Beep. Beep. Beep.
My eyes flickered open. The clinically bright white lights stung, making me shut my eyes again. Beep. Beep. Beep. I was under medical surveillance – funny that, seeing as the last thing I could remember was realising I was going to die.
I opened my eyes again slowly, allowing them to adjust. I was staring at the white tiled ceiling, one I recognised, thank God. Hesitantly I tried moving each of my fingers; left hand first, without any problems, then right – my hand and fingers would move, but they were stiff, parts of skin were sore and tight, the scars must be quite bad. Just for reassurance, I wriggled my toes – so at least I wasn't paralysed.
I was fighting to keep my eyes open. My throat was dry as a desert; "Water" I breathed, praying someone was there, "Water"
"Amanda?" Who was that? I knew the voice but I couldn't place it. Who…?
Bruce Banner stepped into my line of sight, I smiled as best I could, "Bruce"
"Yes, I'm here" he sat on the edge of the bed, slipping a hand under my shoulders and sitting me up against his chest, "Here, drink this"
I nodded. Bruce put the cup to my mouth and tipped it back carefully, allowing me to sip the water.
"Is that better?" he asked when I'd finished half the cup.
"Yes" I answered more clearly. I smiled at him; he looked almost angelic, framed by the overly bright lights in the room. My eyes struggled to keep open. I could feel drowsiness coming over me, my body becoming heavy, weighed down. "Bruce…"
"It's okay, it's okay – you can sleep"
"… I don't want to"
He smiled, smiled like an angel, "I know"
"Stay… with me…"
"I'll stay, I promise – I'll be here when you wake up"
I smiled, "… thank you"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
There was quiet noise around me, voices and machines, noises from the darkness around me. "I'm going to get a coffee, does anyone want anything?"
There was a mutter of agreement. "I'll come too"
"No, it's fine"
"No, really, I need to stretch my legs"
Again the collective murmurs of "me too" and "yeah same" replied. There was shuffling of chairs and feet as the room began to empty.
"What about you Banner? You coming?"
A pause. "No. I promised her I'd be here when she woke up"
"Okay, I get it. Do you want coffee? You've been up all night"
"Just tea please"
"Okay" The door shut gently. Only Bruce was left, I could hear him breathing softly in the deserted room. He began speaking softly, close to me "Are you okay Amanda? It's been… almost exactly a day since you woke up last. You're stats are consistent. We though after you woke the first time it would only be hours until you were fully conscious, but…" He sighed "I'd hate for anyone else to hear me talking to you while you're asleep, I don't think they'd let go of that one for a while"
"Then I won't tell them" I muttered. Slowly, I opened my eyes and laughed weakly as I saw the look of shock on his face, "Hey Bruce"
"…Hey"
"You don't happen to have any more water do you?"
He laughed, sitting forward "Oh God, you're alright" With difficulty I leant up on my elbow as Bruce pulled me into a gentle hug.
"Yeah, I am, but I want I drink" I grinned.
Still laughing he said, "Okay, okay" from the side of his chair he picked up a bottle of water, stood up and sat on the side on my bed. His arm wrapped around me, pulled me up carefully to rest against him. I forced my right arm to move to attempt to take the bottle from Bruce; watching as it trembled with the effort. I wore a long sleeved hospital gown that was much too big for me; the sleeves came down over my hands. As I raised my arm the sleeve fell back, showing me for the first time the scars I had received during the Battle.
They were pale, and only slightly raised from my skin, stretching out along my arm like a web – but they weren't like any burn scars I'd ever seen; from a distance they would probably be invisible and they curled round in wide spirals, fading at the inside of my arm where I'd not been hit. As I pushed back my sleeve I saw how these spirals grew intertwined and formed intricate patterns up my arm.
I looked at Bruce, "What…?"
"No-one knows" he shook his head, "it just healed like that. The doctors haven't got a clue"
I blinked several times, staring at my arm. Remembering the pain all the way down my side and leg, I asked "Is it the same… is all of it like that?"
"Apparently, yeah"
What the Hell was this? How did it happen? "Was there anyone else who received the same injuries?"
"Anyone else the Chutauri shot died, so we don't know. Did you use ice to shield yourself?"
I shook my head, "No – I was protecting the boy, I didn't make any kind of shield"
Bruce frowned, "What boy?"
"The boy in the street, he was just standing there – he could have died."
"But… you fell from one of those Chutauri things…"
I shook my head, "No, the boy was earlier, before I took the flier"
"You were fighting with those injuries?" Bruce was shocked; I could see him start to worry.
"Yeah – it hurt but I was fine, I just kept going, ignored the pain - I've done it before with much worse, I swear I'm fine"
Bruce was silent for a moment; "You still manage to amaze me Amanda" I smiled and blushed slightly at the look of admiration in his eyes. "Do you still want a drink?"
I chuckled quietly; my thirst had been forgotten momentarily as I'd discovered my scars, "Yes please"
With Bruce's help, I took a drink before stretching out my fingers to loosen them off. Bruce kept asking me how I was feeling or if there was anything he could do for me, but I was fine – my injured side was a little sore, but in the same way that a nasty bruise is sore; it wasn't the level of pain I'd been expecting. After a while he shifted over, kicking off his shoes and lying alongside me. Bruce rested his arm along the headrest to avoid touching my scar. I leant in to him – my head against his shoulder, my shoulder against his chest.
From along the corridor came the chatter of our returning team mates; Bruce clearly hadn't noticed because when Tony opened the door, he notably jumped.
"Amanda!"
"Amanda? Manda!"
The team rushed in, not so carefully shoving their drinks down on the table at the door. Stark first, followed impatiently by Clint and Natasha, who more or less forced Steve out of the way. "Amanda!" Clint yelled happily, running to my side.
I looked around at them all, a huge grin breaking out across my face. Clint had sat on the edge of my bed, looking me up and down for any signs of pain, "Are you alright? Do you feel okay? Do you need anything? I can-"
"Clint, calm down. I'm fine."
Tasha laughed, "Yeah, shut up Clint"
"What? I've been worried"
There was a collective "Aww." Clint huffed and leant away, crossing his arms across his chest.
Beside me, as they spoke, Bruce shifted slightly, about to get up. Quickly I took his hand and looked him in the eye, I didn't want him to move, I wanted him to stay with me. Subtly, Bruce nodded and inched back in closer to me, both of us watching the conversation go on, only breaking our silence to chuckle every now and again.
"Alright you lot, shut up – you're going to give Manda a headache" Tony said loudly.
"You're the loudest here!" I laughed.
"Ah, come on – your ears are probably still ringing from that explosion."
I smiled, trying not to think about what had happened. I could see the same look on Tony's face, he was trying to put aside whatever had happened; I wanted to ask, but I felt like it wasn't the time. "I don't mean to be a pain, but can I get a coffee please?"
"Sure" Clint jumped up and left, eager to attend to me, like he always had done.
Nat shook her head, "All these years and he still doesn't even know what you take." She stood and followed after Clint while I rolled my eyes.
Steve and Tony retrieved their coffee and Bruce's tea and took a seat by the side of my bed. Steve handed Bruce his tea and smiled, looking between Bruce and I with a raised brow, "Look at you two getting comfortable"
Bruce blushed and tried to hide behind his cup but I laughed it off, "Shut up; I wanted to sit up but I couldn't support myself and the rest of you had abandoned me"
We laughed. After a moment Steve leant forward, "You were very brave Amanda, foolish, but brave. I'm glad you're alright."
I blushed, unused to such commendations. "Thanks Steve" I replied quietly.
"Yeah" Tony added sincerely "you did well, Shortie"
With a grin, I nodded, "Thanks – I'm taking it you all did fine without me"
Steve nodded, "Yes, we got there in the end – but I think we should probably leave that conversation for another time"
I agreed, but I couldn't help but wonder what occurred after I'd fallen. Nobody had mentioned what exactly had happened after my fall, but I got the feeling that, despite the obvious victory, things hadn't gone 100% to plan. There was something in my team members' eyes – I couldn't say what, but I was sure that more than just my life had come too close to ending.
