Thunderstruck

After telling each Avenger not to say a word about how she was cuddling her little sister on the floor of the quinjet, the rest of the trip was made pretty easily. Lexi even fell asleep for a while as well, as the flight was a fairly long one. By the time they landed back at the Tower, Lexi was awake and helping Rosie to her feet, then onto the gurney they wheeled out for her. And though it broke her heart when Rosie made a distressed sound when Lexi didn't stay with her, she didn't follow and instead helped get the still incredibly cautious and nervous Olivia Bowman onto the second gurney, trying to reassure her it would all be okay and her uncle would be there really soon.

Following immediately after the second gurney, Lexi went with them all the way to the small medical room of the Tower, and watched from the hallway, standing against the opposite wall of the doors as both girls were moved to beds and hooked up to IVs. Her hands shook as she watched them, both wide-eyed and terrified at the medical staff, despite the fact that the rooms they were in looked just like normal bedrooms with the addition of the medical equipment and beds.

"Can I—?" she started to ask a nurse, taking a step towards the doorway of Rosie's room.

"Please stay back," the nurse told her.

Albeit reluctant, Lexi did take the step back towards the wall and bit her lip, watching and feeling distressed that she couldn't comfort her sister. Lexi's eyes then turned towards Olivia Bowman who, for the most part, looked completely apathetic to all of the nurses moving around her. Her expression only shifted when someone got too close and that was when she suddenly looked downright terrified at the prospect. She looked like she was waiting for them to start hurting her or yelling at her. It made Lexi’s stomach churn, thinking of what Hydra had to have done to her to make her believe that. All she wanted to do was give the poor girl a hug, to hold her and tell her they couldn't hurt her anymore, that no one here would hurt her. That she'd get to go home soon.

Hands still shaking, Lexi jumped when her phone buzzed and completely dropped it, swearing as she bent over to pick it up quickly before she got in the way of one of the staff. She quickly unlocked her phone to see what the message was.

donald duck
im here
will they let me up?

lex-mex
yeah dad told them youd be coming
as long as you havent hidden a razor in that chocolate

donald duck
i would have a better hiding place than that
see you in a minute

A smile pulled on her lips at her boyfriend's antics and she felt herself relax a little knowing he would be next to her soon. Bobby had a way of making all her worries fade to almost nothing. Maybe it was his carefree and aloof attitude or just how he knew her so well after all the years they'd known each other, Lexi didn't quite care.

Sure enough, a moment later she heard the very faint ding of the elevator in the distance and she turned towards it, seeing Bobby round the corner. Her smile widened at the sight of the little woven basket he was carrying with the stuffed owl and several chocolate bars. He started walking faster when he saw her and she rushed towards him, letting him envelop her in a hug as she pressed her face into his neck, breathing in the smell of his cologne and letting it relax her.

"She's safe," Lexi told him. "Safe and alive and not— detrimentally injured and... and home , finally."

"I know, babe, I know," he told her. "Are we allowed in yet, Santa's got presents to deliver."

Lexi huffed out a laugh into his chest. "Please never refer to yourself as Santa ever again."

"Got you to laugh, didn't it?"

"Still disturbing to hear my boyfriend say. Never do it again."

"I make no promises."

She rolled her eyes and stepped back, taking his hand and lacing her fingers through his. He smiled and kissed her cheek, causing her heart to do a flip. Turning to look back at the room, she saw the nurses had cleared out, so she guided Bobby towards the door and then into the room. Rosie looked up and saw them, more clarity in her face than on the quinjet as she smiled at the sight of them coming in.

"Hey, Ros," Lexi said.

"Hi," Rosie responded.

"How are you feeling?" Bobby asked.

"Uh..." Rosie started, looking away. "Tired."

"Bobby brought something for you," Lexi said, sitting down on the bed next to her. "To make you feel better."

"You did?" she asked, her features lighting up as she turned to Bobby. Lexi had to fight down a smirk. Her baby sister's crush on Bobby had always been rather obvious. And adorable. "What is it?"

"Some of your favourites, of course," Bobby told her, lifting up the basket and placing it on the bed between the two girls. "A stuffed owl that is very soft and cute, just like you, and only the best cookies and cream chocolate bars for the best girl."

Rosie's face turned beet-red as she listened to Bobby's flattery and looked at the gifts he had brought her. It was almost a relief to see her blush so much, given it brought more colour to her face. The younger girl took the stuffed owl when he handed it to her, holding it in her arms and seemingly unable to meet his eye.

"Uh, th-thanks. Thank you," she said.

"You are very welcome," Bobby said, sending a wink to Lexi when Rosie wasn't looking.

"So I've been thinking…” Lexi started, “once you're better and they give you the official clean bill of health, how about we go down to that arcade we always go to? You can bring some of your friends, Bobby and Finn will come too and we can help you guys cheat for more tickets... How does that sound?"

"That would be fun," she admitted.

"I can give you tokens of my love from the claw machine," Bobby told Lexi, causing her to roll her eyes.

Smiling still, Lexi's eyes turned back to her sister only to see the confused look on Rosie's face at Bobby's comment. A stream of curses rolled through her head on a loop as she realized Rosie didn't know they were together. That they had been together for a few months already. This was definitely not the time or the place she had imagined finally telling Rosie the amazing news. But they definitely couldn't avoid it now.

"Right, that..." Lexi said. "Well, I didn't want to tell you like this but, uh, Bobby and I are dating now. We have been ever since my birthday. He was able to make me really smile for the first time since Dad told me you were gone."

"Hey, I'll still win you tokens of love from the claw machine, too, Rosie," Bobby told her, giving her a wink and causing her blush to come back full force.

There was a knock on the door and they all looked over to see Tony standing there. Lexi stood up from the bed, giving her dad a smile. She leaned down and gave Rosie a kiss on the forehead, before pulling Bobby after her as they left the room, saying they'd give the two some time to themselves and ignoring her dad's calls after them to not go find a closet to hide in.

Once away from the medical wing, Bobby pulled on Lexi's hand to get her to stop and then pulled her into a hug, leaning back against the wall. Lexi went easily, relaxing in his embrace and leaning against him, happy for their quiet moment to themselves.

"You know, I'm so happy we got Ros and that she's safe, but the other girl... Bobby, she may be trying to hide it but she seems totally afraid of us... Dad said she was there for like three years, I can't even imagine what they did to her to make her think that..."

"Other girl?"

"Olivia Bowman, the niece of one of Dad's employees. I just want to give her a hug but I think she'd break me if I tried."

"Awe, Lex."

"One of these days I'm going to build myself a suit like my dad's and I'm going to burn every last remnant of Hydra to the ground..."

"That is how you kill them in the myths."

Lexi smiled and looked up at him. "Look at you, all cultured," she said, kissing him once. "Knowing your mythology."

"Not that impressive, Finn doesn't know when to shut up when he gets excited about stuff. But if that's my reward, I'll definitely take credit," he admitted.

"Knowing Finn, he probably doesn’t even know he’s doing it. The adorable little geek," she agreed.

"He's definitely one of the best friends someone could ask for."

"Well, he is until he starts trying to tell you how to do something you've been doing for your whole life."

"Still not over that one, huh?"

"I've been taking the bus basically my entire life, okay! I know what I'm doing!"

"I'm not the one who said it!" Bobby defended himself, laughing too. “He was probably talking to himself, and not you, you know.”

Lexi shrugged her shoulders and then leaned her head against his chest again, closing her eyes and just relaxing against him. It had been a long day so far for sure, and she definitely wanted to go to sleep. But before that...

"Hey, Cap said he'd get me cake when we got back, do you think we can get him to give us some?"

"Cake from Captain America? Count me in."