Chapter 4
The first thing she noticed when she woke was the smell. The scent was a cross between disinfectant and an artificial citrus blend. She recognized it immediately. Oh God, I'm in a hospital. What the hell happened?! Her breath immediately quickened, she knew that something must be very wrong.
It took her a few more minutes of lying with her eyes shut for the memories to begin flooding back. I was walking home. And… and that man, he was going to… Oh God. She felt her heart's pace double as she imagined the horrible things they had planned for her. But I got away! How did I get away? I remember hurting one of them, but… Oh, Steve. He saved my life.
Silent tears had begun to flow down her cheeks, and she choked back a sob as fear threatened to consume her.
"Charlie! Charlie! It's okay you're okay! They're gone, I promise. You're safe now."
She opened her eyes, but immediately shut them back against the blinding fluorescent light. She heard a quick grind of chair scraping against the floor as Steve got up, and as the glare against her eyelids went away she knew he had shut off the lights.
"Steve?" she whispered. She was scared to open her eyes again, scared to find out it wasn't all just a bad dream. She wanted to be in her soft, queen bed at home, curled up in the light yellow quilt she had since she was a child. I'm so scared.
"I'm here, Charlie," he whispered gently to her. He took her hand and squeezed lightly, hoping to reassure her. His mother had once upon a time taught him about bedside manner, he now wished he had the skills and comfort that a lifetime of nursing and having a kind heart had given her.
She let his words slowly sink in. They're gone, they're gone, they're gone. She repeated the mantra in her head until she felt its truth. I'm safe. It's okay. Steve is here. She finally squeezed his hand back, wishing she could absorb all the safety she felt in his gesture.
She eventually opened her eyes, and turned to look at him. She used her free hand to wipe up the dampness on her cheeks.
"Can you… can you tell me what happened?" she said quietly. Her hazy memory still didn't tell her exactly how he gotten to her or how he had fought them off. "I just, when I hit my head, things got kind of foggy."
"Of course. I was heading home and I had been a couple blocks away from where you were, but I heard… I heard you scream," at this he squeezed her hand again, partially to comfort her, partially because he couldn't control the muscle-tightening his fury caused.
"I started running in your direction, and I heard them talking about you and… I called the police, but I couldn't wait, they were going to hurt you more, I had to do something. I fought them off," at this she interrupted.
"But how did you? I mean, I know you're a big guy, and you look really strong and muscled…" Stop rambling! "But anyway, there were three of them! And they had knives, Steve they could have killed you!"
He couldn't explain to her how a few hoodlums with switchblades could barely scratch him after being injected with the super-soldier serum. But he hated lying to her, so he quickly thought to tell her at least a partial truth.
"I wasn't always strong. I used to be a sick and scrawny kid, so I got ganged up on a lot. When I got older I learned how to fight, I didn't want to feel so helpless anymore," she inwardly flinched at his words. Helpless. I was helpless.
"And I don't know, I think with the adrenaline pumping, my instincts just kicked in. And I saw you on the ground, and I didn't… I didn't know how to help you." He took a long pause, and just looked at her, his eyes full of regret and longing. Steve had lost so many people in his life, and seeing her lying there, slipping out of consciousness, it made him angry just to visualize it. He realized that he really did care for her; he felt so protective towards her, the girl who had given him hope.
"But thankfully the ambulance and police showed up a few minutes later. And then I rode to the hospital with you, and now I've just been waiting for you to wake up." He checked his watch, "We've been here for about three hours. Speaking of which, I should go let the nurse know you're awake."
He stood up to head out to the nurse's station. He paused for a moment, seeming to sense that she may not want to be left alone. He squeezed her hand one last time, "I'll be back in just a second. You're safe here, Charlie."
She nodded, grateful for his concern. And although she trusted what he said, it didn't stop her other source of anxiety.
Charlie had always hated hospitals. Like Steve, she had spent most of her childhood plagued with sickness and fatigue. She had been born with rare congenital heart defect that had left her bed-ridden for years, only after multiple surgeries and experimental treatments did she finally start getting better. As a result, she had spent more time in hospitals than she ever cared to admit and had detested every second of it. And now that she was alone in the cold, unfeeling room for a moment, she felt a desperate urge inside her telling her that she needed to leave now.
Steve came back with the nurse, and found Charlie struggling to sit herself up and pull herself out of the hospital bed.
He rushed to her side, saying, "Whoa, whoa, Charlie you need to lay back down."
At the same time the nurse said, "Ma'am please, you really need to rest!"
"I'm really fine! Look at me, totally fine." She realized too late that this probably wasn't the best thing to say considering she was covered in bandages. "I just, I really hate hospitals, no offense. I just need to go home," she pleaded.
The nurse looked at her with sympathy, "Let me just go through your chart with you and your doctor should be in to see you in about twenty minutes, and if he clears you, then you can go."
"Thank you so, so much." Charlie really wanted to get out now, but she supposed she could survive another twenty minutes.
"Alright, so just let me know if all this information is correct. Your name is Charlotte Ann Cohen? Age 24? Birth date is January 6, 1987?"
"I go by Charlie, but yeah that's all correct."
"Excellent," she said before coming over and running a myriad of small tests, quickly writing whatever the results were into the chart.
"So as for my current injuries?"
"Ah yes, let's see, two bruised ribs, three stitches on your scalp, a split lip, but no concussion."
"So I'll live, awesome."
At this the nurse left, with a promise of returning with the doctor as soon as possible. She turned to Steve, who had been sitting quietly in the corner.
"I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner," he said, remorse coloring his voice.
"Hey! You saved my life, you do not get to feel bad! Really Steve, I don't know what I would have done…"
Before she could finish her thought, a tiny red-haired woman burst into the room. Shit.
"Charlie Cohen, what the hell happened!? I get off the night shift and I have half a dozen messages saying you're in the hospital! But they wouldn't tell me what happened! They just said you were hurt and that I should bring you a change of clothes. Are you okay!?"
And at the last question she burst into tears, and ran into Charlie's waiting open arms.
"I'm so sorry Hazel, I was just walking back from the movie. And these guys tried to mug me." She shot Steve a quick look that clearly said, keep quiet, she didn't want Hazel to be more concerned about her than she needed to. "I was dumb, I didn't want to give up my purse, so I punched one of them, and he knocked me over. I just have a couple stitches and bruised ribs, I'm going to be fine."
Charlie could see behind her roommate's angry bravado that Hazel was just so terrified of losing her.
"God Charlie, I just, please don't ever scare me like that again."
After a long hug, Hazel finally noticed another person in the room. "Um, whose the dreamboat in the corner?" she whispered to Charlie.
"Hazel this is Steve…" Wait, what was his last name?
"Rogers, Steve Rogers," he finished for her, and stood up to shake Hazel's hand.
"And Steve, this is Hazel Peters, my best friend and roommate. Hazel, Steve is the one who…"
"I just chased the guys away." She had very nearly said "saved my life," but fortunately he had noticed her pause and covered for her.
"Well then, I guess thank you very much!" Hazel said and gave him a hug that looked fairly comedic given the fact that Steve had at least a foot of height over her small 5'2" build. This would have made Charlie laugh had she not felt a little pang of jealousy instead. However, the bitter thought was pushed out of her mind when the nurse came back, towing along a tall, silver-haired doctor. Steve and Hazel went to the waiting room to give her some privacy.
"How's my little fighter doing?"
"Dr. Ottinger?" Charlie looked at the handsome man with a dumbfounded expression, "What are you doing here?"
"Well I had check up on my best patient! It's in your chart that I get paged, no matter the circumstances. I had to run some tests to make sure that everything was running properly, and that nothing had been damaged or ruptured with your heart. But it looks like everything is still working smoothly."
"Oh, of course. I should have realized, I didn't even…" After having been healthy for so many years, she often forgot that her body had not always been up to par. Dr. Ottinger had been her cardiologist since she was a child, and it was his surgeries that had saved her life. Him and her father had worked together for years, and she had come to think of the man as family.
"It's okay, Charlie, you're all good to go. I'm sure you're itching to get out of here, just remember to take it easy for the next few days, and get plenty of rest. And be sure to call me if you feel any chest pains, dizziness, or any other concerns."
He helped her to her feet, and then gave her a quick hug. When they released, he stared at her, his dark grey eyes full of concern. "Charlie, please be safe."
She felt herself on the verge of tears, looking at the man who reminded her so much of her father.
"Thank you. For everything."
After he was gone, Charlie went to the bathroom and quickly dressed in the clothes Hazel had brought her. The navy sweatpants, and oversized Yankees sweatshirt weren't particularly cute but they did fill her with a sense of warmth and home, which she so desperately needed. When she came back out, Hazel and Steve had returned to the room. Charlie quickly gave her roommate a significant look.
"Ah, I'll give you guys a minute to, um, talk," and she sped out of the room and shut the door.
"Hey Steve, I just, I really want to say thank you again. Oh, and I almost forgot, did the cops leave a card or anything? I'm sure I need to go give a statement or something."
"Ah, no. It's all taken care of. They said the physical evidence was going to be enough to convict," he said hurriedly. "And Charlie I'm really glad that you're okay, I don't know what I'd do if you weren't."
Having been through a complete emotional and physical rollercoaster that night, Charlie decided to take the leap that she normally never would. Just do it!
She reached out and hugged him, and when his arms closed around her she felt such comfort that she almost started crying again. It was crazy that despite everything that had happened that night, his embrace managed to make her feel safe. Pull yourself together, Cohen.
When they pulled apart, Charlie gathered the courage to ask, "Would you want to go get coffee or something, sometime? I'll buy, I mean it's the least I could do after the whole saving my life thing."
"I would love to!" he said with a wide smile brightening his face, although he mentally noted that of course he would pay. He gave her the number to the cell phone SHEILD had insisted he carry with him at all times, and he wrote down hers, hoping he could figure out how to input it himself later.
That's all for now!
Side note: I rewrote this chapter a couple of times trying to get the sentiment right, and I'm still not completely happy with it, but I hope the tone I was going for comes across.
Finally, I want to give a little shout out to user LadyLionhart, your kind words really meant a lot to me! Your reviews truly made my day :)
And again thanks to everyone for reading!