A week had gone by since the battle had ended; Three days since the decision that Loki would fulfill his punishment on earth had been made. No one was happy.
That's what Steve was thinking about as he walked to the hospital.
The God of Mischief was currently holed up somewhere only SHIELD knew where. After his brief return to Asgard, Frigga had pounded for the decision to be made that her youngest son would stay with Thor, in hopes that he would be able to change for the better as his brother had.
Unfortunately for Steve and everyone else, that would mean that the fallen God's prison would become Stark tower.
He tucked his hands into his jacket pockets as he walked in silence, glancing up as he arrived at the hospital. Signing in, he gave the secretary a small shy smile. The grey haired woman returned his greeting warmly, motioning for him to head on down to see the patients.
The Captain had been going to visit the patients everyday since he'd been cleared by SHIELD, usually visiting the children, who seemed to be thrilled at just the idea of him coming to see them.
He walked into the pediatric wing, smiling as a few kids leaped out of bed to race over to him. The bedridden kids merely watched with awed expressions as the others clung to the Captain, pretending to fight him.
Steve picked up one of the offenders with a laugh, swinging a small brown haired girl up over his shoulders. "What's new around here?" He asked with a grin as the girl used his hair to steer him around the room.
"Well, Jay's arms still broken." Maddie, the girl, said as if the idea that it hadn't healed over night was outrageous, "I think two more days will do the trick." She held up four fingers as she gave her diagnosis.
Steve chuckled, opening his mouth to reply when he noticed something that didn't quite belong.
Maddie followed his gaze to the back corner of the room, were a woman who was most definitely no longer a child lay tucked in a hospital bed.
"Oh, that's just Ma'am," The little girl said, "Or at least that's what the nurse-lady calls her." She explained knowingly. "The nurse-lady said there wasn't room left upstairs, so she'd have to stay with us. Maddie placed her hands on Steve's head, propping herself up so she could look at the little blonde woman better.
Were there that many injured that the hospital was running out of room? It was one of the biggest facilities he'd ever seen, not that he'd been to many other hospitals...
"She doesn't talk much yet, but I think I'm going to ask her to tell us a story tonight." She gave a toothy smile at the idea.
Steve had to escape from Stark Tower the next day to visit the hospital.
It seemed everyone was after him for one thing or another. Tony had been ambushing him all morning in an attempt to run tests on his shield in hope that he could mimic the metal's qualities in one of his suits.
Natasha had wanted to use him as a sparring partner, while Banner wanted to discuss the tesseract's shared qualities of radiation.
Even Thor was after his help in tracking down some girl that he, Tony, and Clint had seen with Loki. It was an Asgardian woman who he referred to as Brielle, although he spoke her name with a heavy accent causing it to sound more like Bri-Hel.
He shook his day, disregarding the thoughts of the others. He could help them later.
He smiled at the secretary, just like every other day, before making his rounds through the hospital. He checked on everyone before finishing in the children's wing.
He gave a light tap of the door before stepping in, expecting the mob to jump him like usual. However he was surprised to find them curled up around the woman's cot, listening to her speak. Maddie, who had propped herself right up on the girl's bed, and turned and jumped off, running over to Steve excitedly.
"I asked her!" She squealed, climbing up the Captain so she could talk face to face. "I asked Ma'am to tell us a story and she said yes! She can talk!" She little girl said, a proud grin spread across her face. "Come listen, she's just getting to the good part!" Maddie slid back down Steve's side, grabbing his hand and pulling him over to the group of kids.
"-In Alfheim, there are elves who live within the earth, unable to look upon the suns glow. They brood in caverns in the rubble, waiting for nightfall to conceal the light too pure to adorn their skin; Waiting for nightfall as to lay attack on their elven brethren of the brightest star."
Steve looked glanced at Maddie to find her once again hanging onto the blondes every word. It wasn't a bad story so far, he had to admit, albeit not one he'd ever heard of.
The girl looked up and smiled at Steve before turning back to finish her tale.
One of the nurses entered the room to change the IV's, Steve backed away from the story listeners to gain the nurses attention. "Captain," The brunette nurse greeted, clipping on the new IV.
Steve cleared his throat, "I was just wondering who exactly that was." He nodded to the children's storyteller. The nurse stood up, looking at the blonde patient.
"A victim of amnesia. She has bruising to the ribs and legs, and-" Steve nodded cutting her off.
"Does she remember her name?"
"No."
"Have you contacted anyone that could possibly identify her."
Again the nurse shook her head. "There's no one missing her, not a single thread to trace her back to. Not even dental records." She shrugged, "She'll recover soon enough. Just a bit of a bump to the head."
