Holly POV

Holly woke up again to a quiet medical bay, the lights dim no doubt for her comfort. From a window she could see they were flying again, the clouds large and fluffy. Turning her head, she saw Steve half asleep in a nearby chair, wearing a simple pair of khakis with an old SHIELD tshirt. He looked exhausted. Or as exhausted as a Supersoldier's metabolism allowed. He had a very fine bit of stubble on his cheeks, showing he hadn't seen the need to shave. It said a great deal to her since he'd kept himself clean shaven during the war from all the photographs and newsreel footage she'd seen. His shield was right by his side.

She closed her eyes and swallowed, her throat tight and dry. The extra oxygen that was helping her weakened body was also drying her out. She pulled off the tubing, rubbing at her dry nose with the back of her hand. Looking over at Steve, she figured the man deserved some rest and resolved that she could get her own drink of water if she was careful. She knew better than to try and telekenetically bring the water over. She'd done that before when she was on heavy pain medications and it hadn't been pretty.

Thankful that her vitals had stabilized enough to where she only had an IV of saline and medication, she carefully tested her legs. She'd been hurt before in the field, including a rather nasty gunshot wound to the shoulder by a very stupid former KGB agent that had tried to attack the English parliament. She'd been with Natasha and Clint at the time and the man had received not just a full clip from his former fellow KGB agent, but two arrows in the chest from Clint for his actions.

Slowly, she moved the blankets, thankful that she was dressed in plain pajamas and not a hospital gown. She slid her legs to the side, letting the blood flow from the new position before cautiously moving so that she was standing, but leaning against the bed.

Biting back a groan from the pain, she mentally cursed Doom for ever programming his robots to hurt anyone let alone her. She gave herself a long moment before trying to stand up straight and finding that it was a dumb idea. Her healing body wasn't ready for straight, so slightly hunched, she took hold of her IV stand and with the help of her bed, began the trek toward the small sink and the glass nearby.

She was almost there but hadn't counted on the bit of turbulence messing with her already hesitant balance. She didn't fall, but had ended up managing to keep herself up with the help of a wall. Normally, it wouldn't have meant anything. She'd been uninjured and lost her balance before and had a wall keep her up.

This time, it was her bad side and against her arm that was nearly purple from bruising and the side that had three new shiny ribs and corresponding sutures and things. She shrieked from the pain and felt her vision snow.

"Holly!"

Steve was at her side in seconds, shield in hand, no doubt a habit. It was only thanks to him that she didn't collapse onto the floor or rip out her IV in the process. The pain was overwhelming and she struggled not to pass out. She grunted as Steve lifted her up in his arms, using his shield as something akin to a backboard so as to not to force her healing body to stretch or bend in ways it wasn't ready for.

"Holly, what were you thinking, doll?" His voice sounded slightly frantic as he moved to a nearby communcations panel and used his elbow to activate it. Even through the pain, she made note that he'd called her doll. Absently she wondered if anyone had ever called her that before. "Dr Simmons, we need you in the medical bay as soon as possible!"

Gripping at his tshirt with the hand of her good arm, she focused on her fingers to try and keep the nausea away her pain was causing. She was not going to throw up in front of or on Captain America if it was the last thing she ever did. She wanted to answer the question. "Thirsty."

He sighed, looking to the ceiling. "Why does this make me think you are more like Dum Dum and Stark than you will ever realize?"

Swallowing, she weakly flicked him in his muscled chest with her fingers. "Bite me, Captain Crunch."

Before Steve could respond, Jemma had run into the room, quickly followed by Banner and Coulson. "Oh! Oh dear! What happened?"

"Someone decided she could walk across the room for a drink. Lost her balance."

"Plane threw me, not my fault. Tell May to stop doing air donuts." She gasped as the pain didn't seem to want to stop. It throbbed with every shallow breath. She blinked confused. "My side feels wet?"

"Oh bloody hell, your stitches!" Jemma ran for whatever she needed. "Captain Rogers, could you please lay her back on the bed? Dr. Banner, can you assess the wound while I gather materials?"

Holly kept her jaw clenched, every moment making her want to scream. Steve had moved down by her feet on her good side after putting her down and apologizing profusely for the pain it seemed to cause. One look at him told her that she had hurt herself, his shirt had blood on it. His eyes were full of concern as were Coulson's as the director took her good hand in both of his after quicky putting the oxygen back under her nose. "Holly, focus on me. Not on the pain. Just like May taught you. You control the pain. Don't let it control you. Focus on breathing."

She barely managed a short nod as Banner came over and apologized before lifting up her shirt enough to see the damage she'd caused to herself. "Doesn't look too bad. A suture or two might have popped. We should do an xray just to be safe." He looked to Holly with gentle eyes. "Don't worry Holly. You'll be just fine in no time."

"Already charging the portable. Director, Captain, we'll need you to step outside."

Coulson gave her hand a squeeze before moving as directed but she reached out to grab Steve's hand as he moved to follow. "Sorry. Sorry about your shirt." She couldn't believe she'd bled all over him like that.

Steve looked down, apparently not even realizing he'd gotten blood on it. "I'm not worried about the shirt, Holly." As almost an afterthought, he gave her hand a tiny squeeze. "I'll let Stark know you are alright."

Steve POV

To help Holly deal with being back in NY, albeit not really her choice, Banner had given her a strong anxiety medication which on top of her other medications had knocked her out completely. It had made the transfer from the QuinJet to the medical floor of Avengers Tower that much easier for her. The last thing her healing body needed was a panic attack.

Stark and the Asgardians had accompanied Coulsen and his team to a safe landing area for The Bus before they joined everyone at Avengers' Tower.

"Steve!"

He'd been focused on the elevator doors closing, taking Banner, Simmons, Natasha and Barton up to medical with the unconscious Holly. He looked up to see Pepper's slim form hurrying over to him. "Hello Pepper."

The strawberry blonde was quick to give him a hug and he decided after the last few days, he deserved to give in to it a little. Pepper had always been kind to him, even with Tony's teasing that she had made Steve her own personal puppy dog. She was a sweet woman and an intensely strong person, not to mention patient to deal with Tony, especially romantically. "How are you? Tony and Phil told me what's been happening. I can't believe you had to go back to that place! Are you alright?"

Of course Pepper, like Holly would immediately show concern for his mental well being when it came to Castle Kaufmann. Both women were very intuitive. "Yeah, I'm okay. It's just a place."

"But you're bothered by how the mission went?"

He sighed. "Holly could have been killed. One of her broken ribs could have pierced her heart instead of her lung. Or tore open an artery." He ran his hand through his hair. "She could have died."

"And how is that your fault?"

"She was pushed into participating in the mission. She wanted to help me deal with being back there. I should have said no."

Pepper gave him a smiled before tucking her arm in his and leading him to the elevator. "Steve, you should realize that Holly is very much like Tony in that no one can truly push her to do anything she doesn't want. Tony only arranged things with her classes after you were all enroute, despite what he may have said."

"Oh."

She nodded. "I know he wants her to stay, but I don't know if she'll be willing. Not because she was hurt and would want to escape back to California but because I think it's easier for her not to deal with the grief and trauma from September 11th."

"We could try to help her, couldn't we?"

A smile graced her lips. "My thoughts exactly."