Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far! I hope you enjoy this chapter. As usual, I own nothing!

After allowing everyone to have a few moments getting used to Natasha's condition, Tony decided that it would be best to step in; they couldn't do much with Natasha until she was awake, but they could at least try to do something for her right now.

Turning to the others he opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by another voice.

"Stark! Rogers! What the hell is going on? I've been dead for five minutes and this all goes to shit?! Where's Natasha?"

There, emerging from the hall, was a formidable looking Nick Fury. His face was twisted into an expression that matched his name in nothing sort of perfection – had this been under any other set of circumstances, Tony would have certainly found it funny but with his teammate and friend lying unconscious in his peripheral, there was no form of humour to be found in any of his features.

Next to Fury was an almost expressionless Maria Hill. If Tony hadn't spent a few years with Hill he wouldn't have noticed the worry hidden away on her face, but he had, so he did, and it instantly made any defence he had prepared to throw Fury's way – such as a well, where have you been? – die on his lips; while he had his own issues with Fury; he knew that Natasha considered the man family and that the affection there was most definitely mutual.

Only growing more infuriated – no pun intended – by the lack of answers coming from both Tony and Steve, Fury allowed a little more command to slip into his tone as he stopped in front of the gatherer party. "Answers. Now."

Shaking his surprise out of his head, it was Clint who took the charge and answered. "Natasha's in there; she's critical but stable. We don't know what happened to her, we just know that she showed up here in a bad way. Now with all due respect Sir; what the hell are you doing here when you're supposed to be dead?"

Having been appeased by Clint's efficient update on Natasha's currently state, Fury seemed to decide that he would be cooperative.

"I've heard a lot about you guys in the last few months, most of which I was happy to ignore. Then I hear you've started blowing up airports and leaving one another in the shit." At that, Fury glares at both Stark and Rogers before continuing. "That irritated me. Let me tell you, if I hadn't expected some sort of reconciliation at the end of it all, I'd have flown to Berlin myself and beat your damn heads together."

He shook his head and Steve felt very much reminded of how his mother used to chastise him when he'd gotten in another fight that Bucky ended up pulling him out of.

Fury, it seemed, was far from finished.

"Now, after a few days I decided that it was your problem and you two could fix it in your own way; I know that there wouldn't have been some sort of civil-war between you without any good reason. That's your mess; you can clean it up."

Again, his eyes never wavered from their glaring at the two leaders.

"What does, however, piss me off, is when a man – or in this case a woman – gets left behind in the aftermath of your damn fight! I don't care if that woman can take care of a small army with her hands tied behind her back. It. Should. Never. Happen. Why the hell did no one think to check that Romanoff was okay?"

At this, it seemed that the best place to look was at the floor. There was no reasonable answer to that question. It was easy to assume that Natasha was more than capable of taking care of herself, but it was also an unspoken knowledge that Natasha had nothing outside of the Avengers. Her only connection to the world was created in the solid ground, the roots, that being a part of the Avengers had given her – especially after Shield had fallen. The two organisations had given her a protection from her past which had allowed her to build herself a home; to become a part of a family.

Even her connections with the Barton family was only maintained through the fact that Natasha had been avoided by her enemies when working as an Avenger. Not that Natasha's connection to them wasn't strong and genuine but she knew that if she was being actively hunted, a lot of the people looking for her weren't afraid of hurting children – they had done it to her, after all. If it had meant protection for those that she loved, Natasha would cut all ties to her in a heartbeat. Being a part of Shield, and later the Avengers, had given her a form of protection to create a safe life. Anyone hunting her from the shadows would have to wait until she had stopped walking in the daylight.

She had gone from basking in the light to being pushed back into the darkness without any warning at all. Over two separate nights her protection had fallen away. Natasha had always thought that the Avengers would outgrow her; she had believed that this regime would never crumble. She had said it to the politicians on Capitol Hill and she had believed it; she had wanted it.

Glad that his words had an impact, Fury spoke again. "I can't stay for long – I'm still dead. But Hill's going to stay here and keep me updated." His voice softened. "Can I see her before I go?"

They all nodded, and Fury made his way into the room. He had only been in a few seconds before Peter stepped out.

"Hey, Mr Stark? The scary pirate man wanted a few minutes with Miss Romanoff, so I thought I should leave them to it. Is there anything I can – holy crap!"

The teens eyes widened as he looked around at the gathering of people in front of him. "It's Captain America! It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. I mean, again, anyway. Last time we met you kind of kicked my ass. Oh my God! You're Hawkeye!"

Without hesitation, or any of the sheepishness that had come over Steve's face after he realised that he had sort-of beat up a teenage boy, Clint stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you...?"

"Peter, Peter Parker."

"Nice to meet you, Peter. Thanks for taking good care of Natasha for us."

The boy flushed slightly. "N-no problem, Mr Hawkeye. I just wanted to make sure she was all good after she collapsed and then almost bled out on her bedroom floor yesterday."

Steve noticed Clint wince slightly and had a hard time stopping himself from doing the same; every reminder of Natasha's state made him feel more and more guilty. Looking around, it was simple to realise that he wasn't the only one.

"Call me Clint."

"Oh, wow, okay, cool." Peter stuttered, once again looking around in awe.

Then as if remembering everything that he had learned in the past few months, Peter turned back to Tony. "Is everything alright, Mr Stark?"

Plastering a smile on his face that was, admittedly, mostly fake but not wanting to worry the already stressed teenager in front of him, Tony nodded.

"Everything's fine, kid. These guys are just back to see Natasha."

Peter nodded, trying to ignore the increasingly noticeable tension in the room. He had been so awestruck by the sight of those who he had looked up to for years that he had almost completely forgotten everything that had gone down in the past few months.

"Oh, okay. Is she going to be alright?"

Surprisingly, having remained silent for the previous bout of conversation, it was Wanda who answered. "Natasha is strong, she will fight hard to overcome this illness."

As she watched the boy nod again, Wanda felt sick. She had tried to refrain from looking into Natasha's head because doing so had felt like she was violating the other woman's trust, but she could already feel the defeat radiating off Natasha in waves. It felt as though all her usual fight and determination had vanished – or it had been beaten out of her, Wanda thought bitterly.

Vision had noticed her growing distress. "Are you alright, Wanda."

"I'm fine, Vis." She murmured. "I just wish I could say the same about Natasha."

"I understand."

"I know."

The two of them shared a smile. While there was some question among the others over whether Vision could understand, and feel, emotion, Wanda firmly believed that he could. He had always been attuned to how she was feeling and due to that, the two of them had developed something of a connection.

That was another reason Wanda had a longing for Natasha's company; there was no one else she could really talk to about things like this anymore.

Before anything else could be said, the door to Natasha's room opened again and Fury stepped out. Without speaking, Peter walked back into Natasha's room and took up vigil at her bedside once more.

"Nice kid." Fury said, joining the others at the window. "Spiderman, right?"

"A Stark Industries intern, actually." Tony replied, his tone curt.

"My mistake."

Tony nodded, seemingly satisfied. "I take it you'll be leaving in a minute?"

"You'd be right, but I expect to be kept informed." He looked back at Hill who nodded before he started walking away. "I'll be keeping my eye on this."

Glancing back at them, he tilted his head forward before walking away and out of the doors to the med-bay.

"You know, I always thought he couldn't get any vaguer, but he seems to prove me wrong every time we meet." Tony said, still looking in the direction Fury had left from. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I got what he was saying, but who comes back from the dead to do all that?"

Steve sighed. "Someone who cares about Natasha as much as we do, I imagine."

"Fair point, Rogers."

Silence followed before Pepper cleared her throat. "Do any of you want to rest or have something to eat, I imagine it was a long flight from, well, wherever you were."

"I'd like to call Laura and maybe a few of Nat's other friends," Clint admitted, looking at Pepper and Tony, "If we're going to find out how long she was in captivity for, it might be a good idea to see if she's been in touch with anyone – but I'll need a secure line; just in case."

Stark nodded. "I'll sort one out for you. Anyone else need anything?"

Both Sam and Wanda admitted that they would like a change of clothes and a shower. After a few minutes, the group began to move away from Natasha's room and towards the common room; Pepper had been following the tail end of the group when she had noticed that Steve had stayed behind, still looking at Natasha's still form.

Now, Pepper wasn't going to pretend that she was at all happy with Steve Rogers. She could handle the fact that Tony and Steve were prone to consistent disagreements – that was only natural when you had two pig-headed people who had different outlooks on life. What she had a harder time digesting was that Steve had known that Tony's parents had been killed and had deliberately hidden that information. When you see someone that you love in such pain, whether it was from the revelations, the betrayal or anything else; seeing Tony like that had broken Pepper's heart and, despite her nature, it was going to take a long time to forgive Steve Rogers for his part in all that.

However, looking at Steve now, Pepper felt as though he may have some idea of how she had been feeling towards him in the six months after Siberia. Natasha was lying there, motionless, having spent who knows how long at the mercy of some heartless monster and there was nothing that could be done to fix it accept try to find out how, or why, it had happened and hope that Natasha survived to tell them what she remembered. Now, what that had to do with love, Pepper didn't know for sure; but if the way Steve was looking at Natasha was any indication, well, she had a good inclination about how the battering his heart was taking had left him.

"Steve," Pepper asked, laying her hand on his arm, "are you okay?"

He seemed to shrug himself out of some heavy thoughts before turning to look at her. "Pepper? Are you alright?"

"I was just asking you that same question."

Steve tried to smile but it looked as defeated as the rest of him. "I'm fine."

"No, you aren't." She corrected. "Your," she paused, hoping to find the correct term, "friend is lying in a hospital bed grievously injured; if your fine then you're a sociopath, which I know you aren't; so no, you aren't fine."

"I'm not fine." He repeated. As the words left his lips, his whole body slumped as though the world had just dropped its weight on his shoulders and he was about to collapse under it. "Far from it, actually."

"I noticed – what's going on? I know this is a lot but your usually so composed."

"I've never seen her, Natasha, like this. It's just…wrong."

Pepper nodded in agreement; she had known Natasha for about six years and it always seemed as though she was made of marble; there was nothing that could faze or shake her, let alone actually cause her any harm. Yet here she was – here they all were – lying in a hospital bed in critical condition.

She shuddered. "I know what you mean. It seems like it goes against everything Natasha is to be here in this state." She looked up at Steve, her gaze fierce. "But she is here and all we can do now is make sure that she gets the best care possible while she recovers, and you can't do that if you're blaming yourself. You can't change what's happened, but you can help to fix it."

Steve straightened up. "You're right, thank you, Pepper."

The blonde smiled. "Don't worry about it. Natasha would throw a fit if she someone allowed you boys fall out of line."

They shared a laugh before Steve allowed his eyes to drift over to Natasha again. "Do you think anyone would mind if I sat with her for a while?"

"Not at all. It might do Peter some good to get something to eat; he's been with Natasha since she got out of surgery – he didn't want her to be alone."

Hearing the last few words leave Pepper's mouth caused a stabbing pain to bloom in Steve's chest. He remembered Natasha saying something very similar at a time when he had needed his friends the most. He felt a growing bitterness towards himself as he reminded himself how he had not been there to keep her from feeling alone; how he hadn't gone back for her. Reminding himself of what Pepper had said, Steve pushed those feelings away – at some point, most likely when Natasha was awake, he would have to deal with them but for now they were unhelpful – he couldn't change what he had done, but he could try to fix it by being there for her now.

Walking into her hospital room, Steve smiled and nodded his thanks at Peter as Pepper pulled to teenager out and away with the offer of food. Pulling a seat as close to the bed as possible, Steve took a moment to look at Natasha properly. Her face was bruised and swollen to the point where it was almost completely different in shape but there was still the usual sense of Natasha-ness about her that it made his lips turn up to hint at a smile.

He reached forward and gently took her hand in his, he could see the heavy bandages and didn't fail to spot that her fingernails were all missing accept for one that had already begun to grow back. A part of him wondered if he was supposed to say anything; when his Mother was dying, he had spoken a mile a minute in order to share and remind her of any possible memories that they had together but with Natasha it felt different. Anything he said to Natasha, any apologies he made, he wanted to make them to Natasha, not this version of her; the lifeless, motionless one.

"We're all here, Nat." He offered instead. "Clint, Wanda, Sam and I; we've all come back. Tony, Pepper, Vision and Rhodey are here too. There's a new kid, Peter. You've made an impression on him – he seems quite fond of you. Fury's been around; Maria came with him, but he's had to go back into hiding. Hill's stayed. I think she's worried about you too. Helen's been keeping an eye on you, so I know you're going to make a quick recovery."

Steve paused, allowing the silence that followed to be filled by the steady stroking of his thumb along the palm of her hand.

"I've missed you, Nat. So much."

He had missed her, deeply. It had been odd to wake up every morning and not see Natasha already awake and prepared for the day – sometimes he wondered if she had slept at all, but he never asked in fear of causing her any upset; Natasha had a dark past, he didn't want to make her bring forward anything she wouldn't offer.

Since New York, since the day he had first joined Shield, he had been beside Natasha; she had become his partner, his confidant. While the relationship between them had been professional at first – simply acting and associating for mission purposes – it had grown into becoming one of the most defining relationships of his life. He had been so sure of his view of the world until he had begun to understand and appreciate Natasha. While that view had, unfortunately in some cases, never changed, Natasha's complicated yet simple understanding of life had shaken his confidence in it.

Sitting beside her now, Steve felt as though he would never have confidence in his decisions again; only regret at the consequences.

Keeping up the silence, the blonde kept his eyes firmly on Natasha. While it may appear like a lost cause, he was hoping that any second, she would open her eyes and throw him her typical smirk. Anything after that he could cope with, he just needed to know that the Natasha he knew – the Natasha he had left behind – was still alive and kicking somewhere; even if that meant she was kicking at him.

"If you're waiting for her to wake up, you're out of luck, Cap." A voice said from behind him. "Cho has her so doped up that she's not going to wake up until they're certain she's healing – physically, anyway."

Looking to the side, Steve gestured in absentminded agreement before turning his eyes back to Natasha.

"Is everything alright, Tony?"

The man in question smirked slightly, although there was no humour in it. "Do you mean in general or in relation to this specific situation."

"Honestly? The latter. But we can talk about both if you want."

The grin vanished. "No, we can't. Not right now. As far as Natasha's situation is concerned, everything is as fine as it can be - which is barely fine at all, at least until we have any more leads. The other thing? Well, maybe we should just stick to this whole silent truce thing we have going on, Cap, because I don't know if I can deal with all these feelings at once and you're here – alive – and Barnes is somewhere, also alive. Meanwhile. Romanoff could die any second; so, yeah, let's just stick to that because I can hate the two of you for as long as I want but I can't pretend that I'm okay with it all. Not now and definitely not here."

Tony sighed, gesturing to Natasha. "I was so mad when she let you go, and I didn't even know about Barnes then. I watched her leave, I let T'Challa sell her down the river and I watched her go because all I could think about was that it was me vs you and I thought that she had played me."

He dropped into the chair opposite Steve, still talking but not meeting his eyes. "I knew that she would be in danger, but I was so mad I didn't even care. When I got back from Siberia, I was still pissed; I thought she knew about my parents." He paused, finally making eye contact with Steve. "Did she?"

"I don't know." Steve admitted. "She was there when Zola told us about Hydra's infiltration of Shield and she knew about the Winter Soldier long before I did – before he killed Fury, and before that, he had shot her in Odessa. I found out that Hydra had ordered the assassination of your parents officially through a file that Natasha gave me on the Winter Soldier when I went to go and look for Bucky, but I don't know if she read it. When she gave it to me, she told me that I might not want to pull on that thread." Steve stopped, wondering if this was what Natasha had meant. If she had predicted how it would all fall apart. "In all honesty? Yeah, I think she knew but I don't think she thought that it was her place to tell you; I think she thought that I would do the right thing and tell you before I went looking or at least before I brought him back home."

Tony bobbed his head gently. "Sounds about right."

"If anyone should have told you it was me." Steve confessed.

"I won't argue with you on that. Besides, as far as Natasha knows, you might have told me already. It wasn't like we saw her between Shield falling and the Avengers regrouping; she and I were never ones for deep, emotional conversations without a lot of booze involved and there wasn't time for that with Ultron on the loose. Besides, I think she thought you were too good a man to keep a secret like that."

At that, Steve did wince. There was a little venom in Tony's voice, but the real attack came from his assertion of Natasha's belief in him. She had never seen him as a paragon of virtue he was sure; she knew him far better than that, but had truly looked at him as a good man? Would she be disappointed in him when she realised how deep he had buried that secret in order to protect Bucky?

God, he felt like such a monster.

Speaking of people who considered themselves monsters, Steve remembered what he had been meaning to ask since he had arrived back at the compound.

"Has anyone been in contact with Bruce?" Steve asked. He was sure Natasha would want Banner here regardless of the way things had ended between them.

Tony's face fell even further. "There's still no sign of him. The correct protocol would still be to assume him M.I.A or…"

They both fell into a tense silence. It was hard to look back and see what their team had been, and, in many ways, it was harder to accept what they had become.

Cap turned to look back at Natasha. "Do you think she knows?"

"Probably. Natasha was always more immersed in the world than we gave her credit for. When Shield couldn't find anything outside of the quinjet remains in Fiji, I think she either realised that he didn't want to be found or that he wasn't coming back. She's too much of a realist to not look at all the options. Or what they might mean for Bruce."

They had spent the months between Sokovia and the move to the new Avengers compound using all the resources they could get their hands on to find any trace of Bruce. Once they had moved in, it had, admittedly become less of a priority; clearly when Bruce had left, he'd had little intention of coming back or being found but they had wanted to make sure that he was healthy and safe at least before they gave up searching. When Fury had given Natasha the information of the quinjet that had crashed off the coast of Fiji, she had given the information to both Steve and Tony that same night. Tony had taken lead of the search; even going to Fiji himself to search anywhere he believed he could find his friend, but nothing had come up. After a year of searching, they had decided that they would have Bruce – and the Hulk – labelled as M.I.A that way if the new reached Bruce, he would be able to contact them to reassure them.

However, no contact ever came. No one really knew how Natasha took the news – they all knew that she had been sending her own, subtler, contacts out into the world; but she had respected that he may not want to be found and had ordered them the retreat.

They did all notice that the afternoon Bruce was declared M.I.A officially, no one heard or saw Natasha until the following morning. If anyone had noticed the redness of her eyes when she had emerged from her room, they were too smart to make any comment.

Once again, silence had overtaken the treatment room. The steady beeping and whirling of the machines offered little comfort among the two men's silent musings and did nothing to remove any tension. Yet again, why would they? Natasha's presence here, in such a terrible condition, only served as a reminder of what had happened between them all.

Eventually deciding that any terse of stern reply would be better than staying alone inside his head, Steve began to speak.

"Before she collapsed, did she say anything?"

Tony's expression looked pained. "I don't know. It was Peter who found her and by the time he got to her, she was barely hanging on."

"Poor kid."

"You're telling me. His Aunt already dislikes me; if she found out what happened that night, I think she might actually kill me." He sighed, bringing his hand up to press against his temple as if trying to prevent the headache he knew would be coming.

"His Aunt?"

"Name's May. She's been his guardian since his parents died. Super protective; didn't realise he was a superhero until she walked in and saw him trying on his costume – at which point she spends about four hours yelling at me down the phone about responsibility before guessing how many inches my head was shoved up my own ass. Still, she can't be that bad, she's clearly done a great job with him; I mean have you seen that kid? He spent nearly five hours sitting next to the hospital bed of a woman he doesn't know at all because he didn't want her to spend a second alone."

Steve's lips twitched. Despite the note of exhaustion in his tone, Tony was undoubtedly fond of both Peter and his Aunt if the gentle glint in the back of his eye had anything to say.

"He's a good kid, I should apologise to him the next time I see him."

"I think he's just happy to have met you; like he said, he's a big fan. Although, given that you almost dropped a tonne on him, an apology might go far if you're looking at it all from a moral perspective."

Steve nodded. "Fair enough. I'll do it next time I see him."

Tony hummed in agreement, seeming pleased before the smile fell from his place. "Back to your original point. I did speak to Natasha, not long before she came back. Hours really."

The blond jerked upright. "What? So, she was only in captivity for a few hours and they did all this?" He gestured to Natasha; her body covered in bandages and casts. While the idea that she had only been in captivity a few days took a weight off his heart, the idea that whoever captured her had been able to cause her such pain in just a few hours was sickening.

"Not exactly," Stark sighed again, "I was in my office, here, when my phone rang. I answered it and it wasn't who I was expecting; it was Natasha – and she sounded like she was in a bad way."

The sickening feeling that had been pooling in Steve's stomach only doubled at Tony's revelation as what he was saying dawned on Steve.

"Wait, are you saying that we know the person that did this?"

"I don't know for sure, but I'm willing to bet my fortune on it."

Steve felt his muscles tense as he pressed on. "Who?"

For the first time since Siberia, Tony looked Steve dead in the eyes and held his gaze. "General Ross."

It was like the floor had fallen out from under him. Steve wasn't necessarily that surprised that it was Ross; he knew what the General had done to Bruce, and he knew that Natasha had a complicated history with the man, but he also knew that it meant that Natasha had been right under his nose when he had broken the others out of the compound.

T'Challa had been a consistent informant for Steve and when the latter had confided in his plans that he was going to break out his captive teammates, the King had told him to act with the utmost caution as General Ross' visits to the compound had doubled since he had captured the others in Berlin; he had been there almost every day and would remain in his office for hours on end; keeping a watchful eye on the prison from the cameras he had hidden in there. If it wasn't him; it was two of his most trusted soldiers. Looking back, Steve realised that had been because of Natasha; Ross had expected him to come for the others, but he couldn't go after Natasha because he hadn't known she was there. She had become the hidden Ace in the General's plan. Nobody knew how much Natasha knew, but they knew that it was a lot; when it came to Steve, she knew more than anyone else. She had been his second, Ross must have believed that she would have had some idea where Steve had gone, what he was doing and what he would plan to do and how.

In that moment, Steve knew that Natasha had told Ross nothing – he had always been so predictable to her, she could make a well-educated guess and probably get it spot on. No, Natasha had said nothing. She had continued to protect him although he had left her behind - apparently, more than once.

He had never wished he could turn back time more so that he could go back to Berlin and beg Natasha to come with him and Bucky. Leaving her behind had allowed her to end up in this position and he hated himself for it.

Tony seemed to look right into his thoughts as he spoke again. "It's not your fault, Rogers. We don't know what happened. She came back here after she let you both go, and I sent her away; if we're placing blame then I'm taking my share."

There was nothing to do but acknowledge the truth in front of them. "I doubt she'd blame us though." Steve stated, gently squeezing Natasha's hand. "That, or she's going to kick both our asses when she wakes up."

Stark grinned. "She might do it anyway just to keep us in line."

"True."

For a moment it was as though they had navigated their way through the tension but underneath it all, they both knew that there was a long discussion ahead of them. It was easy to acknowledge how they had made mistakes; what wasn't so easy to admit was how that has affected one another, and if they would do things differently if they could.

Steve knew, deep down, that what he was sorry for now was Natasha's condition. Don't misunderstand; he was still deeply sorry for the pain he had caused Tony. However, he knew he would change his actions leading to the former but there was a long line of history leading him to the latter which required a much deeper internal analysis. Would he have changed how Tony had discovered the truth? Yes. Would he change the fact that he had protected Bucky? Honestly, he didn't think so.

His musings were stopped by the man across from him – again. "Look, Rogers, whatever path you're going down now; just don't. Please; I don't want to have that discussion yet and I certainly don't want to have it here."

While the desire to push the matter was strong, Steve knew that the biggest betrayal in all this had been portrayed by himself, so he swallowed whatever protest he had and bobbed his head forward in agreement.

"We do need to talk though." He said, softly.

Tony sighed. "I know – and we will. But not now."

"Okay."

He knew that Tony was relieved that he hadn't pushed it further as he relaxed slightly and sat back in his chair. Steve hadn't realised how tense the subject had made Tony and vowed, as much as he might have wanted otherwise, to not push the matter anymore until Stark bought it up himself. There was a lot that couldn't be changed between the two of them, and there were a few cuts that Steve was sure would leave behind some painful scars. There wasn't anything that could be done on that front. What he could do, on the other hand, was try not to create any more wounds for the two of them in the time that he was here.

Looking at the man across from him and the woman who lied between them, Steve easily decided that there had been enough trauma – a lot of which had a splintering of blame that could be, at least in part, cast at his own feet. Or at least as far as he was concerned.

Now, he hoped, there would be a chance to offer them all a little bit of healing – himself included.

They stayed in the little hospital room for a long time in nothing but quiet, neither of them thinking too hard but both hoping that the red headed woman lying on the hospital bed would wake up soon.

Eventually, after about an hour the silence was broken by a gentle tapping on the door. Looking up, the two men noticed that Wanda was stood at the door. She had showered and changed but the worry was still fresh on her face. Standing up, Steve walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You okay, Wanda?"

She smiled up at him in response, but it was empty; the truth was, she wasn't okay. Not at all. Having spent some time with Wanda, Steve noticed and raised his eyebrow in his best imitation of Clint's "Dad Glare". Wanda's lip twitched for a second before her shoulders sagged.

"I am worried." She confessed. "How is Natasha?"

Tony walked over, while his relationship with Wanda was not perfect a large portion of the tension and animosity had vanished after Sokovia. His actions in having her restricted to the compound had angered her, but she had admittedly cooled down a lot after her experience in the raft. She had not appreciated how Stark had gone about trying to lock her in, but she had grown to understand what he was trying to protect her from and that was something she could appreciate at least.

"She's still stable but nothing else has changed yet." Tony told her. "Do you want to sit with her? I need to go check on Pepper and Peter anyway."

"If you are sure." Wanda probed, hesitant to make anyone feel as though she was pushing them away.

"I am." Tony smiled at her before sending a nod Steve's way. "Cap."

"Tony."

Without another word the billionaire left the room. Within a second, Wanda had taken up his seat and placed her hand gently on the bed - next to Natasha's but not touching it.

"You can hold her hand if you want to, Wanda." Steve told her.

The witch's eyes were glinting with unshed tears. "I do not want to cause her any more pain."

"You won't."

He sounded so sure that Wanda found it impossible not to reach over and take Natasha's hand in her own. While she was hesitant at first, Steve could see her confidence grown as she took the older woman's hand in a firm – but still soft – grip.

Smiling, Steve sat back in his own chair and took back his hold on Natasha's other hand. "How are the others?"

Wanda looked at him. "Vis is doing what he can to help Rhodey, I didn't ask what they were doing but it involved security. Clint was still on the phone to Laura, they are both upset by the news of Natasha's condition. Sam had a shower and then began talking to the Spider-boy."

"Spiderman." Steve corrected.

Wanda rolled her eyes. "The Spiderman, then."

"Do you think Clint will be down here soon?"

"Probably." She stated. "He seemed to be persistent in his goal to find out if anyone had seen Natasha since she left the compound after Berlin. He was up all night flying the jet, so Sam said that he was going to try and make him get some rest after he gets off the phone to Laura. I doubt he will listen, but I told Sam to tell him that if he did not get some sleep soon, I would make him sleep myself."

Steve chuckled. "I doubt even that will sway him; he's not going to rest until he can see Natasha for himself."

"I know." Wanda admitted. "I just think that Natasha would not want her friends to place themselves on the verge of exhaustion to simply sit at her bedside."

That was true, Natasha would always be the one telling everyone that they would always be more use rested then worried. You can't confront your fears when you're tired, she would say, the more rest you get the more useful you are to yourself, others and those who are unable to protect themselves.

At this moment, Steve would give anything to go back and help Natasha; to not have been there for her when she needed a friend – someone to stay by her side – was something he would regret for the rest of his life.

Wanda looked at him and he could see in her eyes that she understood how he was feeling but before either of them could say anything, Steve heard an erratic beeping sound coming from the machines behind him. Immediately his brain went into overdrive as Wanda's expression morphed from sympathy to pure horror as Natasha's body started to writhe. Standing up, Steve hit the emergency button next to the bed and strode over to the mortified looking woman on the other side of the room. He took her hand in a firm but gentle grip and pulled her towards the door and Doctor Cho burst into the room with multiple nurses. Spotting the two teammates, the doctor gestured to the doors with sympathetic eyes before they become steely and determined as she moved to stand over the arresting figure of Natasha Romanoff.

Keeping his hand with Wanda's, Steve pulled her out the door and back into the corridor. While the sound of the door muted the erratic sounds of the beeping, all Steve could hear was the sound of blood pounding in his ears. He felt sick. Next to him he could feel Wanda shaking as she practically collapsed against the wall further up the corridor. He could feel the vibrations of multiple footsteps and knew their team would be there soon, but he couldn't find the strength within himself to even try to collect whatever was left of him – which, in all honesty, didn't feel like much.

Clint was the first to reach him but rather than stopping, the archer went to move past Steve to the window to Natasha's room. While he knew it was more than likely that one of the nurses had closed the blinds to offer some sense of privacy, the Captain moved his arm to rest on Clint's shoulder.

Brown eyes met blue and the former stopped as though he was completely weightless. "Cap…" He said, voice cracking. There was nothing else. No one knew what to say. It took a moment before Clint fell against the wall and slid down it. Almost instantly, Tony was by his side with his arm on Clint's shoulder. Behind him, Pepper and Vision were offering comfort to Wanda while Sam, Rhodey, Hill and Peter all stood in shock.

"She went into arrest." Wanda told the other's, her face pale with terror lingering in her eyes. "She just looked so…"

She trailed off, a sob breaking the stream of words.

The team sat down, gathered outside the hospital room of their friend and remained in an unbreaking silence. It seemed to take hours before anything changed as eventually, Helen Cho stepped out of the doors separating them from Natasha.

On her face she wore a troubled expression that only broke slightly as they all rose to meet her.

"I'm sorry." She began, trying to ignore the sharp intakes of breath around her. "There was a complication regarding Natasha's head injury that led to her going into cardiac arrest."

"Is she okay?" Steve asked.

"She's stable but we can't be sure that this won't happen again."

"What can we do?" This time it was Sam who spoke.

Helen sighed. "We can keep her comfortable and try to see her through it. At this point that's really all we can do; Natasha's body needs to heal and while her recovery rate is impressive there's a lot for her to recover from."

Clint squared his shoulders. He had a deep respect for Helen, but he could feel dread creeping up his spine at the note the conversation with drifting towards. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that it would be a good idea to prepare yourselves for the worst."