Meant to Be

It was day seven of Stark’s Protocol. Steve and Bucky watched Charlotte’s final operation from the observation room above the OR. The two sat quietly in the front row of seats, neither of them daring to break the silence. They listened to the distant beeping machines, the mumbling doctors and nurses, and the clattering metal tools they used.

If this girl was going to be the test for Bucky’s new arm, Steve felt a responsibility to watch over her. In fact, he had been with her for every hour of every surgery. He had read up on her and her career- her influence in the United Nations and her work with Individuals of Enhanced Ability. He felt closer to her, and that made him feel secure.

Bucky, on the other hand, felt confused about the whole ordeal. None of this was sitting right with him, and he had wanted to stay far away from the Protocol and the poor girl under the knife. But, Steve had convinced him to sit in on the final operation.

Every other surgery had gone smoothly- only a few bumps in the road here and there. One time Charlotte’s heart had stopped momentarily, but that was the worst of it. As a result, her surgeries had to wait for an extra day to give her heart time to recuperate and the following day two surgeries were combined into one to stay on schedule. Tony was proud of the one week deadline he had set for such extensive operations.

Tony had kept himself occupied over the course of the week. He would fight crime in the day, and fly across the country and sleep for a few hours in the night- back and forth between Malibu and Manhattan. This kept him sane and worry-free, for the most part. Not that he’d tell anyone, but he was nervous about his Protocol. With his disappearance, Steve tried to push away the usual thought of ‘typical, selfish Tony.’

“Final touches on the leg, ladies and gentlemen,” one of the doctors said. “And then we’ll induce the electric shock and check to make sure that the extensions all work.” Steve looked at Bucky.

“This is it, pal,” he whispered.

“Don’t jinx it, pal,” Bucky chided. One corner of his lip was slightly turned up in a smile. Now, he let himself feel excitement.

Tony had given him a therapist to talk to, every morning for one hour. It was the pre-screen before the neurosurgery that would shut the wall around HYDRA’s brainwashing in Bucky’s mind. Therapy was like walking through waist-deep mud. Too slow; too messy. Once it started, Bucky wanted to turn around and run away. Too much talking; too much feeling. It was like running a marathon every morning- exhausting.

“Buck,” Steve began. “There is something you should know about the girl.” Bucky let his expression return to neutral and looked down at her.

“She’s ready. All clear, everybody,” the doctor said. The others backed up, keeping their hands away from their patient.

“She used to be a cop. Down in DC. She actually-”

As the doctor emitted a shock, shaking her body, the machines began to beep rapidly. They all began to go to work on her. Steve and Bucky stood up and moved closer to the window.

“It’s her heart again-”

The beeping flatlined shrilly.

“Push Atropine-”

“I told you her heart was too weak today-”

“Push more Atropine-”

“She can’t take anymore!”

“What the hell did they do?” Bucky asked Steve.

“We need to get her on bypass-”

“She’s gonna be brain dead soon-”

“The extensions could be damaged-”

“We need to open her up-”

“No, hang on, just-”

One doctor started pressing on her chest, pumping her heart for her.

“If we open her up, she’s not gonna make it-”

“She won’t make it if we don’t open her up-”

“Push one more Atropine-”

“You need to step away from the patient-”

“Give her time!”

The beeping slowed. Everyone was quiet.

“BP’s normal.”

“Heart rhythm normal.”

It was quiet again.

Bucky and Steve let out a breath.

“How long was that?” one doctor asked.

“Thirty seconds. She’ll be fine,” the other responded.

“Her brain, sure.” The two doctors looked at each other. “But, that’s not what I’m worried about.”

“Shit,” Bucky mumbled. He and Steve sat down again. Steve put his face in his hands- his elbows balanced on his knees.

“I hope she’s okay,” he said solemnly.

What he was going to tell Bucky had completely escaped his thoughts.

---------------------

Chick woke to the sound of steady beeping. It took her a few moments to finally pry her eyes open. Her eyelids felt heavier than ever before. She breathed deeply as she opened her eyes. She was back in her hospital room.

She opened and closed her dry mouth, trying to moisten it. She looked to her left and saw a full pitcher and a glass of water on a side table. She tried to lift her arm to reach for it but she couldn’t. Her arms felt as heavy as her eyelids had. She relaxed into the bed and closed her eyes again.

Her hands searched the bed for the remote to call for a nurse. She grabbed a hold of it in her left hand. She looked down at it and pressed the bright red call button. She froze as she saw around her wrist a fabric restraint.

She made a short, surprised sound and tried to move her arms again. They were tethered down. Underneath the restraints she could see bright silver cuffs around both wrists. She tried to struggle out from the restraints.

“Ma’am-” Chick heard a voice say as the door opened. A female nurse rushed to her side. “Please, don’t be afraid. And, please don’t try to break the restraints.”

“Why are there restraints in the first place?” Chick asked, annoyed. Her throat was scratchy, but it didn’t hurt to talk. The nurse put a hand on Chick’s.

“I’ll bring the doctor in to talk to you, Ms. Abbott. Please try not to worry.” She turned and hurried out the sliding doors.

Chick’s taste buds suddenly lit up at the taste of blood. She swallowed and moved her tongue around to find the source. She felt nothing wrong.

“Ms. Abbott,” a man’s voice rang- the same doctor who had been with her before the surgery.

“Doctor, I think something is bleeding in my mouth, can you take a quick look?” The doctor gave her a cautious look, but slowly took his penlight from his pocket and moved to her. She opened her mouth for him to look and he clicked the light on. When he clicked it again she closed her mouth. “See anything-”

“Please stop talking, Ms. Abbott,” he said firmly as he placed his penlight back to his chest pocket. His face was still worried. Chick furrowed her brows, swallowing a little more blood.

“Excuse me?” she asked indignantly.

“You bit your tongue, Ms. Abbott.” Chick snorted a forced laugh.

“No, I didn’t,” she said angrily.

“Please-”

“And, what the hell is all this?” Chick asked, lifting her arms as much as she could. The doctor rushed to close the distance between them. He placed his hands on her arms, pushing them down onto the bed.

“Ms. Abbott, something happened during surgery,” he said urgently. She relaxed her arms.

“But, I feel fine,” she said calmly.

“You just underwent seven days of surgeries. Your body is healing. You should be in pain right now. Do you feel pain?” Chick’s heart jumped with a pang of fear.

“No- I- I don’t, I thought-”

“Remember the possibilities we discussed before the surgery?” Chick scoffed with a sigh of annoyance.

“You mean those slim possibilities we talked about?” The doctor pulled a chair close to her and sat down.

“Ms. Abbott- the surgeries were all successful until the final one last night. When we shocked your body to allow the mechanical extensions to fuse with your nerves, your heart stopped. There had already been some damage done on a previous surgery, and we didn’t give it enough time to heal. When your heart stopped, the insulation fused with the extensions, but the nerves didn’t fuse properly. They have been permanently damaged.

“Of the two possibilities, either pain for the rest of your life, or no pain- you have suffered the latter. We weren’t sure when you woke up what you would feel, which is why we wanted to restrain you. Otherwise, you would have gotten up and moved around and opened your stitches and caused your heart more strain.”

“No pain… For the rest of my life, I will never feel pain again?” The doctor, shook his head with a frown.

“Ms. Abbott, you will never feel anything again.”

Chick slowly smiled.

“You got any champagne?”