It's been almost two months since the final battle, or the battle for earth was what the citizens were calling it.
It's been two months since Peter has been in a coma...
Two months since he lost an arm and an eye...
But it's been one month since he's been moved to the tower, healing closer to the place he calls home. And Natasha guesses that she should be happy for that fact, that he's closer to her now, but she can't stop thinking about it, all the what if's.
He's down one arm and one of his eyes and she knows that those problems are now solved with his new arm fully complete and waiting to be attached and the eye that Thor gave him already in place, but there is still the question about his legs. How long will it take him to be back up on his feet again? Will he even be able to walk again without help.
All these questions have been floating inside her head since he's gotten back to the tower, which is why she found herself bolting upright in her bed from a nightmare almost every night since he got back to the tower.
And tonight was no different...
She quietly gasped and looked around her darkened room with wide eyes, searching for any danger that could bet there but once she found nothing, she slightly relaxed. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep anymore for the rest of the night so she threw the blanket off of herself and made her way out towards the common room.
Usually when she woke up from nightmares, Peter was up already due to his own demons or just because he's an insomniac, and he would sit down with her in the house with a cup of tea and they'd just sit there, not talking about anything.
For her, that was the best kind of therapy, just sitting around her family, around her son and allowing herself to open up. She found it easier with him. Sometimes she'd open up to her sister if Peter wasn't around, but her first option would be going to her son.
But she couldn't do that at the moment, and her sister was probably deeply asleep so she didn't want to wake her up.
So, the former Russian spy made the trek to the common room by herself and started up a cup of tea. She sat there in the silence of the room waiting until it was done before she pulled herself up onto the counter and started to sip her drink.
She tried not to think of the nightmare that plagued her that night, but she couldn't help it, it was too real…
It wasn't necessarily a nightmare, more like an altered memory of the battlefield. What would have happened if Peter's heart had stopped completely, and he had not gotten back up.
She had to sit there and listen to his heartbeat stop, she had to stand there and watch the funeral, as they lowered him into the ground but the worst part of that nightmare was having to see her little granddaughter watch them do it, with tears in her little eyes, heartbroken that she wouldn't be able to see her father ever again.
That...hurt the most.
Without her realizing it, there were now tears leaking out of her eyes, freely flowing down her cheeks and splashing down onto the countertop that she was sitting on.
She didn't try to wipe them away, for it would be fruitless when they would just come right back. She sniffed once and set her cup of tea down, she didn't want to drop it when her hands were this unstable.
So instead, she dropped her head down into her hands and let out one soft sob before all the dams broke and she let the water works out.
She just wanted her son back…
She was so distracted tonight that she didn't even hear an equally quiet set of footsteps come from the hallway of rooms until he announced his presence to her in just above a whisper.
"Rough night?" He asked, but she knew that it wasn't a question, more of an observation.
She sniffled once, trying to compose herself, "What do you want Barnes?" She asked, bringing her head out of her now wet hands, looking up at the man with her red and blotchy eyes.
"Can't a guy just make sure his friend is ok?" He asked coming over to sit right next to her on the counter.
"Clearly your friend is fine." She mumbled to herself, staring at the opposite wall where a picture of their whole family hung.
It was a picture they all had took right before Ana and Gwen had come into their lives. It was a picture of the original six of them, minus Thor of course, in the back row, the second row of people were kneeling which consisted of the others like Vision, Sam, Wanda, and Rhodey and the last person was laying down on the ground, on his side with a real smile directed at the camera.
It's one of the first pictures where Peter had actually offered them a real smile.
When Bucky saw what she was looking at, he made a noise in the back of his throat before he started to talk, "You know, if you think about it, Peter is kinda like all of us combined in a way." He said, which wasn't what she expected him to say. Before she could retort though, he continued.
"He has Tony's genius mind, he has Steve's stubbornness, probably even more so then Steve actually, he has Clint's playfulness, he's Worthy of the hammer so there's Thor, he has the strength of Banner, and he has your drive, your relentless, your abilities that no one else in this family could master. He's just a giant mixture of all of our best qualities."
Natasha scoffed, "Yeah, you could look at it that way. But you forgot one part of me that he also has, a part of the both of us," she paused and made eye contact with Barnes, "He has the traumatic past to rival any of ours by tenfold." At her words, Bucky grew a little sad but he continued on.
"Where that might be true, he has all of us to help him through that stuff...when he wakes up."
Natasha bit her lip before responding, "I used to have nothing growing up, just a...mindless girl, hoping to get out...but knowing deep down that I wouldn't be able to. After years of holding on, I lost all my hope, for my life, for the world even...Then Shield came and gave me a chance to be someone that was good...someone that I always wanted to become." Bucky allowed her to speak, looking at her with nothing but slight concern in his eyes that on any normal day she would have hit him over the head for.
But she knew Peter would want her to talk to someone about this if it wasn't him.
"Then when Peter came along...my life felt complete, it felt...perfect even. And that feeling only increased when my sister came back...the world has only ever taken from me, for over half of my life, if it took Peter away from me too...I'd never be able to live with myself again."
Bucky waited a second. Before he placed his hand on her shoulder, "Well it's a good thing that your son is the strongest and most stubborn man I've know, so you won't gotta worry about him not making it." Bucky offered her a kind smile.
She smiled softly back...
Maybe everything would be ok...
——————
Yelena Belova was many things.
She was a trained killer, she was a sister, she was an aunt, but out of all of her many quirks and qualities, she prided herself in her ability to stay strong for her family.
But right now...she didn't feel all to strong, staring down at her nephew. Her nephew that she helped train to become a trained killer like her, the nephew that has gone through so much pain and hurt in his life but still managed to get right back up with a smile, brush it off and continue his day.
The only problem now was he wasn't getting back up, at least, not right away and that hurt Yelena more than anything.
Her nephew who was usually so strong willed, so stubborn that he wouldn't allow anything to keep him down. Except the difference now was that he was down an arm and an eye.
And he's been in a coma for two months...
She huffed with wet eyes and she grabbed his hand, "You know all those times I told you that you'd make it through this? That all the pain you'd experience would make you stronger? Well...my...mother used to tell me that, along with Natasha. I think I speak for both of us when I say it's the only thing that kept us alive during our time in the Red Room...I hope that it helped you as much as it helped us though." She brushed a stray brown curl out of his eyes before she continued.
"You mother is...not doing so well. Surprisingly your girlfriend is doing a better job then her but, I can't really blame my sister. She's never had anyone to care about like she does with you. She tried to always brush it off in the past, but I've always known she's wanted a kid, and seeing her one chance of being a mother on a hospital bed half dead probably doesn't help with her fears all that much."
"...enough of this sad stuff though, let's talk about the good, yes? I've noticed that Barnes is kinda close to your mom, is there something going on there? I mean, I'd be completely unexpected and all, she's never been one to date, but I also thought that about her being a mother so, you never know. Your daughter is amazing by the way, she's literally a mini version of you with Mary Jane's attitude, it's quite funny actually. Umm...what else," at this point, she just wanted to speak to him so she decided she'd tell him all that's happened since he's been moved. He's heard Stark say that he could hear them, which is why he responded to the presence of his daughter back in Wakanda so that's why everyone has been doing the same.
"Oh, your Shield friends Nicholas and Maria stopped by. Wanted to see if you were ok or not. Fury actually looked quite sad when he heard you weren't up yet, which is really surprising. I've never seen that son of a bitch show any emotion before, it was really weird. Umm, when Ana found out that Gwen had died she definitely blew up at her. Everyone was having dinner at the time and we all stopped when we heard Ana scream and storm out of their room, walk past us and out of the tower. Gwen came out with a few tears in her eyes and we tried to console her that Ana was just sacred but your sister can be really stubborn sometimes. A few days later though they made up and everything was normal with them. Also I gotta bone to pick with you mister," she said looking at Peter's eyes even if they weren't open.
"Why do you always have to make me look bad in front of my sister, hmm? You show signs of life when she's in the room but what about me? I've known you for longer, it's quite unfair if you ask me. I wanna have something to wave over my smug sister's head now, and I don't care how childish that sounds, she's no fun to be around when she gets in one of those moods. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, the mood where all she wants to do is cause mayhem and pick fun on someone so she just keeps on poking and poking and poking the bear until they explode with anger! And she just laughs, it's really annoying, I fucking hate her sometimes." Yelena mumbled to herself.
"Well I guess I can help you with that." A voice mumbled form the bed, causing Yelena'a head to shoot up and stare at her comatose nephew, or so she thought...
Because Peter was staring back at her with his eyes barely open, slightly smirking at her.
"Pyotr?" She asked, not quite registering that he was up yet.
"Yeah, it's me...you can go brag to mom now how I woke up with you if you'd like." He kept on smirking at her which finally broke her out of her shock and caused her to snort.
"Oh don't you worry, I'll never let her hear the end of this, promise," she paused for a minute before she gently pulled him into a hug, keeping him safe in her arms for the moment, "I'm really glad your ok."
"Well like you said, pain only makes us stronger." He whispered into her shoulder."
Yelena softly chuckled and squeezed him one last time before responding, "You're Damn right it does."
Peter was up now...
Everything would be ok...
—————
Karli stood at the back of the boat, watching as Madripoor got farther away from her sight as they sailed away.
She could feel the serum coursing through her veins, all that power and it was hers to change the world back to its former glory.
When people were United, not divided.
One world, one people.
She had the last twelve vials of serum in the little case that was in her hands, while the first eight were already in the bodies of her most trusted friends, including her.
Soon, very soon there would be change.
Whether the powers of this world wanted it or not, she'd make sure the people knew that there were others in their corner for them, fighting for what was right, not what was easier…