Tina groaned and put her head in her hands.

"This is so humiliating!" she moaned.

She more felt than heard Thor's low, rumbling laugh.

"How else are you to visit Tony?" he asked, pressing the elevator button.

Tina crossed her arms, feeling quite resentful of the fact that she needed to be carried like a child.

"How come he couldn't have brought the wheelchair up to me?"

Thor shrugged.

"Perhaps you could ask him that."

Tina sighed and leaned back into Thor, drumming her fingers on her arms and kicking her cast ankle while the elevator music (AC-DC, on Wednesdays) played.

"Wait…are you holding my weight in one arm?"

Thor looked down briefly and gave Tina a bemused look.

"That's ridiculous," she protested, "You people are all ridiculously strong. It's giving me a complex. No one should be able to support a fully-grown person in one arm and not be even a little bit inconvenienced."

"I am an Asgardian, if it makes you feel better," Thor offered, "We're naturally hardier than humans, and I've been trained my whole life as a warrior. It only makes sense that I should be strong."

Tina rolled her eyes as Thor opened the door to Tony's lab.

"There she is! Wanna see your new and improved wheelchair?" Tony asked excitedly.

"I'd like to know why this waited until Steve wasn't with me and how come Bruce wasn't allowed to supervise," Tina said.

Tony's expression suddenly turned a little shifty.

"Pshhh, no reason. Don't be so paranoid. I didn't want to bother Bruce with boring mechanical stuff, and its just a coincidence. Steve happened to be getting stitches at the same time that I happened to finish working on this."

Thor set Tina gently on the counter.

"Okay," she asked hesitantly, "What'd you do to it?"

Tony clapped his hands together in excitement.

"It's so much better than that crappy thing SHIELD was trying to pass off on you First thing I did fixed was one of the wheels: it was totally out of alignment. I changed the seat cushions to memory foam so they're more comfortable. I also added a little motor if you don't feel like wheeling it, and a bunch of pockets on the side that you can hold stuff in."

Tina nodded, surprised by the reasonableness of Tony's creation.

"Wow, thanks Tony. I was half expecting spinning rims and rocket boosters," she laughed.

Tony grinned brightly, pressing a button on a remote, and voila, the rims began to spin, glowing neon green as they did so.

"Of course. What a shock," Tina said sarcastically.

"No Stark product is complete without style," Tony said airily.

Tina rolled her eyes and Thor helped scoot her from the table to the chair.

"Thanks, Tony."

Tony nodded, happy with his contribution. Tina began slowly rolling towards the elevator door.

"Keep it under a hundred, kay granny?" the billionaire laughed as she inched forward.

"Can it, punk!" she yelled without looking back.

Tony chuckled again. Well, she's back to normal. Hiding from strangers and sassing the pants off everyone else…

…

Bruce was trying very hard not to show his excitement at the prospect of giving Steve a medical examination. All his years of effort were pushed in one direction: creating more people like Steve. He was trying to make a better world and instead…I'd never have gotten a family like I have now if it didn't end that disastrously, he reminded himself. A family that loves and trusts me, doesn't flinch when I come into the room. A home, albeit one filled with freaks. Freaks like me. Bruce began humming the Star Wars theme and cleaned the stincture kit. He'd thought it would be rude to ask Steve for DNA samples, but now…maybe I shouldn't get ahead of myself. It's just stitches.

Right on time, the soldier in question shuffled into Bruce's tiny medical office, looking for all the world like he was doing the walk of shame.

"Hi," he said meekly.

Bruce patted the cot for Steve to sit.

"You don't have to be embarrassed for not being completely invulnerable," the doctor said dryly.

Steve sighed.

"I've seen enough doctor's offices to last me a lifetime. And I thought this'd just go away…"

Bruce nodded.

"Well, let's see it then."

Steve shrugged out of his t-shirt and Bruce let a breath hiss through his teeth.

"You thought that was going to just 'go away'?" he asked in astonishment.

The soldier flushed.

"I didn't wanna draw attention to myself," he muttered.

"Jesus, Steve," Bruce shook his head in disbelief, "Next time, just tell me in private if it really means that much to you."

Steve nodded ashamedly. Bruce studied the wound.

The shield had left a straight gash in Steve's right shoulder, cutting from collarbone almost to his shoulder blade. Lucky he didn't get his neck chopped in half, Bruce thought wryly. He gently touched the aggravated skin, checking to see how deep the injury went. The soldier's body tensed, but he said nothing. Gotta be such a stoic all the time, huh, Rogers?

"Steve you know you're lucky this didn't chop your muscle off, right?"

"I figured…it hurts to move my arm," he admitted grudgingly.

"No duh…"

Bruce ran some peroxide over the cut to clean it and started getting out the stincture kit.

"Does any kind of tranquilizer work on you?" he asked.

"No," Steve responded, "No painkillers, no alcohol, no nothing."

The doctor paused.

"It's okay doc, just go," Steve reassured him, "I've had worse."

Bruce nodded and reluctantly began threading stitches though Steve's skin. The Captain's hands tightened on the edge of the cot and his body stiffened.

"Hey, Bruce, did you-?"

Both men looked up as Tina's voice sounded from the open doorway.

"Hi," Steve said nervously, as if he'd been caught doing something shameful.

"This may be a good thing," Bruce noted, "Cap, wanna hold her hand? Just don't squish it."

"I'm okay," Steve said quickly, eyes darting all over.

Tina rolled further into the room.

"My god! Steve! That's what you were hiding?" her eyes bugged as she caught sight of the wound, "Jeez, Steve! I thought you had a little cut!"

Steve took a breath to say something, but an Tina plowed on, still furious.

"Isn't that what you said to me? 'It's a little cut, Tina. You worry too much, Tina.' Aghh! You are impossible!"

"I thought-"

Bruce smiled wickedly.

"You'll love this, Tina," he said conspiratorially, "He said to me just now that, get this, he thought it would just go away."

Tina's eyes narrowed at her boyfriend.

"Can it wait?" Steve asked before she could continue her barrage, "Let's just get this done."

Bruce nodded and began placing another stitch. Steve's hands crunched into tight fists and he squeezed his eyes shut. Tina's expression immediately softened. She reached forward and pulled his hand into her lap. Steve's fingers stiffly unwound and intertwined with hers, holding on tightly, but it was still obvious how much care he put into being gentle.

"Halfway done, Cap," Bruce said softly.

"Kay," he responded, voice sounding strained.

Tina bit her lip, feeling helpless. She kissed his fingers.

"Almost finished baby," she murmured softly, knowing he could hear.

Steve grimaced in pain while the last stitch was tied off.

"Thanks Bruce," he smiled and offered the doctor a left-handed handshake.

"Sure, Steve," Bruce nodded. "Don't move your arm the rest of the day…then it'll probably be healed by tomorrow."

Steve stood and stared at his shirt on the cot. Tina giggled and helped him into it. Steve blushed, not liking the dependence.

"Did Tony do something to your wheelchair?" he noticed as he pushed her into the living room.

"Yeah, he fixed the wheel and added a motor."

"And? Aaaand?" Tony prompted her.

"Oh, yeah," Tina pushed a button on the arm, and the rims began to spin and glow.

"That's the tackiest thing I've ever seen," Natasha said acidly over the latest edition of Guns & Ammo.

"Beyond tacky," Clint added, from where he was reading over her shoulder.

Steve sighed.

"It could be worse," he noted, averting his eyes from the garish light display. "There could be rockets."

"Why do you all think I would put rockets in a wheelchair? That's an awful idea!" Tony said angrily.

Pepper smiled serenely.

"JARVIS, can you detail the function of everything Tony did to Tina's chair?" she asked sweetly.

"Left frontal wheel realigned, memory foam cushions added, neon lights added, spinning rims added, pockets sewn onto sides, miniature motor and steering system integrated, jet repulsor system added, speaker system added. That's all, Miss Potts."

"Jet."

"Repulsor."

"System."

Tina and Steve took turns speaking while they stared down an unabashed genius.

"You said rockets. I put in repulsors. They're very different," he said snippily.

"I've always said I could beat you up with one arm, and you're making me want to try," Steve said with mock bravado.

Tina giggled. Life is back to normal, she thought happily.

Aww errythin's all good again :) Next chapter will be the last one :/ I'm gonna miss this story!

Soo, a wee lil announcement: I AM going to do a sequel! Look for it soon, hopefully the same day as the last chapter.

Review :)