Corrected a few things here and there and added the last part. Enjoy and dont be shy, leave comments!
"Briefing is in 30 minutes, you better hurry" Stark's drowsy tone after his fourth round was getting on everyone's nerves.
Feeding him with whiskey was the only way Hobbie had to keep Stark nested between his office and Bruce's. Tony was the only one seeming to be in good shape after the op.
Mark had had a bad fall, Clint had got ricochet in his arm while covering Natasha and she came back with a spring ankle and a few bruises.
As of Steve... As usual he had stayed at the front, air covered by Stark and with Clint and Romanoff in the rearguard. Judging by the state of his suit and the extensive cuts and grazes in his back, it was clear they didn't do a good job at some point. If Bruce was to miss other ops, they'd need more agents on the team.
"Rogers, come on in" Between the flu, the op and the flight home the captain's energy seemed to have drifted away.
Penny closed the door, asked Brandon to start the Patient confidentiality protocol and then starting cutting Steve out of his upper suit. His grazes and cuts looked bad and some were deep. A small cut on his cheek only made him seem more battered. "I can't believe you didn't take cover. You're sick Rogers, you could've died."
They had failed to catch Mandarin or rescue Mara, and though they were able to gather samples and get a CDC team in, the operation hadn't been a success. He was too tired and was too hurt, but he would've wanted to get patched up and follow new leads. The threat was still out there.
Penny's soft hands holding her stethoscope over his heart brought him back to reality. He just wanted to lean on her, breath her in and rest. He just needed some peace and quiet right now and she always gave him peace of mind.
But she wouldn't now. His mind wasn't as clouded as before and he remembered everything he said and implied before leaving. Penny sighed hanging her stethoscope back around her neck. They looked right into each other's eyes for a moment... She checked his ears, eyes, nose, and throat, listened to his lungs. She lingered one second too long examining his back.
She reached for the cabinet and took out several supplies. "Your head is still clouded?"
"No, I took the pill you gave me on the plane and then again on the way back" she was still working on his back and saw each other through the glass wall reflection. She frowned and sighed every time she spotted a new bruise or graze. "I honestly don't know where to start. Anything hurts more than the rest?" He brushed his ribs "Side of the chest. And my throat is still killing me."
"Well, you need to take antibiotics for another week. It's a common flu but we need to make sure it doesn't evolve into something else." Their eyes met again in the reflection but she looked down, clenching her teeth.
Her voice was cold and matter-of-factly. Her eyes however were telling a different story. She was taking off the ricochet carefully and cleaning up the wounds on his side. She seemed much too focused with the task at hand but he knew she was trying to hold her tongue.
"Something bothering you Doc?" She shook her head and patched the last of his near-misses in his shoulder rather forcefully. "Nothing Captain. We need x-rays. And then we need to remove them from the database" he turned to face her and talked slowly, in a conciliating tone.
"I don't mean that"
But she was still clenching her teeth "Well, if they stay in the system someone may find them and realize you have a respiratory infection. And then my ass will be on the line for not reporting it."
"Then why don't you?" He didn't mean his tone to sound accusing, but it did. "I've had enough problems in the last 3 days Rogers, I don't need one more."
"Right"
"Screw you Rogers, get the x-rays and bring them back. Here" she threw standard t-shirt and pants to his face and went back to her desk, leaving him on the stretcher side behind the three screens. He changed clothes carefully and walked slowly towards the door. He saw her pretending to be looking at her screen. He thought of reaching to her shoulder and apologize but decided to walk away instead.
Tony kept staring at Steve going away while zipping whiskey "They're so… cute together. All that tension building up. Let me tell you, when they finally hit it off, boy, we'll have to move to another building"
Bruce gave him a Hulk-worthy look "Stay away from it Tony" Stark sighed "How am I supposed to have fun around here then?"
Bruce moved something to the right screen "You can help me with this"
Once Bruce and Tony had left for the meeting, Hoban came into Penny's office. He locked the door behind him looking serious "Did you replace Romanoff's tests from before the op?"
She looked at him and nodded "Why?"
"Protocol" He took a deep breath. "I guess you'll want me to forget I've seen these results then" He handed over her new results: HGC was still high.
"I need to run an ultrasound, but she'll never agree. She probably needs surgery at this point"
"Or she's running a normal pregnancy"
"There's nothing normal about her line of work, I really don't think so Hobbie. Plus, she says she got her period this morning" Hoban took a deep breath and deleted the record.
"What do we do?" She looked at her friend "We can't force her to run tests"
"Then let's ground them all"
"The CDC cleared them on site; we have no grounds for that."
"Yeah, well, luckily for you, I'm running point on Extremis. I can ground them if I have a good excuse." They shared a smile. "It's time to go. You should go get the quarterback" she frowned "don't call him that" he snorted "okay, captain tightpants then" she sighed and started walking towards the x-ray area.
When she reached the room she saw how the technician was showing Steve something on her phone. By the looks of Steve when she walked in, Penny was pretty sure it was the video of their fight that had been circulating all over for the last day. Joy.
She cleared her throat "Luna, got the x-rays ready? We have a briefing in 10"
He started putting his t-shirt back on "We?" Penny gave Steve an annoyed stare. "Yes, Hoban and I are going as well"
She looked at the x-ray once the attendee handed it over. Steve had a small fracture on his rib but his lungs were clear. No infection, no signs of TB, nothing. She half smiled and put it away.
Steve saw her relief and hoped it wasn't just about her ass on the line, but about him. He wanted to clear the air between them a bit but didn't know where to start.
"Is everything okay Doc?"
"Yes Cap, I gotta bandage you and then you'll need to rest for a few days, but everything looks okay" she avoided eye contact and started walking away, after thanking Luna.
When they were half way through the deserted alley, he grabbed her by her arm and in a reflex she twisted his and pushed his face against the wall, pushing him with all her body weight. She seemed to entered agent-mode when sleep deprived. "Oh shit, sorry. Bran, kill the cams"
"Cameras everywhere right?"
"Yes, and the people behind them love spreading gossip"
"I've noticed. Penny, I-" he grabbed her by the arm and then tried to brush her face slowly but she moved away "Stop that. There are enough rumors running about you and me, I don't need one more. You've done enough"
"Penelope wait!" She turned around and was between angry and sad "I've slept 5 hours in a couch and I've been trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with you even though I have other priorities and you clearly don't deserve it"
His anger was starting to match hers "I've been trying to apologize since I got here, but *clearly* you just want to pick a fight with me. Fine, let's hear it"
"We have a meeting to get to, I've slept too little and I can't put up with one more joke from Stark today." Steve wasn't moving; he felt that if he didn't clear up the air right now, things wouldn't be as they used to be again.
"Hey, you're the one always calling Bruce and me your friends and you just avoided telling us this HUGE thing about you, I just… I snapped. I was very unthoughtful of me"
"Oh, sure, okay, no problem. I just, you know, it only took me like 5 years to put my life back together and get a job where people wouldn't look at me with pity or contempt. But hey, I can always count on my friend Steve to blurt out about the most painful time of my life and get rrrrright back there"
"You're exaggerating"
"Sure, I'm exaggerating. We're late for the meeting Rogers" He started walking slowly trying to figure out what to say next. They were both upset and tired and all the stress from work wasn't helping their… friendship?
"You know everything there is to know about me. I found out more about you reading your medical record than in the last year Nella" The nickname made her stood on dry.
"That's not true. Wait. Why are you calling me that? How, ho-?"
He stopped and checked around, no one was around or looking at them. "Brandon, make sure the cameras are off" He repressed the delight that caused him seeing her blush when he looking intently at her. She was still frowning but the anger seemed to be gone from her eyes, she was faking it right now. "All cameras are playing old tapes Sir"
"I like your henchman, he's very polite" Steve kept getting closer to her and she suddenly realized she was against the wall, with Rogers way too close for her to still be mad at him. "What do you want Steve?"
"Just shut up for two seconds okay?" he was a bit flushed too. She instinctively checked his neck and forehead "You have a fever again, c'mon" but he didn't let her move. He placed his hands on the wall, one on each side of her.
"I was angry. Very angry. For the last year I became friends with Bruce, which is something I would've never seen coming. And with you. I mean, you calm me down, you don't see me as the freak I am. You just get me. And now I get why. You lost something too and you know there's no way back." She realized how sad he was, how much he longed for his old life "It was a huge shock Penny. Reading what happened to you made me realize a lot of things about you but at the same time, you didn't tell me, you didn't trust me. And I trust you with my life, everyday. And that got me so-"
"-mad. I get it. I just… it's painful to talk about it. I lost everything and I just don't want to remember all that pain. You know, some days I even forget it happened and then I see Clint or Natasha and…" her eyes were filled with tears but she took a deep breath and tried to calm down. He talked,
"-reality hits and things are so-" he took a deep breath, looking intently at her lips now, his tone lower "messed up and nothing is what it used to be" she was afraid of looking up to his eyes. She was afraid of seeing him lost in thought, remembering Peggy Carter. She was terrified of admitting to herself that Bruce was right.
"Well, everything happens for a reason I guess. If you hadn't frozen up you'd made it to your date with your lady officer"
"Yes, I'd be an old guy now. But I wouldn't have met you. "she looked up to his eyes slightly confused "I mean, all of you. I don't know." So close.
"You should call her Steve, you're dying to" now he was frowning. "No, that's not what I'm tryi-"
"She's still alive and I'm pretty sure she recognized your outfit, so, call her, see what happened, fill in the blanks. And then go on with your new life, you're still young."
"So are you."
"Yeah well, I feel 100 years old sometimes"
"Well, technically, I am 100 years old" she chuckled and he found himself brushing her cheek with his thumb. She seemed to have forgotten she was mad at him.
"I guess we've had our first fight" his fever was definitely running high because he couldn't help being drawn closer and closer to her lips.
She had to stop him, she couldn't do this. Not now "Well, real friends fight all the time" she smiled but her eyes were saddened. Her words and expression confused him, but he didn't have time to clear things.
Fury's voice on his ear piece startled him "Captain Rogers, we're waiting for you in the Conference room. Bring Dr. Morse if you find her please."
She looked away and cleared her throat "He'll ping me in a second. You go first; I need to pick things from my desk." She was quickly walking away when she remembered something. "Oh wait."
She moved up her sleeve and grabbed Steve's arm. She placed her black bracelet with round metal studs over his arm and pressed one of them. He felt a little pinch.
"You should feel better in no time" and started walking away. "Wait, what-?"
"You guys are not the only ones with toys you know" she walked into her office and he took the elevator.
The fever was subduing but his longing for her was only starting.
