The Best Laid Plans...
Part 2 of But It Burns
Summary: When you hit rock bottom, you have nowhere to go and end up on your former best friend’s doorstop, bruised, bloody, and broken. You aren’t expecting him and his girlfriend to take you in and try to patch up your shattered life, especially with the danger your presence puts them in.
Warnings: Language, medical scare, hospitals
Word Count: 3301
“This is huge! I should call this into the station. At least about Stark.”
“Why don’t you? We don’t own Y/N anything.”
“Buck… she trusted you. Above everyone else. In a matter of life or death, she came to you. Don’t you want to find out why?”
A whispered conversation slowly woke you up. After a moment of floating along the edge of consciousness, you finally tumbled over the edge and managed to just barely hold back a groan of pain. You needed to hear Bucky and Natasha uncensored.
“It’s just what she does, Natasha. She comes to me to try and sweep things under the rug for her when she fucks up. It was like this all throughout college. Maybe if we play this one by the book, call it in, have her actually face her consequences in jail, then she’ll finally get her shit together.”
“Or maybe this baby will set her straight. Maybe we can help her get out of the country, like she said. She could be a valuable asset to us. She was married to Tony Stark. The kind of information she has on the Mob?”
“She says she’s pregnant. She says she was married to Stark. She says the Mob will be after her. The last time I saw her, she was so fucked up on so many different drugs, Nat. Maybe she’s having some kind of drug-induced psychotic break…”
“You don’t believe that, Bucky. I can tell. Y/N’s telling the truth. I know you know it.”
“The truth as she believes it,” he whispered weakly.
You couldn’t blame him for not trusting you. You’d manipulated him into this. Manipulated him into hating you. Into letting you go. Into moving on without you in his life. You’d crushed the dream of a future the two of you had built up with matching houses in the suburbs and kids growing up next to each other and summer vacations with each other’s families. It was your fault you were no longer a part of his life.
Which just reminded you that you needed to get the fuck out of his life again.
Slowly, you opened your eyes. Well, your right eye. The left eye was swollen shut, which wasn’t a surprise in the least. It was a miracle you’d gotten out of your house alive last night, much less all the way across town to Bucky’s apartment.
Bucky and Natasha’s apartment. It wasn’t just his life you were putting in danger by being here.
Experimentally, you lifted you arm to push down the sheet of the bed you were on. They must have finished stitching you up, found some clean clothes for you, and put you in what looked to be a guest room. Tastefully decorated but lacking the personality that came from a constant occupant. Generic paintings from a home décor store and a bookcase with old classics and framed pictures of the two of them.
With careful, measured movements, you swung your feet off the bed until you were sitting up, biting back another groan. Tony hadn’t ever beat you this badly before. Some nights he got drunk and you angered him, but this had been different. It was as if the devil had possessed him. The man you’d married was nowhere to be seen.
It took a moment of deep breathing before you convinced yourself to stand up. As soon as you were upright, a sharp stab of pain hit your abdomen, quickly shooting through your body. A shout of agony escaped your lips and you curled in on yourself, falling to the ground. “Fucking, goddamned mother of shit!”
“Y/N?” Soft fingers danced across your shoulder. Natasha. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t—” another wave of red hot coals rushed through your body, cutting off your words. Something was wrong. Really wrong. Fuck, the baby… You reached down and felt along the leggings you were wearing, eyes widening when your fingers came back red. Wide, terrified eyes darted up to meet Natasha’s. “I’m bleeding. I’m fucking bleeding. God, I’m going to lose my baby. I can’t—I need him. I can’t lose him!”
“We are going to the hospital, Y/N.” Her voice left no room for negotiation. Not that you would have. You’d been an idiot last night. You should have gone straight to the hospital. If you lost your baby, it would be your fault. You wouldn’t be able to live with yourself. Frozen in fear, you could only watch as Natasha looked over her shoulder. “Bucky, bring the car around. I’ll bring Y/N out. And give Steve a call. Have him waiting at the back door of the hospital and a doctor ready as soon as we get there.”
The drive to the hospital happened in a blur. Natasha sat in the back of the car with you, holding your hand while Bucky drove. You were only marginally aware of them. All of your attention was on your baby. You couldn’t feel anything. Could you feel him before now? Why didn’t you know what was going on with him?
“We’re here,” Bucky said in a low voice, drawing your attention. You looked up to see a cop by the back door with a wheelchair. Bucky turned around in his seat to look at you. “That’s Steve. If you trust me you can trust him.”
“Fuck, I don’t even care. Get me to a fucking doctor.”
You could figure out logistics later. Right now, your kid was the only thing that mattered. You tried to keep as quiet as possible when Bucky moved you to the wheelchair, even though it felt like an earthquake was setting off landmines inside of you. Once you were inside the hospital, a nurse and doctor took you from Bucky and wheeled you into a room without windows. They poked and prodded and asked questions upon questions and somehow managed to finagle your entire medical history from you in the first five minutes. On minute six, you were being prepped for surgery. For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, you were pulled under the line of consciousness and left at the mercy of others.
It felt like you’d been run over by a garbage truck when you woke. Fuck, what happened? You couldn’t even move your legs. They were like cement locked to the bed. Tony had been out checking on a shipment last night, so he couldn’t have—
Fucking shit, you’d killed him. Then you went to Bucky’s and his girlfriend stitched you up and—
“Y/N?” Bucky’s raspy voice broke through your thoughts.
“The baby? What—God, please tell me he’s okay. I can’t feel him, Buck!”
“Whoa, whoa,” Bucky was by your side in an instant, holding your hands still so you wouldn’t rip out your IVs and make things worse. “The baby’s okay, Y/N. He’s fine. As long as you take it easy, he’ll stay that way.”
As his icy blue eyes bore into yours, you forced yourself to calm down, process his words, accept them. “Really?”
Bucky nodded.
Relief flowed through your veins, making your head fall back onto your pillow like a weight. “Oh, thank God.”
Hesitantly, Bucky let go of your hands, as if he wasn’t sure that you wouldn’t start thrashing around again. All you did was move your hand over your stomach gently, as if you’d be able to feel the baby. Bucky pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down, keeping his eyes on you. “You were in surgery for twelve hours. Dr. Banner thinks both you and the kid will be just fine, but he’s putting you on bedrest for at least a month. Maybe the rest of the pregnancy.”
“Gonna make getting to Ecuador a hell of a lot harder,” you mused. But you could make this work. The kid was fine. You were fine. And you’d make damn sure the both of you stayed that way. Which reminded you… “How am I here? Who knows I’m here?”
“Me, Natasha, the doctor and nurses who worked on you, and Steve, Natasha’s partner. But as far as computer records go, it’s Natasha who’s three months pregnant and just had a twelve-hour surgery. We know you were worried about being put in the system.”
“So you decided to commit insurance fraud for me?”
He raised an eyebrow. “No. They’ll bill this, but they’ll make a mistake so the insurance company rejects it. We’ll pay in cash, full. And you will pay us back.”
“With interest,” you promised, closing your eyes. “And hazard pay. And rent for the night I stayed with you.”
“Oh,” Natasha’s voice came from the door, prompting you to open your eyes again. “You’re paying more than one night of rent. You’re on bedrest, sweetie.”
“I can be on bedrest in a hotel room. You’ve already done more than you should have to.”
Bucky let out a short, humorless laugh and leaned forward, elbows on knees. “You came to me. Again. If you didn’t want my help you should have stayed away.”
“I should have,” you agreed quickly. “But I’m still that selfish person I was five years ago. You’re still my safe place and I needed that last night. But I didn’t think about how that would affect you. And I’m sorry for that, but I’m trying to fix it, Bucky.”
“You weren’t selfish, Y/N. Not last night.”
“That’s why I have a cop committing insurance fraud for me while the entire Mob is out for my head on a platter?”
“Why did you come to me last night?”
“I just killed my husband and I was bleeding out and—”
“Why did you come to me last night?” He interrupted to ask again.
“You were the only person I knew wouldn’t kill me—”
“Why did you come to me last night?”
“I don’t know what answer you’re looking for!” You yelled. “I was emotionally strung out and not thinking straight and I needed someone I trusted while I got my feet back under me.”
“You didn’t come to me because you were scared for your own life, Y/N. You were scared for your baby. Making sure you lived long enough for him to be born. That’s why you came to me.”
Huffing a short breath, you looked away and shook your head. “No, I didn’t. If I had then I would have gone to a hospital. I would have chanced being entered into the system so an actual doctor could patch me up and make sure my baby was fine instead of my former best friend and his cop girlfriend.”
“Well, your former best friend and his cop girlfriend have already talked about this,” Natasha said, pulling up another chair. “And you’re staying with us. Tony Stark’s body was found early this morning. James Rhodes was also found dead a few hours ago. I’d guess there’s a few days until someone takes Stark’s mantel and the Mob get in order again. That means we have a few days to figure out how to keep you in our apartment, safe.”
“Safe,” you laughed. “Right. Safe. I’m pregnant with Tony’s baby. His only child. They killed Rhodey because he was Tony’s second. You really think they aren’t going to feel threatened by Tony’s kid? His heir? There are people in the Mob who fucking worshiped the ground Tony walked on. They’re probably searching for me so they can make sure this kid is born, then they’ll kill me and raise the kid so they can brainwash him into their perfect ideals. And the people who want to take Tony’s place? Well, I’m a threat. I know far too much. I’m not safe here.”
“We’ll figure it out, Y/N,” Natasha assured you, to which you just laughed. She brushed off your reaction. “The doctor wants to keep you here overnight. He’ll be in in a few minutes to talk to you himself. Bucky and I will install a new security system at our apartment tonight—”
“No. Fuck, you can’t change anything. If they come looking and find out about Bucky, they’ll notice the new system. It’ll be a red flag.”
“We’ve been looking at new security systems for a few weeks already. It’s not a rash decision.”
“I—” well fine. That wouldn’t be too much of a red flag. Besides, a cop and a P.I. living together? Talk about a couple who had every right to be paranoid. And the opening line to some joke. “Okay. But as soon as I get the green light from the doctor, I’m out of here. I promise you won’t see me again. I’m done putting you in danger.”
“You say that like you’ve put him in danger before,” Natasha observed.
Shit.
“If only you knew how many black eyes he got on the playground because of me…” it was a weak coverup. And, unfortunately, both of them saw right through it.
“Y/N…” Bucky prompted. “When did you put me in danger before?”
The door to your room opened, showing in a doctor and you could have kissed him for his perfectly-timed intrusion.
“Ms. Y/L/N,” he started, eyes still on your chart. You shook your head briefly in surprise. Y/L/N was a name you hadn’t heard since you married Tony. “Your tests look good. Not as good as I’d like, but you’re stable. You and the babies.”
“He’s really fine? He won’t have any problems?”
The doctor – Dr. Banner, Bucky had said – met your eyes and you didn’t like the apology in them. “There is a good chance your babies will be just fine. However, I do want you to be prepared for the developmental issues that might arise. The stress and trauma they endured was substantial. But with proper care, they should be just fine.”
Holy fuck… “Hold up…They?”
“You’re carrying twins, Ms. Y/L/N.”
“What the fuck?” It was like all of the air had been sucked out of your lungs. “Fucking twins?”
Dr. Banner nodded. “It’s a miracle both of them survived.”
“How the hell didn’t I know I’m having twins before now?”
“You’re about ten weeks along, which is usually when the ultrasound shows if you’re going to have more than one child. Would you like to meet them?”
“I— I don’t know.” Twins… What would Tony have done with twins? Would he have chosen a favorite? Were you going to end up choosing a favorite? What kind of a mother did you hope to be? One child had been a daunting enough future. But two?
“You don’t know?” Bucky challenged. “How can you not know?”
What kind of a mother didn’t even want to see her children on an ultrasound? Your eyes fell to your hands laying limply in your lap. The hands that killed the father of these children. Shit.
“Okay, men out,” Natasha announced, standing up to pull Bucky out of his chair. “Y/N and I are going to have a little chat.”
“Nat—”
“Out,” she ordered, cutting Bucky’s protest short. It wasn’t long before it was just you and Natasha in the room. She took a deep breath before turning towards you. “So, twins, huh?”
“I can’t do this.” It just slipped out. “Fuck.”
Natasha perched on the edge of the bed. “You’d be surprised at what you can do.”
“I started working at a bar and dealing drugs part time for my boss in college and somehow ended up marrying and ultimately killing the Mob Boss of Brooklyn not even six years later. There’s very little that would surprise me about myself anymore.”
“Dealing drugs? Bucky never told me that.”
“Bucky doesn’t know.” With a shaking hand, you carefully lifted up the hospital gown you were wearing and looked down at the white bandage on your abdomen from where they’d made the incision during surgery. “Fucking twins. God has a twisted sense of humor.”
If you could stay alive until you gave birth then you could give them up for adoption. Let them go to a family that would raise them right. It would be anonymous. They’d be safe from the zealous mobsters who followed your husband.
“Look, Y/N. If you give us intel on the Mob, I can get you into Witness Protection. You’ll be safe there.”
“They’ll find me there. You really think someone’s safe from the Mob just because they have a brand spankin’ new government issued ID?”
Six months. That was how long you’d have to stay alive. Just long enough for your babies to be adopted by someone else. After that, no one would care what happened to you. After that you wouldn’t have to worry so much. It would just be your life on the line. And your life wasn’t worth much.
“What’s your big plan, then?”
“Ecuador. Los Cuernos de Cobre keeps away the Brooklyn Mob. Really the only enemies that can hold a candle to the Mob. They don’t know my face there. I’ll be safest there.”
“Too bad the doctor said you’re not cleared for travel of any kind. Sounds like you’re stuck here a little longer.”
“I’ll figure something out,” you mumbled.
Natasha glanced around the room and sighed heavily. “Look, Y/N. I don’t know you. And I instantly didn’t like you when Bucky told me about you. But… There’s another side to your history with him, isn’t there? A reason you were such a bitch to him.”
“Nope,” you lied. “That’s just who I am.”
“I’d be a horrible detective if I believed you.” She reached for your hand and you hesitated before letting her take it. “You’re going to be staying with us for a few weeks. If you take off now, Bucky will worry himself sick over you. He’s still hurt over what went down five years ago between you two. So don’t you dare think you can just sneak out. Promise me that you’ll, I don’t know, talk to him? Talk to me? He loves you. I don’t know in what way he loves you, but he does. And after everything you’ve put him through, he deserves to know why you treated him like that.”
“Great idea,” you mumbled. “Let the hormonal, pregnant murderer into your home.”
“Self-defense, Y/N. You killed him in self-defense.”
“Maybe I wasn’t just talking about him. You don’t know shit about me, Natasha. If you did, you’d arrest me right now.”
She smirked, squeezing your fingers. “Don’t worry, Y/N. I haven’t ruled that option out yet.”
You really didn’t have any options here. No say. You were going to be staying with Bucky and his cop girlfriend for the foreseeable future. At least she was likeable. She wasn’t going to take your shit. But she also wasn’t going to be an easy target to pull the wool over her eyes.
“I’m glad he has you,” you said honestly. “You seem like the kind of person he deserves.”
“You don’t know shit about me, Y/N,” she stole your words with a half-smile.
“And if I did, I have a feeling I’d be saying the exact same thing.”
She squeezed your fingers again before letting go and standing up. “You should take the doctor up on that ultrasound. See those cute little blobs and remind yourself why you got yourself into this shit-storm in the first place. You’re protecting them.”
Just before she reached the door, you called out her name. She turned and caught your eye. “Thank you, Natasha. And, uh, can you send in the doctor? You’re right. I should—I should see the babies. Remember why I killed him.”
She caught the way your voice broke on the last sentence and tilted her head. “You loved him, didn’t you? Stark?”
“More than I should have,” you confirmed, offering a half smile to mask the pain.
Next: Blood Revealeth Secrets
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