Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or these characters.
"Hill, where's Steve? Do you have a location on Rogers?" Natasha asked, panic lacing her voice. She leaned slightly out of the helicopter, looking for something, anything that would show her that Steve was okay. Her heart was racing, don't do this to me, Rogers. Don't you dare do this to me. "Maria, where is he?" She shouted again, this time more urgent.
"I can't locate him, he's not wearing a tracker," Maria yelled over the roar of the helicopter blades.
"Why didn't you wait for him to get out?" Natasha yelled back.
"He told me to fire, Natasha. We didn't have time."
Natasha felt as though all of the air had been sucked out of her lungs. "Romanoff, we've got to get going," Fury turned from his position in the passenger seat to look at her. "I'm sorry," he said as he placed a hand gently on her knee. Natasha was just about to tell Maria to pull up when she saw something moving along the river bank. The glint of Bucky's arm caught her eye as she realized that he was dragging something along behind him. He moved slightly, revealing the star in the center of the object. Steve.
"Maria drop down! He's there!" Natasha screamed. "The riverbank on your five o'clock." Maria quickly whipped the helicopter around towards the riverbank, "Sam call the medics." As Maria brought the helicopter toward the ground, Natasha jumped out, rolling gracefully before popping up once again in a run. She sprinted towards Bucky standing over Steve's lifeless figure laying on the beach. Come on Rogers, hang in there for me. Please.
When she reached him, Bucky quickly flipped around to face her. She put her hands up in the air, "I don't want to hurt you. I just want to help him. Please," she begged, "please let me help him." Bucky stared at her for a moment before moving away from Steve's body. "Thank you," she said breathlessly, dropping to her knees over Steve. She began assessing his wounds. He was losing a lot of blood. Natasha quickly ripped part of the jacket she was wearing and bunched it up before placing it over the worst wound to help stop the bleeding. She looked up and saw that Bucky was still standing there watching her, "you need to go," she said urgently. "I promise, I'll take care of him. Bucky, you need to get out of here, they're going to be looking for you." The look on her face was pleading, she knew how much he meant to Steve. If Bucky was captured again after all of this, Steve would feel responsible. "Please Bucky, go. I won't let anything happen to him. I love him." Natasha felt a tear roll down her cheek, something that she wasn't expecting, but also something that she couldn't stop. She turned her attention back to Steve, moving her hands slightly to check the bleeding. It was slowing down some, but he wasn't out of the woods yet. When she looked back up, Bucky had disappeared. She felt herself let out a small breath of air, one that she didn't know she was holding in. She kept pressure on Steve's wound and reached out to touch his face, "don't die on me, Steve. I meant it. I meant what I said to Bucky. I love you. I need you to fight, please."
Natasha heard the blare of the sirens moments later and quickly placed her free hand back on the wound. She took a deep breath and calmed herself, putting on a hard face before they arrived.
"Ma'am you've got to move, we've got this," the paramedic said, attempting to pull Natasha away from Steve.
"He's losing too much blood. If you move me, he'll bleed out," Natasha stated.
"Ma'am-" the paramedic began.
"No. You move the both of us," Natasha snapped. The paramedic looked to the others before nodding. They quickly got Steve and Natasha onto the gurney, Natasha straddling his body to keep pressure. The ambulance ride felt like an eternity to Natasha. "Can't we go any faster?" she growled, masking her fear as anger. When the ambulance finally arrived, they quickly rolled Steve back into an operating room.
"You have to go now," the doctor said, "you've done a good job, but you have to let me work." Natasha began to protest when someone quickly reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Natasha, let them work," Sam said quietly. Natasha shrugged Sam's grip off of her before storming out of the room. She quickly walked into the bathroom and locked herself in the stall before finally allowing herself to completely fall apart.
"Natasha, why don't you go get some rest." Sam walked into Steve's hospital room, a frown on his face. Natasha had been by Steve's side since he got into the hospital. She didn't leave the room for anything, she wouldn't eat, she hadn't slept, and Sam was beginning to worry. "He's not going to wake up while you're gone," Sam added, sitting in a chair adjacent to her.
Natasha shot him a dangerous look, "I'm not leaving, Sam. I can rest here if I need to. I'm fine."
Sam put his hands up as a sign of surrender, "okay, fine. You do need to eat though," he didn't miss the glare Natasha gave him, "don't worry, I'm not asking you to leave. I was going to offer to get you something." Sam watched her relax slightly, and he thought that she might've even smiled a little bit.
"A burger would be nice," she said.
"A burger it is," Sam replied as he stood up. "I'll be right back." As he walked past her, he gently placed his hand on her shoulder. He knew that it was a dangerous move, but he wanted her to know he wasn't just there for Steve, "he'll be okay Natasha." He made eye contact with her briefly before walking out of the room.
Natasha sighed and leaned back in her chair, "you'd better be okay Rogers," she whispered.
Sam returned several minutes later with a cheeseburger, fries, and a drink for Natasha. "I figured you're probably hungrier than you're letting on," he said as he sat the food down in front of her.
"Thanks," she murmured, quickly scarfing down the food. Sam resisted the urge to chuckle.
"Maria asked me to meet with her to help try and talk down the committee. I'll be back in a bit." Sam left the room and quietly closed the door behind him. Natasha finished her food soon after, her exhaustion finally hitting her.
She looked over at Steve who was still out. Natasha pulled her chair up to the side of his bed. She hesitated for a moment before gingerly lifting his arm up and laying it across her shoulders before laying her head down on the spot previously occupied by his arm. She took a deep breath, the tension that she had been holding in her body finally slipping away at the feeling of his arm against her body. Within seconds, she was asleep.
Steve blinked, his eyes still felt heavy with exhaustion. He looked at the things in front of him, and quickly realized that he was in the hospital. He felt his arm move slightly beside him. Natasha's scarlet hair was thrown over his arm, her face turned in toward his. He smiled slightly at the sight of her asleep next to him. Music was playing quietly on the small phone dock sitting on the counter.
Steve turned his head to the left groaning slightly at the soreness of his muscles. He saw Sam sitting in the chair against the wall, flipping through a magazine.
"On your left," Steve murmured, his voice raspy from lack of use. He managed to give Sam a slight smile, despite his pain.
"Hey man, how you feeling?" Sam asked as he closed his magazine and set it on his lap.
"Like I had an airplane dropped on me," he replied with a slight chuckle.
"You gave us a scare," Sam said, "especially Natasha. She wouldn't leave your side."
Steve turned his head to look down at her sleeping form once more, tightening his grip around her shoulders slightly. The two sat in a comfortable silence as Sam leafed through his magazine again, while Steve watched Natasha sleeping in his arms.
"I've got to find him, Sam," Steve whispered after a while.
"I know, and I think she knows too." Sam leaned back in his chair, turning his attention back to Steve.
"You don't have to come." He turned to look at Sam.
"I know, but I'll be there," Sam replied.
Steve nodded before turning his attention back to Natasha. You'd better come too. I can't do this without you. Steve drew in a deep breath before leaning his head back against the pillows. He closed his eyes and allowed Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man" to lull him to sleep once more.
Author's Note: Originally, I was going to add the graveyard scene into this chapter, but there's a lot that I want to include in the graveyard scene, so I decided to split it up into two chapters. If I added it to this one, it would've been MEGA long.
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