Three days.

It's been three days since Tony had barged into the HYDRA base and rescued Nat. It's been three days since the last time he saw her beautiful eyes. It's been three days since she called him Tony. It's been three days since she was last awake. It's been three days since the first time her heart stopped beating. It's stopped two times after that. It's been three days since Tony has been asleep. It's been three days since he left her room.

Three days.

Tony was sitting in his usual seat next to Natasha. He didn't get up much, only to go to the bathroom or to pace around the room because he couldn't stand staring at Natasha anymore and not being able to do anything to help her get better faster. He held her hand in both of his, gripping it like it was his lifeline. To him, in the moment, it was. While she was away, he realized he couldn't lose her. He had been stupid before to not have said anything to her about how he felt about her. And as soon as she woke up – he wouldn't even think about how her not waking up was a bigger chance than her waking up and being okay – and as soon as he saw those beautiful eyes of hers again, he was going to tell her everything he had been dying to say to her the past few months. He wasn't even scared of the rejection, he just wanted her to know how he felt.

He looked from their hands up to her face. She was in bad condition. When he had brought her in, the doctors told him that she was lucky to still be alive. She was suffering from two broken ribs, several cuts along her body, a few of them being pretty deep and were infected, and whatever else her body and heart went through during the shocks from the chair. Some of the bruises that had been present three days ago were gone now. She was starting to get some color back in her face and Tony thought that in that moment, she looked like she was just sleeping. And for a moment he believed that she was, mostly because it hurt his heart too much to know that that wasn't the case.

He sighed and stood up, gently laying her hand back down at her side. He then proceeded to walk around the room again, going through everything in his head again to try to come up with a way to get her better. But there was none. Physically, for the most part, she was okay. Her body would heal, but it was up to her to wake up.

Everything was dark. There nothing to see, nothing to feel, to hear, to touch. It was like all of her senses were taken away from her. She felt present, but at the same time, felt like she didn't exist at all. She knew she wasn't dead, though. More like somewhere in between. The entire experience was very strange.

She wasn't sure how long it had been, but she was slowly getting some of her senses back. The first was hearing. Everything was quiet at first, and although she couldn't figure out how to get out of the darkness in her head and see the light of day, she could hear what was going on around her. For the most part, it was just the beeping of a machine, someone walking around, and a couple of people talking. The voices didn't ring any bells, but one of them was comforting to her, and she liked to hear it a lot. It made her less afraid of what was going on with her.

Next, she was able to smell. Although there weren't many smells around her, she did notice whenever a delicious aroma was near and made her have another feeling, although this feeling was foreign to her at the moment. Aside from these smells, it mostly just smelled… clean. That was the best word she could think of to describe it.

At some point, she noticed she didn't feel as weighted down by the darkness anymore. She was feeling a little lighter and a little freer. She also noticed the beeping sound she had grown to be familiar with was speeding up. For a moment, she wondered where that sound was coming from. The thought was pushed aside, however, when she noticed a bit of light, and willed herself to find it.

The heart monitor began to pick up in pace. Tony stopped walking around and stared at Natasha. His heart was beating hard in his chest and he was honestly scared in that moment that she was dying. It wasn't until he noticed she began to stir that his worry grew into slight joy, but then quickly back to worry. How much pain would she be in if she was waking up? Sure, the doctors had said they had given her enough pain killers to where she shouldn't be able to feel a thing, but what if it wasn't enough?

He quickly sat down beside her again when she started to make a few noises, like she was trying to figure out what was going on and how to use her body again. He held her hand again, his thumb rubbing circles into the back of it, ready to do whatever she needed him to do so that she would be alright.

He continued to watch her, a small smile on his face when her eyes opened a little. They closed back shut, and he figured it was from the lights. He quickly ran over to the light switch and turned the lights in the room off, then went back over and sat down next to her again. The heart monitor wasn't beeping as fast anymore, which did relieve him a bit.

"Hey," he whispered when her eyes opened again.

She didn't respond at first, and he didn't mind. He would wait until she was ready and, knowing Natasha, she would be ready quickly. But that didn't matter. If she never spoke again, that didn't matter to him either. As long as she was okay.

"What happened?" she asked, voice really rough from not having used it.

"We traced the video and kind of barged in and rescued you," he said, then chuckled when he saw the look of disbelief on her face.

It was good to know she was going to be okay and was still her normal self.

"Are you okay?"

It kind of surprised him to hear her ask that. She should be worried about herself, not him. Tony sighed and squeezed her hand, deciding that now was the best time to confess.

"I am now," he breathed out.

"What do you mean by 'now'?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

"I mean that… I've been really concerned the past few days while you've been in here. And before that, I was a wreck trying to figure out where you were and if you were okay. Truth is, I… I think I love you, Natasha."

There. He said it. His feelings were out in the open. He watched her as she processed the information, looking into her eyes and seeing… hope? No, it was relief. He furrowed his eyebrows together, trying to figure out why she had that look in her eyes.

"I love you, too," she whispered, giving him a smile.