Six days had passed since they found us. Fury said they became concerned after being unable to get a response from me. Three days we were in there for. Three days of torture. I have seen a lot in my life and I thought I had witnessed and experienced the worst that humanity had to offer because up until that point I had never had to sit and endure the wails and blood curdling screams of the man that I so whole heartedly loved. Desperation becomes wild and unruly when it is tied to something as profound as the person you love, my cold calculating nature began to crack faster than I thought it capable. It's funny how decades of training and experience vanishes where Steve is concerned although I suppose when you're trained by people incapable of love they have no idea how to combat it. So now here I sit, in a hospital, on a cold hard chair waiting for him. I used to be fascinated by how soft he looked when asleep but this is different, his pale face littered with slowly healing wounds is pinched in pain even though he is comatose and I can't stand to think of what they did to him. The doctors aren't sure if he'll make it with everything those animals injected him with. Their pursuit to see what would finally break America's boy was relentless and my throat still aches from the calls to him that were torn from my gut as I listened to his animalistic screams. Fury had arrived though. He had put an end to the whole operation and cleansed the whole site but even their deaths can't wipe the feral darkness within me that has reared its ugly head because of what they did to Steve. Without his calming presence I can feel it bubble within my chest, the need to make them feel my pain. But I push that aside as I have for the past six days sitting here waiting for him. And I will wait. I will wait for as long as I possibly can for Steve to come back to me because I know he would do exactly the same thing. Anytime I let myself think of the future I had begun to hope for with him I can feel it fade with each passing day and that hurts more than I possibly begin to even fathom that my new found hope something I haven't allowed to let myself feel for what feels like eons could have been taken away from me before it even got a chance. And Fury had let me remain knowing the gravity of the situation. I began to think of the things that I had taken for granted, the things that I missed without even knowing how important they'd become. Things like his smile and his laugh, the way his eyes would sparkle and crinkle at the edges. I missed his warmth and the feeling of being held by him. I missed his love and his kindness. I missed the far off accidental thought I had had once that a small part of me held on to for dear life. The thought of a small boy with his crop of blonde hair and his hard brow and soft blue eyes containing a hint of my mischief, his nose having my slight upturn, his smile holding my smirk. I missed Steve and his promises and I didn't even realize how much until faced with the idea that this cold broken man on the bed, this shell of him, would be the imprint that is left of him. I had a million things going through my mind but none of them stayed long enough for me to say I had something on my mind. I leaned forward resting my forehead on the scratchy blanket my hands clasped above me almost as though I were praying as my eyes clenched shut. I suppose you could say it was a prayer as I willed the thoughts in my head to slow and for something to happen so I wouldn't have to succumb to the reality that the dim flash of the future that I had seen hadn't been nothing more than an infantile moment of weakness. I felt my eyes sting as moisture escaped from my closed eyes to dampen the hospital blanket. Unfortunately my thoughts only became louder as my clasped hands shook and I felt like screaming because I just wanted him, it was like white water rushing over my head drowning me as I tried to hold it all together, as I became overwhelmed and the head splitting feeling of thoughts that throbbed like a high pitch whine and I could feel a sob building in my chest and constricting the base of my throat as I looked up and saw the cold hard reality. And then it was trapped. Everything stopped. The heartbeat that had been thundering in my chest and my temples draw to a standstill and my thoughts were quiet. There was nothing. The once steady beat of the monitor stopped. There was absolutely nothing. I had been an idiot to think those things. I had never felt so foolish or so betrayed. I had ignored my instincts and I had faltered by having those ideas about Steve because they were all for nothing. Because in that moment with everything at a standstill there were those eyes of the boy. The far off fantasy of a glimpse as pure happiness that I had hated myself for having. My flash of hope. He was leaving me and cruel fate had played on last joke on me. This was the punishment I had for living such a wicked life. I had loved that man. I had allowed myself to want something pure and to even think that I had a chance at a family at love and at a future with him. And this was what I was left with as I had everything ripped from me one last time after I had thought I had nothing left to give. And then that cool piercing blue softened. The eyes crinkled. There was a whisper of a hand against mine. I had been foolish and I had betrayed myself because how could I not have faith that this man would pull through and that we would be okay. I had lost faith in the one thing that I knew I could trust. Him. And then I heard a sound. A sound that I will cherish forever. The monitor beeped and with a quirk of his lips he faintly rasped,
"I love you too Nat."
I placed my hand in his and lifted it into my lap as I moved to sit on the edge of the bed. I raised my hand and it ghosted his face as warm tears continued to fall down my cheeks. I inhaled a shaky breath,
"Steve." I whispered, a tear falling from his eyes as he pressed his cheek against my hand.
Thank you so much everyone I'm so sorry for not fleshing out this story as much as I had originally hoped I had wanted to write something more substantial when I started this when I was 15 but I no longer really felt connected to the story. I did however want to offer at least a little closure in the form of this sort of chapter/epilogue. I'm sorry to report that Steve and Natasha didn't have a mini Steve but instead had a little girl called Sasha (it means protector of humanity I thought it was rather fitting) with bright red curls and a penchant for babbling in Russian who turns out to take after her father in the height department, her mother in the martial arts department and her Uncle Bruce in the science department and totally has her godfather Nick Fury wrapped around her little finger he is more like a grandfather though and says he hates it when she calls him Papa Fury but he totally loves it and would literally fight Thanos with a toothpick for her. I really appreciate you guys supporting 15 year old me and know this isn't much but hope you enjoy this ending more than the cliffhanger thanks once again and all the best.
