The Lake House
A flood of relief washed over Kat as she watched the jet land, Tony the first out of it, followed by a doctor and a nurse with a gurney. Tony opened the door and his face paled at the sight of a passed out Steve and Kat covered in blood. “I tried to keep him awake Tony, but I couldn’t I’m sorry.” Kat let out, sobbing. “It’s okay Katherine." He told her. Between Tony, the doctor and the nurse, they were able to get Steve out of the car and onto the gurney, taking him up to the jet. Tony came around to the other side, opening the door and helping Kat out.
“I’m sorry about your car Tony.” She told him, looking back at the blood stained back seat. Tony pulled Kat to him and wrapped his arms around her. “It’s okay, it’s just a car, I’m just glad we got to you." He jumped back when she winced, looking her over for injuries, when he saw she was holding her arm.
“Wait, you got shot too! Why didn’t you tell me!” He all but yelled at her.
“Because Steve was hurt worse, he was more important. It just grazed me, I’m fine.” She told him. He shook his head and led her to the jet, getting her down in a seat before taking off, letting the nurse know to check her over as soon as possible. She was seated directly across from where they were working on Steve.
“How long has he been out?” The doctor asked her. “About fifteen minutes or so.”
The doctor nodded, hooking Steve up to an I.V., and getting to work on the wounds. “The shoulder wound is already starting to slowly heal, covering it up helped out a lot, you did a good job Kat.” The doctor told her. She smiled. “Now, we need to work on getting this bullet out. Luckily, it wasn’t near any major organs, so it should be fairly easy. I gave him some pain medication, but with the serum, I’m not sure how well it will work. He may wake up when I start to dig around in there.” She said. That made Kat uneasy.
The doctor pulled out what looked like long tweezers and began to dig out the bullet. Steve started to whimper and move around the table. The doctor told the nurse to hold him still while he worked. Kat got up and walked over to Steve’s head. She took his hand in hers and started rubbing circles around it. “It’s okay Steve, you’re gonna be okay. It’s almost over.” She whispered to him, resting her head on his. He calmed down slightly at the sound of her voice, but was still making pained sounds. She tried to soothe him the best she could, she felt so bad for him.
The doctor got the bullet out a couple minutes later and stitched up both wounds, telling Kat that He should be completely healed with a day or two. He came over to look at her arm and told her that the bullet did tear through some muscle, and it would take longer to heal. He cleaned it and stitched it up, just using a local on her so she didn’t have to be put to sleep. He patched it up and put her arm in a sling.
Tony took them back to his cabin, just to get away from everything. Kat had called Jared, telling him what had happened and asked him to pack up their room and take everything back to the tower, and she would pick it up when they returned.
The lake house was beautiful. Kat could see why Tony loved it here. She saw a glimpse of the garage, or better yet Tony’s workshop, and chuckled. Of course he’d have a workshop out here. They got Steve into the house and into one of the guest bedrooms, and Pepper pulled Kat into a hug, minding her arm. “Oh Kat, I’m so glad you are okay. Both of you.”
“Thank you Pepper. Me too.” She told her. They left Kat and Steve in the room and she went into the adjoining bathroom and got a washcloth to clean the blood off him. She sat down next to him on the bed with a bowl of warm water and began rubbing the blood off his neck. The doctor had cut his other shirt off him, so he just had a blanket pulled up to his arms. She carefully cleaned the blood away until it was gone, Steve never waking, but his skin was already getting some color back.
She went back into the bathroom and took a shower, watching her arm, and put on some of the clothes Pepper had given her. She didn’t know what to do about Steve, none of Tony’s clothes would fit, but Pepper said Tony already ordered him some that would be there in the morning.
Kat pulled the chair over to the bed and sat down, laying her head on the bed next to Steve’s hand. It wasn’t long before the exhaustion took over, and she drifted off to sleep.
Steve only woke once, and it only lasted a few minutes. He noticed Kat’s head near him on the bed, and he ran a hand through her hair, before falling back to sleep.
Kat woke up the next morning with a pain in her neck, she really should have gotten in the bed with Steve, but she wanted him to have room. She carefully put the chair back and went out to the kitchen, to find Pepper and Tony sitting at the table drinking coffee.
“Morning Sparkles, how is he?” Tony asked. Kat poured herself a cup and sat down with them. “I think he’s okay, hes still asleep, but I figured he would be. His body went through a lot of trauma yesterday.” She told them.
“We’re going into town today, to pick up some extra food since you guys should be here w few days. Is there anything that you need?” Pepper asked her.
“Other than just basic toiletries for both of us, toothbrushes and what not, we shouldn’t, as long as some clothes arrive for Steve we should be okay.” Pepper nodded and stood, giving her a hug before going to get ready.
The package of clothes arrived not long after Tony and Pepper left, and Kat laid them out in the chair in Steve’s room, before going back out to the living room and turning on the tv. She found some old cartoons to watch and found herself dozing off.
When Steve finally woke up, it took a minute for him to remember what happened. He had been shot. Kat had been shot. She’d called Tony. That must be where they were, Tony’s house. He got up, wincing a little at how sore he was, but looked to see that the bullet holes were closed up, now they were just little pink scars, which would go away in a day or two. He saw some clothes in the chair next to the bed, so he took a quick shower, and went to find Kat.
He found her dozing on the couch and he noticed the sling on her arm. “Oh God.” He choked out. Kat stirred and opened her eyes, looking over at Steve. “Hey, you’re awake.” She told him, sitting up and smiling at him. But his eyes never left her arm. “You got shot.” He said, coming closer to her.
“Yeah, but I’m fine, just a graze, got some muscle, but I’ll be good as new in no time.” She said softly.
Steve walked over and slowly slid to his knees in front of her, gently touching her arm. “You got shot.” He said again. “Because of me.” His voice cracked and it broke Kat’s heart.
“Hey, no. I got shot because I didn’t listen and didn’t stay put like you told me to. It’s not your fault Steve, I’m okay.” She said softly. He looked up at her with tears in his eyes and laid his head in her lap, his arms circling her waist. “I’m so sorry.” He sobbed. She wasn’t sure what to do. She’d never seen him like this before. She took her good hand and ran it through his hair.
“Shh, it’s okay Steve. I’m okay, we’re okay.” She whispered.