On the second day, I was transferred over to one of S.H.I.E.L.D's hospitals. When we got there I could hear the doctors hooking me up to various machines and doing what they needed to do in order to keep me at least hydrated and fed. The heart rate monitor was annoying at first, but it was better than not being able to hear anything.
Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Thor, and Pepper all came in that morning. I was happy that they all decided to take time to come see me, but I was disappointed at the same time. Pepper hadn't brought Tony with her. I knew that I shouldn't have been so annoyed about it, because I knew how Tony was and I also knew that he hated even going near a hospital, but he's my friend and I would've done the same for him.
"Hello, Steve", Natasha says and I hear the chair to my right move as she sits down. I really wish I could talk and greet her back, but instead I send an empty hello through my mind. "We've got a few leads on Doom and we found out that he had stolen some important documents from the Baxter Building, they had to deal with one of Reed's designs. We're not exactly sure as to what the documents deal with and we're not going to know until the Fantastic Four come back next week. Hopefully you'll be awake so you can see for yourself, but if not I'll definitely let you know", she said and once again I heard the chair shift.
"Do I really have to talk to him", I heard Clint whine as he sat down and I ended up chuckling in my head, "He probably can't even hear us."
"Yes", I heard Natasha say sternly.
Clint makes a sound that sounds like a cross between a grunt and a mumble of something else. "Hey, Captain. I'm sure Natasha told you about my arm. Yeah, that was a little bit of a fiasco. Bruce ended up having to fix it and Fury got pissed because he doesn't get why I don't trust his medical team. Whatever, he'll get over it. That's pretty much it from me. Anyone else?"
"I would like to talk to him", I heard Pepper say, "Privately, if you don't mind." I heard Natasha shuffle everyone else out of the room and then heard Pepper begin to speak, "I'm sorry about what happened, Steve. You'll be up and about soon. Tony is still in his lab and is refusing to eat. How do you do it? You always seem to get him out of there. I'm his freaking girlfriend and he won't listen to me at all. He's not drinking though; I thought you'd like to hear that. I'm going to try and get him to come and see you today. At least, it'll let him see that you're going to be okay. That's all I wanted to tell you though, and if Tony doesn't come see you today, I'm dragging him by his ear all the way here. Take care, Steve, and hopefully I'll see you soon."
I then heard the chair move away from the bed, Pepper's high heels softly click on the floor, and then the door open and close.
I have to admit that I was a little disappointed that Tony wouldn't eat, but I was extremely relieved to know that he wasn't drinking. He had just gotten over that a few months ago, and everyone was afraid that he would go back if something bad happened that affected him.
The next few hours, I think it was a few hours, went by fairly slow. The doctors came in every once in a while to check all of my vitals and to see if I had moved at all. Sadly, I hadn't.
I was focusing on all of the things I could hear, when I heard the door to my room open again, someone sit in the chair, and a heavy sigh escape from their mouth.
"Hey Steve", I heard them say and immediately recognized Tony's voice. I could tell that he was tired, and was pretty sure that his eyes had pretty heavy bags under them. "I'm sorry about what happened. I just want you to know that I was trying to not see you, I had a few repairs to make on the suit and when I heard that you were in a coma, I had J.A.R.V.I.S. pull up everything there was to know about comas. I know that there is a chance that you can actually hear me right now, I know that you could wake up right now or possibly never, I know that you can't move at all, and I'm really sorry. I keep being told that it wasn't my fault, but I feel like it was because nobody had your back and I was the fastest one to get to you. I'm sure Pepper told you that I haven't been drinking, she's really excited about that and I'm sure that somewhere in there you are too. I don't see the need to anymore, it's not like it's going to make you suddenly wake up and start moving." Tony's stomach suddenly grumbled and I started laughing inside my head as Tony made a soft chuckle. "Oh yeah, and I haven't eaten yet either", Tony said, "I hope you don't mind if I step out for a little bit. I'm definitely not eating this cardboard-tasting shit. I'm going to get a nice hamburger or something and then I'll be right back. You just, uh, wait here", Tony then left the room and I kind of felt a little depressed when the door closed behind him.
Tony came back into the room, about 10 minutes later, I knew the exact time because I had counted every second. Well, I counted to sixty 10 times. My first thought was, "wow he got food fast", but then I remembered that he's Tony Stark and probably was able to skip to the front of the line of whatever place he went to.
"I'm back", Tony said as he closed the door behind him, "I figured I might as well just stay here because Pepper is out at a meeting and if I return to the tower, she'll end up calling me in for it. I would rather sit with you, who can't speak at all, than listen to those old windbags complain about finances and stocks. Anyway, I went down to that burger place that the team usually goes to for lunch after battles. I just ate on the way though, because I figured you wouldn't want to listen to me chomping on a burger that you don't have the luxury of enjoying", he said to me. He was right though, I really did want a hamburger, well really I just wanted to be able to physically eat something.
"God, how do you stand it in here", he asked, "It's so fucking quiet except for that damn heart monitor. That's it, next time I'm bringing in a radio full of music from different time periods, might as well catch up while you're stuck here, right?" I realized that Tony had paused, expecting a response. I then heard him shift on the chair he was sitting in. "Yeah, I think I'm going to do that. But until then", I then heard him get up from the chair and walk to the other side of the room, "I'm just going to leave the window open." It was nice to be able to hear the traffic, the wind blowing ever so gently, and the pigeons cooing outside than to listen to nothing but doctors going in and out. I wish I could at least smile and show Tony how much I appreciated him for doing that, but I think he knows, at least I hope, how much I hate silence.
Suddenly I heard a small "ding" come from where I presumed Tony was. "I'm sorry, Steve. Pepper just got out of the meeting and I have to go meet her. Supposedly, the team was invited to a gala and I seemed to have forgotten about it. I'm sorry you can't go, but I'm sure everyone will understand. Right now, S.H.I.E.L.D. is only saying that you're on some private mission in Austria. They just don't want the press to get all riled up because their Captain is suddenly in a coma again. I know you understand", Tony said and then walked across the room to the door. "See you tomorrow, Sleeping Beauty", he said and then closed the door. I don't care if he just gave me another stupid pet name, I was actually glad to hear one for once and to be able to hear from him, even if it was only for a little bit.
Notes: After doing this chapter, I realized that this is more of a retelling than a journal, so I might end up changing some of the tags. Either way though, the story isn't going to change, so don't be worried. Thanks for reading and don't forget to provide some feedback, if you'd like. All questions and comments are greatly appreciated!