Take Care of You (Bucky Barnes x reader)

Part 02

HYDRA Base, Austria, February 1945

It wouldn't be long now. Already, German leaders had begun declaring surrender, and Adolf had retreated to his underground bunker.

Nearly every HYDRA facility in Europe had been destroyed. It was only a matter of time before they found HYDRA's Austrian base.

Y/n had been given explicit instructions. Take what you can to the USSR base, leave everything else, another group would come to collect the rest. Several Russian men joined her just before Dr. Zola left to meet up with Schmidt. Currently, they were on track to leave the next night.

"L/n!" a voice called over the radio. "L/n the scouts found something. We need you in the lab."

With a roll of her eyes—because it seemed that since Zola left, everyone needed to ask her about everything and anything—she headed to the lab. She hadn't packed everything from the lab yet; it would be her task for tomorrow.

She entered the room to see several Russian men and a few of the remaining aides surrounding one of the operating tables. She let out a gasp as she saw the body. It was James Buchanan Barnes, a man she had almost certainly fallen in love with years before.

"That's not possible." She quickly rushed to the drawers, grabbing everything she would need to stitch his wound. "Where did you find him?" she barked at the Russians who had been on scouting duty.

The two men mumbled under their breath in Russian.

"Speak up!" she yelled in their native tongue.

"He was in the snow, under the train tracks."

"How is he alive?" someone asked.

"He won't be for long if I don't stitch up this wound." Y/n carefully examined the remaining piece of his left arm. "Lafrentz, he needs blood—Kuzmin has a viable type; hook him up."

The doctor's aide moved towards one of the Russians.

"No!" Kuzmin shouted, backing away. "I'm not giving that guy blood ... and how the fuck do you know my blood type?!"

She cursed under her breath and began to cut away the dead flesh. There was no time to waste. If this asshole didn't cooperate, she could use her own blood as they were the same type.

"HYDRA knows everything about its soldiers, including ones on loan. Now, leave! All of you! Lafrentz, I need you to hook me up and get me a bowl of hot water."

The man quickly did as he was told. "Now what? You can't stitch him up while you're giving blood."

"Last I checked," she finished disposing of the dead flesh, "I'm the only damn person here who knows how to properly stitch a wound. You can go now; I'll call if I need assistance."

He scurried out of the room, leaving Y/n finally alone with the soldier.

"What's happened to you, my sweet?" She began to stitch. "They told me you were dead—that by the time Captain America arrived at the base, you were already gone. You know, I bet they knew I was fallin' in love. I wanted to break you out, undo your restraints, and let you go. I couldn't stand the screams. Every other patient they brought in died before the second day. We went through nearly fifty people before we got to you.

"I'm a terrible person, I know. I could tell you that I'm doing this all for my father, but it doesn't seem like enough. I watched Dr. Zola kill fifty people just because I needed money to pay for my father's hospital bills. It's disgraceful. If he knew, I doubt he would look at me the same anymore. I can barely look at myself in the mirror.

"I'll tell you something, Bucky; I'll take care of you. When we get to that Soviet base, and you're all healed up, we're going to escape. We can go wherever we want. Maybe we can ... no. I can't go back to my father; they'd know it would be the first place I'd go. Sometimes I wonder if HYDRA really does know everything. Wherever we go, I'd make sure to help people, even if it's just little things.

"Of course, this is just a dream. After all, why would you want me after everything I've done?"

Y/n collapsed into a nearby chair, finished and feeling light-headed. She took the needle out of her arm and smiled dozily at the unconscious soldier.

After a moment of rest, she stood and took a cloth out of the warm water. She cleaned up the blood on his arm and began to check for other wounds. She had already checked for any life-threatening or continuously bleeding injuries and found none, but that didn't mean he didn't have anything minor. She knew from experience that even small wounds left untreated could cause serious harm. He had several bruises that seemed to already be in their final stage of healing and a couple cuts that weren't too deep. She cleaned him of any dirt and blood, then fetched a clean cloth and water. She laid the new rag on his forehead and whispered, "you'll be alright."

She returned to the chair and fell asleep.