Sorry it took so long to update, school has been so busy! Paper after paper after paper, it's awful. Anyway, enjoy and review!
The call came at just after four-thirty in the afternoon two weeks after Steve was changed by the accident. Tony was in his lab back at the Avengers' compound, working on one of those new projects that none of his teammates liked because they tended to explode.
He answered the phone halfway through the first ring, trying but failing epically to mask his eagerness to news about Steve. "How is he?" were the first words out of his mouth.
"You should get over here," Natasha answered with a stifled laugh at Tony's eagerness. "He just woke up."
Tony walked into the hospital room exactly four minutes and twelve seconds later, a quarter of the time that it should have taken him to arrive. Natasha looked at him suspiciously.
"Use your suit?" she asked.
"Please, like I care that much about Mr. Young America." Tony avoided looking directly into Natasha's eyes as he answered. "Traffic was light."
"Uh huh," she replied. "So no Iron Man suit was involved?"
"Shut the hell up," Tony snapped. "What's up with Steve-o?"
"He woke up about half an hour ago," Bruce answered, coming up behind them. "The doctors won't let anyone see him until they're finished checking him out."
"And exactly how long is that gonna take?" Tony fumed.
"Don't get your panties in a bunch, Stark, I think they're almost done," Clint quipped as he peered through the window in Steve's door.
The door opened and Doctor Gao exited, obviously mentally preparing himself to face the Avengers. "Good afternoon," he said dryly.
"Skip the small talk," Tony ordered. "What's going on with Steve?"
"Captain Rogers woke from his coma about half an hour ago, understandably very confused," Gao began. "He was a little scared, but we managed to calm him down and check out his vitals. Everything appears to be normal, but please remember that his body is currently extremely fragile, and he can only recall about the first fifteen years of his life. He will need to be treated with caution in every regard."
"What about his eyes?" Bruce questioned. "Is he still blind?"
"I'm afraid so, and the blindness seems to be permanent. That is just another one of the things you will have to be wary of."
"Wait, wait, slow down, cowboy," Tony interrupted. "You're making it sound an awful lot like we're going to be taking care of him."
"I'm apologize, Mr. Stark, I just assumed that the Avengers would want to take care of their own. There really aren't very many other options as to where he can stay."
"Don't worry, Doctor," Natasha chimed in. "We'll be happy to take care of Steve. He can stay at the compound with us."
"Oh goodie, a small, weak, immature teenager messing up the compound and eating us out of house and home!" Tony said sarcastically.
"You're a billionaire, Stark, I'm pretty sure you can handle a teen."
"I wouldn't count on it."
"Man of Healing, may we visit Captain Rogers now?" Thor interrupted. The rest of them jumped, not having heard the god of thunder come up behind them.
"One thing you need to know first," Gao said, "we told Mr. Rogers that he was in an accident which may have caused some short-term memory loss."
"What about his parents?" Asked Natasha.
"We… haven't told him anything about his parents yet. We're still trying to find something that can tell us anything at all about his life at this age. There are very few records of Steve Rogers before he began applying for the army. Just try to steer clear of the whole family idea for the moment." Having given these instructions, Gao pushed the door open and ushered the Avengers inside.
Despite all of the weird things each of the Avengers had encountered in their life times, this experience single-handedly beat every other weird piece of crap.
Steven Grant Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America, was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed with his skinny legs hanging just above the floor. He sat up straight, like a perfect little schoolboy, and though he had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, he was shivering terribly, staring straight ahead with pale unseeing eyes. The Avengers stopped short at the sight, each one too shocked to say anything. Gao sighed and took the lead.
"Steve?" He said gently. "It's Doctor Gao again."
"Hello, Doctor," Steve responded politely.
"I have some people here who want to talk to you."
"Who are they?" Steve asked, and even those in the room who were not highly trained assassins could hear the slight tremble of uncertainty, possibly even fear, in the child's voice.
"Some friends," Gao replied. "Remember, you were in an accident. These people are here to take care of you." Steve didn't say anything, but as he did not object to meeting them, Gao decided to begin introductions.
"Steve, these are your new caretakers, Dr. Bruce Banner…" Bruce stepped forward and tenderly shook Steve's hand, "…Thor Odinson…" The god of thunder, though he tried to be gentle, gave Steve's hand quite a hard squeeze, "… Clint Barton…" the archer gently patted him on the back, "…Natasha Romanoff…" the normally cold assassin stepped forward and gave him a warm maternal hug, unlike anything any of them had seen from her before, "…and Tony Stark. " After a nudge from Bruce and a glare from Nat, Tony gingerly shook one of Steve's fingers with two of his own.
"It's nice to meet all of you," Steve said politely.
"Alright, if you'll excuse me, I have to go take care of some other patients, but don't worry Steve, you're in good hands." Gao moved toward the door.
"Yes sir. Thanks you sir, for everything."