The compound felt bigger than usual as I made my way towards my room. The crutches were becoming more of annoyance with every step but I knew my knee wouldn't be able to handle the pain from walking everywhere.
"What did you do?" Peter appeared out of nowhere holding a slice of pizza in one hand and his cell phone in the other. "I'll call you back." He tells the person on the other end before coming over to see if I needed help.
"It's nothing." I assure him wondering why he cared so much about me. Tony had made an off hand comment a while ago about him having a crush on me but I brushed it off at the time.
"It looks like someone took a bat to your knee." I grimace at the description.
"Like I said earlier, it's nothing." I continue to make my way back to my room. Dima comes bounding out of no where and starts racing towards Peter.
"DIMA, НET!" I cry at my dog who immediately skids to a halt.
"What is that thing?!" Peter stands so I'm between him and my dog.
"Dima, meet Peter. Peter, meet the dog who's trained to protect me." I give Dima another command and he comes to stand at my side.
"That's not a dog. That's a fucking bear."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Banner's POV:
"How's the pain today?" I gently examine Serenity's knee as she grips the edge of the table tightly. Her facial expressions showed no sign of the pain she was experiencing but I knew the girl well enough to see the subtle hints that her knee was bothering her.
"About a four." I knew it was relative compared to the injuries she's experienced over the years but it still concerned me she wasn't rating the pain higher.
"Are you sure?" She bites her lip and nods. It was complete bullshit but I would let someone with more training access if it was worse. I get up to leave the room knowing Dr. Swanson would want to see Serenity as soon as possible.
Nat had already stressed the fact that Serenity needed to be in top shape ASAP especially now that the world was going to know of her existence and start hunting her down.
"What's the girl's pain scale?" Dr. Swanson asks as I close the door behind me. Serenity's knuckles were white from gripping the edge of the table so tightly.
"Germany incident was a nine or at least that's what she told us." My fellow doctor had read up on her past traumas so he knew exactly which time I was talking about.
"I would really hate to see her ten. She coded what, three times that time?" He watched Serenity's movements with interest.
"Yes." The word felt like glue in my mouth. We never told her that her heart had stopped beating three times after we rescued her. It wasn't an event we wanted to bring up.
"Judging from the scars, all her other injuries have healed but this one." Dr. Swanson starts flipping through her file. "Since you know Serenity better than I ever will, will you stay in the room and study her reactions. I doubt she'll tell me about the pain."
"Can do." I reply as we head into the room.
"Hello Serenity, I'm Dr. Swanson." The girl reluctantly shakes his hand as he takes the seat in front of her. "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"
"About a four." I could hear the pain leaking into her words. She was trying to be strong but it was clear the injury was worse than she was letting on.
"Have you taken anything for the pain?"
"Nope. I prefer to just grin and bear it. Plus, pain meds dull your senses." She knew from experience how dangerous it could be to not be at the top of your game.
"And yet, you allow your pain to distract you." He was being honest but it made Serenity grimace nonetheless.
"I can deal with pain." She turns away for a brief moment.
"Tell me when the pain becomes too much." Dr. Swanson gently tries to straighten out her leg but she tells him to stop before he can move it too much. "We're going to go the other way now." He informs her after making a note on his clipboard. The same thing happened within a few seconds of him moving her knee.
"What caused the injury?" Dr. Swanson waits for Serenity to reply but she remains silent. "Serenity?"
"I was getting self-defense training and landed on my knee. I fought through the pain until I couldn't stand to move it anymore. That was two days ago."
"Do you remember if your knee made a popping noise?"
"Honestly, I was more focused on protecting myself than the knee pain. I vaguely remember landing on it. It wasn't until a few minutes later when he had me pinned, that the pain fully registered." She was being as honest as she could be. I knew from Bucky that Serenity had grimaced briefly but had continued to defend herself.
"I want to do a full work up so we can figure out what is going on with your knee."
"So, blood work, CT scan, MRI with I'm assuming contrast, am I missing anything?" Dr. Swanson seemed surprised when she knew what was going to be happening next.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You're taking pain meds." Dr. Swanson informs me and before I can argue, he raises his hand to silence me. "You're going to want them, trust me." He argues and I reluctantly nod.
"I'll get her prepped." Banner was quick to offer, probably because he knows how much needles scare me. It's seems that I've regressed and now shy away from needles more than ever. I guess having all my memories back makes it that much harder to pretend I wasn't afraid of them.
Banner works quickly as he gathers everything he would need to start my I.V. line. I already knew it would take more than one stick to get it set up today.
"Bucky tells me you haven't been eating." Banner studies my reaction as he ties the tourniquet around my upper arm. "Is the pain worse than your telling us?"
I nod as I feel my resolve melting away. I've been shot, beaten to death, been thrown off of buildings to my death, and so much more but this pain was pulling down my defenses.
"After I get some pain meds in you, I'll start you on some intravenous fluids. I don't need you passing out on me now." I watch numbly as he attempts to find a suitable vein. He eventually finds a spot on the inside of my forearm. I grip the edge of the bed tightly with my left hand as the needle goes in.
YOU ARE READING
Bucky Barnes' Daughter
Fanfiction"Serenity, I promise I will not hurt you." The Winter Soldier assures me and I back away again. Fear was written plainly across my body. "You have no right to call me that." I hiss at him as I back up again. I trip and I fall landing on my inju...
