Chapter 3
Ali's hand hurt but not as badly as her head. She could feel someone holding her hand and knew that she wasn't alone.
She slowly opened her eyes and almost immediately shut them again. The light was so bright and was making her head a pound even more.
"What's the time?"
It was a whisper so that she wouldn't wake whoever was next to her, but she felt 2 people start to move around the room.
"It's 2pm and it is Thursday. You gave us all a scare."
Ali recognised Yo-Yo's voice from the foot of her bed.
Her eyes were now growing used to the light, as she tried to keep them open, so she could now see that it was Daisy holding her hand and May was on the other side of her.
She could feel loads of wires and stickers that had been attached to her and as she held up her arms, she could see that her left hand was in a splint and her right hand was bandaged up but an IV was connected to it. Ali could also feel the tube that was connected to her nose so moved her hand up to get it off of her face.
Just before she touched it May stopped her.
"You need to keep it on."
Ali huffed in annoyance. Apart from the headache and her wrist she felt absolutely fine.
Yo-Yo had left a while ago but now returned with both Natasha and Jemma in tow. May left the room to allow Natasha to take her seat and Yo-Yo followed her out.
Natasha practically sprinted over to her little girl and started carefully brushing the hair out of her face.
"Never do that to me again."
Ali nodded her head in response.
Jemma had been checking all the readings on the monitors while the two had been talking but Daisy still woke up.
She looked around in confusion before seeing Ali. Her face grew into a released smile before she carefully hugged her sister.
"How is she?"
Ali butted in before Jemma could answer her mum's question.
"I am fine!"
Natasha gave Ali a glare telling her that she knew that wasn't true before directing her gaze to Jemma.
"She needs to rest and not use her powers for a bit. No sparing or physical activity for a week but her wrist should feel better in a few days. Headaches are completely normal but should also wear off after a while. I would also suggest that she not go to school till next Monday though she can go home now if after 10 minutes nothing changes."
Daisy had let go of Ali but was still sitting in the chair next to her. Natasha nodded her head at Jemma who after seeing the approving face of Natasha started taking off the monitors.
She managed to get them all off of Ali apart from one and she even took the tube from her nose off which earned her a smile from Ali but as she took off the bandage on Ali's right arm the heart monitor started beeping.
Jemma was too preoccupied looking at the readings that she was getting to notice the look on Ali's face. Natasha did though.
It had been a whole year, but Ali had still only gotten marginally better when it came to needles. She was fine with them as long as she didn't see one. A year ago, if anyone had even mentioned anything about needles then Ali would have had a panic attack.
Natasha first saw Ali stiffen and then saw her eyes glaze over. She kept a hold of her hand as she saw her little girl curl in on herself.
Daisy had also noticed what was going on but didn't know what to do. She had never seen Ali have a panic attack or flash back before and so was shocked but also horrified that someone had done something to her little sister that would cause this reaction.
Jemma turned around after looking at the readings and realised what was going on but knew that she was way out of her depth.
All Ali could see was the lab from a year ago. She was on a bed being held down by restraints having needle after needle shoved into her skin.
"Ali you aren't there. It isn't real. That will never happen to you again."
Daisy was sitting in the chair shocked, and Jemma was trying to find something in one of the draws. Natasha reached out to grab both of Ali's hands and held them both in one of her own. She tried to be as gentle as possible as she didn't want to cause her little girl any more pain.
Ali tried to get free off Natasha's hands but the physical contact with someone else seemed to be what Ali needed to resurface out of her flashback.
Jemma seemed to have found what she was looking for and had re-bandaged Ali's arm so that she could no longer see the needle before Ali's eyes became unglazed.
Daisy was still sitting shocked beside Ali, but Natasha had moved so that she was lying next to her on the bed.
Ali was crying but she cuddled into her Mum and felt arms wrap around her.
Her head hurt even more now and was filled with memories that Ali would rather forget.
"Ali, I am going to give you something to make you fall asleep, okay?"
The question was more directed at Natasha who nodded her head in approval. Jemma was only telling Ali what was going to happen.
"Я не хочу засыпать. (I don't want to fall asleep.)"
Everyone in the room heard what she had said but only Natasha understood it.
"Тебе нужно, чтобы это тебе помогло. Я обещаю, что это продлится недолго. (You need to though as it will help you. I promise that it won't last very long.)"
Jemma had started trying to work out what medicines would work on Ali after she had first met her, and she had even tried to adapt some, but she hadn't gotten very far since she never thought that that research would become important. That was why she was instead giving Ali an adult size dose of the pain medicine.
Ali snuggled closer into Natasha and hid her face from view with her hair. Natasha nodded towards Jemma who then took the medicine and injected it into the IV bag which was still attached to Ali by the needle in her hand.
Within seconds Ali was asleep. Natasha stayed right where she was for half an hour before Jemma took her off of the IV and took off the heart monitor.
Daisy had left the room a while back and had headed to the training room to vent her anger and frustration out on some punching bags.
None of the Avengers had seen Ali since she had woken up, but Natasha had been told that they were all waiting outside.
After being unhooked from the last of the equipment Jemma spoke up.
"I think it would be best if you took her back to the tower now. She will probably feel better if she wakes up there."
Natasha nodded her head in understanding and Jemma walked out of the door to tell the other Avengers what was going on.
Jemma had found quite quickly that Natasha reminded her a lot of May. They were both people who hardly been smiled and didn't speak us much as others. They were also both incredibly intimidating. However, they both had a softer side and a daughter who was there's even if they didn't share the same blood.
The door opened 5 minutes later, and Clint walked in. He carefully gave Natasha a hug since she was still lying next to Ali on the bed. Although Ali was asleep, she was still cuddled into Natasha and partly hidden from view. Clint sat in the chair beside Natasha.
"We should get her home."
Natasha nodded her head before trying to lift herself up so that she was sitting up. Ali arms were suddenly around her like a tight vice and her face was screwed up into a look of horror.
Clint almost laughed. He had known his partner for a long time and he had never known her to be the most cuddly or the most friendly. Now however she was locked to an unconscious child who wouldn't let her go.
"Shhh. I am not going anywhere."
It was a whisper to Ali and even though she was asleep Natasha felt her hold slacken a little and her face loose some of its fear.
Natasha sat herself up before dragging an asleep Ali onto her lap. She then turned and dangled her legs over the bed before standing up with Ali in her arms.
Once Ali had stopped being moved her arms relaxed and a calm expression washed over her face.
Clint led the way out of the room and opened the door for Natasha. A row of chairs had been placed in the hall at some point and all of the Avengers, Coulson, Mack and Yo-Yo were sitting in the chairs.
May was down in the training room talking to Daisy and Fitz and Jemma were down in the labs experimenting with adapting certain medicines for Ali.
Everyone had already heard what Jemma had recommended so upon seeing Ali in Natasha's arms they all stood up. Wanda looked the most distressed out of all of them, but everybody was looking at Ali worryingly.
"Thank you, Coulson."
Natasha knew that Coulson was going to blame himself for what had happened, and she wasn't going to have that.
Mack, Yo-Yo and Coulson escorted the Avengers and Ali back to the Quinn jet that they had arrived in. It had already been refuelled but the ramp was still down.
Tony had flown in his suit and knew that Pepper was probably panicking as he hadn't called her and had only given her updates through FRIDAY so put on his suit but just before flying away, he turned to Coulson and said,
"Thank you, Agent."
As soon as he had left everybody else started walking towards the Quinn jet. Clint had already agreed to fly it since Ali wouldn't let go of Natasha.
Steve and Bucky took the seats nearest to the front of the jet and sat down. Bruce and Vision sat next to them while Natasha sat on the other side of the jet and placed a still sleeping Ali on her lap. Wanda took the seat next to her.
As the jet started to take off Ali's expression changed, and her body became tense. Wanda noticed the change too and held out a hand above Ali's head.
"Can I?"
Natasha didn't know what to do. Ali would end up having a nightmare if something didn't change but Wanda could easily make it worse.
In the end she nodded her head. Clint had told her that she needed to be more trusting and for Wanda this was the ultimate test.
Wanda found that it was easy to enter Ali's mind. Guessing that it was because she was asleep and not awake Wanda started shifting through her memories.
At the moment the memories from two years ago were still at the forefront of Ali's mind.
As quickly as she could Wanda found some of Ali's happier memories which mainly centred around her friends and family. She managed to bring those to Ali's thoughts and within seconds Ali's face changed to one that looked like it had the hint of a smile.
Wanda pulled herself out of Ali's mind and found a happy Natasha looking at her.
"Thank you."
This time Wanda nodded. She wished she could do more to help Ali but didn't want to make things worse so didn't dare try anything else.
The flight back was filled with a lot of silence from Natasha and Wanda. Everybody else felt the need to talk quietly.
Vision ended up joining Clint in the co-pilot seat and Bucky and Steve started talking. Bruce seemed to be in a world of his own.
Once the Quinn jet landed on the roof of the tower everybody got out. They walked over to the elevator which was on the other side of the roof and were greeted by FRIDAY who then took them down to the main sitting room.
Natasha tried to place Ali on a sofa in the sitting room, but her arms once again became vices and Natasha ended up having to sit down with Ali.
She had thought about placing Ali in her bed but wanted somewhere that she could easily keep an eye on her.
30 minutes later and everyone was still in the sitting room. Knowing that they would only leave when they Ali woke up and they saw for themselves that she was okay Natasha turned on the TV.