HELLO! I HAVE RETURNED! So yeh, I'm really sorry about the break but my exams (and prom) are now over so I have almost 3 months of free time...yaaay! Anyways here is the next installment. Not sure how many more chapters this has left, so this may be one of the last.

So yeh it starts off as Tony's POV and then moves to Steve's POV.

Do enjoy :D

Safe. He was safe. Albeit he was in another goddamn hospital but he would rather be here than...than back there. He'd been so ready to give up. He'd accepted his fate, his 'destiny' that he was going to die in that horrible place. Mainly because he was never going to give them what they wanted. But screw destiny! He would never hurt Steve like that.

Steve.

He looked over to his beautiful blond who was currently fast asleep on the edge of his hospital bed. Steve needed the rest, he'd been there for him since the rescue and was only getting a few hours every now and then, so he let him sleep. He looked so peaceful. So young. And had a small smile at the edge of his lips. He knew why that smile was there. He had put that smile there. And as he looked down at their entwined hands, he wondered how everything went from so bad, to so unbelievably good.

*BACK TO THE RESCUE*

What if they were too late? As he ran through the halls of this crazy maze of labs and god knows what else, he just couldn't help but think that they might not reach him in time. That's when he heard it. The manic laughter and the witty yet exhausted response. The former of which he couldn't give a rats ass about but the latter...it was heart-breaking. Tony sounded so exhausted. What had they done to him?

He peered carefully round the door. Tony was locked in place to a chair, with metal cuffs, whilst two huge men flanked him. They looked to be on the stuff that Hammer had been developing. Finally he looked at the one man he's been searching for. Tony. He couldn't bear to see the blood trickling down his body and over the arc reactor or the pain that he was obviously in. He wanted to throw up. Looking up at Tony's face he saw he had his eyes shut? But why?

Then he saw that one of the men was holding his hands down. Fingers splayed out. Oh no. Nononono. They were going after his hands. That was NOT on. Everyone knew Tony needed his hands. After the mild incident in October in which he broke a finger and practically became a recluse for a month, everyone just knew about the hands. You don't touch the hands. Ever.

"Hmm which tool? How about the bone crusshhaackkkkk-"

"Get your hands off my man."

He'd burst into the room without any logical plan. Admittedly not the best course of action, but he learnt from the best. After smashing the manic one in the head and creating a glorious crack noise he turned to the other. The man had scampered to the other side of the room and was holding a scalpel as his only defence. He rolled his eyes. Oh yes because a scalpel is going to protect you now.

He spared a quick glance at Tony and oh... Tony was just looking at him. Eyes filled with hope and wonder. And if that doesn't fill a man with unwavering courage, well then, what does?

He charges towards the other man and takes him down in 3 easy steps. Quick. Efficient...and almost not excruciatingly painful for the bloke. After what he'd done to Tony it was the least that he had deserved. Speaking of whom...

"Tony Tony Tony look at me! Are you okay? I need to get you out of these braces."

He went to raise his shield to smash the metal clips when...

"No! No don't. They...they've seared my skin to the metal. Removing it needs to be done a lot more carefully, possibly surgically."

He just looked at Tony. Seared his skin to the metal?! What animals were these people?

***xxTxx***xxTxx***

He could see that Steve was having trouble stomaching the skin searing thing. To be fair, if he hadn't pushed it as far down as he could he'd probably be struggling with it too. But right now he was just too glad to see his super soldier to even think about that. They needed to get out of here. So they could be safe and he could say everything he needed to.

"Steve! I need you to get the ties on my ankles and smash just UNDER the metal brackets okay?"

Steve nodded. Evidently back into Captain mode. The cuffs holding him had no chance against the wrath of Captain America with his vibranium shield and broke within seconds. He tried to stand up, but found that with the fact he hasn't moved and the amount of broken, well, everythings...walking proved to be impossible.

"Don't worry. I've got you."

He looked up to see those baby blue eyes looking at him with such care and wonder that he just couldn't stop himself. He kissed him.

And Steve kissed back. It was more than he could've ever imagined. His lips were so soft and tasted so good. They reminded him of safety...of home. And just then he wanted nothing more to just stop time and stay as they were. But sadly this was not a dream and reality kicked itself back into perspective.

Steve picked him up as gingerly as possible and carried him out the door, as this was neither the time or place for a make-out session. They were moving at a frankly alarming rate through the maze of labs and he wondered how on earth Steve knew which way to go.

"How.."

"Photographic memory." Steve said with a wink.

Show off.

They came into the main room of the compound. The guards and scientists were either dead or being led out by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. He looked around. There were signs of the super soldier experiment all over the place.

"Steve...Steve!"

"Yes. Are you okay? Are you hurt? What do you need? I'll get Widow on it."

And like that, he carefully put him down and ran off to get Natasha. Which wasn't what he wanted in the first place but it was almost...cute, yeh cute, seeing how worried he was. God how could he have thought that the team had abandoned him?

"Tony." He heard Nat running over.

"Hey sweetheart." He said with his trademark smirk...which probably looked like a grimace right now.

"Oh my god..." She took in his various injuries and overall horrendous state. "Right. What is it you need?"

"Well what I was going to say before Steve here went into complete mother hen mode", the man in question blushed profusely, "was that we need to level this place. All of it needs to go. I don't care what Fury or anyone has said. This stuff shouldn't be in anyone's hands."

He looked at Steve and gave him a soft smile. He knew how much the super soldier program being disbanded for good meant to him. Natasha nodded and went off to bark at some agents. Poor things.

"Right let's get you back to Bruce so he can give you the check up I feel you sorely need."

"Bruce is here?" That doesn't make sense. Bruce wouldn't put him in a situation like that. Steve picked him back up again and begun to get them out of there before everything went BOOM.

"Obviously. The whole team is here. I've never seen Bruce quite that ... terrifying. It was almost like he was channelling the hulk. Remind me not to piss him off."

He chuckled. "Duly noted Captain."

And just as they emerged from the building, Steve turned to look at him. And he smiled. It was going to be okay. For once.

***BACK TO THE HOSPITAL. PRESENT TIME. STEVE POV***

He opened his eyes. Man how long had he been asleep? He went to stretch because Lordie his back hurt when he realised one of his hands was otherwise occupied. He turned to look at the man holding it hostage.

"Hey Sleepyhead." Tony smirked. He'd missed that so much.

"Hey. How long have you been up?"

"Ah just a few minutes. The itching was getting to me."

He looked down at Tony's arms. He'd had to go into surgery to get the metal braces off with as little permanent damage as possible but he knew that the scars left would cut Tony deep, physically and emotionally.

"Look Steve...I think..er...We should, argh goddammit." Well that was a first, he'd never seen Tony quite trip over his words like that.

"We should talk about what happened in there." He cut in with.

"Yeh, I mean, if you don't like, want that. Then that's fine. I understand that it was a heat of the moment thing and I-"

He cut Tony off by pressing his lips to Tony's. Just a quick peck. But it did the job.

"I want you Tony. Why would you think I wouldn't? You're a brilliant man surely you can see that?"

"Yeh but I mean, you're Mr. Perfect ya know? And here's me with yet another set of scars and..."

He cut in.

"Tony shut up." and he did. Wow.

"You are one of the most amazing human beings I've had the pleasure of meeting. You're a genius and you're always kind to those who need it. Despite all your layers and sarcastic walls of protection, you've let us in as a dysfunctional family and we're all so grateful for it. You're gorgeous, scars and all. They just prove how much you've been through and how much you've survived. You're smile is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen and, without wishing to sound even more sappy, I've drawn it over a hundred times. You have always been there for us as a team and I wish I'd noticed how much you meant to me a lot sooner than I did. I couldn't wish for a better friend...and...if you're okay with it, boyfriend."

He looked back up at Tony, who was just staring at him. One lone tear had made its way down Tony's cheek and he reached forward to catch it. And then he waited. He'd poured his heart into that speech. Tony was still staring at him and he was becoming more and more scared. What if he didn't return the feelings? What if it literally was a heat of the moment thing?

"Okay with it?! OF COURSE I'm bloody okay with it. I'm more than okay with it. This is flippin' fantastic!"

Tony's grin spread from ear to ear and he'd never seen the man look happier. He laughed. They both did. They laughed until they ran out of air. And once they'd stopped they just looked at each other. Smiling, he squeezed Tony's hand and then he leaned in to do what all new couples eventually do.

They sealed it with a kiss.

N'awwwww. I'm sorry if that was too sappy but I just watched supernatural Season 6 Ep 17 and I'm now listening to My Heart Will Go On and feeling so sappy. This wont be the last chapter as I have a few loose ends to tie up but yeh.

Please Review. They really do make my day :)

TonysBiggestFan xx