The days when you were staring at the same four walls were blurring together. After your last mission you were put on bed rest. The three wounds that you suffered were still healing but you were getting bored of having to lay about doing nothing all day. So as it was the seventh day when you were doing nothing, you threw away the orders of your Captain and got out of bed. Taking care not to rip your stitches on your shoulder, side and thigh, you put on some fresh clothes and headed out to the kitchen.
It was early so everyone would be in bed sleeping, coming back late from a mission the night before. You entered the kitchen and started to get ingredients out to make waffles for the whole team. You made the mixture ready to pour it into the waffle maker, and got some fresh fruit ready. Once the maker had heated, you poured in the mix for the first few waffles.
In the meantime you got the frying pan out and started heating that up for bacon. It felt so good to be able to finally be putting all that energy you had into something more productive than just watching netflix.
The smell of the food you were preparing was making your mouth water and you couldn’t wait to dig into the feast once it was made.
You were so engaged in what you were doing you didn’t pay much attention to the first person other than you to walk into the kitchen. As it turned out it was the man himself, Steve Rogers. The one who ordered you very clearly to stay on bed rest.
“I’m not even going to ask what you’re doing in here, but I do want to know why you decided to ignore an order to stay on bed rest like I told you,” his Captain America voice in full fledge. His hands firmly on his hips and shoulders broad. Sometimes you wondered if you disobeyed him just to get his attention. It seemed to be the only time he paid you any, anyway.
If you hadn’t got injured on the last mission, he would have told you good job and that’d be it until the next time you were needed on a mission. Sometimes it seemed like he was avoiding you, but that was a stupid thought. It must have just been your brain finding reasons as to why the guy you were crushing on, wasn’t devoted to you in the same way. You never even had training sessions together, though!
“I was sick of lying around doing nothing,” you shrugged at him. Getting the last of the bacon and waffles onto plates, you headed over to the table and started to set down plates and cutlery, some drinking glasses, followed by food and drinks.
Steve was watching you like a hawk. You felt your cheeks growing red from his intense stare. You refused to meet his eye and kept yourself occupied moving back and forth around the table.
“After breakfast, I’ll accompany you to the med bay where you’ll get checked up. If you’re cleared, you can do what you want, just be careful of the stitches. If you’re not cleared, bed rest. Am I clear?” he asked sassily. You only nodded. It made you happy that you’d guys spend some time together but it felt like he wasn’t all too pleased about it all.
“If you want, I can go by myself. I need my bandages changed anyway and I wouldn’t want to waste your time, Captain,” you stated so matter-of-factly. Your heart was going crazy but you didn’t want to make a huge deal out of it. You didn’t notice the way Steve’s eyes lit up when you called him ‘Captain’, god he had it bad for you.
“No. I’ll go with you.”
The conversation ended there, as the team started to flow into the room all getting excited at the breakfast that was prepared for them.
“You did this?” Sam asked you, brows raised and a massive smile on his face.
“Yeah, I was bored and thought I’d be nice for you guys,” you responded giving him a pleased smile at the work you’ve done.
The team settled down, diving straight into the food and mumbling thank yous and making noises of approval. It was a nice feeling, seeing everyone happy in the morning and knowing you did that made you feel content.
You didn’t see the way Steve was eyeing you but Bucky did. He sighed and turned to his best friend, “you know you can’t keep avoiding her just because you have a crush on her?”
“I can and I will. I care about her too much to let her anywhere near me. If anyone found out how I feel about her, then they could try to use her as leverage. I can’t put her in that position. Especially not after the last mission,” Steve explained to Bucky in a hushed tone, he knew only his pal could hear.
“I understand you want to protect her, but she’s not a fragile, lil dame and you know that. So quit ignoring her and pushing her away, it’s not doing either of you any good,” Bucky lectured Steve, as a way to try and make him see that the both of you are pinning after the other.
“It’s keeping her as much out of harm’s way as I can control,” Steve spoke, but Bucky knew he could get through to his best friend if he kept pushing just a little bit more.
“That’s what you tell yourself. But I’m sure if you weren’t in denial about her liking you back then you’d have made a move. You chickening out, punk?”
“She doesn’t like me, she’s just nice to everyone if you haven’t realised,” the agitation becoming clear in Steve’s voice.
“When you go to the med bay, just tell her how you felt when she was hit during the mission. You’ll see that I’m right, and then you can thank me for it,” Bucky smirked feeling he won and Steve was gonna do just as he told him to.
*****
As you were headed to the med bay, Steve by your side, you were hoping and praying that Dr Cho would clear you and you’d be able to go back to training. You were too energetic to be kept in bed for too long. Plus, Bucky had promised to teach you his knife throwing skills.
Quickly arriving, Dr Cho greeted the both of you and Steve told her he wanted you to get checked up and your bandages changed. She led you to one of the beds and asked you to remove your trousers, but not before asking Steve to go sit in the waiting area.
“No, I need to know exactly how she’s doing and see how the wounds are healing,” his voice holding no room for argument.
Yet, Helen Cho was not to be messed with in her working space, “Captain, I assure you that I will give you a full report of the state of the injuries. Now, ple-,”
“It’s alright. I don’t mind him staying, if it’s what he wants,” you assured Dr Cho and she seemed to accept Steve’s presence.
After you removed your loose pj pants, you lay on the bed and awaited for your bandages to be removed. Dr Cho first attended to your thigh, which was healing nicely as she assured Steve and you. She checked the stitches and left the bandage off for the time being to let the area breathe.
Then she inspected your shoulder which was fine, almost healed, moving onto your side. This one you knew was the worst of them. It was a real close call and luck was all on your side since no major internal damage happened.
As Dr Cho removes the bandage, it gets caught on the wound and makes you whine. Steve grimaced and his eyes widened as he took in the bruising, followed by the stitches. He hoped that Dr Cho wouldn’t clear you. He didn’t want you going back to training and straining yourself. He knew you were more determined than anyone and worked your ass off. But he wanted you to have a break and to heal completely before returning to fighting.
“It seems the wound is healing nicely but it’s still very raw. It looks like any slightly strenuous activity could cause damage so I’ll need you to be careful.”
“Are you clearing me?” you asked, your voice sounded so hopeful it made Helen chuckle.
“Yes, but you are not to bend to lift things, actually no lifting of anything slightly heavy at all. No exercise which engages your core. I don’t want you ripping those stitches,” she levelled you with a serious expression letting you know she wasn’t messing around.
“Of course, I’ll be good. I promise,” you beamed like a child. She nodded and left to get fresh bandages.
Before you could speak, Steve sat beside you on the chair, his voice small.
“When I saw you get hit, I froze. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion yet my heart was beating right out of my chest. I felt like my feet were weighed down and I couldn’t reach you fast enough. I don’t even remember taking out the men who surrounded us...all I remember is how terrified I was seeing the blood spread so quickly on your suit. Then the next thing I know, you’re curled up in my arms losing consciousness as I’m sprinting for the quinjet. I felt how you were slipping away from me. It killed me even thinking you wouldn’t be ok. You had to be...I couldn’t lose you before I even had you.”
Throughout his whole speech, you sat still, listening intently to what he was saying. At first you felt shock at his words, at how genuinely worried he was for you. Then you felt this warmth inside you, growing and spreading, from your heart, outwards. You looked over at him, spotting the single tear rolling down his check. The impulse stronger than you, as you reached out to wipe it away. All this time you thought he didn’t think twice about you.
“I’m sorry that I tried to push you away. I was scared. I thought that having you by my side would put a target on your back,” he met your eye and the world around you was a blur.
Dr Cho interrupted your moment, clearing her throat. You turned to look at her and she gave you both a smile.
“I’ll just put these on and you’re free to go,” she told you.
Once the bandages were on and you were officially cleared, you started to leave the med bay. Steve stopped you, catching your hand gently.
“If you’ll have me, I’d like to take you on a date,” he gave you those gorgeous baby blue puppy dog eyes and you were done for. How could you resist?!
“I'd really love that. Been dreaming about this for way too long,” you admitted shyly. His chuckle and shake of the head, making your heart skip a beat.
“I’ve been such a blind idiot.”
“At least you finally get the girl, Rogers!” Bucky’s voice boomed from outside the med bay doors, sending everyone around, the whole team and Dr Cho, into laughter as they witnessed the two of you finally getting together.