GET WELL SOON!

[sidecars]

WHO: Bucky Barnes sidecars and YOU!
WHERE: Nonah General Hospital
WHEN:11/26 - 12/30
WHAT: Bucky has returned after being ported out briefly. He came back no arm and no memories of his life. His probation officer is making calls to the few friends/family Bucky has here to come visit him.
WARNINGS: None yet



[ This is the first time since he regained consciousness that he's been able to stay conscious for longer than a few bleary scans around the hospital room. Maybe if he wasn't so hopped up on morphine he would be concerned by this, but instead he simply turns his head slowly to the door trying so hard to keep his brown eyes open.

A nurse comes in with a bright smile and asks him how he's doing, but she doesn't stay still long enough for an answer. It's clear she doesn't expect one and, sure enough, he can't even provide one. It's all just too much work right now. What he can do his follow her around the bed with a watery gaze.

Then it feels like only a blink of an eye that he startles back awake and she's gone. In fact it's gone from night to day. Warm sunlight is hidden away behind thin curtains. The foreign sounds of machinery wreck his thought process of where he is and why he's even here. His left side hurts distantly, nothing too acute. His other side is fairly immobilized with an IV running up it. He's not sure how, but he knows it's morphine. The metallic taste in his mouth simply tells him so.

Everything around him is as he remembers the last time he woke up. And the time before that. He is much calmer this time, less prone to straining himself or hyperventilating. There's no easy way to tell a man he is missing an arm, but he wonders if the doctors had expected more decorum out of him. Well, they didn't get it. From what he remembers he broke one man's nose and wriggled out of the orderlies' restraints. The sting still remains in the back of his throat, but it's dull. Maybe because of the morphine. ]

Mister Barnes? [ A woman with that same staple smile stands in his doorway, cautious of his mood. ] Would you feel up to a visit from a friend?

[ He wouldn't be much company, but he nods in spite of it. Call it curiosity. ]

Comments

[sentielemental]

[How could he not come as soon as he heard. He hadn't seen Bucky for days and then to find out he's in the hospital? That something happened and he came back without an arm.

Well wasn't this just all the bad options he'd been thinking about come to life. One arm down and missing his memories just as he would have been all those years ago, when Toro had thought him dead and he'd never see his best friend again.

He's grateful that Barnaby thought to inform him, but he's dreading what he's going to find when he walks into that hospital room. Not enough to stay away, but enough that he's forcing his fist to unclench as he smiles weakly at the nurse who opens the door to allow him entry.

He walks in, hiding most of his hesitation as best he can and calls out a soft greeting.]

Hey, Buck.

[sidecars]

Hi.

[ There's no recognition in James' eyes for Toro. No one's called him anything but Mister Barnes or James since waking up. He waits expectantly for the guy to say something since he sure has nothing to offer. ]

[sentielemental]

[What would he have wanted when he woke up in the hospital with no real memory except how much he hated everyone around him? It definitely wasn't strangers showing up telling him that everything he thought he knew was a lie and that he would need weeks before he even felt like a real person again.

But he had needed friends. The only one he'd had still at the time had been Jim.]

Uh, I'm Tom...Tom Raymond. You cal--You can call me Toro, if you like.

[He smiles and opens up his coat, looking behind him lightly to make sure the nurse had gone off to do her rounds before pulling a bag from inside.]

I thought you might want some real food? It ain't much, just a couple sandwiches from a diner we visit. I didn't think I could smuggle in anything bigger.

[attainment]

[Barnaby's never been under the impression that Barnes ever thought of him as a friend (at least, not in this reality). An acquaintance, certainly. A colleague, perhaps. While Kotetsu may claim letting a man watch some movies on your flat screen automatically makes them a friend, Barnaby is generally much more cautious with that word. Besides, there are other imPorts here who fit that description much better, and they're all people Barnaby has already contacted.

In this case, though, it's probably not such a bad idea for the nurse to describe him as such. To say he's Bucky's "probational officer" wouldn't be doing him any favors.

After assuring the nurse he would contact someone if Bucky needed anything, she steps out of the room, leaving Barnaby to turn his green eyes back onto the shell of a man lying in front of him. The sight leaves him numb, as though he just walked into someone else's dream. Or perhaps, a small cynical part of himself wonders, he just isn't capable of feeling much of anything.

In any case, all he can do now is fall back on his impeccable manners, and he quietly asks:]

...Do you mind if I take a seat?

[sidecars]

[ That name is familiar. It's in his communicator with a younger face attached to it, though, as if he had taken it himself at the worst conceivable moment for the guy. ]

With all the morphine they've got me on, I don't know if I could keep 'em down. But thanks. Better than one more day of hospital food... [ But with a considering stare at Toro, he returns to his previous train of thought. ] Have we known each other for awhile? Were you younger?

[sidecars]

Okay. [ James can't see why not. ] You a friend of mine?

[sentielemental]

[Oh--right. He should have thought of that. Toro comes in next to the bed on Bucky's right side, setting the bag down on the table. He scratches at the back of his head with a laugh.]

Uh...yeah, I did. I was--well, we've known each other for a long time. When I first showed up, I was from the same time you are, but...then I left. Kind of like you did. And came back older.

[attainment]

[That word again. Barnaby fingers lightly dig into the back of the chair, and he glances down at the floor before answering.]

...Yes.

["In a manner of speaking" very nearly gets attached onto his answer as a qualifier, but there's no need to make this anymore complicated than it needs to be. The man just lost his memory, for god's sake, and Barnaby is honestly only here to help.

He settles down into the chair.]

I brought something for you.

[sidecars]

Is it a puppy?

[ Driest joke ever. ]

[sidecars]

[ He's not sure what the guy means by leaving, but they've known each other for years. Good to know. ]

How'd we meet?

[attainment]

[The corner of Barnaby's mouth lightly quirks at that.]

Not quite, no. [Instead, he pulls a small bottle of Coke from inside his jacket.] You seemed to enjoy this a lot. Some people also use it to settle their stomachs, although you might want to avoid flaunting it in front of the nurse.

[sidecars]

[ He leans forward to see if she's anywhere near them. ] Don't think it'll matter. They don't get too close anymore...[ What with his penchant for sudden acts of violence. As you do. ] Can you open it for me?

[ He hates to ask, but without two hands and one of them sore with the IV, it's too hard on his own. ]

What's your name, by the way?

[attainment]

[...Oh dear. Well, they may as well use that to their advantage, in that case.]

Certainly. [If he'd known Barnes would show an immediate interest, he would have even opened without being prompted.

Of course, he probably should have given his name first. For once, Barnaby had forgotten that detail in light of trying to gauge whether his presence was welcome or not, and whether it was fair to call himself a friend of Barnes.]

My name is Barnaby. [He extends the cola to him with a smile that doesn't quite meet his eyes.] Barnaby Brooks Jr.

[sidecars]

[ He takes it with his right hand and almost drops it in his bed. His grip is soft, still too weak since he woke up. ]

Barnaby Brooks Junior. That's a hell of a name. Does everyone call you Barney?

[sentielemental]

Oh boy, that's a story. [But it's not exactly a bad memory either.] You were helping friends of ours--well, yours at the time--track some suspicious activity in the warehouse district and the Red Skull showed up. I came in, because I'd heard the ruckus and wanted to help...but we didn't see eye to eye that well.

[He laughs then.]

[sidecars]

[ He has absolutely no clue of or context for what this guy is talking about, but he listens anyways, nodding at times. ]

Am I a police officer?

[ He seems a little young for that kind of work, but maybe he's a rookie on the beat. ]

[sentielemental]

[He realizes how vague that sounded.] No, no, Bucky--We're superheroes. We met officially right before the war started. I was working with Pappy--Jim Hammond, the Human Torch--and you were partners with Steve Rogers, Captain America.

We worked with the police, but we were more part of the military. You and Steve were soldiers first. [Close enough way of saying it than explaining everything about Bucky's dad and how he became Steve's partner.]

[sidecars]

[ Apologies, Toro, but James' just going to giggle at this far fetched joke. Yeah, he gets that he has amnesia, but he's not dumb.

But uhh when this guy doesn't come clean, James stops and leans in a little closer. ]

..... You're serious. His name is Captain America?

[ Could anything in the world be more on the nose than that? ]

[sentielemental]

[You thought that name was the best thing, Toro doesn't say that. Thinks it, but doesn't say it. Instead he gives a little shrug.]

I went by the Flaming Kid, back then. The sillier the name, the more we seemed to like it. Different times. But...you're great at it. Being a hero.

[Then he adds.] Don't go getting a big head since I said that.

[sidecars]

Don't worry. Pretty sure you need two arms to be a hero, so...

[ James shrugs and remembers exactly why he shouldn't. His left shoulder twinges with a dull ache. ]

What was my name, then?

[sentielemental]

It didn't stop you before, Buck.

[Which is maybe not how he should have said that.]

[sidecars]

[ James stares at him for a long minute, then turns away swallowing hard. ]

I broke one of the doctors' noses. I don't really remember doing it, but no one gets too close anymore.

[sentielemental]

[Are they afraid of him? Toro hopes not. Yeah, Bucky's tough, dangerous even with only one arm, but he's still Bucky. He doesn't deserve to have people hold him at a distance because of something he can't control just yet. He needs people to help him.

It won't be like last time when all he had were the fucking Russians ready to use him. No, Toro won't let anything like that happen to this Bucky.]

Don't worry. They probably just want to make sure they aren't upsetting you. You're tougher than they give you credit for.

[sidecars]

[ That seems silly, what with being stuck in a bed, chained to an IV, and one arm less than he inevitably started out, but he knows Toro's right. He can do things without really thinking about it. Not that he ever gets far. His legs give out pretty soon after he pulls the IV and wriggles out of bed.

But let's change the topic of his strange reactions to this foreign world. ]

Let's see how far I get with one of those sandwiches. Can you hand one over?

[sentielemental]

[He smiles again, more genuine and less strained. Then he goes into the bag he brought and pulled out one of the sandwiches. He'd cut them in half just in case they were too full for Buck to finish off all of one at once. He opens the wrapping and leaves it still attached to the lower half of the sandwiches before handing it to Bucky.]

It's--[one of your favorites]--not one I made myself. Don't worry. Went to a diner for 'em.