When It Snowed

Chapter 18 - Forgive Me

Bucky had placed her on his bed in the dark room. Using every skill he had in the book, the man was able to get Finley back completely unnoticed. Alleyways helped, but so did his knowledge of the fire escape on the side of his apartment building. He was hoisting her through the window of his bedroom and straight into the bed as soon as he got inside. The woman was cold, ice cold against his skin and motionless in his arms. Yet, her eyes remained open and moving. Finley was awake, but she was looking at something around her.

From his point of view, it looked as if she was watching a movie, but one that he just couldn't see.

There was no squirming from pain, no resistance coming from her end as soon as she fell into this state. So, as quickly as he could, Bucky was in and out of the bathroom grabbing all the medical supplies that he had. Deciding that it wasn't enough though, the man moved quickly into the kitchen and returned with what he needed.

Steve wasn't here, he had gone out on assignment with Natasha. Steve had been taking more jobs that Bucky lately simply because they felt that one needed to be looking for her at all times. She would come to either one of them at some point in time, so one needed to be available around the clock. Since she came to Bucky last time. They figured that it should be him that waited for her to come back.

Thank god he did. 

At her side once more, Bucky pulled away the jacket from her shoulder and moved aside her shirt as well. All he needed access to was her shoulder, it was the only wound she claimed to have.

There wasn't an exit wound out of the back, so that meant that he bullet was still buried somewhere in the meat of her shoulder. Looking at it though, it wasn't the bullet wound that distracted him for that short moment. Instead, it was the welded metal that was burnt and morphed into her skin. Where the two material met, scars riddled each and every inch of it with burn marks and lacerations.

What they did to her, Bucky couldn't imagine. However, just the idea that they hurt her? It sent fire through his veins.

Focusing on the task at hand, he pulled apart the wound in order to get a look at how deep it actually went. Normally, the average person would flinch at such a thing, but not Finley. She remained right where she was, eyes staring forward and practically holding her breath.

Continuing on, Bucky grabbed the tweezers and adjusted his grip on them so the tips would move easily at his command. Placing his other hand on her shoulder to steady both himself and her, Bucky finished sterilizing the tweezers and then dipped the tips just into the open wound. He dug for a second, eyes monitoring both the wound and her reaction. As soon as he felt the metal scrape against the led though, he focused all of his attention on the bullet and gripped it around the sides. As the two metals met, the grinding sensation tickled his fingers until he had a full grip on it. He was going to pull it out, all in one sweep. But suddenly, her other hand reached upwards and gripped his wrist.

This made Bucky look to her, but her eyes remained locked on the ceiling. Her lips however, they curled into words that she just couldn't get out. Then, after a few dry attempts, she whispered something and her eyes grew wet. Bucky couldn't hear it at first, but then he listened to the hollow and broken shell of his long lost girl. "You-you used to call me Darlin'..."

Looking at her, Bucky nodded and let out a soft smile. "Yeah, yeah I did."

Upon hearing his clarification, Finley let go of his wrist and nodded. Then, licking her lips, she laid still once more and let him continue. So, that's what he did. Bucky pulled on the bullet and it came out in one clean pull thank god. With it, there was a warm wave of blood but he was quick to cover it up and apply pressure. The next to come was disinfecting the wound, but it looked as if she had already attempted that earlier. He would clean it better though, he had the time.