for a fact that something was wrong.

    "Okay, I should have rehearsed or something. Uhm, Bucky is in the ICU. He ran into the building to get you and found you unconscious. He picked you up and brought you out, but Hydra agents came after him. He was holding you so there wasn't much he could do butick and move around quickly. Clint and I tried to help him, but we didn't even know he had gotten shot. He took on eight bullets to the back to save you and didn't collapse until after he knew you were okay." Hearing it all right now is hard to process but I know I just need to accept that Bucky is in the ICU and that's it for right now.

    "He's gonna be okay, right Steve?" I'm really afraid to even ask this question. I see a smirk come on his face before he answers.

"Bucky will be perfectly fine. He took eight shots for you and one shot pierced through his entire body and hit your arm. He stayed awake for ten minutes after he got the last shot and hasn't lost his heartbeat yet. He's not going anywhere." I give a nice exhale of relief and smile.

"It's possible for me to see him? Right?"Another question I dread asking for fear of a negative answer.

"Actually, yes you can. Natasha arranged it before we got to the hospital so that you or anyone could see him, but only with your permission." He starts to smile a lot and I don't know what he means by my permission. How can I give anyone permission to see him?

"Uhm...Is there something I should know?" Steve starts laughing and I feel the mood lighten up.

"Nat made some fake ids so we could get you two in here without Hydra finding us and so on the register and her verbal words to the doctors and the nurses were, 'Help, my best friend has been poisoned. Help me please,'" He is trying to make himself sound very girly and obnoxious. " 'Please help. My best friend and her husband are in trouble. Please.' She came in crying and freaking out for all the nurses and doctors to see. I am supposed to share the cover story, but I don't think I can without laughing."

Now I am laughing too. Very awkwardly, but I am laughing at it too. "So, Bucky and I may be dying and she decides to have a little fun by making Bucky my husband?" The words sound very foreign to me but they make me laugh so much more.

"Tell me about it! I told her she was going to be the next one in the hospital when you woke up." We share a good laugh until Nat walks in and then I pretend to be mad at her. I can't keep up the charade and so all three of us share a nice laugh.

"So, do you want to go see your husband?" Natasha winks at me and helps me into a wheelchair," knowing what my answer will be.

"Of course! That's what a good wife would want to do." We laugh again and make our way down to the ICU. I verify Steve and Natasha, I mean...Will and Bella as my friends and then we go in to see Bucky. We come around a corner and the smile on my face fades away as I see my poor Bucky laying on the hospital bed, covered in wires. He looks drained, and I can't help but feel responsible for this.

"Nat, he will be okay, right?" I feel my eyes water up a bit but I know Bucky will want to see a smile when he wakes up, so I put on the biggest one I can as we get closer.

"Yes he will. He fought to get to you in that house, and fought to get you from Hydra when they attacked our building. He will not stop fighting for you. He loves you, and he will pull through for you again." We enter the small space they have him in and I try to wheel myself straight to his side. I grab his hand in mine and jump a little at how cold his skin against mine. I pull myself closer with my good arm, my left, and I feel his face to make sure that this isn't just his hands, but he is ice cold all over.

"Bucky? Can you hear me?" I push back the tears incase he wakes up and I smile brightly, knowing that my eyes still has tears streaming down, and there is no way to stop them. I can't bare to lose him. I has all my friends with SHIELD and the Avengers, but Bucky is my heart. I have only been his girlfriend for a month or so, but knowing who he was before, and seeing how much he has changed makes me the happiest girl in the world. I can't live without him. "Bucky?"

I feel my body heat up and I begin to rub my hand up and down his arm  and he begins to warm up slowly. I realise what I need to do. I get up out of the chair and I gently bring my face close to his and I let my heated breaths linger on his face for just a moment. I leanin close and kiss his lips, and the steam that rises in my mouth makes me feel great. I kiss him and I place my left hand on his face, and then his chest. I let my hand wander from his chest all the way back up his neck and through his hair. I can feel his entire body heating up and my heart beats rapidly.

"Bucky, wake up," I command and go back to kissing him. "I love you too much to let you go like this. You will wake up and me my protector, my shield, my lover, and right now...my husband."

His eyes snap open but I don't stop kissing him. He comes right back, placing his hand on the back of my head and pulling me in closer to him. he manages to help me into the bed with him, without using my arm and I break from the kiss to lay my head on his chest and hug him tight to keep him warm. "You came back." I let a small, warm tear escape my eyes.

"Of course I came back. I'm not going anywhere. I would never leave you behind. I will always come for you, no matter what kind of trouble you are in." He pulls me closer to him and I feel his body regaining a normal temperature. I refuse to get out of the bed though. I am quite content with this, even though Natasha and Steve are in the same room right now. I don't feel the least bit awkward.

"Well, Steve and I should leave you both alone so that you can catch up. We will be back for you both when Bucky can leave and you sign him out. Call if you need us." I break from Bucky to give Nat a quick hug and then Steve. They walked out the door and I expected to see them in a day or so.

"How have you been Bucky, dear?" I laugh as I even ask the question.

"Well, other than the near death exposure, I have been doing well. You sweetheart, I think we need to talk about this whole husband/wife thing." He winks at me and then we both laugh.

"It was Natasha's idea. When we were both knocked out, she made fake aliases and made us a married couple. Isn't she gonna get a 'lovely' gift after this," I spit out sarcastically.

"I know just what to get her," he laughs.

"Really," this throws me off a bit. How does he know what to get Nat.

"A bouquet of flowers that attracts all kinds of disgusting and disturbing bugs to her apartment at SHIELD. She would hate us so much. We laugh until the nurses come to separate us and even then he tries to get up to get me from the wheelchair.

"Sir, Ma'am, I need you both to separate. You will heal quicker if you do so." She has had a rough love life, I can tell. I allow myself to be wheeled all the way back to my room and I go to sleep instantly.