Chapter Thirty-Nine

                                    

                                          
*narrator pov* 
You returned to your room with Steve. At this point, you were barely moving on your own and Steve had to do most of the work. 
He arranged the pillows on the bed. 
He sat you up in it. 
He ran to the bathroom and got a wet cloth, then came back and dabbed at your face. 
You stared at him as he did so, not saying a word. 
When your face was clean from blood, he put the cloth on the bedside table. 
He lay you down in the bed and got in beside you. 
He pulled the covers up to your shoulders and he put an arm around you. 
Steve fell asleep, but you couldn't. 
You stayed in his arms, wide awake until the sun shone through the crack in your curtains. 
He woke up, unsuspecting that you hadn't been to sleep. 
"Good morning. How are you feeling?" 
"Not good" you mumbled. 
"You'll feel better after breakfast." 
"I'm not hungry." 
"You need to eat something." 
"I'm not hungry Steve." 
"Fine. But you're still coming to breakfast."  
"Okay." 
Steve rolled out of bed to go back to his room. 
"No wait Steve. Don't go. Please don't leave me." 
"I'm just going to be in my room. I'm right next door." 
Steve saw you were scared. 
"I'm just going to shower and get dressed. I promise I won't be more than five minutes." 
"Okay. Please be quick." 
"Of course" Steve nodded and shut the door. 
You curled up in a ball on the bed. 
You couldn't do it. 
You were flinching at every small noise and creak. 
After only two minutes, you got out of bed and grabbed your crutches. 
You left your bedroom and took off for the elevator. 
You went down to the ground floor, and headed for the front door. 
You didn't know where you were going until you were there. 
You sped up when you got outside, and headed across the lawn. 
You slipped in the mud and fell to the floor. 
Of course, it had to be raining so wet mud covered you. 
You looked up at the sky, crying. 
"Heimdall" you whispered "Heimdall I know you can hear me. Please. Please let me come home. Please." 
Someone had come outside and was now grabbing your arms. 
"Please!" you yelled "I just wanna go home."  
You cried as Tony dragged you back inside. 
He picked you up properly once you were in the compound, and he hugged you. 
"What are you doing y/n?" he asked softly. 
"I want to go home Tony" you cried as you hugged him back.  
"Yeah I know. I know" Tony comfortingly ran his hand up and down your back. 
"Y/n! There you are! What the hell!" Steve came marching angrily into the room. 
"Ok Cap. Cool it" Tony calmed him. 
"What? Y/n you can't just leave like that. Not after what happened last night. You should know better than this" Steve exclaimed. 
"I'm sorry Steve" you replied. 
"She should know better than this? What kind of support is that? She was scared, Steve. She is scared. Don't yell at her. Be there for her" Tony argued. 
"Excuse me?" Steve said. "Stay out of this Tony. It has nothing to do with you." 
"No-"
"No because she is MY girlfriend! I love her and I want to protect her. She knows that. So stay out of it." 
"Fine. But you better be careful Rogers. Because there are other people that want to protect her, and I think they would treat her a hell of a lot better than you do." 
Steve glared at Tony, then grabbed your wrist and pulled you away. 
You quickly bent down and picked up your crutches that Tony had propped up against a chair, and started using them as Steve dragged you out the room. 
"Steve. What was Tony talking about?" you asked when you were walking alone. 
"I don't know. But y/n, you know I love you. And I would do anything to protect you." 
"Yes of course. I love you too." 
"Okay good. Then can you please listen when I say don't go outside. It's dangerous. Don't ever leave my side." 
You paused to think. You still desperately wanted to go home, but you didn't want to hurt Steve. 
"Mhm. I trust you. If that's what's best for me..." 
"It is." 
Steve grabbed your waist and pulled you in, kissing you passionately. 
He stopped abruptly and started walking again. 
"Come on. Let's go get breakfast." 
"Oh. Okay" you nodded and followed him. 
Everyone was already at the table, somehow including Tony. But not Bucky. 
You sat down between Steve and Wanda. 
Wanda and Vision had made pancakes. 
Steve put one on your plate, ignoring what you had said in bed about not being hungry. 
"So y/n, how are you feeling this morning?" Clint wondered. 
"Uhm..." 
"She's okay. Just a bit traumatised I think" Steve interrupted. 
He smiled at you, and you nodded at him. 
He cut up your pancake and held the fork to your mouth. 
You took the fork off him and slowly bit a small piece off, then put the rest back on the plate. 
Tony was glaring at Steve, disapprovingly. But after a short while he looked happy as he spoke to Pepper. 
"Uhm. Where's Bucky?" you wondered. 
The others went quiet. 
"He's in the med bay" Natasha answered "he lost a lot of blood last night." 
You sat up and your eyes widened. 
"Is he gonna be okay?" 
"He'll be fine. He just needs some time to recover." 
"Do you think I can see him?" 
"Why would you need to see him?" Steve enquired. 
"He saved me, Steve. I want to say thank you." 
There was another reason you had in my mind. 
Something he had said to you after you shot the man. 
'You saved me doll' he had said. 
"You can go see him" Nat nodded. 
"Thank you" you smiled. 
Everyone returned to their own conversations, and Steve leaned over to whisper in your ear. 
"Why do you want to talk to Bucky?" 
"Like I said, I want to say thank you" you whispered back. 
"I told you..."
"Yeah I know what you told me Steve. But I want to say thank you. I owe him that much." 
"Then you won't mind if I come with you." 
"I'd rather speak with him privately." 
"But if you're only saying thank you, why can't I be there. I mean, I should thank him for keeping my girlfriend safe." 
"I guess you're right." 
"Mhm. I'll take you when you finish your breakfast." 
"Steve, I'm still not hungry." 
"You need to eat honey." 
"I'm not hungry." 
"I'm not taking you to Bucky until you eat." 
You slowly picked up the fork and put what was on it in your mouth. 
"Good girl" Steve whispered in your ear, and kissed your cheek before returning to his own meal.  
When you finished, Steve reluctantly took you to see Bucky. 
His eyes groggily opened as you approached his bed. 
He smiled widely at you. 
"You're okay" he grinned. 
"I'm okay" you nodded, trying not to cry at the sight of him. "Thanks to you. You saved me Bucky." 
"You're not going to try and tell me I shouldn't have risked my life for you again?" 
"No. No of course not. I should never have said that before. I'm grateful Buck. Really. Thank you." 
"I should be thanking you. You saved my life more than I saved yours." 
Bucky reached out his hand and you held it. He squeezed gently, and you squeezed it back. 
You were so glad he was okay. 
"Yes thank you Bucky. For saving my girlfriend. I think we should get going now" Steve inputted. 
"Why?" you looked at him, confused. 
"Bucky needs his rest, baby. We should let him get some sleep." 
"Oh okay. But Steve..."
"Yeah?" 
"Please could I have that moment alone? I'll be really quick." 
"What do you need to talk about that I can't hear?" 
"Steve please." 
"Fine. You have two minutes." 
"Thank you." 
You kissed him on the cheek and he left. 
You were alone with Bucky. 
He sat up in the bed. 
"Oh don't do that" you urged when you saw he was in pain. 
"Come sit" he patted the space next to him and you hesitantly sat down. 
He put his arm around you and pulled you close. 
"Are you okay?" he asked. 
"Mhm." 
"What did you need to talk about?" 
"Um. So. Last night... you said something that confused me." 
"What did I say?" 
"You, um. You called me a name. And I just wondered why because, well, you know I'm with Steve and uh..."
"You mean doll?" Bucky had remembered. It was all he could think about it. He didn't stop thinking about the fact that he didn't regret it. He hoped you would figure it out. 
"Yeah" you nodded. 
But Bucky thought it best not to tell you right now. 
"That, uh, didn't mean anything." 
"Are you sure?" 
"Yeah. I was just happy you saved me. Didn't think about what I was saying." 
"But... why would you say it in the first place?" 
"I don't know. Just forget about it." 
You didn't say anything. 
"You want a hug?" Bucky offered. 
You put your arms around him and hugged him tightly. 
Bucky subtly sniffed your hair as you buried your head into his chest. 
"Oh my god! Ow! Pain! Ow! Oh so painful!" 
"Oh shit! Bucky I'm so sorry!" you scrambled off him, only to see him laughing at you. "You are so annoying." 
"So are you" he grinned. 
"Okay y/n come on. Time to let him rest" Steve said as he walked up behind you. 
"Bye Bucky. I'll see you soon" you waved. 
Steve put his arm around you and walked with you out the med bay. 
"Are you going to tell me what it is you were talking about?" Steve asked. 
"It was nothing." 
"Then why can't you tell me? We shouldn't keep secrets from each other."
"I was just thanking him. I thought it would be more meaningful if I did it alone" you said. 
"You're not lying to me?" 
"No Steve. Do you not trust me?" 
"I do" Steve sighed. 
You stopped to kiss him, then carried on walking. 
"Do you want to go on a walk?" you asked. 
"It's raining." 
"No it's stopped now. And we can splash in the puddles. It will be fun!" 
"You are such a child" Steve laughed, but eventually agreed. 
He took you outside to the tarmac and you started kicking water at each other.  
It started to rain again, and Steve tried to persuade you back inside. 
You resisted, sticking your tongue out and spinning around on your good leg. 
Steve danced with you in the rain for a bit, before putting his arm around you and heading back inside. 
Before you got to the door, thunder rumbled through the sky. 
You looked at Steve with a huge grin. 
"Y/n. No. We've got to get inside now. The weathers getting really bad. You're soaked." 
You pushed him off you and limped away. 
Tony ran outside and stood next to Steve. 
"What are you doing? It's tipping it down!" Tony yelled over the thunder. 
A lightning strike shot through the air. 
"We've got to get her inside!" Tony decided. 
"I've tried! She's not coming back in!" Steve called back. 
They watched you twirl around in the pouring rain for a moment. 
Suddenly, a blast of energy shot down from the sky, hitting the spot where you were standing. 
It disappeared within seconds, revealing two men standing either side of you. 
Thor and Loki. 
Thor picked you up and hugged you tightly. 
He saw Tony and Steve over your shoulder and waved at them, almost dropping you. 
He adjusted his grip and carried you inside, as you were still hugging him tightly. 
By the time you were indoors, you were crying on Thor's shoulder. 
"Y/n what is wrong?" he asked. 
"I missed you. So so much" you cried. 
"I missed you too." 
He tried to put you down; he let go of you. 
But your arms and legs were wrapped around him, holding yourself up. 
You started laughing, and eventually let go of him. 
You turned and faced Loki. 
You bit your lip nervously. 
Loki smiled and pulled you in for a hug. 
"Loki I'm so sorry!" you exclaimed instantly "I never should have said what I said. I didn't mean it. You are my brother and my best friend and I love you and I never want you to leave again." 
Loki smiled softly as you hugged him tighter. 
"I love you too" he whispered. 
Thor grinned widely and put his arms around you and Loki. 
"We missed you y/n" Thor smiled. 
"I am so glad you are here" you stepped back "why are you here?" 
Thor and Loki smiled at each other, then Thor pulled a small glowing orb out of his pocket. 
"We found it."