Cardboard mattresses

[ chapter 14 ]

Staring at the ceiling, June now quietly wished she was back in the city in her usual back ally, smoking pot and worrying about normal teenage shit.

"Righty what happened" Bruce said a slight frown on his face appeared as he looked at the girl, bloody and beaten laying in front of him for what felt like the 100th time in the last few days.
June tried to talk but between the embarrassment she felt and the adrenaline still pumping through her veins all that came out was a garbled "mmuh" sort of sound. Luckily for her though Natasha took over,
"Security breach, which yes Tony is working out how the fuck someone got in but he injected something into her and beat her pretty good.

Bruce looked thoughtful before grabbing an Iv drip and attaching it to Junipers hand, she flinched at the slight pinch as the needle went in and Bruce gave her a sympathetic smile. "It's just saline but I want to make sure we flush whatever drug it is out of her system asap" he said smiling, "and I'd wish I had been there when you talked to Tony" the corners of his eyes creasing jovially.

Natasha sat by Junes bed all night as she slept, a broken and restless sleep but sleep nonetheless. By the time the sun peaked over the trees, flooding the room with warm light Natasha had also fallen asleep in the chair her legs tucked up into her chest and the comforting sounds of her breathing calmed June as she lay in the hospital bed. She didn't want to admit it but she greatly appreciated Natasha staying with her.

Her body ached and protested with every movement she made as she twisted over to greet the morning with less enthusiasm than a kid doing maths homework. Natasha was awake, flipping through a book, a slightly absent expression in her eyes and the moment she spotted than June was awake she shut the book and placed it on the desk.

"Morning sleepy" she said with a small smile, "how'd you sleep?"

"Like crap" June mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to block out the harsh shaft of light that hit her face. "Why am I here?" She said at almost a whisper. She took a second before glancing up at Nat who had averted her eyes but June struggled to read her expression. After what felt like hours Natasha spoke,
"Observation" she said before getting up from the chair and calmly leaving the room.

Juniper grumbled, yet another non answer so with that she yanked the bed sheets over her head and shut her eyes.

Maybe ten minutes later the door to the med bay opened and Natasha came in with a plate of pancakes and a jar of Nutella.
"Wake up, you need to eat" she said poking the June shaped lump that lay under the covers, all she received back was a gruff mumble sound and the sheets being pulled tighter around the girls body.
Suddenly Nat yanked the sheets away, dumping them on the floor then placing the plate of food on the bed "eat" she said firmly and plonked down in the armchair again.

Not wanting to piss off the super cool Russian super spy agent lady June reluctantly took the knife and began to spread the chocolate sauce on the warm pancakes, it melted and slid down her pancakes and dripped temptingly onto the plate. As much as she didn't want to admit it Juniper was starving and as she began to eat all of the pancakes she murmured a quiet thank you to Natasha.

Bruce tapped the pen on his forehead, trying to visualise the way that this genetic code could possibly have been brought together, he glanced over at the two women in the med bay and smiled. Seeing Natasha around kids always warmed his heart.

Turning back to his work he quickly became deeply absorbed into his thoughts, different scenarios and ideas on how this girl found her way to them and then just so happened to be a descendent of one of the most incredible scientists ever boggled his mind. What he was trying to decipher now however was what the small changes in her genetic code meant. Of course there could be a possibility that there's really no difference on a wide scale and it's all molecular but knowing first hand how renditions of the super soldier serum can go terribly wrong he wasn't about to leave it up to chance.

He sighed deeply and set down the pen he'd been bouncing in his hands and headed back over to the microscope to check on how the data analysis was coming.

After demolishing every pancake June glanced up at Natasha who had a smirk on her face as if to say 'told you so' but June didn't mind, it felt more playful than anything and for once having an adult treat her like a kid was quite pleasant.

She was still waiting for the other shoe to drop though, the tension twisted in her stomach replacing the mildly positive thoughts with darker ones tainted with all the shitty situations she'd been in where she had to have been the mum to her little brother.
An immense Wave of guilt washed over her, sloshing around in the pit of her stomach. Natasha noticed the change in the girls demeanour and uncrossed her legs, facing towards the bed.

"So how you feeling?" Nat asked,

"Like I was punched everywhere" June replied slightly defeatedly, "I'm sorry" she murmured

"Why?" Natasha asked looking slightly confused

"I feel like I'm more trouble than I'm worth" June replied with a lighthearted chuckle to desperately avoid sounding as depressed as she felt.

Then Natasha did something slightly unexpected, she sat on the hospital bed and gently cupped Junes face in her hand " you are worth so much more than you give yourself credit for sweetheart, you hear me".

June nodded.

"I hear you" she whispered back and let her head relax a bit before Nat's arms gave way and she fell into her chest, Natasha placed her arms around the girl and held her there in a warm embrace for a good five minute until Tony came jostling though the door with Bruce on his heels the pair were arguing about something, nothing which June cared about until she heard her mothers name.

A/N
Hi guysss sorry it's been so long! Just started uni woop woop so many not have too much free time but who knows maybe I'll try and write a bit before bed every night :)