undercover - Steve Rogers

chapter 23 - relapse

After the wedding Amara and Natasha left for Aruba, everyone either went home or crashed at Lennox and Steve's house. Clint, Laura and the kids went home, Amara's parents went back home, Sam, Wanda, and Vision stayed another night what they thought was going to be an easy night turned into Wandas ear piercing scream, but we need to rewind first.

Wanda and Vision were getting ready for bed, Sam was already passed out and Steve was outside cleaning up the decorations. Wanda headed upstairs to borrow some comfy sweatpants.

"Len? Can i borrow your red sweatpants? I'll take that as a yes." Wanda said to herself as she walked towards the dresser to find the sweatpants. "Mom!" Wanda went into the bathroom to see Lennox on the ground, she had passed out Wandas screams woke up Sam and alerted Steve that something was wrong. All three guys went racing upstairs, Steve pushed through everyone.

"What happened?" He frantically questioned. 

"I don't know i came in to borrow sweatpants and then she didn't respond so i came in and found her on the ground, i don't think she ate today." Wanda grabbed onto Visions arm for support so she didn't go down next.

"She didn't eat yesterday either." Steve sighed quickly he picked up Lennox and walked her over to the bed, "When she wakes up i'll have her drink a smoothie with electrolytes." Steve said before running down the stairs to go get her the smoothie.

"My only idea would be to call Mara, but shes on a honeymoon and shouldn't worry about her best friend." Sam scratched the back of his head as he talked to Vision and Wanda. Wanda nodded in agreement and sat down next to Lennox's body.

It was still quiet, no one moved or said anything the only noise that could be heard was Steve using the blender downstairs and Steve dropping things in the kitchen. Sam didn't say anything he just stared a the opposing wall, Wanda sat on the bed next to Lennox, Vision was looking stuff up in a book trying to help.

"What's with all the sad faces?" Lennox opened her eyes to see everyone's faces look upset, they turned their head quickly to make eye contact with Lennox.

"When was the last time you ate?" Wanda asked forcefully.

"Today, i had uhm...coffee." Lennox thought back to the past 48 hours, she hadn't eaten anything.

Steve opened the door quietly, he handed the smoothie to Lennox then he sat down next to Wanda on the bed.

"Lennox, you need to make sure you eat. Wanda is traumatized from seeing your body on the ground." Steve spoke calmly, grabbing her hand into his.

"I forgot, i was so caught up on giving Nat and Amara the perfect wedding. I'm sorry, i'll be okay. Go back to sleep everyone." Lennox told the group, Wanda hesitated getting out of bed but Steve sent her a reassuring nod. Wanda led the group out of the room so Steve could be alone with Lennox.

"Come here." He whispered, the couple moved closer to each other. Lennox sat in between Steve's legs with her back against his chest, the beating of Steve's heart calmed Lennox down as she drank the smoothie.

"The worst part is i didn't even realize i didn't eat anything." She said under her breathe.

"You beat it once, you can beat it twice. We will just have to stay on top of it." Steve rubbed her arm and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm sorry." Lennox let a tear slip out of her eye.

"Why are you sorry?"

"I put you through all this, i'm a pain in the ass, i can't even have any kids but you still just keep putting up with me. I don't understand, why you do it?" Lennox looked him in the eyes.

"I do it because i'm so in love with you, i don't care about kids. If i have you we'll be okay, because i'm happy with just you plus we got Wanda shes plenty close to a kid." Steve put his hand onto Lennox's cheek, he grazed his thumb against her skin softly. Lennox placed her hand over Steve's, he kissed her hand gently.

"How did i get so blessed with a man like you." Lennox stifled a laugh.

"Well, i think it was when we were at Clint's house and i knew that you would find me irresistible." He teased, Lennox scoffed. "Let's go out of the balcony, we can look at the stars." He helped Lennox out of bed and they walked over to the french doors out to the balcony.

Lennox's back was pressed against Steve's body, his arms wrapped around her waist while his head sat on her shoulder as they looked at the stars.

"I didn't fine you irresistible, i think it was your ass." Lennox retorted, his mouth held agape.

"Very funny, Lennox." He sarcastically laughed at her comment.

Monsters, demons, bad guys, they are everywhere. They live amongst everyone, in you, around you. Lennox carries her demons within her, it's a dark and scary route but Steve is the light that scares the demons away.

If someone were to ask Steve if he believed in love at first sight, he'd say no. Because in his mind, he was always in love with Lennox even without meeting her. The little stories he heard about her from Fury, Maria Hill, Coulson, and Clint he knew that, she was holding the part of him that was missing.

All Steve wanted to do was to protect Lennox from the horrors of the world, protect her big heart that somehow always makes people get pulled into Lennox. Once you got past Lennox's tough outer shell, you would see how much she loves and cares for everyone in her life. That scares her, so she covers it up. There's always a chance for a Hydra agent or some other villain would come after Lennox, she didn't want them to touch the people she cares about so she masks her feelings only opening up to her loved ones.

They always say, home isn't a place, or a sight, what it is, is a person and a feeling of comfort and love. When you find that person, you shouldn't give them away because finding that feeling again is a hard journey. Lennox use to say that she didn't have a home, because she never felt truly complete. She had found her family, the Avengers. Her niece and nephews, Laura, Pepper anyone who had a correlation to the Avengers was a part of her home. The people she would protect forever, risking her life for them no matter the cost.