Hello Captain (Steve Rogers)

Bandages

Sarah's POV

"I'm not allowed to be alone yet, am I?" I asked Natasha bluntly when I saw her waiting for me when I got out of the shower.

"Nope," she said with a smirk. "Someone gave too much blood today after being shot a couple weeks ago."

"That was like a month ago now," I grumbled as I pulled on my clothes. "I healed up just fine - can't even hardly see the scar unless you know where to look."

"So I see. It blends in with the other faint scars on your back."

I shoved my dirty clothes in my bag and leaned it up against my locker. I grabbed my keys, wallet and phone and tucked them in a side pocket. Natasha grabbed the bag before I could and swung it over her shoulder.

"Ready? I'm assuming you're staying the night with Steve."

"Wild horses couldn't drag me away."

We headed back to the ICU and I was relieved to see that he was looking a lot better. Tony was finishing eating and Clint was sitting in a chair by Bruce. Natasha pulled up another chair and I sat down on Steve's good side.

"Did they take him to do an MRI already?" I gently brushed my fingers across the side of his face.

"Yup," Tony said. "We're just waiting on the results from Dr Blake. He wanted to compare them to his earlier one while we were talking to Fury." Tony closed the take out box and got up to throw it away.

"What did he say?"

"Just wanted to know how Steve was doing," said Bruce. "These are the worst injuries he's had since rejoining Shield."

"His numbers are a lot better than before," I pointed out.

"Yes, and that makes me think that he just needs his rest right now. If you're going to stay, we'll all go get some sleep after Dr Blake comes in." Bruce looked over at me and smiled.

"I'm staying. I think he'd worry if I wasn't here when he woke up since he know he was supposed to see me today."

Dr Blake came in just then. "Captain Rogers' broken arm is healing well - his splint can come off in the morning. He still has a significant amount of internal trauma, but he's improved greatly since he came in this afternoon. We had to realign his femur so the break would heal right and had put a different splint on it, but it's already healing well."

"That's great," Tony said, his face relaxing.

The mood in the room was significantly lighter following the good news, but I still felt like I was barely holding it together. He wasn't out of the woods yet and I knew what the doctor had avoided saying in his report to us. My suspicions were confirmed when Bruce avoided meeting my eyes and patted me on the back on his way out. He looked exhausted and was going to sleep in the cot in his lab in case Steve needed him overnight.

Tony left next, kissing my forehead, his jaw tight with repressed emotion. "Night, kitten."

Natasha came over to me next, and I pulled her into a hug that she surprisingly accepted. She leaned over to kiss Steve on his forehead and I heard her murmuring to him as Clint pulled me into a tight hug. Tears were prickling at the corners of my eyes and I had a hard time swallowing the lump in my throat.

"You did so good, 'Ria. I couldn't have done it without you," Clint murmured. I breathed in his familiar scent as he ran his hands up and down my back soothingly until my muscles relaxed. He kissed my forehead, released me, and turned to go. "Take care of him. We'll be back in the morning, but call if you need us." He put his arm around Natasha and they headed to the door.