Steve was discharged from the hospital within a day, due to making a full recovery. However Nora had to stay in the hospital for a few more days. She had been shot too many times than she cared to remember. She thinks maybe four? She had several broken ribs, she had internal bleeding in various places and a cracked skull. Not everyone was graced with super healing.
"Wait, so you can heal like I do but slower?" Steve asked as he slumped in the chair next to her. Nora sighed.
"No, I can only heal slightly faster than a regular person but that's not uncommon. Your rate of healing is" Nora said. She was becoming increasingly agitated, she didn't like being stuck in one place. Not since she escaped from the Bulgarian hydra base.
"But how did you keep getting back up from being shot and nearly murdered numerous times?" Steve was curious and took this opportunity to ask questions considering Nora couldn't get out of bed to kill him for it.
"I have a very high pain tolerance that came with years of training" Nora responded and Steve nodded, trying to decide his next question.
"Why don't you sound Bulgarian? If anything, you sound kind of American, I mean the accent is there but only a tiny bit it's barely noticeable" Steve rambled and Nora couldn't block out the sound of his voice if she tried.
"I was raised by mostly American agents. There were some other nationalities in the base but American was the pre dominant one" Nora answered. It's better to squash all of Steve's curiosity now than put up with it later.
"Favourite weapon?"
"Swords, actually. They are a pain to carry around though"
"After your brothers died, how did you escape the base?" Steve was careful to ask this one, he even leaned back in his chair just in case.
"I've already told you. I killed everyone inside the base, they were all nothing compared to me. Then I hit the self destruct and took a fighter plane out of there. I went back a few weeks later. There was nothing left apart from ash and rubble"
"If you could go back in time would you stop it from happening?"
"No. I did what I did so they wouldn't have to" Nora whispered and Steve didn't really know what to say.
A tense silence filled the room for what felt like hours. Steve decided to change the subject.
"Do you think that if we find him, we can bring Bucky back?" Steve asked, changing the topic to distract Nora from the memory of her brothers.
Honestly, no she didn't think that at all. She thinks that Bucky is too far gone for any part of his old self to be salvaged, but she wasn't about to destroy Steve's hope.
"Yeah, he pulled you out of the water didn't he?" Nora said and Steve smiled. He had the same idea.
"But what are you going to do if he's not in there?" Nora glanced over at her first ever friend and wished with every part of her body that Barnes could be saved from the winter soldier version of himself because this man did not need anymore let downs in his life.
"I don't know. I'm not expecting him to be fully there, I'm not expecting to get my old pal back but like you said he pulled me out of the water. Some small part of him must be in there somewhere. I'm not giving up on him, no matter how bad it is" Steve said in all seriousness and smiled after a few moments,
"But I do have some good news, I managed to sweet talk the nurse into letting you out a few days early" Steve winked and Nora raised an eyebrow.
"Sweet talking the hospital staff? Didn't think it was your style, Stevie. I took you for a more 'pining-over-a-girl-but-never-making-a-move-then-denying-your-love-for-her' kinda guy" Nora teased and Steve rolled his eyes.
"I don't like Natasha in that way" Steve said for what felt like the hundredth time.
"Funny, I didn't mention a name yet your mind jumps straight to the resident spy. You can't fool the best assassin in the world, Stevie" Nora smiled like a Cheshire cat and Steve didn't have the energy to argue with her.
"Back to the topic of conversation. Pack your stuff, I'm busting you outta here" Steve shoved her playfully and Nora winced as she sat up in the bed.
"I don't have any stuff with me, did you bring me some clothes?" Nora asked and Steve froze, as if he had forgotten something crucial to his existence. Depending on Nora's mood, that could very well be the case.
"I'm real sorry, I completely forgot" Steve said, grabbing his motorbike keys with the intention of quickly going back to his apartment to grab something for her. A honey sweet voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Luckily we're not all incompetent" Natasha smiled teasingly, pulling a plain t shirt and jeans out of her bag along with shoes, a hairbrush and clean underwear.
"This is why I keep you around" Nora said as Steve helped her out of bed and into the bathroom.
"As far as your chivalry stretches, Rogers, I can usually handle this part on my own" Nora snarked, slamming the door in his face but not before muttering a small 'thanks anyway' under her breath.
There was a tense silence for a few seconds and Steve didn't know whether to hug Natasha or not. They were friends but he has never seen her hug anyone, ever. Well, he saw her hug Clint once but they had been friends much longer than Natasha and himself have been.
"Did you get my message?" Natasha asked, breaking the silence and Steve furrowed his eyebrows with confusion. It wasn't the question that threw him, it was the almost nervous way that Natasha had asked it.
"Message? What message?" Before Natasha could respond, the bathroom door swung open and Nora's slightly malicious grin had returned to her face. Her eyes twinkled just a little too brightly for Steve's liking.
"Did I forget to tell you? A few days ago when we were all heading to are certain deaths, Natasha wanted me to tell that she has feelings for you and I was too busy being shot multiple times by your best friend to tell you. Sorry" the pair could tell from her airy tone that she was most certainly not sorry. Steve was stunned into silence and if Nora wasn't confident in her ability to kick the shit out of anyone put in front of her, she'd almost be scared at the intensity of Natasha's glare.
"Wait you have-" Steve couldn't finish his question before Natasha cut him off. She was not having this conversation with that little traitor in hearing range.
"Information on Barnes? Yes I do" Natasha smoothly interrupted and all questions about this revelation from Nora had fled Steve's mind.
"You do? What is it?" Steve asked eagerly. Natasha couldn't help but mentally compare him to a puppy.
"Everything you need to know is in this folder. Be careful, Steve. You may not want to pull on that string" their eyes locked as she handed him the file and it felt like an electric current was running through her body.
Nora, of course, had the instinctual need to ruin the moment.
"It's a good thing he has me to get him out of trouble" Nora looked awfully smug as she threw and arm over Steve's shoulder. Steve made a mental note to get back at her for this one day.
"Please, you'll be the one that instigates the suicidal ideas and reckless behaviour. It's in your nature" Natasha scoffed and Nora tilted her head to the side in the same way that Steve was accustomed to.
"It's in my blood" Nora was quick to respond and Natasha made a move to walk towards the door.
"Be careful going after him, Steve. You may not like what you find" Natasha departed after her last word and Steve held the file tightly in his hand.
"She's right" Nora said, jumping on the bed to tie the laces of her boots.
"If I can deal with you, I can deal with Bucky" Steve retorted, sitting next to her and opening the file. The first thing he saw, the very first thing, was a picture of Bucky before he left for war, fully dressed in uniform.
"Is that him?" Nora asked and Steve nodded.
"He's cute" Nora smiled as Steve chuckled.
"You're not the first girl to pick up on that" Steve said and Nora stood up, holding her hand out for Steve to take.
"So, this borderline impossible mission to salvage your once best friend that is intent on killing us...where do we start?"
AN: Wow I'm sorry that the chapter is a little late but I had some pretty important stuff to take care of but I'm back now! Yay! And this chapter is really short and kind of a filler chapter but it gets good soon I promise! This is where the story really starts to you know...start. Hope you enjoy reading so far :)
Let me know if there are any mistakes so I can fix them? Thanks x