A/N: Well hi guys! Back again. You know, I never get emails. Never. But I've saved every email I've gotten pertaining to this story, which I originally posted on Tuesday. Would you like to know how many emails I've gotten? 472. 472 emails letting me know that you've favorited, alerted, or reviewed this story. Crazy. You're all the best, you have my heart. This chapter's going to be a little different—I'm going to throw in some flashbacks. They'll be in italics.

June 9, 2008 ~ Massachusetts

I drove over to the only banquet hall in our small town outside of Boston and pulled into the first open spot in the parking lot. I cut the engine and threw open the door, nearly dinging the car next to me. I was late, as usual. My graduation party was going to begin in less than a half hour, and I hadn't decorated the hall at all. I popped the trunk, pulling out the huge white cardboard box that contained a vanilla sheet cake. Balancing it on one hand, I opened the rear car door and pulled out the extensive bunch of crimson-colored balloons.

I wasn't usually a party person. I hated large groups of people—especially when I was the reason they were gathering. I hadn't wanted to have a graduation party, but my mother had insisted. "Sweetheart, it's not everyday you graduate from Harvard," she had nagged me. I had finally given in.

My graduation had been a huge deal in the Andrews' household. My father had graduated from Harvard and gone on to be a successful surgeon. After I was born, the dream was formed—my dad wanted nothing more for me to go to follow in his footsteps and go to Harvard, and I was only a day old.

After my father was diagnosed with lung cancer when I was four, he had sat me down, giving me a speech I have never forgotten. "You know I'll never force you to do anything," he had whispered, his voice hoarse. "I want you to follow your dreams, sweetheart. When you grow up, don't let anything stop you—not people, sickness, or any other problems you'll face. You're no normal girl, Becky—there's something extraordinary about you. Use it, honey. Don't let your gifts go to waste."

My father had passed away the next day.

I had always wondered if he knew. The rest of my family and I hadn't discovered my ability until I was five years old, on that fateful day when I fell on the driveway. Yet, a year before anyone else knew, my father had said there was "something extraordinary" about me. A gift.

I shook my head, shoving away those depressing thoughts. My dad would've been so proud of me today. I had graduated medical school at the age of 23. I had followed in his footsteps, and I was going to use my "gift" for a very, very long time, helping those who needed it. So, to celebrate my dad's legacy, I had agreed to have this party.

The hall was still empty when I walked in. I checked my watch, looking at the time. My mom was supposed to be here already. I starting tying up balloons around the small ballroom and placed the cake on the long table taking up the majority of the dance floor.

Another ten minutes passed, with no sign of my mother and two younger brothers. I pulled out my cell phone and saw that none of them had tried to call, either. I dialed my mother's number and propped the phone up under my ear. It rang, and rang, and rang…"Hi, you've reached Marie Andrews, I'm sor—" I hung up the phone and dialed the number again, but came to the same conclusion. I tried calling my brothers, but still no luck.

I sighed, shoving the phone back into my pocket, and walked around the room one last time, making sure everything was in place before my guests arrived. Just as the first car pulled into the lot, my phone vibrated in my back pocket. "Hello?"

"Rebecca Andrews? This is Officer Bill Stevens. I was wondering if you could come down to the hospital—something's happened."

I moved the phone over to my other ear. "What?"

"It has to do with your mother and brothers. There was an accident."

And suddenly, I was all alone.

"Steve!" I cried. Before anyone could even react to the stabbing, a deafening roar rocked all of Manhattan, signaling the detonation of the nuclear bomb. Everything was happening so fast and I couldn't think straight. Agent Romanoff was closing the portal, Fury was shouting in hopes that Stark would fall through the opening in time, but all I could stare at was Steve, not even having fallen down after being attacked.

All of the Chitauri soldiers sunk to the ground, lifeless, their main power source having been annihilated. The portal in the sky was shrinking by the second, with still no sign of Stark.

"Someone get a med team down to Captain Rogers, now!" I shrieked, and watched as my closest crew gathered their things and headed out to the airstrip, not bothering to wait for confirmation from Director Fury.

I looked over at Steve's monitor, and saw him clutch his side as he hit the ground. The spear was still lodged in his abdomen and the first stream of blood was beginning to hit the pavement beneath him. As much as I wanted to solely focus on Steve, observing every detail to see how he was holding up, I had a job to do.

I heard a burst of applause from the far end of the room, and saw Tony Stark fall through the portal just before it sealed shut. He was falling fast, gaining speed at every second, and he wasn't moving. He plummeted closer and closer to the ground, slicing through the air, only a few hundred feet away—

The Hulk flew through the sky, swooping the Iron Man up in one arm and crashing into a skyscraper, sliding down the side until he reached the street. The two landed with a thud, and the green monster threw Tony to the side. He still did not move.

I pressed my earpiece deeper into my ear, speaking to the med team that was landing on the street beside the Avengers. "Make sure you grab Stark, too. God, please hurry." Thor stood over Tony, trying to get him to wake up. The helicopter touched down a little farther down the street. The Hulk sauntered his way over to Tony, looking over his unmoving body, and let out a glass-shattering roar. Stark's eyes snapped open.

"What the hell? What just happened?" He shouted, obviously startled. "Please tell me nobody kissed me." Banner laughed just as the medical team reached Stark. Half of them stopped, helping Tony to his feet, while the other half continued on to Steve, who was sitting alone, curled up in a ball, biting into his lower lip in pain.

"Steve," I whispered, my hand going up to cover my mouth. I hadn't checked on him in two minutes, which seemed like a short time, but when someone you cared about was in pain, it dragged on forever.

Blood was pooling out onto his blue Captain America suit and onto the street. His hand was clutching his left side, the spear still stuck inside him. One of the members of my crew was kneeling beside him, and they gently touched the wound. Steve let out a heavy gasp, and my heart heaved. Both he and Stark were lifted onto stretchers and placed inside the helicopter, coming back to the helicarrier. Thor, Bruce, Hawkeye, and Natasha were left on the ground, returning to Stark Tower to bring in Loki.

"Dr. Andrews," Fury called, startling me out of my thoughts. "It would probably be best if you headed down to the ward. They'll be needing you as soon as they arrive."

I nodded, staring blankly at the screen as I watched the helicopter lift off the ground and into the Manhattan sky. "I can handle it from here," Agent Hill whispered to me, suddenly appearing behind me. I gave back a quiet thank you and ran out of the control room, heading for the hospital wing.

November 3, 2010 ~ New York City

"I don't want to hear it, Jack," I said, walking out of his apartment. My voice was calm, reserved, collected.

"Becky, c'mon, give me a chance, I didn't mean to—" he begged, grabbing my forearm in an attempt to spin me around. I planted my feet firm on the ground, not turning to face him.

"I gave you a chance, Jack," I replied, my voice beginning to sound tired. "I haven't trusted a man in years. You were my first chance back in the dating world. And you blew it, my friend. Just like that slut blew you." I shook my arm free of my grasp and threw open the door to his apartment, walking down the hallway.

"Becky, it wasn't like that, I swear, it was an accident!" he pleaded, and I just shook my head, continuing through the hallway towards the elevator.

"You accidentally slept with two different women? Is that a joke? I deserve better than this bullshit." I laughed as the elevator doors slid open, and I stepped in.

Jack face twisted from his dejected sulk to an angry glare. "You're a first-class bitch, Rebecca Andrews. I was never even interested in you in the first place."

I punched the button labeled with the number one, and the doors closed, separating me from the asshole I had been falling for the past five months. Once the elevator slid down, I closed my eyes. The tears started to fall.

"Why do I even bother?" I whispered to myself, wallowing in my self-pity. "Who would ever love me?"

The door to the medical ward slid open, and I ran in at the same time two stretchers were being rushed in. I pushed most of my team to follow Stark, who was conscious and seemed to be doing ok. I sprinted straight to the second gurney coming through the doors.

Steve's eyes were squeezed shut and his breaths were coming out in quick, heavy pants. His suit had been cut open, revealing his upper body. The spear had been removed from his side, leaving an incredibly long and deep gash cutting across his abdomen. The edges of the cut were stained blue, most likely from the energy harnessed from the Tesseract that was carried in the weapon.

"Steve," I said, loudly enough for him to hear over his laborious breathing. "It's going to be ok, I promise." I reached down, my fingertips gently beginning to outline the wound, when my hand started to burn. My arm snapped back, my other hand clutching my wrist. I flipped my hand over to see what had happened, and saw that the pads of my fingers were singed, turning a bluish color. I attempted to heal the gash again, but my hand only burned worse.

"I need help over here, now!" I shouted, and three different nurses appeared beside me. "I need one of you to scrape off as much of the blue scarring around his wound as you can. I want to start dialysis pronto, see if it can get the energy out of his blood before it reaches toxic levels. Clean the rest of his skin off; make sure there's no residue of it on him anywhere. Is that clear?" I demanded. "We can't afford to lose him." Hell, I can't afford to lose him.

I looked across the room over at Tony, and saw him sitting up straight on the hospital bed, a doctor taking his heart rate. He saw me staring. "Go save your lover boy, I'm fine, but no one over here seems to believe me."

I turned back to Steve, who was now being hooked up to a couple different machines. Why the hell couldn't I touch him? The Tesseract energy? There had never been anything that had stopped my power before. I had always taken pride in the fact that there was nothing that could prevent me from helping people—yet here I was, watching the man that had taken over my heart and mind struggle in pain, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

I slipped on some rubber gloves and went to help remove the charred skin on Steve's stomach. "Steve," I nearly begged, trying to help him calm down. "It's me, Rebecca. Everything's going to be ok. We're going to make everything better, I promise, Steve, you just gotta stay with me."

"Rebec—" Steve said, groaning in pain as I sliced off another piece of dead skin. His body twitched under my team's every touch, his muscles constantly contracting.

"I'm here, Steve, I'm right here," I replied, glancing up at the dialysis machine in front of me. Though it wasn't normally used for removing high levels of pure energy found only in outer space from the blood, it appeared to be working—his body seemed to be eliminating the energy. Most of the singed blue skin had been cleared away, and I removed my gloves, hoping I'd be able to heal him.

"Steve, this is gonna sting a little bit, but I promise, you are going to feel better," I pleaded. My voice was desperate, but I feared I was trying to convince myself more than I was trying to convince him.

I very cautiously reached my fingertips back down to the gash on his side once again, my fingers only stinging a little. Steve let out a harsh gasp, squeezing his eyes so tightly shut I thought he'd cut right through to his cheekbone. The skin began to heal over the wound excruciatingly slowly. The monitor to my left started to beat erratically, showing his heart rate was spiking. As his skin was finishing sealing shut, he whispered my name so quietly I wasn't sure I had even heard it. Steve's whole body tensed one last time, and then he lost consciousness.

A/N: Oh my god, that was so dramatic! Haha. Wooh, I swear my heart rate's up just after writing that! Oh Steve. Don't scare me like that, we all love you too much. I hope you guys liked the chapter!

(11,000 hits. You guys blow me away.)