A red, red rose

Chapter 22

Once all three of them were inside the helicopter, Fury set off to find Sam and Steve. Once they were in the air heading towards the now damaged helicarriers, Sam's voice spoke through the coms. "Please tell me you got that chopper in the air!"

"Sam where are you?" Natasha asked. She was looking out of the window, towards the buildings. The nearest helicarrier had fallen into it, and was slicing through the windows.

"41st floor! Northwest corner!" Sam shouted.

"We're on it! Stay where you are!" Natasha reassured as she scanned the building looking for Sam.

"Not an option!" 

"I swear Sam, if you get squished by that building, I'm gonna be real mad." Charlie was anxiously bouncing her leg. She had only known Sam for a few weeks, but in that time he had become a close friend.

Fury flew closer to the building but before he could get close enough, Sam smashed through a window that was at least 10 floors above them.  Reacting quickly, Fury rotated the helicopter 90 degrees which allowed for Sam to come through the door. Natasha and Charlie both grabbed one of Sam's arms to stop him from falling through the other side. Fury turned the helicopter back the correct way.

"41st floor! 41st!" Sam shouted towards the front of the helicopter where Fury was sitting.

"It's not like they put the floor numbers on the outside of the building."

Charlie smirked at the director's blunt, defensive comment. 

"Hill! Where's Steve? You got a location on Rogers?" Natasha spoke through the coms. 

Fury flew the helicopter around the wreckages of the helicarriers to see if they could spot the super soldier amongst it. After around 30 minutes, Sam spotted Steve lying on the shore. Once they had picked him up, the bullet wounds that he had received meant that he needed treatment at a hospital.

Once they arrived, Charlie was also taken into surgery so that they could fix the wound on her leg that the S.H.I.E.L.D doctor couldn't do before. Charlie and Steve were both placed in a secure room so that they could recover.

Sam was sat next to Steve's bed, whilst Natasha sat next to Charlie. The beds were placed next to each other, with the normal curtain in between pulled back.

Sam had started to play Trouble Man, a Marvin Gaye album to lighten the mood in the room. 

"On you're left." Steve announced once he woke up.

"Finally man, we've been waiting for ages for one of you guys to wake up." Sam got up and turned the music down so that they could have a conversation.

Steve looked around the room and spotted Charlie unconscious in the bed next to him, with Natasha holding her hand. The sight made Steve smile. 

Seeing that Steve had spotted Charlie, Natasha reassured him that she was okay. "She just had the surgery on her leg. If she had waited much longer there would have been no leg."

"Where is Fury?" Steve asked Natasha.

"He's gone. I don't know where. People still think he's dead, he'd like to stay that way."

The room went silent and all that could be heard was the beeping of machines. Steve thought back to the moments on the helicarrier. He had had an encounter with his old friend Bucky which ended up with them fighting. However, he didn't remember much after falling into the water. "Did you guys pull me out of the water?"

"No, you were already on the shore when we found you. Why?" Sam answered.

"Nothing, it doesn't matter."

Sam stood up and walked around the room to stretch his legs. "Do you know that for most of the time I have known Charlie, she has been unconscious."

Steve laughed at Sam's statement, "She is quite accident prone."

"And I can't believe that there is two of her." Sam shook his head in disbelief.

"Don't worry, her and Maria are not similar in the slightest. The only thing that they have in common is how they look." Natasha told the men. "Maria is very secretive, to the extent that most people, me included, didn't know she had a twin. I only found out that she existed when Fury introduced her on that day on the helicarrier, at first I thought she was Maria. That was the day she scolded you for talking about her while she was stood right there." Natasha pointed at Steve.

"I would have loved to see that." Sam smirked at the man.

"As soon as she opened her mouth, I loved her 'I take no shits' attitude and I knew that she would be an integral part of the team." Natasha smiled at the memories of Charlie.

"She is very charismatic and funny, I will give her that." Steve smiled.

"Guys, if you keep complementing me like this my head might explode from my ego getting too big." All heads in the room turned to Charlie's voice. Natasha squeezed Charlie's hand and the brunette smiled back.

"You okay?" Sam asked her.

"I'm good. A bit tired but I'm good." Charlie moved so she was sat up in her hospital bed. "You okay Steve?"

"Yeah. Never better." 

"You look it." Charlie smirked at the man.

-

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Charlie and Steve had both been discharged from the hospital. Because Steve was a super soldier he had healed incredibly fast and he only had a few bruises and scars from his fights. Charlie, on the other hand, had a cast on her leg and needed to use crutches until she could walk properly. She also had a scar along her face that would always be there, Natasha had joked that people would now be able to tell her and Maria apart.

Natasha had just told Charlie that she would need to appear in court to answer for her past.

"How come you are the only person who had to do it?" Charlie questioned.

"I'm the only Avenger with a shady past who hasn't answered for it." Natasha and Charlie were sat at the table of their new hotel room.

"Do they know how much you have done for this country?"

"That is a point I will bring up when I'm there, don't worry." Natasha was dressed in a green suit that she would appear in court in. "I'm going to be perfectly fine." 

Natasha pursed her lips, letting Charlie know that she wanted her to kiss her. "Good, because I don't want to become a prison wife." Charlie leant forward and kissed the redhead. "How long will it take?"

"I don't know. Hopefully not very long, there are much more interesting things I would rather be doing." Natasha smirked at the brunette who was now frowning disappointedly at her. Natasha stood up and kissed the frown off of her face. "See you later."

Natasha walked towards the door and turned to blow a kiss at Charlie. Once she was out of the hotel there was a cab waiting for her. She was going to show them how much this country needed her.

A/N - I just wanted to let you know that there will be no smut in this book. I feel really uncomfortable writing it. There are plenty of books on here that can supply your smut if needed, I know because I have read quite a few. I don't mind referencing it but writing it is just really awkward for me. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter, were almost at the end of CAWS and onto AOU, which is one of my favourite movies. :)