Chapter 4
"Sorry about my husband," Charles chuckles as they sit on a bench off in the corner. "He just really loved you and your boyfriend when he was younger."
"It's no problem," Bucky says as he sips some of his water. "It's nice to know that I've made a positive difference in someone's life."
Charles looks at him strangely before saying, "What was done to you for seventy years was not your fault and it wasn't even you. And you're not a broken person. There's so much more to you than that."
Bucky feels a bit vulnerable and uncomfortable about the fact that this man can get into his head. Hydra used to do that. Bucky can feel his stomach churning.
Charles seems to pick up on this and he immediately says, "Oh I'm so sorry about how forward I'm being. I promise you that I was not looking into your mind. You just think very loudly. I promise that I tried not to hear them, but it's hard."
Charles smiles a genuine, warm smile that causes Bucky to smile back, until his stomach starts feeling worse. Bucky frowns and places a hand on his stomach. What is wrong with me? Bucky thinks to himself. I thought I couldn't get sick. Even before Hydra, Bucky pretty much never got sick, and if he did, it was something small. But now, he felt awful; he felt really nauseous and everything felt too hot and he could feel the sweat beading on his forehead.
"Oh dear lord, are you feeling alright?" Charles asks in concern, noticing how Bucky had gone completely white and was sweating bullets.
"No," Bucky groans, swallowing. "I think I'm gonna throw up..."
"Oh um, okay," Charles says, standing up. "Here let me help you up, I saw a bathroom on the way in. It'll be fine, don't worry."
Charles helps Bucky up and walks him quickly to the bathroom, while Bucky keeps a hand close to his mouth. As soon as they get to the bathroom, Bucky immediately goes into one of the stalls and locks the door. He kneels in front of the toilet and waits for it to happen. It's alright. Don't be embarrassed. I don't mind. I have two children and run a school, I've seen everything. Charles says in his mind. Just relax your body and calm your mind.
Bucky relaxes and gags. He gags again and makes the mistake of opening his eyes to see a long string of spit; that causes his stomach to flip and he lurches forward and throws up. He takes a shuddering breath and throws up some more. He couldn't stop gagging and coughing, and it was even worse because it wasn't like he hadn't eaten a lot that day. He had eaten three bowls of borsht, an unknown amount of cotton candy and ice cream, some banana pudding, some of the desserts Steve made, and two burgers. It all definitely looked a lot better before.
When Bucky's stomach finally calms down enough, he wipes his mouth and the toilet seat before throwing the paper into the toilet and flushing. He slowly gets up, unlocks the door, and goes out. He knows there's nothing wrong with getting sick, but he still can't bring himself to look at Charles. He walks over to the sink and cups some water into his hands and rinses his mouth and washes his face.
"Here, you might want some of this," Charles says. Bucky brings himself to look at Charles, who is offering him a piece of mint gum.
"Thanks," Bucky says, surprised at how wrecked his voice sounds. He sounds worse than the time he gave Steve, like, 18 blowjobs last year on his birthday.
"It's no problem," Charles says. "Are you ready to go back outside?"
"Can we just sit here for a bit?" Bucky asks, plopping down on the couch. Why Tony put a couch in a bathroom, he'll never know.
"Oh, yes of course," Charles says, sitting next to Bucky. "Do you need me to get you anything? Some ginger ale, water, an ice pop?"
"An ice pop would be nice," Bucky says tiredly, propping his head up on his metal hand.
"Okay, I'll be gone for two minutes, just wait here," Charles says, leaving to go get Bucky his ice pop.
Bucky doesn't remember closing his eyes but he's being shaken awake by someone. He opens his eyes and sees Steve kneeling in front of him holding an ice pop.
"Hey Stevie," Bucky says.
"Are you okay, baby?" Steve asks, feeling Bucky's forehead and running his hand through Bucky's hair. "Charles told me that you got sick."
"Yeah, probably just ate too much food," Bucky says, taking the ice pop from Steve and starting to suck on it.
"I'm worried about you, Buck," Steve sighs, sitting down next to Bucky. "Should we have Bruce check you out?"
"I don't know Steve," Bucky sighs. "You know how I am with medical stuff."
"I know, baby, I know," Steve says, holding Bucky close to him. "After what Hydra did to you, I can't blame you. But I just want us to make sure that you're okay. That you don't have ebola or zika or another one of those crazy new viruses."
"I don't have ebola or zika, Steve," Bucky chuckles, before wincing at how raw his throat feels.
"Do you want to go back out to the party?" Steve asks, brushing a piece of hair out of Bucky's face.
Bucky determines how he feels before shaking his head sadly. "I still really don't feel too good. And I'm really tired. I'm sorry, Stevie."
"There's nothing to apologize for, Buck," Steve says, kissing his forehead. "C'mon, let's go to our room."
----------------
Steve wakes up in the middle of the night when he feels Bucky tossing and turning in bed next to him. Steve rubs his eyes and turns to look at Bucky, who has just sat up in bed.
"Bucky," Steve says, his voice deep from sleep, "what's wrong? Bad dream?"
"Ugh," Bucky groans. Steve turns on his small bed-side light so he can see what's wrong with Bucky.
"Babe, what's wrong?" Steve asks, cupping Bucky's face in his hands. Bucky's face was cold and clammy, and had a greenish tint to it.
"Ugh, I don't know," Bucky groans, before his eyes go wide. "I- I don't feel well."
Steve watches as Bucky quickly untangles himself from the covers and rushes to the bathroom with one hand clutching his stomach and the other over his mouth. Steve got out of bed, yawning and stretching, seeing that it was almost three in the morning. This is going to be a long night. Steve thinks to himself as he walks into the ensuite bathroom where Bucky is puking his guts out. Steve grabs a hair-tie from the counter before sitting down next to Bucky. He grabs Bucky's hair and pulls it into a messy bun to keep it out of his face before he starts rubbing Bucky's back in soothing circles. When Bucky finally catches a break, Steve hears him say something in the bowl.
"What was that?" Steve asks.
"I think I might have eaten something bad," Bucky says, turning to look at Steve. "Or I just overdid it with all the food. Oh god."
Steve winces when Bucky gets sick again. Bucky had looked awful after throwing up, and Steve could tell that he was exhausted. He just hoped Bucky would feel better soon.
----------------
"Late night, Capsicle?" Tony asks, smirking as Steve tiredly slumps into a chair with some black coffee in his hand.
"Hardly got any sleep," Steve says, taking a sip of his coffee. "Bucky's sick."
The smirk immediately drops off Tony's face and is replaced by concern. "Oh is he okay? I can have JARVIS run some tests to make sure he's fine. Maybe Bruce can see him in the medical bay. Does he need anything from the store? Pepper, Clint, and Natasha just left, I can tell them to pick up something."
"Thank you, Tony," Steve says, smiling at showing caring his friend is, even though he tries to hide it. "Actually, may you please text them to get some ginger tea and crackers? We're all out. Oh, and some plums for when Bucky's feeling better. Those always cheer him up."
"You got it, Cap," Tony says. "JARVIS, please add ginger tea, crackers, and plums to the shopping list. Thank you."
"Hey guys."
Steve and Tony turn to see Bucky standing in the middle of the kitchen, looking terrible. His hair is a sweaty mess, his eyes are red and have dark rings around them, and he's white as a sheet of paper.
"Buck, what are you doing out of bed?" Steve asks, getting up from his chair.
"I-I started feeling...strange, so I came to a-" Bucky is cut off when suddenly his knees buckle and he passes out. Steve rushes over and prevents Bucky from falling to the floor, before picking him up bridal-style.
"Tony, I think maybe it's time to see Bruce."
----------------
When Bucky wakes up, the first thing he realizes is that he's not in his room. He's about to start freaking out, but then sees Steve sitting right next to him, with Bruce standing at the foot of the bed. Bucky looks around and sees that he's in the medical bay and that he's lying in a bed with and IV in his arm. He shudders at the needle and quickly looks away.
"Hey, Bucky, how are you feeling?" Bruce asks.
"Tired," Bucky says, his voice sounding rough. "But a bit better than before."
"Hey, baby," Steve says, holding Bucky's hand. "Bruce says that he thinks he knows what's making you so sick, but he wanted to wait for you to wake up before sharing it with us."
"Okay, so Bucky, you told me that during your time with Hydra, that you were experimented on, is that correct?" Bruce asks.
Bucky nods.
"Well, I think that might have something to do with this," Bruce says. "So, I ran several tests to make sure everything was fine and that the nausea and vomiting weren't an indicator of something serious. Well, I found two things in your tests. One isn't that serious, and the other will change both of your lives."
"What's wrong with me?" Bucky asks quietly.
"Well," Bruce starts, "your blood sugar levels were a bit too low, which was why you fainted, but I'm fixing that with the IV, and the second test detected high levels of hCG in the blood."
"What does that mean?" Steve and Bucky ask at the same time.
Bruce removes his glasses before sighing and saying, "Bucky, I think you might be pregnant."