Chapter 141

"I don't know Loki. I'm not very familiar with her healing power. It could be that she is too panicked with trying to breathe through all the blood to focus on healing. I don't think it's a latent talent but one she's got to consciously use."

"But her hands and brain before, Bruce. What about those?"

"Nat… the only thing I can think of is that when that power started and it did an all heal when it was born for lack of a better term. Loki, pick her up and put her on the table. Lay her with the broken ribs side up. I'm going to have to insert a tube to drain the blood so she can breathe, and I've got a limited window to do it."

Loki lifted me and laid me on the table like Bruce asked. I grabbed Loki's hand tight and wouldn't let him leave. I tried to say I'm scared but I didn't have enough air.

'Loki… I'm scared. I can't breathe. I feel like I'm drowning. What happened? Why did he do this? Bruce made a joke. What is it with you guys and jokes? FUCK!!!!!!!'

Bruce had cut into my side and shoved a tube down between the broken ribs. Blood poured through the tube and covered the floor.

"Wanda, I need you to immobilize Bucky. I need Thor's help."

"On it." Wanda glowed red and I saw red bands wrap around Bucky's body. Thor let go and Bucky just floated, unable to move except his head. He thrashed around and was still screaming. 

'Lokes, that's not Bucky. He never would've acted like this. Something is so wrong. I can't reach him. Loki, are we going to lose him?' I started to panic.

'No, my sweet. I will not let that happen. I do not know what is going on. I will try to help him once we have you stable and safe. I promise. Now try to calm down. You will need to focus to heal. Please, my sweet wife.'

I worked to calm my mind, but it was racing. I still could barely breathe, and I was starting to see black spots. Bruce shoved the tube deeper and I screamed. It hurt like a son of a bitch. But finally enough blood had drained so I could take a breath. The black spots went away, and I started to take small shallow breaths. As I started to be able to breathe, I was able to calm down enough to concentrate on what was wrong. 

"Bruce… it's more than my lungs. One punctured my heart. I'm not sure I can move the bones and heal the heart at the same time."

Bruce paled. Loki and Thor went white. Bucky was still screaming, and it was distracting me. Thor caught that and stood. He went to Bucky and punched him, knocking him out. The silence was a relief.

"I'll try to heal everything, but in case I can't, know that I love you all so much. My husbands and my family."

"You are going to be fine, pet. I know you. You will pull through this. Now concentrate, my love. We need our wife."

I gently stroked his cheek. My hand fell away as I was feeling too weak to keep my arm lifted. I focused but with being weak I couldn't pull the bones back into place.

I panted. "Bruce. This is going to fucking hurt, but I need you to pull my ribs back into place. I can heal the holes but I'm too weak to fix the bones yet and I need them moved."

"Fuck. I don't have time to give you anesthetic. Thor, hold her legs. Loki, keep her upper body as still as you can. Brace yourself, Ari. It's going to hurt."

I saw Bucky starting to stir just a minute before Bruce started cutting open my side. I screamed and tried to move but the strength of both Gods wouldn't let me. Bruce had to reach in where he had cut and manually pull my ribs out of my heart and lungs. The pain was overwhelming. Loki and Thor took what they could, and I could see the pain in their faces. But it was enough to keep me from passing out. I could hear Bucky asking what was going on and why he couldn't move, why I was screaming. I blocked him out and focused on the hole in my heart first. The tube would keep my lung going while I fixed my heart. I felt the hole close, and my heart started to beat normally. 

I had to take a short break and gather my strength. I closed my eyes and focused on my lung. When Bruce moved my ribs, my lung had deflated. I focused on the injury and was able to heal the hole and reinflate my lung. I could breathe normally again but I was exhausted. I didn't have enough left to heal my ribs. 

"Lokes… I can't… I'm too tired. I fixed my heart and lungs. Can't… fix the bones. I'm so tired."

"Take a moment love. You need to fix them and then you can rest. I promise."

I nodded. I closed my eyes again and concentrated. I knew I was nearing the end of my energy since I had lost so much blood… again. I felt a hand take mine and felt a surge of energy. My eyes flew open and saw that Wanda had taken my hand and was giving me some of her energy. She smiled and nodded. I smiled back and closed my eyes again. I felt the bones shift back into place and the breaks heal.

Wanda gave me a little more boost of energy so I could stay awake since we had things to deal with since Bucky woke up. She let go and I sat up. I gave her a hug.

"Thanks, Scarlet."

"You're welcome, Ari. I'm glad I could help. But what happened with Bucky?"

"I don't know. But I need to find out."

Loki helped me off the table and he and Thor held my hands as we walked over to Bucky. I noticed they kept me behind them just a little in case they needed to protect me. Bucky was still wrapped up in Wanda's energy bands, but he was back to being my Bucky. He looked frantic.

"Doll, what happened?! Why were you screaming? Why am I tied up? What's going on? Are you and the babies ok?"

I let go of Loki's and Thor's hands and stepped from behind them. I squatted down next to Bucky and looked into his eyes. 

"Don't you remember anything?"

"No. Doll, are you ok? What's going on?"

'Lokes, I can hear him again.'

'I as well love.'

"Bucky… you went crazy. Bruce played a joke on us, making us believe I was infected, but it was just me being a smartass. Loki got the joke and Thor. But you flipped out. You attacked Bruce." I gestured to the bruises on Bruce's face. "I tried to stop you, but you threw me down. So, Thor grabbed you, but you were kicking, and you kicked my ribs. And since you were using all your strength it broke them. One punctured my lung, and another punctured my heart. I was screaming because Bruce had to pull my ribs back into place since I had lost so much blood I didn't have the energy to fix them. I fixed my heart and lungs, and Wanda gave me the energy to fix my ribs."

Bucky looked devastated. "I hurt you? God Doll… how could I do that? Did I hurt the babies?"

I shook my head. "No, they're fine and I'm fine now. But Buck, what happened? It was a joke, and the way Bruce did it, even Loki was laughing. You scared me, Buck."

"Doll… I don't know what happened. I don't remember any of that. The last thing I remember was Bruce was about to tell us what was wrong and then I woke up on the floor with a headache."

"I had to punch you to make you stop screaming. It was distracting her from healing."

"I was screaming?"

Thor nodded. "It was all incoherent words, and you were struggling. It was all I could do to hold you after I grabbed you and stopped you from hurting Bruce."

I heard Loki in my head, 'Barnes, with your permission, may I look inside to get an idea of what happened?'