Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of its characters or settings
Author's Note: Thank you!Thank you!Thank you! To all of you who've reviewed, favorited, or followed this story. Your support keeps me writing and I really can't thank all of you enough. And now please enjoy this next chapter!
When Bruce had first seen Steve's doctor he had assumed that she'd been just a nurse until she'd introduced herself. She'd already shed her pearly white coat and was about a head shorter than everyone around her.
She'd immediately jumped into action with an air of someone who knew what they were doing.
"Doctor Banner, Mr. Thor, I'm Doctor Allen. Thank you for all of your help, but I would kindly suggest that you wait in the sitting area until my team and I have done what we can," her tone had been polite but at the same time demanding. When the two hesitated her gaze softened, "I will notify you as soon as we have any news," she promised.
The two Avengers were then led off to the waiting area as Steve, who was once again unconscious, which might have been a good thing considering how much pain he was sure to be in, was led to the emergency room.
They found the other three already there trying to convince the nurse at the front desk to let them through.
"We're his family!" Natasha declared, slamming her fist on the counter.
"Banner!" Barton exclaimed, cutting off their argument with the poor nurse, immediately everyone's attention snapped to Bruce, the only Avenger with any official medical knowledge, "How is he?"
Bruce ran a hand through his hair and nodded towards the empty chairs, "Let's have a seat."
After he and Thor had recounted everything that had happened in the plane there was a moment of silence.
Everyone looked pale and drawn, the soot covering most of them standing out in stark contrast to their sickly white looking skin.
"But…he'll make it, right? He's Captain America…he'll heal, won't he?" Barton asked eventually.
Everyone looked hopefully at Bruce.
"I hope so," he sighed.
"Will he be able to heal from being paralyzed though?" Tony wondered, "I mean, spinal injuries are pretty severe, even for him."
Bruce shrugged, "I don't know, no one does…"
"Even if Steve is...what is it called?" Thor asked.
"Paralyzed," Barton supplied.
"Yes, paralyzed," Thor continued, "He can still be our leader."
"The problem isn't whether or not we'll see him as an Avenger, it's Steve," Natasha stated, "I mean, do you really think he'll handle having to sit out on the sidelines while we fight?"
"Well, he can still throw his shield once his hands are healed," Tony pointed out.
"From a wheelchair?"
"I'll make him a suit, simple."
"It's not simple! Nothing-"
"Guys," Banner cut in, knowing that everyone's nerves were on edge, "We don't know if it's permanent yet. Let's wait to hear what Doctor Allen has to say before we start to plan anything."
They nodded and backed down. Tony pulled out his phone to call Pepper. Nat and Barton leaned against each other to get some rest while they could. Thor stood up and started pacing. Everyone growing more anxious with each passing minute, everyone fearing the worst.
The group paid no attention to the coming and going of various agents and nurses coming to visit sick friends or check up on patients. They didn't care that people stared as they walked by, or as they whispered about them. They just cared about their friend who was hidden behind those two swinging doors.
They waited.
And waited.
Finally, after three long hours Doctor Allen appeared. Her brown hair had been thrown back hastily and she wore a buttoned up white coat, which was odd considering that most people preferred to leave their coats unbuttoned that way they could be easily taken off in case of emergency.
"Is he okay?"
"How's Steve?"
"Can he feel his feet?"
Question after question bombarded the doctor as soon as she got near them.
She held up a hand, and immediately they quieted.
"Steve is stable," she declared, skipping her usual introduction, "Which at this point is a huge step from where he was when he first arrived. Now if you'll please follow me I can take you to him and we can discuss his situation in," she glanced at the other people in the waiting room, "a more private setting."
"Situation?" Barton poked Banner as soon as they started following the small woman back down a hallway, "What does that mean?"
Banner shrugged in response and shook his head. 'He's stable, Steve's stable. We can handle anything so long as he's alive and stable, we'll handle it.' The words swirled and swirled around his mind.
"Ordinarily we would have put someone in his condition in ICU," Dr. Allen stated over her shoulder, she stopped and opened a wooden door, "But we were able to set everything up in this room, I figured you guys might want a little privacy."
They nodded their thanks as they walked through the door.
Steve was in his own room. He looked thin and frail on the bed they'd laid him in. Bandages covered what they could see of his chest and forearms. His left leg was placed in a cast and there was an extra wad of bandages where the bullet wound had been. His face was still marred with scratches and bruises; Bruce was surprised to find. He'd thought that those would have been the first to heal.
With all of the sweat, dirt, and dried blood wiped off, Steve somehow looked as if he was just sleeping.
"So what's the prognosis, Doc?" Tony asked as soon as they'd gotten accustomed to the sight.
She grabbed the clipboard off of the bed, "Right now we don't know much," she started, "Our current theory is that with all of Steve's injuries the serum doesn't quite know what to heal first."
"So the serum's not doing anything?" Barton asked.
"The serum's keeping him alive," she informed them, "Without it, I doubt he'd still be with his now. The problem is, there was so much damage inflicted on his body that it's probably hard for the serum to determine what is the most life-threatening."
"What damage?" Bruce questioned, not liking the fact that she seemed to be dancing around that fact.
She pursed her lips and looked down at the clipboard, "He suffered from a significant amount of blood loss, which we're trying to balance out with a transfusion. Uhm, he had a ruptured spleen, some internal bleeding around his abdominal cavity, which we cleaned up and I hope his body will heal itself there otherwise we might have to go back in..."she appeared to be muttering to herself for a moment before she continued, "Steve also had five broken ribs, a punctured lung, a bullet which was lodged in his scapula, a broken tibia, and, obviously, some second and third degree burns on his palms, arms, and chest."
"What about his spine? He said he couldn't feel his legs on the plane," Bruce asked.
"There was a ruptured disk," she answered.
"Do you think he will walk once more?" Thor asked, not quite understanding what a disk was, or how it related to paralysis.
"I think with extensive therapy, there should be some sort of improvement, but as of right now I'm more concerned with the burns. His skin is no longer there to protect his body from germs and such and with his immune system weakened the possibility of infection setting in is dangerously high."
No one missed the fact that she hadn't actually answered Thor's question. They glanced at each other nervously.
"What's the worst that could happen if he got an infection?" Natasha asked, crossing her arms over her chest, trying to keep her emotions in check. 'Being emotional isn't going to help Steve,' she reminded herself, and made a mental note to figure out all of the sports and activities that could be played in wheelchairs.
"An infection has the possibility of causing Steve to go into a coma."
"The serum would wake him up though, right?" Clint asked.
"We don't know, everything's up in the air right now, I'm sorry," she replied sincerely.
Her pager went off before anyone could ask another question.
"I have to see to another patient, just have the nurse at the front desk page me if you have any other questions," she hurried out of the room, but not before her coat slipped slightly, showing the dark red stain on her front.
The Avengers sat down in the chairs surrounding the bed. Most of the doctor's words had gone over the majority of their understanding, but they didn't need a medical degree to know that Steve's condition could change drastically at nearly any moment in time.
"So what do you think Bruce?" Natasha asked.
Bruce shook his head, "I think that it's going to take a long time for him to recover."
"So you think he'll recover? And be back to normal?"
"I think he'll survive," Bruce corrected, "But it'll be painful."
"For him?"
"For all of us."
"He looks so young," Natasha commented softly.
"Why don't you guys go get some rest?" Tony suggested, "We can wait for him to wake up in shifts."
"Tony-"
"We're not going to be able to do much for him if we're all exhausted now are we?"
Nat pursed her lips, knowing that he was right and yet hating the thought of leaving Steve in such a weakened state.
"Stark is right," Thor agreed.
"I'll take first shift," Clint decided, "I won't be able to sleep anyways."
They all agreed hesitantly.
"Call if anything changes," Bruce told him.
Clint rolled his eyes, "I will."
They filed out of the room slowly.
It was always a traumatic experience whenever one of them got hurt bad enough to require medical attention. But Steve was always the one who knew how to calm the situation down, even if he didn't say anything at all. He was always the one who would keep the silent vigil by their bedside, he was always there with a smile when they woke up and would gently explain not only what happened, but how they were going to get better. And they always somehow did get better.
But now that Steve was the one hurt…Barton sighed as the door closed and plopped into a chair, kicking his legs up onto Steve's bed.
He was just flipping through his phone when Steve stirred.
Clint got his legs down and edged closer, "Steve?"
It took a moment before Steve opened his eyes.
"Hey, you with me?"
"I think so," Steve replied softly, glancing at all of the wires that were protruding from his body, and slowly taking in all of his injuries. Whatever pain medication they were pumping through him must've been extremely strong, it was actually numbing down what would have been excoriating pain to a dull ache settling over his body.
"You guys just won't let me go peacefully, will you?" he asked with a soft smile.
Barton smiled back, "We're not letting you go period, Cap. Can you imagine the Avengers being led by someone like Stark?"
Steve made a face and as desired, chuckled. It had been a running joke among the Avengers, although Steve secretly thought that Tony would do just fine in a leader position if he had to.
He winced and wrapped an arm around his midsection.
"What is it? Are you okay?" Clint asked worriedly, eyeing the big red CALL button.
Steve waved off his worries and leaned his head back against the pillow tiredly, "Don't make me laugh. It hurts."
"Sorry," Clint mumbled, scratching the back of his head.
"What'd the doctor say?"
"Well...she's thinking that the reason you aren't healing quickly is because there were so many injuries to contend with the serum doesn't know what to heal, if that makes sense."
"Not really," Steve grunted, his face contorting in pain. He was wrong, whatever medication they'd used clearly wasn't as strong as he'd hoped. The pain was slowly building until a thin sheen of sweat broke out across his forehead. He gripped the sheets, his knuckles turning a ghostly white.
"Steve?!"
"Pain-" Steve grunted.
"Oh gosh," Clint slammed his fist against the CALL button and tried to find some way to help, "Steve the doctors are coming okay, buddy?"
Steve groaned, the veins in his neck bulging. His chest was rising and falling rapidly.
The door burst open and Doctor Allen was there along with three nurses Clint didn't recognize. He jumped out of their way.
"Sedate him!" she called out, yanking on her stethoscope and gently placing it on his chest.
They filled a syringe with the drug and injected it into Steve's IV.
Steve's movements slowed down but it seemed his eyes refused to shut.
"Sleep Steve," Doctor Allen ordered softly, carefully watching both her patient and the machines.
His eyes slowly shut after a few more seconds passed, his chest slowing down until it rose and fell normally.
Doctor Allen stood up straight, "We'll have to change the bandages, I want updates on him everyone fifteen to twenty minutes, understood?"
It was then that Clint noticed the specks of blood that looked like they had been sprinkled over Steve's chest and arms. The tension in his body having caused some of the wounds to reopen.
"Burns bleed?" he wondered aloud.
Dr. Allen shrugged, "The burns took away his top layers of skin, not his nervous system."
"How long do you think he'll be out?" he asked, worried that Steve would wake up and once again be engulfed in pain.
"Hopefully another half-hour at least, I gave him enough to knock out a normal person for the afternoon. It's hard to tell."
She chewed on her lip as they watched the nurses work.
"You might not want to watch the uncover his chest, or his palms, they got the worst of the burns," she advised, giving Clint the feeling that she was generally trying to look out for him.
"Do you know what happened?" he asked her, determinedly not looking at Steve's charred body, just seeing Steve react to pain moments before had been enough to rattle him.
She shook her head, "There's only one person that knows the story behind that, but I would recommend not asking until he's healed."
There was a beat of silence before she said, "He's going to need you guys, you know."
At his confused look she nodded at Steve.
"There's no way that anyone can suffer through that and bounce back without any scars."
*Poor Steve! So I haven't quite decided whether or not Steve should remain paralyzed or heal completely, any thoughts? If you have time, please review! Thank you so much for reading!*