Nightingale's Song (My MCU #3)

Chapter 12

Anna sighed as she and Steve entered the lab. He refused to take her word for it that everything was fine. He wanted an x-ray so he'd dragged her off to Banner. It appeared the scientists were just finishing up the batch of sedatives they needed for the mission.

"Bruce, we need an x-ray," Steve announced, sounding every bit the disgruntled super soldier he was. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest still annoyed with her for how she'd gone about repairing the damage.

He rushed over. "What happened?"

Tony snorted. "I would guess she failed the test."

"Guess again, Iron Man," she said over her shoulder as she followed Banner out the door to head to the infirmary.

"Raven broke Anna's arm," Steve said as they moved down the hall in answer to Bruce's earlier question.

Anna hopped up on the table she'd already spent too much time on. "Arm's fine. Steve lacks faith in my remarkable healing abilities."

Bruce hummed in acknowledgement. "Let's see it."

Anna held out her arm and Bruce manipulated the limb while watching her for any signs of distress. "Feels fine, Doc."

"Well, let's take a look at it." He ran a scanner over the arm until an image appeared on the large screen beside them. Bruce studied it for a second before looking at Steve. "If I didn't know you as well as I do, I would say you were lying about the break. There's no sign of it here. Not even a shadow."

Anna hopped off the table and patted Steve's chest. "See Steve. All good. Now, I need clothes I can fight in."

Steve's sigh was one of utter defeat and Anna couldn't stop the small smile that came to her face.

***

In the end, Loki conjured up an outfit for her to wear. It was incredibly comfortable. Natasha then fitted her with a pair of holsters and two pistols along with a couple of knives. Once she was outfitted, Anna found Steve and turned in a circle. "Well, what do you think, boss?"

His lips twitched as he fought a smile. He tapped his chin as if deep in thought. "There's something missing."

Anna glanced down in surprise. She thought they'd covered everything. When she looked up to say as much, Steve was undoing the clasp of the chain he was wearing. As he pulled it from his shirt, light caught the stones on the ring that hung from it. Anna gasped before covering her mouth with a trembling hand. It couldn't be.

"Is that..." she trailed off, not daring to hope he still had it after all this time.

He tilted his head and offered her a crooked smile. "Haven't taken it off in seventy years. I never thought I'd be able to keep my promise to bring it back to you."

Anna held up the chain and let the ring fall into her open palm. Tears blurred her vision as she looked at it for the first time in so long. She wanted nothing more than to slip back onto her finger where it belonged, but now wasn't the time. She didn't want to risk losing it in some dark corner of a Hydra base. Instead, she put it back onto the chain and clasped it around her own neck before tucking the ring into the collar of her shirt.

She lunged forward, causing Steve to grunt in surprise as she wrapped her arms around him. He was quick to return the gesture. "Thank you, Steve."

"You're welcome, Anna. Now, let me keep my other promise to bring Bucky back to you. It's overdue."

***

The Quinjet set down a mile away from the facility. It would impede a quick getaway but made it less likely they'd be spotted going in.