And here we have yet another Avengers fic. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.
She worried.
They all did, of course, but she worried the most. And how could she not? She loved him. She loved him so much, never mind the fact that, at that moment, she couldn't decide whether she wanted to slap him despite his injuries, or curl up next to him and wrap her arms around his middle, feel his arms encircle her and his face bury in her hair in return.
She felt as if she had been waiting forever. Then again, a few hours did feel like forever when there was nothing to do but stare at a bland wall while the nerves and anxiety built up inside of her. She wondered if the other people filling the room felt the same way.
A part of her wanted to get up and hurry down the hall and into whatever room they had him in at the moment, but she knew that that might result in her removal from the premises for a bit, and she couldn't stand to be farther from him than she already was—not while he was like this. So, she stayed put in the hard plastic chair in waiting room of SHIELD's medical facility, waiting for a staff member to appear and say that he was fine, and that she could go see him. She clutched the cup of coffee tightly in her hands. It had been given to her by one of the team members—she couldn't remember which—and had long since grown cold. Although she hadn't taken even a tiny sip of the liquid, she hadn't once put the cup down, holding it as if it was her only life preserver in the black sea of despair. She received no condolences from the coffee cup, as it was only a cylinder of cardboard, topped with black plastic and filled with a brown liquid—none of which could offer reassurances.
When the doctor finally appeared, she was the first one on her feet and in front of the man. He gave her good news, and as soon as she knew where to go, she made her way down the halls to his room, not noticing how the others lagged behind a bit, silently agreeing to let the two be for a few minutes.
When she reached his room, she simply stood in the threshold, drinking the fact that the man whose mortality she had been fretting over the last few hours was alive. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she crossed to sit next to him on the bed and took his hand in hers.
"Hey," he croaked.
She breathed a laugh at his simple greeting and bent her head to press a kiss to his lips. When they separated for air, she looked down at him and said, "Don't you dare ever do that again, Tony."
"Sorry," he said, once again in a hoarse voice.
"Don't think that this is over," she told him, though she couldn't find it in her to put any real force behind the words.
She lowered herself to lie next to him; lightly placing her head on his chest and resting her hand on his glowing blue arc reactor. He placed his right arm around her shoulders and brought his left across his body to rest on her hip. He placed his head on top of hers, breathing in her scent. He smiled into her hair as he felt her breathing even out and she fell asleep with a small smile on her face, both of them content for the first time since yesterday afternoon.
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