Tina slowly blinked her eyes open. Where am I? What happened? Her mind was moving drowsily, sluggishly. She stared up at the white ceiling tiles and waited for her brain to start going a bit faster. White ceiling, white floors…what is that beeping? Am I in a hospital? She closed her eyes again for a moment, remembering. Oh yeah. Hm. Well, I'm not dead. Isn't that nice? I thought for sure I was dead…Tina looked up at the ceiling again, attempting to lift her right hand. It was yanked back into place by an IV drip in her wrist. Oops. She wiggled the fingers of her left hand. Oh, silky. What is that? Is that…hair? Tina ran her fingers through it again, then heard a gasp as Steve sat up, startled from his sleep by her touch.

"Good morning sleepyhead," she croaked in greeting.

"Tina," his shock at being woken instantly gave way to joy, "Tina, I'm so glad you're awake."

Steve cradled her tiny hand in his, pressing her palm to his heart. He smiled, but fatigue was obvious in the huge purple-black circles under his eyes, which were bloodshot and red. He was still in his uniform, still bloody, and clearly hadn't been asleep for long. Even his always-perfect hair was standing up in the back. Steve brushed his fingers across her cheek. Tina smiled absently in an attempt to comfort the soldier.

"I'm so sorry Tina," he mumbled, searching her eyes for forgiveness.

"Steve, don't. It wasn't your fault. In fact, I'd like to say thanks for rescuing me."

"They would never have come after you if not for me."

"Can we not?" Tina sighed, closing her eyes, "I'm still kinda tired."

Steve cast his eyes to the floor, feeling instantly guilty.

"Come snuggle with me, soldier boy," Tina instructed him, winking.

Steve rolled his eyes.

"Were your eyes hurt, too? I am not going to fit on that tiny little bed. Even without you it'd be a squeeze."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, big boy. I'll scoot over-oh!"

Steve's hands immediately flew out to steady her shoulders.

"Don't move. You have four broken ribs, and your right ankle is shattered."

"Hm. Duly noted," Tina said dryly, still grimacing with pain.

"You're lucky," Steve said, "The helicopter was lowering the whole time we were fighting…If it hadn't been you'd be in even worse shape. And you had the good sense to try to go into the water feet-first, so that helped you, too. You landed slightly on an angle, but that's better than landing on your head."

Tina blushed and Steve understood correctly, laughing a little.

"Correction: you had the astoundingly good fortune to not land on your head."

"Ahem. I still want to be snuggled. If you won't do it, I'll ask Natasha. I'm certain she'd fit up here," Tina said teasingly.

Steve's mouth curved up into a little half smile and he pulled the railing of the bed down, sliding the cot next to hers over to make a double.

"You brat, you," he chastised her.

His comment was completely offset by the tone of affection, and the smile he gave her. Steve climbed up next to Tina, ever so gently laying his arm around her shoulders. She sighed and closed her eyes again.

"Thank you for staying with me," she mumbled.

"Of course. Always."

"You know, I got a little nervous there, after I fell."

Steve's body tensed and Tina heard his heart speed up, although the danger was long over.

"I knew you'd save me, but I was starting to get a little worried. I'm pretty happy to be alive. I would have hated to die after already paying for next semester," she smiled and tilted her head to kiss his neck.

"Tina, stop," Steve's eyes were squeezed shut and his voice sounded strained.

"Stop what?"

"Don't joke about it. Please don't. I-I, I just-can't."

"Can't what? Steve?"

"I thought you were dead. You don't..."

"Steve, it's over. I'm fine," Tina tried to comfort him.

"You don't know what that felt like," he spat, "I thought you were dead and it was all my fault…"

"Steve, it wouldn't-"

"I promised I was going to keep you safe. I failed."

Tina felt a hot tear drop onto her forehead.

"Once, I made a New Years resolution to be less shy. I failed at that too, but it ended up okay. You said you immediately liked me for my shyness. All's well that ends well, right?" she said softly, still trying to lighten the tension.

Steve made a noise of indignation.

"Would you call this," he gestured to the cast on her ankle and broken ribs, "'ending well'?"

"I'm going to get Nat in here to beat you into next week," Tina threatened quietly, "if you don't knock it off with this train of thought."

"I'm sorry…It's just…I'm used to stress. I've been scared before and I've seen teammates go down before. I mean, teammates closer to me than brothers, but I've never been as terrified as I was a few days ago."

"Days?"

"Yes. Two."

Tina nodded slightly.

"Have you been here the whole time?"

"Yes, of course," he said, sounding slightly offended.

Of course he stayed…wonderful, idiotic gentleman.

"Steve, you need to go get all your wounds cleaned up…and some sleep. And food," Tina tried to sound strict, but was feeling strangely comforted by the fact that her tired soldier had been guarding her nonetheless.

"I'm okay."

His tone let her know that he wasn't about to be persuaded otherwise, so Tina sighed and changed the subject.

"Is it feasible that I fell off a ladder while I was trying to paint something?"

Steve considered the situation in his head.

"Yeah, I guess…I don't like lying."

"Okay, we'll just tell my dad that I got kidnapped by an alien then," Tina snapped.

The Captain bit his lip.

"Steve, you're a soldier, you know how this works. Classified info, right?"

"That doesn't mean I like it."

"Mmm."

Tina's breathing began to slow as she started falling asleep.

"I thought I was going to lose you," Steve whispered into her hair.

"Nah."

"Good, because I still need you. I love you."

"I love you too, Steve."

"I don't want to be alone again."

"Then don't leave."

Steve laughed softly.

"Believe me, I won't."

…

Natasha sat ramrod-straight outside the hospital room in the uncomfortable chair, listening as Clint tapped his foot incessantly. Tony leaned against the wall, staring at the floor. Thor paced back and forth, occasionally throwing glances at Tina's door. The silence was staggering, save for the rhythmic tapping of one shoe. The fight was over, the battle was won. Everyone was cleaned up and fed and had shelved their weapons. But the tension hadn't reached an end yet. The team was still wondering about the fate of a single civilian.

"I'm very sorry, it's just-"

"No! NO!"

Natasha sprang from her chair as she heard Steve's voice raised in anger, mixed with other voices she didn't recognize.

"It's protocol, you can't-"

"The hell I can't!"

"We're sorry sir, but you-"

"NO! I am staying right here! You have no authority to-"

"You're not family, it's against regulation, we-"

"To hell with regulation, I'm not leaving!"

The Black Widow opened the door, glaring at the scene.

"What is going on?" she said in clipped tones.

"Th-there's only family members allowed. Visiting hours are o-over," a waifish doctor stuttered under her fierce stare.

Captain was red with fury, clenching and unclenching his fists as he stood beside Tina's bed.

"It's just the rules. I don't have authority to do anything about it," another man tried to pacify her.

"Let me see your SHIELD clearance card," Natasha demanded.

"You don't have any right to command-"

She reached over and snapped it off his lanyard. Giving it a brief scan, she gave the doctor a terrifyingly calm smile.

"Well, that clears everything up. We just learned that you are ranked far under Captain America, as it turns out. Since we must follow the rules, we're only left with one option," she said in a patronizingly sugared tone, "You obey him. And I believe he's made his wishes very clear."

The white-coated men glanced around at each other. Natasha's false smile widened. The effect was petrifying. They hesitated for a moment longer, and her smile disappeared, instantly replaced with her most fearsome glare.

"Leave. NOW."

Without another moment's passing, her instructions were followed. Steve nodded his thanks and sat heavily back in the chair beside Tina's bed. The door shut.

"Are you okay?"

Steve nodded tiredly, and Natasha marveled at the transition of the fearsome, courageous Captain to hurt, scared Steve.

"She's supposed to wake up within the next few hours," he said, not taking his eyes off her face.

"That's good. We'll all feel better when she wakes up for the first time. Team's all outside, when she's up for visitors."

"I didn't know you were still here," Steve remarked, wincing as he moved his wounded shoulder.

Natasha smirked a little.

"We've been in and out, but at this point, we've waited almost two days. What's another few hours?"

Steve smiled halfheartedly, caressing Tina's hand in his own.

"Thanks, Nat."

The assassin put a hand on Steve's uninjured shoulder for just a moment, then left. The Captain lay his head down on the bed, unable to hold it up any longer. I won't leave you, Tina.

"It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!" Sums up the chapter fairly well, I thought...I sincerely hope the fluff didn't kill anyone though...

So, I'm feeling about two or three more chapters til the end. Any final requests?

Review! Or Natasha will come at you, glare a-blazin'!