I Wish I Could Tell You Something...

Part 18

You woke up with beads of sweat on your forehead. You could feel your head pounding, as though someone was hitting it like a drum. You moaned in pain and looked over to your right. You jumped when you saw a guard sitting there watching you. You tried to sit up, but your head started spinning. The guard stood up as you tried to calm yourself down. The guard walked over to the door, opened it, and whispered in hushed tones to someone (you assumed another guard).

When your head finally stopped spinning, you noticed that there was another person in the room with you and the guard. The person was wearing a lab coat and had a stethoscope around their neck. They turned to the guard.

"Please leave us." The guard hesitated for a moment but then left the room. The doctor looked over at you. "It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you. Too many bad things have already happened to you." You swung your legs over the edge of the examination table that you were sitting on so that you could face her.

"Why would Hydra care about my safety?"

"I'm not with Hydra. I was brought in from a hospital in Minsk." You were surprised.

"Why would thy have brought you in from so far away and how do you know English?" The doctor shrugged and walked over to a counter.

"I am a specialist in Minsk, but I am from California originally. They brought me in since I am a specialist in hand surgery." You silently looked down at your hand. It was wrapped in a bandage. You tried to move your fingers. You saw a slight movement and felt a dull pain. Your hand felt cold."Why they asked me to wrap it in gauze, I don't know. It was unnecessary, but that man in a suit told me to do it." You looked up at her questioningly.

"What happened to my hand?"

"Your hand was blown to smithereens. I heard that you picked up a grenade? Not a good idea." Your breathing quickened.

"Please take the bandage off." The doctor walked over to you and slowly unwrapped the bandages. Then you saw the shine. You gasped and tears came into your eyes. Your right hand and a little bit past your wrist was metal with a red star on the back of your hand. You used your right hand to cover your face.

"I don't really understand why Hydra would have need of a woman in your condition." The doctor mumbled to herself. You were surprised and looked over towards her.

"What do you mean 'in my condition'?" The doctor turned around and looked at you.

"You don't know? I would have thought that you would have already guessed. I mean, your file said that you had already been pregnant once before." You paled, unable to comprehend what the doctor had said. You looked down at your stomach which was quite noticeably large. You almost fell off of the table, but the doctor caught you.

"What did you say?" You said, your voice shaking.

"You're pregnant, Mrs. Barnes. Is that upsetting to you?" Tears came into your eyes once again. It was all too much. Heavy tears spilled from your eyes in a waterfall of emotion. You were soon sobbing uncontrollably. The doctor was silent. "I am so sorry, ma'am. I thought you knew. I didn't think it would be so shocking to you since you are 8 months along." You wheezed. You were blinded by your tears. You heard the door open and movement.

When you finally started to calm down a few minutes later, you looked up, expecting to see the doctor, but instead you saw Alexander Pierce. Your crying stopped instantly. A sneer was on his face.

"Hello, Winter. I'm glad to see that you are doing well after your surgery. It's hard to find a surgeon willing to fuse metal onto someone's hand and try to reconstruct nerve endings. It's a nasty process, and we have gone to great lengths to make sure that you are ok. You should appreciate that, Winter. Here you are truly loved, and I hope you appreciate that." You glared at him.

"You have nothing but ruin my life, Pierce. If that is what your sick mind translates to be worth appreciation, you are more demented than I previously thought." Pierce chuckled.

"You know, you and your husband are more similar than you might think, I mean besides the fact that you now each have metal where there once was skin. You are both stubborn as mules."

"Don't you call my husband a mule, Pierce. You are the ass, not him." Pierce just laughed more.

"He used to try insults like that at me too when I'd mention you. I'd give him updates about you every day. Most days he didn't even know who you were."

"Stop." Pierce sighed.

"Anyway, the reign of the Winter Soldier is long gone. Now it is time for his wife to truly take his place as the most feared assassin in history. We're planning another mission for you as we speak. You'll be leaving after you finish recuperating from your next surgery." He started to walk towards the door.

"What do you mean next surgury?" He turned back.

"You didn't think we would let you keep the baby, did you? Besides, based on the amount that of trauma you have experienced recently, it is probably already dead." You panicked.

"No, you aren't killing my baby!"

"You have no say in the matter. The operation will be tomorrow. Oh, and by the way, your husband just arrived. He doesn't think we have known about him planning a mission to save you, but when we abducted you, we put a bug on the star on his arm. We have heard about everything as he and Captain Rogers planned to rescue you. Don't worry, though. In a few hours, you won't remember him at all, and he and Captain Rogers will be dead. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a bunker to get to." Pierce opened the door and started to leave the room.

"You coward! You filthy coward!" He paused and glanced back at you. "If you were a real man you'd stay and fight, not run away to a bunker. We will find you! We will track you down and make sure that you pay for all that you have done! What happened to you to make you be like this?" Pierce just laughed and shook his head.

"You wouldn't understand my pain, Winter. You just wouldn't understand." And with that he left the room. You could hear him talking to the guards outside of the room. "Make sure she doesn't leave. She's scheduled to be wiped in three hours. Make sure she arrives without without a commotion." The guards responded with something you couldn't hear and you didn't hear Pierce anymore.

You looked down at your swollen stomach and put your right hand on your stomach.

"Oh, Bucky. I wish I could tell you something." You started to cry, but this time the tears were small as they ran down your cheeks and fell on your stomach and metal hand.