Life in Brooklyn

Chapter 23

He didn't catch him to the last part, just the "a few hours." It kept running through his mind, all of the possible outcomes. Tony pushed through and is actually out in a few hours, totally fine.
He dies on the table before getting the heart.
He dies on the table getting the heart.
He dies on the table while getting the heart.
He rejects the heart and he dies.
It's a bad heart and he dies.
Most of the outcomes was tony dying and he focused more on those than the hope tony might actually pull through.
I'm those few hours, he might lose the live of his life and the one thing he cared most about, that altogether, would destroy him.
Apparently Bucky had been talking, because he faceplates again and raised his hands in surrender. "I'll be here when you wanna talk."
Steve nodded, cause, why not?
•
The doctors weren't lying, tonys condition was worsening over time, but more than they elaborated to them. They didn't want to worry them even more than they had to, so they let tour the part he'd been crashing a lot and didn't get oxygen to his brain for a long period of time. He could wake up totally fine, but he could not wake up, or wake up with extreme deficits.
When the heart arrived, he was crashing again and the cardio surgeon got right to work. Whether she was going to be able to pull it off along with tony was still to be answered. She'd talk to him, as if he were awake, "come on, tony. Your boyfriend needs you, your friends need you, it isn't your time. You still have a life ahead of you. So don't you dare let go. Fight." She'd say as she was elbow deep in his chest.
•
Natasha eventually came to steves room, along with Bruce and Rhodes. They were totally fine with sitting outside, just, they all wanted to get the news together and steve most certainly had the right to know first if anything.
Steve told them to come in though. Maybe if he talked, about other subjects or just people watched, the voices would die down. Though they hadn't come back yet.
And soon enough, the surgeon came in.
Steve knew but also didn't know why he was still restrained, but he fought them anyway. When the surgeon walked in, their small talk hushed and everyone stood up but him, he would've wanted to, but no.
He yanked on one side really hard over and over until the doctor finally removed them. His hands were still bandaged so he couldn't move them much.
"H-how's tony?" He stuttered, both scared and anxious to find out the answer.
The surgeon sighed. Bad sign. Bad sign. Bad sign. Steve thought, but it wasn't.
"Hes out of surgery, in recovery on the next floor."
"So, hes okay?" Steve said, with relief and disbelief in his voice. Last time he saw him, he wasn't breathing and well... he was dead.
"Yes. He is." She confirmed with a nod.
Everyone sighed of relief, steve almost started crying, he though tony was gonna die. Then his mind went back to his thoughts. "Ok, he may of not died on the table, but can't he still reject the heart?" He shook his head and tried to get that thought away. Better to worry about what is happening and not about what might happen.
"Can I see him?" He said.
The surgeon hesitated to get a nod from steves doctor. "Of course." He slowly stood up and started walking, but pretty much everyone in the room insisted he used a wheelchair, even if he felt totally fine. "You have a concussion, steve. Sit down." Bucky urged and steve did so.
He was still sleeping when they arrived. A large bandage around his neck, IV fluids dropping into the tubes that went into his body.
His lips weren't blue.
He was breathing.
A heart beat shown on the monitor, strong and steady.
And he was warm-ish. His hands were always cold. Steve was only able to tell after his fingertips that stuck out of the bandages brushed the top of his hand.
Steve sat there with everyone in the room as well, but he was the one at his bedside, and metaphorically holding tonys hand, since his are all wrapped up.
Both doctors hovered outside the door. Tonys surgeon would show up every now and then in the room, but steves was always there. Whether it was in the corner of the room, or just outside the door. He never left.
He didn't really care. All of his focus was on tony, until he heard faint screaming. He didn't know if it was just him, or if it was actually being heard by others. He turned his head to see almost all of the others turn their heads to look out the door and see a young girl, screaming and yelling, but mostly crying. They didn't know why, but her mother or whoever was holding her tried to calm her down and laid kisses all over her damp face. She just cried. So the mother apologized quickly to the people around her and walked away.
He was grateful it wasn't only him for slightest moment, but it happened again.
This time, no one turned their heads or even acknowledged the screaming. Because they couldn't hear it.
He immediately shook his head and tried to het it to go away, but they got louder and louder and louder... until. "Are you ok?" A quiet and raspy voice croaked. Steve opened his eyes and saw that tonys were open and focused intensely on him.
They faded, but remained a bit.
His smile grew too. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" Years rolled into his eyes. Tony was awake, and smiling. "How do you feel?"
He shifted in his bed slightly and steve kept his hands on his lap, so tony couldn't see the bandages, at least not yet. "I've felt better. What happened?"
The small smile that was on steves face disappeared. "The man from a few weeks ago in the bar..." he sighed and closed his eyes. He didn't continue, instead the screaming for louder and he was afraid of he'd open his eyes and see blood everywhere...