Captain and His Soulmate

Part 14

**Steve's POV

Heavy fog surrounded me, I heard Y/N's voice in the distance humming an old Irish Ballard. I started running forward trying to find her. As the fog lessened, I heard voices cutting through and pulling me back. As the dream faded, I felt a cold hard floor under me and heard a hum of voices talking around me.

Slowly opening my eyes and feeling disoriented . "What happened?"

Sam reached down to stop me from sitting up too quickly. "Slow down man. How do you feel?"

"I feel o-" While answering Sam, I started to sit up and that's when I saw the last thing I ever expected to see, Y/N was unconscious in Bucky's arms with everyone else around me. I'm reach out but stop before making contact. I was torn, wanting to touch her but I still wanted to respect her wishes of not cementing the soulmate bond. "Y/N? What happened?! Why is she unconscious?"

Bucky shifted toward me and I pulled back slightly. "It's ok Steve. You can touch her. She already made the bond."

I looked quickly down at my wrist to see my soulmate mark had changed. I'm stunned "Wait.. how, why? I...I missed some key moments. What the hell happened?"

Nat, Bucky and Sam share a look. Bucky slowly shifts Y/N out of his arms and into mine. I cradle her to me, not wanting to look away.

Nat's the one to speak. "We're pretty sure she's ok. She was a bit banged up and mentioned pain in her ribs. So, we think she just over exerted herself and passed out. You were stabbed, almost directly in the heart. Y/N healed you...somehow. And now we have more questions than we have answers."

Clint hesitantly adds, "We're not sure if the passing out is from healing you or from everything she's been through. It looks like they roughed her up a bit."

Bucky nods in agreement. "Steve, I've seen some weird shit and that was close to the top of the freaky list. She put her hands on you and then she started to hum. Your knife wound healed. When she stopped humming she collapsed."

"The song she hummed, what was it?"

Bucky put his hand on Steve's shoulder. "It was one your mom used to sing, Done- something, I think."

I stroked her hair back from her face. "Ballad of Donegal. I thought I was dreaming." Looking up at Bucky. "Help me up. Let's get her back to Bruce. He can check her out."

Bucky and Sam steady me while I stand with Y/N still in my arms. Bucky doesn't let go of my arm right away and gives me a concerned look. "Are you sure you're ok to take her Steve?"

I nod, "Bucky, I'm fine. I-Ineed to hold her."

Bucky nods, understanding. I gently cradle Y/N as Bucky steadies me while I stand. We walk quickly with the team surrounding us as we wade through the Shield agents processing the scene and helping those that had been held captive.

A young man on the sidewalk watches them walk toward him. He pushed toward them and starts yelling "Hey! Hey! Wait! Y/N!"

Sam is closest to him and steps forward to intercept him. The man cranes his neck to try to look at you. "Oh shit! Y/N? Is she ok?"

Sam moves to cut off his line of sight. "How do you know Y/N? And who are you?"

The young man turns his attention to Sam giving him a smile. "Oh, I'm Kevin. She works at the store my dad owns." He points behind him at the damaged Market building next to the medical office. "Is she ok? She never showed up yesterday for her shift. When she didn't answer her phone we were really worried."

Sam glances at Nat, she gives him an almost imperceptible nod. Sam gives the kids a small smile. "Yea, she'll be ok. We'll be taking care of her."

Kevin looks at each member of the group. It's obvious he's not sure about letting Y/N leave with them but can tell it's not something he can push. "Umm.. ok well, when she wakes up, can you tell her to give dad a call? He's really worried about her. She's only been with us as an employee a little while, but we've known her since she moved here. Dad absolutely loves her."

Sam nod and pats Kevin's shoulder. "Yea, I'll let her know.

Kevin gives him a smile. "Thanks for taking care of her." He walks back toward the store pulling out his phone looking back over his shoulder a few times.

Bucky pats Steve's shoulder. "Take a breath punk. He's just someone who knows her and was worried. You need to stop squeezing her so hard."

I look down and see he's right. I'm gripping her so tight my knuckles are white. I take a deep breath and loosen my grip but keep her tight against me. Turning toward the jet I hurry the last few feet to board. I thought I'd lost her once when she ran and I was not going to lose her again.

Nat bumps Bucky's shoulder. "I know we had reservations, but it seems like everywhere she goes people like her. That's a good sign."