Miss Romanoff-Barton

You scared me

:)

Alexa's POV

I open my eyes to a hazy hospital room. Gentle lighting bathing the room in soft yellow light.

A hunched figure catches my eye.

Liam.

As my eyes sharpen, his dark circles come into focus.

"You look like shit"

His head snaps up and the look on his face makes my heart ache.

"How are you feeling?"

A second passes as I shift myself up into a sitting position and take a quick assessment of my own pain levels.

It doesn't take long for me to register the general screaming of my body. Ow.

He laughs next to me and I snap my head over to him. My raised eyebrow prompts his explanation.

"It's pretty clear you're in pain Lexa"

I roll my eyes, huffing in false annoyance. He's not wrong.

"I'm Ok-ish"

"Ok-ish?"

"It hurts like a bitch"

He laughs. Something I didn't know I desperately needed to see.

He grabs my hand tight, moving his chair closer to my bedside.

"I'm so glad to see you're awake. You really scared me there"

"I'm fine dude, I promise" I remind him gently, giving his hand a squeeze, "I'll be up and training in a couple days."

He glances down and my stomach sinks.

"Liam what aren't you telling me?"

He sighs.

"Liam" I repeat more firmly.

"Bruce wanted to tell you himself"

He glances up at me and visibly caves.

"The wounds in your legs and back cut deeper into the muscle than we originally realised and the weapons they used were specialised, creating thousands of micro-tears with every strike. You get enough micro-tears and well- "

He didn't need to finish.

"So?" I prompt him with a shaky breath.

"Bruce doesn't think you're going to be able to walk just yet"

My lungs freeze and static fills my brain.

How will I train? Can I be a SHIELD agent without training? Am I still on STRIKE Team? What do I do now?

"Hey, hey, Lexa take a breath in for me please?"

A sudden hand on my shoulder cuts through the white noise inside my head.

"Take a breath in. And out."

Ok. I can do that.

In and out.

"Good job, ok try again. In and out"

It feels like hours before the ringing in my head creeps back to the corners of my mind.

I take a large shuddery breath before my head fully clears and take a second to bring Liam into focus.

"Thanks for that"

He smiles but it doesn't quite reach his eyes.

"No problem. Are you ok?"

"Better" I reply definitively. Definitely better.