@americansoldier cont’d because I wanted to give some feels
Her body was thrown off balance and fell against a wall. For a moment, everything was a blur of grey as dust covered her vision. There was only a faint ring to her ears while the flames started to break color into the world. At the corner of her eye, she saw a shield... And no one attached to it.
It had taken a while for Natasha to find him, panic rising to her throat when she did and turning tongue to lead, heavy and dry inside her mouth, as soon as she realized he wasn’t moving. “No—”, it was barely a whisper, and albeit the word was small, it was cut by emotion, taking all the breath she still had in her lungs.
Before hands were close enough to grasp his own, to check his vitals, to make sure the dreaded bastard they’d come to take down hadn’t taken Steve instead, she clawed for the machine gun dropped at her side.
...and then the world went red & black.
Three long days of waiting by his side until the serum had done all the work it needed to mend what was broken. All the while, the widow had refused to leave.
Staff had brought in meals that she only picked small pieces from, enough to keep herself going, to wait one other day. When she was too tired to keep eyes open, she dragged a chair closer to his bed, so half her weight was over the mattress, one hand finding his own to grasp (to be held more than to hold).
The hospital staff had already tended to her cares, she’d showered and changed and wanted nothing more than to stay by his bed until his blue eyes opened.
There was a faint need to hold the responsibility as well. Natasha knew better than to take her eyes away from the enemy, she knew he couldn’t be defenseless against two Avengers, that there had to be some sort of backup. Still, she hadn’t seen it coming. She should’ve been the one on that bed, and not Steve. “I’m sorry”, she’d told him, countless times as he slept, “please wake”. But nothing ever happened.
He’d stirred her from her sleep, just a gentle movement of his fingers close to her palm, but Natasha was always on alert, so her eyes opened first and she stood. “Steve?” he groaned in return, blinking at the light before fixing on her. “Hey...”, despite the gentleness, her voice broke. Natasha noticed something on her cheeks, rolling into her oversize borrowed shirt, so she hid her face into his hair, kissing it gently and cleaning her tears, shamelessly, on the pillow next to him. “Don’t scare me like that, Cap.”
