Red Winter

Chapter Four - Not Alone

They all wait outside the hallway as the doctor tends to Natasha inside the medical bay. 

Clint comforts Wanda, "She's tougher than she looks, you know that, right?" Wanda nods with a smile. 

Steve and Sam stand, leaning on the wall across Clint and Wanda. Steve's been quiet since they arrived. Bucky tries to read his best friend's emotions but there's too much going on in Steve's head that he can't seem to find the right words to comfort him. So he hangs back. No one probably noticed it, but Bucky deliberately stands a few yards away from the group. Not that he doesn't feel welcome or anything, or he's not interested in everything that's happening, it's just that they all seem to share the same level of understanding and response to Natasha's situation and he, well, he's really just confused about his own feelings about it, about her. So he gives them space or rather gives himself space to process his own.

Maria finally pops out of the door. "You can all see her now." 

They enter the room and see Natasha unconscious on the bed, different medical machines attached to her. Bucky stands by the door but even from his distance he finally sees what condition Natasha is in, something he couldn't when they rescued her in the dark and she was too dirty. 

She's thin, too thin. Bucky remembers the last time he saw her before he and Steve moved back to Brooklyn. She was toned, her muscles curving at the right places, but now her bones seem to jut out at every corner.

She was perfect, Bucky remembers. Still is. A voice butts in his thoughts but is surprised to realize that it's his own. He watches as Wanda immediately runs beside the bed.

"How is she? Is it that serious?" Wanda asks worriedly, seeing all the tubes, circular electrodes, beeping monitors around them.

"Well," the doctor starts to speak. They all turn to her. "Let's start with those we can see. Multiple track marks on both of her arms. I tried counting but I gave up. Old scarring punctures, punctured over and over again. They were kind enough to alternate injecting her on her arms and toes on her feet." The doctor moves over to Natasha's feet which are also riddled with puncture wounds.

"What's with the ankle?" Clint asks.

"Sprain that was left untreated," the doctor explains. "Along with stress fractures on her toes and metatarsals. With rest and rehabilitation her bones will heal in at least six weeks."

They all watch as Steve touches Natasha's forehead. "She has a fever and her heartbeat is too fast." They all looked at the heart monitor.

"Her temperature is above normal due to severe dehydration and she's also malnourished. So she needs to rebuild her health and we also need to flush all those drugs out of her system," the doctor explains. 

Bucky watches as Steve starts to gently stroke her forehead with his thumb.

"Prognosis?" They all turn around and see Fury enter and walk straight to the doctor.

"It's going to be a long recovery but, she's going to be fine," the doctor says. "But I recommend putting her under induced coma."

"Isn't that a little too much? Aren't ice, rest and fluids enough?" Sam asks, alarmed.

"Not for someone like Agent Romanoff," the doctors replies. "I don't have the details how she ended up like this, but I know, based from my experience with most agents, it's most likely due to an operation gone wrong. Now, I don't claim to know her more than you guys, but I'm willing to bet that if we wake her up now, she'll be dead set on going back out there ASAP and finish what she started. Then chances for full recovery will be slim."