04: Cuddling- Steve/Jane

Sometimes, you just need to know someone's there for you.

"Steve! What are you doing? Get out of there!"

Tony's tinny voice over the half-melted microphone was like a blade running straight through Steve's skull. He darted around fallen chunks of plaster, his feet burning as the heat slowly oozed through his boots. Every inch of him was pain, as it had never been since the day he received the serum. His enhanced body could withstand far greater temperatures than that of a normal human, but that didn't make running through a burning building any easier.

He gritted his teeth hard enough to break as he ripped a metal door off its hinges. His muscles screamed not so much from the effort, but against the exhaustion coursing through him. Clouding his mind. He couldn't let it. Not until he found her.

"Sam," he groaned, kicking aside an upturned lab table. "Where am I?"

"Almost there, Steve, but you don't have much time." There was massive wind resistance in the background. Falcon was in flight. "Sensors indicate Jane is somewhere in that room, but she doesn't have long. Hurry."

Steve charged into the ruined lab, digging through rubble like a man possessed. He listened for a whimper or a call of his name, anything to indicate she was alive. As he turned over one chunk of ceiling, he caught a hint of plaid sticking out from under a wool blanket. His heart leaped as he gathered Jane in his arms. The blanket slipped off her face. Her eyes were closed and her skin was pale, but she groaned in pain as Steve lifted her.

"It's okay, Janie, I got you," he said, though he doubted she could hear him through the smoke mask.

A crash shook the building and he turned to find a huge chunk of roof blocking their only exit. Trying to move it would take too much time that Jane didn't have. Every second he wasted thinking, she was breathing in smoke. Steve frantically scanned the area. No other doors and one open window. He looked down at Jane. Her head lolled to one side. He looked back at the window. There were seven stories between them and the ground.

'No choice,' he told himself.

He took a running start and leaped out the window, turning over in mid-air to take the brunt of the fall. He'd once survived jumping from a height twice as high, only because he had his shield to absorb the impact. Without it, he didn't think even the serum could save his spine, but at least Jane would be okay.

They picked up speed as the pavement closed in. Steve watched the sky grow distant. It might be the last thing he ever saw. Then the fall stopped. Metal arms wrapped around him, careful not to jostle Jane, and soon they were soaring safely towards a team of ambulances. Before Steve's eyes were no longer the beckoning hand of death, but the perpetually stern face of an Ironman helmet.

"You are a complete moron," Tony said, though whether it was his body in the suit or just his voice wasn't clear. "You know that, right?"

"So I've been told," Steve grinned, pushing his mask to the side.

He kept a tight hold on Jane even after they landed and the paramedics descended. They got her immediately on oxygen. The blanket appeared to have protected her enough that Steve couldn't see any major burns, but she'd have to see a doctor first to confirm it. He remained by her side in the ambulance, holding her hand like she was the only thing in the world that mattered.

"Steve," she moaned, her eyes fluttering.

"I'm here, Jane. You're okay now." He brushed his lips over her knuckles.

"Steve… my lab… my lab…"

Tears rolled down her cheeks, and horrible as it was, Steve had to laugh. "Priorities doll. Let's get you fixed up first."