"What was that?" Nina's gaze swung over to see a man she didn't recognize.
"Nina's a healer," Steve explained to Bruce, who then gave her a skeptical look. He hurried over and looked at Bucky's shoulder. Sure enough, the wounds were gone.
"How did you do that?" He asked her, but she wasn't paying attention anymore.
"Dad?" She had finally seen him. She took a few steps in his direction and he hurried to embrace her.
"I'm so glad you're okay," He held her tightly and smoothed her wild hair. It was all he could do not to cry. She hugged him back, feeling for once like she was home and nothing had changed.
"Lets give them the room," Steve rounded everyone up and led them out of the room, shutting the door behind them.
"Are you hurt? Are you okay?" Frank held Nina at arms length, looking her over.
"I'm okay," She assured him, though she didn't believe it was true. She had never felt so weak. So broken. She felt like she could sleep for days.
"What happened out there?" He guided Nina to a chair, seeing as she was swaying on her feet. Nina shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself.
"Everything was...destroyed. There were bodies everywhere. I almost got shot," Her eyes were starting to fade again. Images of the little girl's face rushed through her mind. "Bucky saved me," She frowned, realizing that if it hadn't been for her he probably wouldn't have been shot.
"Thank god for that," Frank took a deep breath. He couldn't fathom what Nina had been through. He'd seen the news footage. It was a catastrophe.
"Where are your clothes?" He gave her a small smile, bringing her back from whatever far away place she had gone to.
"Oh," Nina looked down at her legs. "I don't know. I...I don't remember much after Thor found me," Now that she though about it she didn't remember anything. Between Thor finding her in the ally and waking up on his lap everything was gone.
"It looks like I have a lot of people to thank," While Frank was just glad she was alive, Nina was realizing how defenseless she had been. Instead of thinking about how unlikely it was that she even survived the night, she was thinking about how useless she had been. How many lives had she even saved? Looking back it felt like one failure after another.
"I should leave you alone. You need to sleep," Nina didn't protest that.
On the way out of the room, Frank kept an arm around her. After thinking she could have been gone, he couldn't bear the thought of letting her go. He reminded her to eat and drink plenty of fluids and to call the next day when she was feeling better. Before they ran into the others, he told her happy birthday. She had completely forgotten.
It seemed to take forever for Nina to get back to her room. Every step was too slow. Her body felt so heavy. Every time she blinked she considered letting them stay closed and sleeping where she fell. Thor made sure she got back okay and was safe in bed before he went back to speak to Steve and Bucky.
"She loves you,"
Thor, Steve, and Bucky were standing in the kitchen. None of them had spoken in some time. They were all deep in thought about one thing or another. None of those things being pleasant. That was until Thor finally spoke up.
"No, she doesn't," Bucky said once he realized he had been talking to him.
"She does. You can see it in her eyes, hear it in her voice. She loves you," He didn't want to admit it. In a short span of time Thor had latched onto the girl and the thought of not being able to win her heart himself was more painful than he had expected. But he didn't trust Bucky and he wanted to make a few things very clear.
Bucky shook his head.