2Megan Walters rushes to help her coworkers treat the influx of patients caused by the near-war above Washington, D.C. She stops an old man's head wound from bleeding, and she cleans and bandages burns on three different people.
Megan has been working here for over twenty years, and the doctors often request her especially when dealing with difficult patients. She's expecting this to happen that day, since there are more patients in the emergency room than there have been in a long time. She's just not expecting the patient who comes with the directive.
The man on the stretcher has just been brought back from the Potomac's riverbank, having nearly drowned and then having been fished out by some unknown hero.
He's big, blond, and has a lot of bruises, as well as two gunshot wounds in his abdomen. That's not what catches Megan's attention, though. What catches her attention is the bright red, white, and blue uniform that he's wearing.
Megan's heard rumors that Captain America was living in D.C., but she didn't know whether it was true or not until now.
Megan cuts the top of Captain America's uniform off so that she can prepare him for surgery. She sees the strangest thing on his bare chest: his skin is already healing around the bullet wounds. Megan gives an involuntary little shiver and then returns to her previous professionalism.
Megan speaks in a low voice to the anesthesiologist. This is a highly irregular situation, and they may need an irregular plan to deal with it. They find this out when the anesthesiologist tries to put the slightly conscious Captain America under with the usual method, and Captain America's body does not respond. Megan pages a doctor.
What ends up happening is this: In the operating room, the anesthesiologist (having finally found a concoction that would knock Captain America unconscious) keeps giving Captain America more injections to keep him asleep during the surgery. Megan stays there, too, and she notices that the surgeons are more nervous than she's ever seen them.
It should be a minor surgery, as all they're doing is removing two bullets. The patient and the nature of his unique condition, however, is what makes it difficult. After he cuts Captain America's abdomen open, one of the surgeons turns away for a moment, long enough for Megan to hand him another tool, and when he turns back, Captain America's skin has already healed over the wound. Everyone in the operating room is completely still and silent for a moment, utterly frozen in shock. Then the whole room flurries into action.
The surgeon cuts Captain America open again, and the other surgeon reaches in immediately to retrieve the bullet. Then they watch, mesmerized, as once again the wound heals itself right away. It still looks awful, but at least it's closed enough to not need stitches.
Captain America moans a little bit. The anesthesiologist administers another shot, and they finish up the surgery.
Once the bullets are out, Megan helps settle him into the recovery room. That's when Captain America wakes up.
Megan has her back turned, adjusting his IV, when she hears a groan. She turns. Captain America's eyes are open, squinting in the light. He looks like he's in a lot of pain. He looks quite pitiful, actually, but Megan supposes that even a historical war hero and a superhero such as Captain America would look awful after getting hurt so badly.
Megan gives him an ice chip. He eats it quickly and opens his mouth for another. Megan gives it to him and checks his pulse while he's occupied. It's abnormally high. Megan pages the doctor but then it occurs to her that she – or anyone else in the hospital – doesn't know what the baseline for the vitals of an enhanced human like Captain America are actually supposed to be.
Captain America doesn't say anything to Megan as she bustles around his room. He looks miserable, though. His face is so bruised and swollen that Megan wonders if he can even see anything at all.
Megan is about to leave the room when Captain America croaks out, "Wait." Megan turns around again and tries to sound her most professional as she replies, "Yes, Captain?"
Captain America looks momentarily disconcerted. "Call me Steve," he mutters, slurring his words a little. "Where am I? Who are you?"
Megan moves back to Steve's bedside. She quashes the childish excitement that rises up inside her at the fact that she's talking to Captain America himself and calling him by his first name.
Megan says, "You're in the hospital, and you've just had surgery. You had been shot. My name is Megan Walters; I'm a nurse here. You'll be seeing me a lot." She smiles comfortingly at him. Steve settles back into his pillows. He seems reassured, if still a bit dazed.
Megan makes her rounds to check on all of her other patients, but her mind stays on Steve. All the while, she's hoping he's going to be okay.
When she returns to his room, a man is sitting by Steve's bedside and talking on the phone. He says, "Natasha, there's no way Barnes will still be in the city." He stops and says good-bye to the person on the other side of the line when he sees Megan enter the room.
Megan greets him. She resists the urge to ask who he is or try to find out more about Captain America.
She moves around the bed to check Steve's blood pressure. Before Megan can do so, however, she trips over a large, round object propped up against the bed. It falls down, accompanied by a loud clang, and Steve wakes up abruptly. Faster than she can follow, he grabs Megan's wrist. She freezes.
The other man rushes to their aid right then. "Sorry," he says. "I shouldn't have put it there."
Steve lets Megan's wrist go. He mutters an apology and drifts back to sleep as Megan, shaken, finishes up what she came to do.
Megan goes home for the night and tries not to think about Steve and all the day's notable events. She does not succeed, and in the morning, she ends up leaving earlier than usual for work.
When she arrives at the hospital, Steve's friend, the one who brought in Steve's iconic shield, is still there. The second thing she notices is the state of Steve's face. Yesterday, it looked awful, and today, it still does, but it looks like it has already been healing for weeks.
Megan leans in for a closer look. She reaches out and touches his face very lightly. It feels perfectly natural – there's no trace of makeup concealing the bruises and cuts.
Steve's friend wakes up. Megan straightens up. She feels guilty despite the fact that she is a nurse and is supposed to be making sure none of her patients are concealing injuries.
The man only grins. He, too, peers at Steve's face.
"Amazing, isn't it?" he whispers. "Anyway, my name's Sam Wilson." He and Megan shake hands. Then Megan turns her attention back to what she needs to do and checks Steve's vitals. Sam Wilson settles back into his chair.
Steve is already awake when Megan next comes to check on him, later on that day. He and Sam are talking in low voices about somebody named Bucky. Sam is saying, "You can't just get up and go chasing bad guys now! Stay here, please. Let your body heal. Give it time. You're not going to help him if all you do is collapse."
However, Steve stays stubborn. Megan comes in and starts reading his heart monitor. Steve ignores her and says instead, "Bucky's not a bad guy, Sam! And he could be anywhere. We need to track him down before he gets too far. He needs me." Steve seems too choked up to continue.
Megan judges it okay to chime in. "Steve Rogers, you need to listen to your friend here. America thought you were dead a couple of times already; we don't need that again. Stay here and heal. We'll take good care of you. Soon enough, you'll be in fine shape to go chasing after bad guys again, you'll see."
Steve offers no response other than muttering, "Bucky is not [(italics)] a bad guy."
Several hours later, Megan comes to check on Steve and finds that while Sam is gone, an orderly has just come by and given Steve his lunch. His injuries have absolutely no effect on his appetite.
As Megan adjusts Steve's IV, he steadily devours his meal. Megan watches as he goes through three plates of macaroni and cheese, two bowls of stew, and one absolutely gigantic chocolate chip muffin.
The muffin is not standard fare for patients. Megan strongly suspects that somebody went out and bought it especially for Captain America.
Steve finishes his meal in less time than Megan's ever seen anybody eat anything (and she's no stranger to witnessing eating contests). He looks up hopefully at Megan, as if looking for more. Megan is forcefully reminded of her brother's puppy begging for scraps of human food.
Megan sighs. "How much do you usually eat?" she asks in amazement.
Steve shrugs. "A lot," he says unhelpfully.
Megan rolls her eyes. "You've already eaten 'a lot,'" she points out. "How much more do you need to eat? Just tell me, and I'll get it for you."
Steve's face lights up. "Oh, will you?" he sighs. "That would be swell." He thinks for a minute. "My jaw's still sore, and even chewing that muffin kinda hurt my mouth," he admits. "Jell-O might be nice. And pudding," he decides.
Megan shakes her head. Her childhood hero is more of a child himself than she ever would have thought. "Try something with a little more nutritional content."
Steve ponders that forceful suggestion. "Applesauce? And yogurt. I've become quite fond of yogurt. Oh, and do you have oatmeal?"
Megan smiles and nods, and when she's done making sure Steve is okay, she goes to fetch more food for him.
Much sooner than Megan expected, Steve heals up and is released from the hospital. Sam Wilson comes to pick him up. An orderly persuades Steve to ride in a wheelchair on his way out. Everyone is sad to see him go, but happy they could help Captain America. And life goes on.
LINE BREAK
Two months later:
Megan gets off work an hour later than usual. Her feet hurt and her eyes are drooping, but she has no food at home, so she goes to the supermarket on her way home.
She's looking over the meager selection of wilted produce when she hears a couple of men in the next aisle arguing over celery, of all things.
"Celery doesn't fill you up, it actually burns calories. I don't like eating it. It only makes me hungrier," the larger of the two men says.
"We'll just get a little bit, then. I like the flavor," says the other man. He has long dark hair and it looks like he's missing his left arm.
The first man shakes his head, but he reaches for a bag to put stalks of celery in. That's when he turns around and Megan catches a glimpse of his face.
It's Steve, or Captain America as Megan has started calling him in her head again, after two months of only seeing him on TV (and in the history books she's started reading in her free time). She realizes she's staring and busies herself with her own cart. He probably doesn't even remember her, after all.
Except that it turns out he does. A big grin spreads across his face when he sees her. He tows his friend and their cart around the produce display.
"Hello," he says. He looks much healthier and happier than the last time Megan saw him.
"Hello, Captain. How are you?" she returns politely.
His face falls just a little bit. "I told you to call me Steve," he protests. "Don't you remember?"
Megan finally smiles. "Of course I remember, Steve. How could I forget?"
Steve only shrugs. They stand awkwardly facing each other for a moment. Then Steve remembers to introduce his friend.
"Bucky, this is Megan Walters. She's a nurse, and she took care of me . . . um . . . a couple of months ago." He seems to be avoiding referencing something, but Bucky looks supremely uncomfortable nonetheless.
Steve forges on. "Megan, this is Bucky Barnes, my best friend."
For a moment, the name only sounds vaguely familiar to Megan, but she can't place it. Then she realizes exactly who this is, and she gasps out loud. Steve looks wary. Bucky looks down at the floor, his long hair hiding his face.
"We're trying to keep it quiet," Steve says in a low voice. "So we'd appreciate it if you didn't spread it around."
"Of course," Megan says breathlessly. "I just hope everything works out for the two of you."
She sneaks another glance at Bucky. She can't even imagine what he might have been through all these years.
Megan sees that Bucky is getting more antsy by the minute, and Steve notices this, as well. He bids good-bye to Megan. Then he gently grasps Bucky's arm and leads him away. Megan watches as they walk together through the checkout line and eventually out the doors. When they're out of sight, she returns to her task.