Steve had stayed at the hospital with the Jane Doe.
It had been about week since the fire, and the brunette was currently unclaimed by a family member. Since she had been in a comatose state the past week, they weren't able to get her information from her. All Steve could do was wait, and hope that she was claimed soon.
Steve felt so guilty for not getting her out of there with the boy Zach he had saved, even though she had insisted to him that he needed to save the child. She had burns all over her body, which the doctors said some were permanent while others weren't. Steve had burns himself, but nothing too bad that he couldn't handle. He'd live.
Now that they were no longer surrounded by smoke and fire, Steve was able to get a better look at the brunette now. She was a really beautiful girl. The kind of natural beauty, the kind that wouldn't look his way. She had such lovely features. She had an oval face, light olive complexion, almond-shaped brown eyes, and smooth, long dark brown hair. She was 5'8" and had a slim, slightly athletic physique. The doctors said she was probably twenty-two or twenty-three. He hated himself for not being able to get to her in time. He at the very least could've prevented her from at least getting hit in the head.
In the past week, some agents from SHIELD had tried to persuade him to go out more than just to the hospital and working out at the gym. He hadn't taken any of the missions offered to him yet, because a part of him felt like he wouldn't be able to do it. Instead of going out on missions now, his days were quiet and not as lonely. He knew that the brunette was in no position to speak to him, but something about being near her was comforting (despite the consuming guilt he felt). In the mornings he would stop by the flower shop outside the hospital and buy a different bouquet of flowers every single morning. He would come and sit with her, putting the new bouquet by the others that sat there. Most times he would just stay there with her until visiting hours were up or would leave earlier. Either way, he would always end up going to the gym and worked out until late before retiring home.
Steve couldn't help the way this was making him. Not being able to save just one person brought back so many feelings and pain from the past that were at times crippling. He should've been able to save the brunette, just like he should've been able to save Bucky and even himself... No, he couldn't think about that. It was too crushing to think about it all.
Something that boggled Steve's mind was that no family had claimed her yet. She wasn't in the databases at all and her face hadn't struck up facial recognition with anything in the system (of course, this wasn't SHIELD's resources). Steve had even asked the tenants of the building that had burnt down. They said they had never even seen her before, that she had just been playing Good Samaritan by trying to save that child. He eventually asked SHIELD to look into it, and they had promised to try, but he knew they wouldn't waste their time with it so all he could do was wait and see.
During his visits with the brunette, Steve had come to notice that at points her heart rate would pick up and drop, but it was only at certain times. It seemed to always be when he walked into the room or when he was about to leave for the night. He took it as a small sign that she was still in there somewhere, and he prayed desperately that she'd wake up. For her not to wake up was not something he had allowed himself to think about yet, she just had to wake up.
He jumped and almost took out the nurse that had tapped on his shoulder. "Excuse me, sir? Visiting hours are over," The older nurse said to him, her voice kind and gentle.
"Yeah, of course. I'm sorry, I lost track of time," He said as he stood and grabbed his jacket. He turned back to the brunette as her rate started to beat quickly. Steve swallowed hard and stared at her. Why couldn't she just wake up?
"It's so sad to see a young person in such a bad state," The nurse stated in a sad tone. "And no family willing to claim her… I feel like I have seen her before, her face looks so familiar. I'm not sure, though. With getting to my age, it's tough to remember some things." The older nurse chuckled and Steve gave her a weak smile before looking back at the brunette.
Steve could feel the guilt eating at him. "Yeah…" He muttered, his face going over the girl's round face. It felt wrong to see a tube going between those plump lips of hers. This whole thing was wrong. Steve looked back to the nurse, seeing her nametag said May Parker. "Has there been any updates on her condition yet?"
"None, I'm sorry, son," May said, returning his sad smile. Steve knew in reality he was actually older than this woman since he was actually ninety-five years old, but he decided to refrain from actually pointing that out. "I do think it is a nice thing you are doing. Visiting her every day, bringing her flowers. They say you're the one who carried her out of the building."
Steve nodded, looking back to the brunette. "Yeah, I was."
"If she wakes up, she will have so much to thank you for."
If. Steve felt something tug at his heartstrings. "She won't have to thank me for a thing. That's not why I'm doing any of this." He admitted in a small voice.
The nurse studied him for a long moment, her eyes going over his face carefully. She tilted her head ever so slightly. "Did you know her?"
"No," He turned away from the brunette with a parting glance. "No, I don't." And with that he left the room, wanting already to be in the gym and away from the guilt, though he had a suspicion it would plague him no matter how far away he got.