Chapter 10-

"How come I can't come with on the road trip?" Liam asked sitting on Emerson's lap. "I love road trips!"

Kissing the side of his head. Nuzzling her nose into his hair. "I know you do buddy. But mommy and Uncle Sean are going to meet up with some friends. And you will have so much fun with grandma and grandpa."

Nodding his head. "Okay mommy. Do you think you'll see Steve? You said he was on a mission for the President! Maybe Steve will be there."

"Maybe." Emerson shrugged while thinking. 'He better be there or else I might die.'

Jumping off his mom's lab, Liam ran to his book bag. "If you see Steve can you give him a picture I drew for him at school."

"Of course baby." Holding out her hand. "Can I see it?"

Pulling out the picture Emerson saw two stick figures holding hands while also holding on to something else. One holding a red, white and blue shield, the other holding a cupcake. "Its you and Steve, he has the shield cause he's." Looking around the room to make sure no one heard. Even though everyone around them knew who Steve was. "Captain America, And you are holding a cupcake cause that's your favorite thing to bake!"

Discreetly wiping a tear away. "Wow Liam this is an amazing picture. Steve is going to love it." Pulling Liam into a hug. "You are going to be quite the artist some day."

"Mommy do you think Steve will teach me how to draw more when he comes back from his mission?" Liam asked as he wrapped his little arms around Emerson's neck.

Nodding her head, she smiled a sad smile. "I think that will make his day. But Uncle Sean and I have to get going."

"Okay mommy. I love you."

"I love you too."

The traffic was so horrible, on their way to D.C, that they pulled off the highway to spend a couple hours in Philadelphia. Much to Emerson's dismay. The four hour drive was slowly turning into a 8 hour drive. Emerson and Sean found themselves at a hole in the wall restaurant eating the best Philly Cheesesteaks, either have ever had.

"Do you think he'll even want to see me?" Emerson asked after she took a bite of her sandwich.

Shrugging, Sean looked up at his sad best friend. He had never seen her this heart broken before. "I don't know Emerson. We will just have to see when we get there. But if I was in his shoes and the women I loved came to the town I was living in to surprise me, I would be happy that she did."

"Well lets hope you and Steve think the same way." Emerson said looking up at the tv.

Noticing that the news channel was talking about something happening in D.C. She turned towards the employee behind the counter. "Hey can you turn that up?"

Nodding his head, he turned the volume up, also wanting to know what was going on. "Behind me is a battle of some sorts at SHIELD. Earlier in the week there was an incident with some of the agents trying to get Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America into their custody. We just recently found out that these agents were not working for SHIELD, but with HYDRA. The science division Captain America fought in World War II." As the reporter took a brief pause, Emerson's face turned white as a sheet. Was Steve okay? HYDRA is still around? And it was hiding within SHIELD? "We just got word that Captain America got the big flat like planes, that are called hellicarries to fall not destroying the city and the rest of the country, Probably even the world. Thank you Captain America once again for saving the world."

Covering her mouth with her hand, she tried not to cry. "What if he didn't make it?"

"Lets go and find out." Sean said standing up, holding his hand out for her to take.

Taking his hand, the two ran to Jackson's car, who let them borrow it after Emerson told them where they were going. He wanted his little girl to be happy again.

Sean got in on the drivers seat, not trusting Emerson to keep her cool to make it to D.C. Luckily the traffic had subsided and the drive was easy for the 2 hours he had to drive. Emerson didn't say a word until her phone rang. The number was unknown but Emerson answered it anyway but not without putting it on speaker phone. "Hello?"

"Emerson. It's Natasha."

Sitting up straighter in her seat. "Hey, uh how's Steve? I saw the news. I'm sorry about SHIELD, I know that place was important to you."

Sighing softly. "It was. Thank you. But Steve is in the hospital, I thought you would want to know."

"How bad is it?" Emerson asked. "I mean the serum should be keeping him alive right? He survived 70 years in the ice."

"He's stable. They just want to keep him here for observation and they gave him a high dose of morphine to keep him asleep." Sighing softly again. The assassin was hating herself for what she was doing. "I know he would want you there when he wakes up. You may not be my favorite person but he hasn't stopped thinking about you. So if you care about him at all then you should come and see him."

"What hospital is he at?" Emerson said grabbing Sean's phone to type it in.

"Saint Elizabeth's."

"Thanks Natasha. We'll see ya in 30 minutes."

"Wait 30 minutes? Aren't you in New York?"

"I might have convinced one of my friends to go on a road trip with me to see Steve." Emerson said bitting her lip.

"Ah. Well good. See you in 30 minutes." Natasha said before hanging up.

"Well she sounds like a ray of sunshine. Who was that?" Sean asked as he followed the GPS. The annoying computerized voice was telling him where to go. "I hate these things."

"Oh deal with it." Emerson said smiling lightly. "She's uh you know the Black Widow. And can you please drive faster? My grandma could drive faster then you."

"The Black Widow? What the hell Em, I leave you alone in New York for a year and all of a sudden you start hanging out with the Avengers?" Pushing a little bit faster on the gas pedal.

"Well of course wouldn't you?" Emerson said as she rolled her eyes. Its not like she stalked the Stark, now Avengers, Tower waiting for a superhero to walk out the front door. She just ran into them in the park and not knowing what they did for a living.

"Shut up."

The 30 minutes to the hospital was the longest 30 minutes of her life. It felt longer then the 10 hour labor she was in with Liam. Sean and Emerson ran into the hospital straight to the nurses station.

"Hi, uh can you tell me what room Steve Rogers is in?" Emerson asked as one of the nurses looked up at her.

Raising her eyebrow. "Are you family?"

As Emerson was about to say something, Natasha walked up behind her. "Its okay, she is his finance."

"Oh okay. He is in room 308. I don't think he's awake yet though." The nurse said before they walked away.

Entering the elevator, Emerson turned towards Natasha. "Thanks for calling me."

"Thanks for already being almost to D.C." Natasha said smirking at the blonde. "I just have to know. Why did you break up with him?"

"I was scared of things moving to fast. It terrifies me about how close Liam is to Steve. I don't know if Steve told you, but Liam's father left him for his fancy job in Germany. That was right when we met Steve and I haven't gotten one phone call from him. So in my messed up mind, when Steve said he was moving to D.C, I just didn't want to relive it." Emerson said as she leaned against the wall to rest her head.

Nodding her head, accepting the answer she received. Natasha turned towards Sean, "Who are you?"
"I'm Sean Hunt." Sean said giving his best smile towards the red head. "Em and I have been friends forever"

"Nice to meet you. Well then you can keep me company while Emerson goes to sit in Steve's room." Natasha said smirking at the clean cut brunette.

"I can do that." Sean said as they stepped out of the elevator.

"Good. We can go to the cafeteria I haven't eaten yet. You hungry?" Natasha asked as she showed Emerson Steve's room.

"I'm always hungry." Was the last thing Emerson heard as she walked into Steve room.

Her eyes went straight to Steve's body laying on the hospital bed. He didn't have wires placed all over him, like the patients she's seen while watching Grey's Anatomy. A show she had plenty of time to start with all the free time she had now. Pulling the chair up to the side of the bed, she kissed his forehead, the kiss lingering as she took in his smell before sitting down. Steve always had a certain smell about him that Emerson grew to miss during their time apart. And even when laying in a hospital bed, he still had the smell to him.

"Oh Steve, I don't even know if you can hear me. But I am so so sorry. I would not blame you if can never forgive me. I was so horrible to you. I was a bitch to you. I should have tried to figure something out like you were doing. But I was afraid. I know thats not a good excuse, considering what you do for a living." Emerson took his hand in hers, giving it a good squeeze. Taking a deep breathe she continued talking. Even though she was probably a mess. "Liam misses you terribly. He keeps asking when you will be coming back from your mission. Thats what I told him, that you went on a mission, not that we broke up. I couldn't do that to him. He loves you so much. So if you ever forgive me, you going to have to get him a lot of ice cream and play tons of basketball with him. He shot his first free throw a couple days ago. He was so excited. Especially since it was on the big guys court, not the little boys court." Resting her head down on top of his hand she felt a tear fall. Yep, she was a mess. "I love you Steve, please come back to me. I can't live my life without you. But I want you to be perfectly healthy when you wake up. So I am going to stay here until you wake up. And I'll stop talking so you can rest. If that changes anything. I love you so much."

"Emerson?"