Chapter 4
The nurse sat down in front of Steve and she carefully took Steves hands and looked into his eyes.
“Mr. Stark was badly wounded when he came to us. He`s been in surgery for four hours now. The surgeons are just finishing, and as far as we can see, the operation went well” she said.
Steve just looked at her, the tears were running down his face.
“Now we have to wait for him to wake up before we can say anything for sure about the results”. “We`re going to have him under observation the next days to watch how he`s doing”. “He might need further surgery, but the doctors can tell you more about that” the nurse explained.
“Tha...thank you so much. When can...can I see...see him” Steve sobbed as he tried to dry his eyes.
“Just wait a minute” the nurse said and then she went into the surgery room.
She came back after a couple of minutes. “They are done now, mr. Rogers. We`re going to move him to intensive care now. Please follow us.”
”And of course you can come with us, mr. Barnes” she said to Bucky.
The doors opened, and three nurses and a doctor came out with Tonys hospital bed between them.
Steve and Bucky got up and walked over to his bed.
Tony`s face was almost covered of bruises, and tubes and a heart monitor was connected to his body.
But the only thing Steve could think about was that he was still alive. He carefully took Tonys hand, and then he and Bucky was following to the intensive care.
Steve sat beside Tonys bed while Bucky was talking to the nurses and the doctor. He held Tonys hand in his and the tears ran down his face.
He felt so completely helpless right now.
Seeing his beloved boyfriend laying there in the bed connected to the tubes and the heart monitor. And oh, all those bruises.
Who could possibly have done something like this to his dear Tony?
“I`m so sorry, Tony” he whispered. “I`m so, so sorry I couldn`t protect you from all this, baby”.
“Oh my God Tony, please forgive me for not being there when you needed me” Steve sobbed against Tonys hand.
Bucky turned around and went over to Steve. He layed his hand on Steves shoulder before he knelt beside him.
“Look at me, Steve” he said softly. “Please look at me, buddy”.
Steve turned his face to Bucky. He saw his best friend through decades, the man who had become his big brother and his fellow soldier through WW2. He knew he would have layed his life in Bucky`s hands.
“Bucky”he whispered. “What am I going to do now?”. “I can`t lose him...I just can`t...I love him so much”.
He sat down at the floor towards Bucky, and Bucky layed his arms around him and stroke him carefully over his back.
They sat like that for some minutes. Just the two of them, like so many times before in their life. It was them against everything else in the world.
Then Bucky leaned back, took Steves face in his hands and saw him into the eyes.
“Listen to me, Steve” he said. “The doctors says the surgery went fine, there were no complications”. “But we have to be patient and wait for him to wake up. The best you can do for him now is taking care of yourself, so you can be there for him when he wakes up. He`s going to need you to be strong, pal” Bucky explained to Steve.