Chapter 2

By: MysticFantasy

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Pain and cold totally consumed her. Making it difficult to want to wake up.

Wake up? she thought to herself. When did I fall asleep in the first place?

With great force, Natasha somehow managed to get her eyes to slowly open. At first, everything was fully blurred together to where she couldn't even tell apart colors.

She closed her eyes and counted to thirty before opening them again. Thankfully, things were more clear now but it was darker than she last remembered.

She was still in the jet. That much was certain. But wind was blowing through the large hole in the window, bringing the cold snow and ice with it.

We crashed. she thought as her thoughts became clear again. Something happened, we lost power, I told Steve to...Steve!

Using all the strength she had at the moment, Natasha turned her attention to the seat next to her and spotted the super soldier.

He was slouched in the seat, the safty belt the only thing keeping him in it really. A gash hidden somewhere in his now crimson colored hair allowed blood to run down the right side of his face.

With her head still clearing, Natasha couldn't tell if he had any other injuries.

"Steve." she managed to speak in a low and raspy voice.

Her hands went to remove her own seat belt and she felt a twist of pain coming from her left wrist. She was able to movie it fine and figured that it was just bruised or twisted.

"Steve." she called again, this time with a stronger voice and managed to get her strap undone. Now that it was off, she tried to move toward the soldier.

Her legs were shaky and felt like they were going to give out at any moment. But it was her need to see if her friend and secret crush was still alive.

She practically fell against the control panel but used it as a way to get herself across the small space to Steve. Once she was by him, she dropped to her knees.

"Steve, wake up." She said lightly grasping his shoulder and giving him a small shake.

The soldier didn't respond and this scared Natasha. She pressed two fingers on his neck and tried to feel for a pulse. She held her breath with fear when she couldn't feel it right away.

She moved her fingers to another spot and let out a shaky breath of relief when she felt her fingers rise as she felt his pulse. She measured the pulse and discovered that it was still strong.

"Steve." she said giving him a more forceful shake. "Steve, wake up."

She heard a low groan and Steve slowly moved his head. She helped him sit back properly in the seat and removed the safty belt.

Steve slowly opened his eyes and saw Natasha above him.

"Natasha." he groaned out.

"Steve, are you alright?" she asked. "What hurts?"

"I'm fine." he answered trying to sit up more. "What happened? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." she half lied. "I don't know what happened but we crashed."

"Crashed?" he repeated with a tone of confusion. "Crashed where?"

"I don't know where we are." Natasha said. "We just took off from out mission and something caused us to crash."

"Radio." Steve said. "We sent a call."

"We did." Natasha confirmed. "Let's try to get to the back of the jet and get out of the cold."

Steve nodded and tried to stand up. Natasha did her best to help him move and noticed blood covering his left pant leg. He had a cut just above his knee that was allowing the blood to spill out but it didn't seem serious.

They moved into the mid section of the jet and Natasha shut the door to the cockpit, thus stopping the wind and cold for the time being.

Steve sat heavily on one of the bench chairs while Natasha found the first aid kit. After a few minutes, she was able to clean and banaged all of their wounds that she was able to see. She wasn't sure if there were any internal injuries and wouldn't know until they were able to get to a hospital.

"Natasha, are you sure you're ok?" he asked as she finished wrapping a bandage around his head.

"I'm fine Steve." she answered. "Just a little bruised."

"Where?" he asked taking her now lowered hand in his.

"Just my wrist but it's fine. I can still use it." she answered. "Stay here and I'll look for some blankets."

"I should help." he said.

"No. You need to rest. You have a serious head wound and need to stay put." Natasha declared. "You were able to give Coulson our coordinates so it won't take them long to come find us. Maybe a day at the most. We just have to wait it out a while."

Steve wanted to protest and insist that he could help her but he knew not to argue with her. Injured or not, she was a fierce woman that shouldn't be pushed.

Natasha began to look through the compartments and on her third try was able to find a few blankets and pillows.

It was then that she was able to tell how cold it was starting to get. She knew that if they stayed close together to share warmth they would have no problem of staying awake and alive.

But if the weather continued to get worse than there was no telling what would happen if they weren't found in time. They had limited options. Building a fire with what they had was their best chance but they would save that as a last resort since they would have to either open the cockpit again or break a window to let out the smoke.

"Here." Natasha drapped the blanket across Steve's shoulders and then did the same to herself before sitting directly next to him. "We have to stay as warm as possible until they find us."

"Right." Steve agreed and turned a little so that they were closer together.

I can do this. he told himself. Just a day of sitting this close to Natasha. I can do this.

Sitting next to Steve for a little over twenty four hours. Simple enough. Natasha told herself as she tried not to rest her head on his shoulders. The others will find us soon and then we can get out of here and things will be back to normal.

The sound of the wind outside told them both that it was going to be a long night.