"Just take deep breaths, sweetheart. You will be okay. He is going to be fine," Happy nervously looked over at Tina as he maneuvered the car through the busy street to SHIELD headquarters.

"I-I-I, he-he," she sucked in a breath, "Happy, what if-if, he-he, I can't," Tina started sobbing uncontrollably. "I can't do this alone," she gestured to her pregnant belly. "I need him, I-I…"

"Tina, breathe, please. Relax. He's going to make it. You're not alone. No matter what happens, you are not alone. You know that."

The car pulled up to the front of the building. Tina pushed frantically on the door but it was still locked. Happy put his hand on her arm.

"Be strong for him, if you can't for yourself," he said gently.

Tina squeezed his hand gratefully. She waddled as fast as possible toward the building, roughly swiping away the last tears. Happy's first piece of advice had reminded her of Natasha's training- deep, slow breaths. Thinking of Natasha helped, and Tina sincerely hoped that they weren't debriefing her or some other bull. She wanted her best friend with her. No one could slap sense into her like Natasha could. Tina swiped her high-clearance access card for each door, glaring at any agent who looked as if they wanted to question her. Thankfully, they were mostly men, and not about to argue with a furiously angry/terrified/half-crying pregnant woman. Tina's mind was far from the whitewashed hallways and severe steel of the SHIELD compound. Concentrating only on walking to the next door and the movements of her babies, she let her mind drift back in memory.

…

Tina ran through the halls, panicking. When some SHIELD agent had called and told her that Steve had been injured and was in the hospital division, her mind couldn't help but assume the worst. Ohmygodohmygod. Please don't die, Steve. She finally skidded through the last hall, and stopped. They hadn't even told her his room number. Where could he be? In the room beside her, she heard a voice she didn't recognize.

"Time of death, three twenty-seven-"

She gasped and slumped to the floor, struggling to breathe. That couldn't be his room. It was NOT him. I need to find him. Fighting to stand, Tina stumbled forward to stand by another door, where she heard the boisterous laughter of several people.

"Yeah whatever," one man laughed.

"Don't whatever me moron, I saved your butt."

"Did not."

"Yeah, he's right. You didn't save him, I did," a woman added.

"The first time?"

"Hey, shut it. Let's agree that you're all dumb. And we all know that I'm the real hero of the group."

Tina gasped. She recognized that voice.

"Don't rub it in Spangles, we're not all perfect," Tony sighed.

As he opened the door Tina fell into him from where she was leaning. She pushed past him and searched for Steve, who was standing next to the bed with a bandage on his arm, but otherwise perfect.

"You!" she growled, stalking forward, with every intent to punch him in the face.

Steve's eyes widened and he seemed to guess this, because he smiled her favorite schoolboy grin and opened his arms for a hug.

"Well you're a sight for sore eyes! Thank goodness you're here, these guys are making me nuts, they're-"

Tina grabbed his collar and pulled him to her eye level.

"Never. Do. That. Again," she snarled. "I got a call from a random agent who told me that you were injured and in the hospital. I got NO other information. Zip! Nada! I thought you were DYI NG or something! Never again!"

Thor couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the mighty Captain America being threatened (successfully) by a tiny blonde girl.

"It's protocol," Steve explained hastily, "they have to inform my emergency contact if I check in to the medics. I had a lil spot on my arm, I-just-uh," he flailed under her laser-like glare.

"Next time, YOU call me then," she said, her expression softening a little. "If you can't call me I'll know it's bad. Okay?" Tina released her grip on his t-shirt and smoothed the wrinkles out, blinking quickly to hide the tears of relief that were threatening to make an appearance.

"Yes, ma'am. I didn't realize they'd be so vague when they talked to you," Steve pulled her chin up and looked her in the eyes. "Sorry," he said with a slight smile.

"Alright," Tina conceded, knees still a bit weak.

"I promise, I'm never gonna leave you. I'll always make it back, I promise."

The door slammed open as Tony kicked it, carrying several trays of food.

"Capsicle, are you planning to share this?" he asked in disbelief, plopping the food down.

"Nope," Steve said joyfully, diving into a double cheeseburger.

"Consider revising that plan, Cap," Clint chucked through a mouthful of fries. Steve swiped the box away, but turned to see Thor polishing off a second piece of pizza guiltlessly and Natasha nibbling a cinnamon bun. Tony rolled his eyes, delicately snacking on Steve's popcorn.

"You guys are the worst," Steve sighed in defeat, snuggling Tina onto his lap.

She let her head rest against his chest and closed her eyes.

…

Tina knew that something was really, really wrong. Steve realized how much it had scared her, not knowing how hurt he was. He didn't call because he couldn't. But how bad was it? He was Captain America after all; he could pull through anything, right? Right, Tina told herself. Please, please be right.

"Captain Steve Rogers?" she asked at the small desk.

The agent gave her a sarcastically sympathetic smile.

"He's still in the operating room," he said in a nasal voice.

"Oper- wait! No, they can't do that, he can't-" she stuttered. "They can't! Where's everyone else? The rest of the team?"

"Classified," he replied with a mockingly polite tone.

Tina narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to reply, but she heard the (unfortunately) all-too-familiar sound of Tony walking in his suit.

"Tony! What happened? He can't be in the OR, what are they doing with him in there?!"

"OR? Oh yeah. It's bigger in there, and secluded from the rest of the hospital. Better than the intensive care unit for him. They're not doing surgery, that'd be crazy," Tony explained.

"Walk and talk, let's go," she said impatiently, pushing his hand away.

"He- Tina. Tina, stop. Listen, please."

"No. Take me now," she commanded, voice shaking a little.

Tony bit his lip but led her forward, finally stopping at a door. Tina knocked it open without thinking twice.

Steve lay in the bed which, surprisingly, was big enough for him. There were monitors everywhere, beeping and flashing their little screens. Thor stood from the chair beside him as she entered the room. Tina slowly stepped forward, examining him. Although the white sheet covered most of his body, his face still had some serious bruises and cuts. She didn't want to think about how they had looked when he'd gotten them. The heart monitor attached to him reported a slow but steady heartbeat. Tina took his left hand, which appeared to be uninjured, and stroked it gently with her thumb.

"Why-" her voice cracked, "why is he asleep? He almost never sleeps in the hospital."

The room's silence was choking.

"It is a miracle that he is alive," Thor said slowly, measuring each word. "A piece of rubble this size," he clenched a fist, "went all the way through him, just above the hip. That's almost healed now."

"So his body's just worn out from blood loss?" Tina hoped aloud, sitting down.

"That's true," Thor answered, resting a large hand on her shoulder.

She sensed his evasion and it scared her.

"But?" she asked. Her voice shook. "But?"

"He hit his head, Tina. Hard. His skull was fractured into a hundred pieces."

Tina held Steve's hand tighter.

"So? What, Tony? Spit it out!"

"He's in a coma…we don't know how long it will last, when he'll wake up. We don't know if he'll wake up at all."

Tina's eyes rolled back into her head and her vision blacked out. Steve, you promised.

Hi readers. I'd like to apologize for disappearing on you all like that. The last month has been rough for me. My musical got crazy and the day it ended I got into a car accident. No worries, I'm okay! I just had so much school to make up and so many other things on my mind. Gotta hate RL sometimes, huh? Assuming no other cosmic intervention, updates will be once a week at minimum like before. More reviews=faster chapters.

Ahem. Anyway. Soooo, yet another cliffie! I think I'm developing a real reliance on them...I'll try to break that habit!

Review please, thank you very much!