this chapter's kinda a mess but's it's also fluff! as always, enjoy :)
SEVENTEEN
Ironically, Steve got the call whilst visiting Peggy.
It was Natasha who called him, who was tipped off from Maria. Peggy made him answer the call in front of him, and once he realised what the call was, he wished she hadn't. He felt his face fall as the panic set in.
She was shot.
"That sounds like you have to go," Peggy said, pulling him back to the world.
"She was shot," he mumbled, leaning down to press a kiss onto the elderly woman's forehead.
"She needs you now, then. Go." He did, although he did feel bad that he had to ditch Peggy to do so.
In all honesty, he was starting to hate hospitals a little. The smell and the atmosphere, really, were what was making him sick. He didn't mind the pristineness of it all; Gemma likened his apartment to a hospital, often, for its cleanliness. The memory of her saying that was sharp, her voice filling his head as he and Natasha went into the emergency room.
"Is she still in operations?" Natasha asked, the duo stopping just before Mathew. Strewn around the room was the other three members of the team; Lidia had fallen asleep on Tony's lap, lying across some seats, whilst Sam was chatting with a nurse. He nodded.
"What happened?" Steve asked. He knew that she had to respond to a call, remembering her telling him she'd never kissed anyone the way she kissed him. And he remembered the way they kissed had made him feel, both times, unlocking a sensation in his stomach that fluttered.
"She took another bullet for me," Tony explained. "She's got to stop doing that."
"She doesn't know who she takes the bullet for, you know that, right?" Sam said. "Every time, she says she just sees the uniform. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure she'd never do that for you."
"Hey! We owe each other lots. I saved her life, twice, too," Tony retorted.
"Stop it, both of you," Mathew interrupted, causing both the agents to look at him. "She was shot stopping a bullet hitting Tony. She shot back, gave him a dud shoulder."
"She was shot in the upper thigh," Sam expanded, sitting down next to Tony. "They're having a little trouble getting it out without causing any nerve damage, is all." Steve felt himself run a hand through his hair.
She was shot.
"Okay, well, I'm going to call Clint and pretend that I am okay," Natasha said, turning to Steve. "You'll be okay?" Steve nodded, looking down. I'll call when it's over, she'd said.
"Gemma will be okay," Mathew said, catching the super-soldier's eye. Steve drew his brows together, looking back at the man Gemma had just called dad, less than 24 hours ago. Sorry I kept ruining the moment, she'd said.
"I think I would've been more prepared if this had happened at the Knickerbocker instead of the middle of the night," he muttered, leaning against the wall.
She was shot.
Steve wasn't exactly sure how he felt, but he recognised the same hatred of uncertainty from yesterday. It really had been a wild 48 hours. Mathew shook his head.
"No, you wouldn't have been. It's never easier," he told Steve, patting his shoulder. "But she's got good odds."
"I hope they don't change." Steve folded his arms, a million possibilities of what could happen going through his head. He was sure Natasha was plotting the nurse jokes already.
"What I would like to know," Tony called across the waiting room, "is what Gemma was doing at your place at three in the morning."
"She told you guys?" Steve asked, frowning, but Tony snapped his fingers.
"Aha! Told ya," he said to Sam, who shook his head. "No, she didn't, but figures. She looked distracted when she arrived, she was wearing her casual shoes and her glasses, and she didn't smell as she usually did. Couldn't pick out the smell until you walked past."
"If you put that much effort into actually being a detective…" Sam muttered. Tony whacked the back of his head.
"Hey! That's my job," Mathew said, putting his coffee cup in the bin. The doors behind him opened, allowing out a doctor, whilst some nurses pushing a bed came to a stop. The doctor greeted Mathew, and Steve heard the boys wake up Lidia, but Steve couldn't take his eyes away from the bed. She looked okay, Steve thought, although he didn't like that she was in a bed.
"Hey, Cap." A hand was on his shoulder. It was Sam. "We'll meet them in her room. Come on." He let himself be pulled away, casting one more look over his shoulder.
"I should call Nat."
It was a relief when Gemma did wake up, exactly fifteen hours and twenty minutes later. With a new case on their hands, the team had left Gemma in the care of Steve and the hospital, with the promise of a call when anything changed. Clint and Natasha were waiting outside; they knew that Steve needed to be alone.
"Oh hey," she muttered. Steve leaned forwards in his chair, brushing a hand over her hair.
"Hey," he greeted, offering a smile. She was blinking slowly, a result of the anaesthesia.
"I have to say, this hospital always gives me more pain meds than usual, so I'm about to say some stupid things," she informed him, mumbling.
"I'll keep Natasha out," Steve told her. "How you doing?" She closed her eyes.
"I'm very numb. Like a rock," she added, placing her hand on his wrist. It stopped his movements. "You feel like a rock."
"Is that a bad thing?" he asked, tilting his head. She smiled.
"I love rocks." She paused, taking a deep breath. "Can you help me sit up?" He complied, pulling the brunette to a sitting position. She leaned against him for a few seconds, holding tight onto his arms.
"Was that just an excuse to feel me up?" he teased, which gained him a small giggle. Gemma moved one of her hands to his face and started to stroke his cheek with her thumb.
"I know our talk wasn't finished-" she started to say, but he interrupted.
"Not today." He moved closer, resting his forehead on hers. "Not now."
"Okay," she agreed, "although I think I should tell you that Nat's taking a photo of us."
"Look at you, waiting in hospital for a friend," Clint commented, nudging Natasha's knee with his own.
"Acquaintance," she mumbled, although they both knew that was a lie. Natasha had felt honoured when Gemma had appeared at her doorstep earlier. She'd felt scared for her yesterday, and she felt scared for her now.
"You're getting good at emoting," he teased. She knocked her knee back into his.
"And she's up," Natasha said. "Or Steve's talking to himself." Clint scoffed. Natasha sat up in her seat properly, looking at her lounging friend.
"She came to my apartment in the middle of the night," Natasha started to say. "She was freaking out about kissing Steve, of course, but she revealed something to me."
"Should you be telling me?" Clint said warningly, but Natasha waved him away.
"There's something really deep in her past she's not telling us. I checked out her medical records," Natasha said, handing a piece of paper to him. He sat up, unfolding it. She tapped at something specific. "Look. I think I'm connecting some dots." Clint frowned.
"Where did you even get this?"
"We're at a hospital, dummy." Clint got up, dropping the paper into the bin. Then, he turned back to Natasha.
"I'm going to say this one more time," he started warningly. "Don't do it. Don't look into her past, don't ask her uninvited. She'll talk when she's ready." Natasha sighed.
"Yes, dad," she mocked. He raised an eyebrow. "I promise. You want a blood pact?" He clicked his tongue.
"I feel like I really should be constantly supervising you."
"I think it's those two who need the supervision." She nudged her head at the hospital room, where Gemma was sat up, with the help of Steve, looking closer than they needed to be. She held up her phone.
"I hope that's you about to call Agent White."