I'll Keep This Secret For You

Chapter 60

You can't help but gasp before he even has his shirt off completely. As he moves to lay down on his stomach he gives you a sideways, apologetic glance even though he doesn't need to be sorry for anything, Hydra needs to be sorry for what they've done to him.

Not only is he skinnier than you first thought and the bruising on his ribs still pretty severe but the thing that really makes you fret, that makes you genuinely worry about his health - and that's saying something - is the heavy bandaging all over his back. You can only guess what's under there.

He watches your wearily as Gabrielle starts to peel the bandaging off and reaches out to take your hand.

"I'm sorry you have to see this doll." He mumbles gravely.

Sure enough once all the bandages are removed, the ones closer to his skin stained yellow and soaked with blood multiple large gashes all across his back are revealed to you and the sight of them makes you nearly want to vomit out of anger and how disgusting they look.

Whip lashes.

How could Hydra do this to him?

Some of them look mostly healed now, some of them are smaller and not as bad, but there's one in particular that makes your skin crawl with dread. It spans from all the way around the nape of the right side of his neck and shoulders, diagonally across his back and torso and finishes just above his left hip. It's red and angry and raw and deep and judging by the yellow, gunky puss oozing out of it - not to mention the steady stream of blood too - it's definitely infected.

You gasp and clap a hand over your mouth.

"Oh my god." You whimper.

"Doll I'm sorry." He huffs.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" You ask concerned.

"I did," he tries sheepishly. "You knew I had cuts."

"Yeah but not one the length of Africa and depth of the Atlantic Ocean!" You exclaim flustered. "What did we agree on Buck?"

"I'm sorry." He sighs in reason. "I should've told you and trust me I was planning on it today but we both were keeping secrets before so starting now it can be a clean slate?"

You close your eyes and let out a deep breath. "Okay fair enough. So how bad is this um, wound?" You ask turning to Gabrielle.

"Well again as hard as it may seem to believe, it's a lot better than it was. I'm not sure if you can see it anymore but it did go right down to the bone. It just doesn't seem to be healing as fast as we'd like what with all his enhanced abilities. It is infected as I'm sure you can tell, but we are keeping it clean and dressed daily and as long as the muck keeps coming out as it is we are hoping that it should be on the mend within a week," she explains.

"Okay." You nod trying to sound sure of yourself as you give Bucky a knowing look.

As she gets to work cleaning the insanely massive gash you realise how painful it really must be. Bucky is a strong, brace man with a high pain tolerance, but whatever antiseptic Gabrielle is using to clean that cut has him wincing and yelping and squirming in pain, gripping your hand insanely tightly to stop himself from writhing around in absolute agony. You do your best to comfort him with soothing words and affectionate pats but by the time Gabrielle has finished right the way to the redressing Bucky has tears in his eyes. It was unbearable to watch let alone experience, you hate seeing your husband so helpless and in pain.

"There you go Bucky all done, I'm so sorry," Gabrielle says with a guilty look on her face.

"No, don't be Gabby," Bucky says through gritted teeth. "It has to be done."