Chapter 18
Both sets of eyes swiveled to meet his. A slow smile grew on Celia’s face and he saw the beginning of a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
“Trying to get me in your bed already, eh Rogers?” Celia quipped, laughing at his heated cheeks. He sputtered a little, looking for the right words to cover his gaff. “Thanks for the offer, but I don’t want to put you out. This couch is fine.”
“It does actually make more sense to put you in a bed somewhere, especially if we’re right and you can fall back to sleep. You’ll be much more comfortable,” Bruce noted, scooping up the machine to set on a rolling cart. “Jarvis, are there any available guest rooms in the tower?”
“There are two rooms available on Mr. Stark’s personal floor and one on Ms. Romanoff’s, but she is not here to consent to its use. The other floors are still undergoing construction and uninhabitable,” Jarvis answered.
“You want to ask Tony?” Steve asked with a smirk, happy he could get back at Celia a little. He wasn’t going to admit he enjoyed her good-natured teasing, he had an image to uphold. Celia groaned and put her head in her hands.
“This giant tower and those are my options,” she muttered, standing up and stretching her arms over her head. Steve looked away so he wouldn’t be tempted to look at the little bit of skin that peeked out under her shirt. “You win this round Steve.”
Bruce finished loading the cart with all the equipment and started rolling it to the door. Steve quickly scooped up Celia’s bag before she could, smiling brightly at her glare as she walked through the door he held open. Bruce was entering the elevator by the time they got there, sliding the cart into the back corner. Celia eyed the car as she stepped on, standing in the center away from the sides.
“I’m only a few floors up,” Steve assured her as Jarvis quickly took them up to his floor. The elevator opened up to a spacious living room area, with floor to ceiling windows along the outer walls, revealing a breathtaking view of the city. There was a kitchen and small dining area to the right and a hallway with private bedrooms and bathrooms on the left. Most of the rooms were still empty, only his bedroom being used full time at this point. Tony told him he could do whatever he wanted with them, but he still didn’t feel comfortable changing things around too much. All he really needed was a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen, anything else was unnecessary. But it was still a sight more personalized than Celia’s apartment seemed to be.
“Wow,” Celia breathed out, stepping off the elevator and walking toward the windows. “This is amazing.”
“I’m gonna go get things set up,” Bruce said, heading toward the bedroom. Steve nodded in acknowledgment, going over to stand next to Celia who was looking at the view in awe. He couldn’t blame her, it still took his breath away at times. He had been meaning to seek out some art supplies to draw it, but never got around to it.
“I know,” Steve agreed, staring out at the lights of the city. It was nice right now, but when the sky got dark and all the lights came on, it was truly breathtaking. They stood together in silence, taking everything in. Everyone else seemed so desensitized to things, because it was old hat for them. But for Steve, so many things were like stepping into Oz for Dorothy and seeing color.
“How do you get used to a view like this?” Celia asked after a few minutes.
“I’ll let you know if I ever do,” Steve laughed, turning to walk toward the kitchen. “Can I get you something to help you get settled? Warm milk maybe?” He heard Celia following him and she perched on a stool next to the counter.
“Only if you spike it with sleeping pills,” she joked, resting her chin on her fist.
“Sorry, fresh out of those. I could raid Tony’s bar for you if you’d like,” Steve offered, with a chuckle.
“I’m not much of a drinker, but I’ll keep that in mind.”
“So what do you like to do for fun, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Fun? Don’t know it,” Celia chuckled, closing her eyes. “I usually keep myself busy with work and other stuff, so I don’t really have time.”
“You’re kind of mysterious,” Steve said with a grin. Steve would be lying if he said he wasn’t intrigued to hear more of Celia’s story. From the name change and the empty apartment, to the little bits of detail she sprinkled here and there. But Steve would never outright ask her anything he thought she would want to keep to herself. He respected her right to privacy.
“I’d say I’m more boring than mysterious. I’m a lot less interesting than the things you see, being a superhero and all.”
“Oh, you mean the alien thing? Yeah, that was a bit strange.”
“Just a bit.”
“Pardon the interruption, but Dr. Banner has requested your presence in the bedroom,” Jarvis announced, snapping Celia from her rest.
“And how do you get used to that?” Celia asked, rubbing her eyes.
“Again, I’ll let you know,” Steve laughed, leading her to his bedroom. Bruce had a large machine with monitors sitting next to the bed, the blankets already turned down and ready for Celia to slip in. She toed off her shoes near the door, taking extra time to line them up perfectly with a pair of his. Steve could tell she was nervous and stalling for time. He was pretty nervous too, not knowing if this would work and not knowing what to do if it didn’t.
“Do you need to change before we start?” Bruce asked, picking up the headpiece.
“Should I take my shirt off again?” Celia joked with less zest than she had before. “No, this is fine.” She slowly walked over to the bed and sat down in front of Bruce. He started putting on the equipment, explaining what each part was and what it did.
“Now, when you wake up the first time, if my theory is correct, try your best not to move around. It will help give me the most accurate scans of your brain. And I’m going to ask you what you’re feeling and where you’re feeling it, okay?” Bruce explained, holding the wires so Celia could lay down and get comfortable.
“I’ll leave you guys to it,” Steve said, backing toward the door.
“Wait!” Celia yelled, whipping her head back up to face him. “Stay with me? Please?” Steve froze, staring into her wide eyes. She looked downright terrified now and her words from earlier rang through his head. Celia needed him to be strong for her, when she couldn’t be strong for herself. Steve slipped off his shoes and climbed onto the other side of the bed, resting against the backboard.
“No place I’d rather be,” he stated firmly, smiling at the grateful look in Celia’s eyes. She nestled back down on her side, facing him.
“Okay now, try to relax and drift off to sleep,” Bruce instructed, sitting down on a chair in front of his monitor. Celia blew out a breath and closed her eyes, relaxing into the mattress. Tony had tried to explain to him the benefits of this certain mattress, something about body conforming and support, but Steve hadn’t paid much attention. Back in his day, as long as you weren’t sleeping on the floor, you had it made. Steve noticed Celia’s breaths starting to even out and he stole a glance at Bruce. Bruce nodded, writing a note down in his notebook. Steve braced himself for Celia to suddenly awaken, feeling his stomach roil at the thought of seeing her in pain again. He knew the pain wouldn’t be as bad as the first time, in the elevator, but he still hated seeing it. Her screams would be a frequent visitor in his nightmares to come, he was sure of it.
Celia jerked awake with a quiet gasp, immediately squeezing her eyes closed again. Steve’s hand hovered over her, wanting to provide comfort, but not knowing if he would mess up the readings.
“What are you feeling Celia?” Bruce asked, in his best doctor voice.
“Ugh, I feel like a tingly burning in my muscles,” Celia panted, flexing her hands.
“Where?”
“All over, mostly my legs though.”
“Heart rate is at 180bpm, Dr. Banner,” Jarvis noted. Bruce jotted down a note, coming over to stand at Celia’s side.
“Try to take slow, even breaths, okay?” Bruce directed, demonstrating what he wanted. Celia took a stuttering breath, wincing out an exhale. Steve scooted down to lay beside her, putting her hand on his chest so she could feel his breathing.
“Let’s do it together,” Steve said calmly, staring into her eyes. “In and out, in and out, just like that.” They stayed that way for a few minutes, breathing together until Celia finally breathed out a sigh of relief.
“It’s over,” Celia mumbled, pulling her hand back and tucking it against herself under the blanket. “Thank you.”
“What was your pain level?” Bruce asked, going back to his notebook to write down more information he gathered.
“It wasn’t as bad as the other times, maybe a 3 out of 10. It hasn’t been very long since the last time I fell asleep, so I guess I didn’t have a chance to do too much damage,” Celia answered, closing her eyes again.
“Alright, I guess all that’s left now is to test out the second part of our theory: going back to sleep,” Bruce stated, setting down his notebook. “I’ll leave all the equipment on, even though we won’t need all the readings we’ll get. I just don’t want to risk waking you if you stay asleep.” Celia nodded, squirming a little to try to get comfortable.
“My brain doesn’t seem to want me to fall asleep this time,” Celia mumbled after a few minutes of trying to drift off.
“Finally want to take me up on that offer of warm milk?” Steve joked, still laying next to her on the bed.
“Could you just talk?”
“What do you want me to talk about?”
“Anything. Just don’t talk about yourself. I’ll want to stay awake and listen.”
Steve felt a little warmth grow inside his chest at Celia’s words. They were so effortlessly charming it was like she had heard it in a movie. He grabbed one of the more dull history books he had sitting on his end table and started reading out loud. Steve was five minutes into the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson when he noticed Bruce give him a signal. He held his breath, counting down in his head the time when Celia had shown to kick off her healing. The seconds passed slower than Steve could ever remember in his life, second only to waiting for Tony to fall back through the wormhole. He closed his eyes and counted to sixty in his head, willing the silence to continue. When the minute passed, he opened his eyes to find Bruce’s smiling face, holding a thumbs up. The theory was right.
Steve felt a weight lift off his chest. The relief was like losing an ache you didn’t realize you had until it was gone, a vice gripped around his chest falling loose and finally letting him breathe freely. He laid his head back down, staring up at the ceiling. Even with his long nap the day before, the stress of it all and the serum working to heal his shoulder was sucking the energy right out of him. He closed his eyes for a moment to let himself rest a bit, just for a little while until he was ready to carefully remove himself from the bed. Steve heard Bruce quietly step out of the room, the door almost silently snicking closed behind him. He would just relax for a little bit longer, then go be productive. Just one more minute.