Hello Captain (Steve Rogers)

What's up, Doc?

Steve's POV

I looked down at Sarah, who was blinking her eyes and sitting up. "Did you have a nice nap, doll?"

"Mmmhmm. How are you feeling?" She focused her golden brown eyes on me, searching my face.

"I've been better, but not too bad, all things considered," I said with a smile. "I can't believe how much crud they got out of me this morning."

"Me either." Sarah smiled, satisfied that I really did feel better. She looked around and gave Natasha a puzzled look. "Where's Jace, Nat?"

"Phone." Natasha gestured at the hallway. "He didn't want to wake you up yet. You looked like you needed the sleep."

"I did," Sarah said as she yawned and stretched. "I didn't sleep much last night."

"Who really sleeps well when they're in a hospital? There's always monitors going off or pumps or the nurses coming in to take your vitals or change your dressings," Nat griped. I knew she hated hospitals, but I didn't know that she felt that strongly about it.

"True, I guess."

"Sleeping Beauty finally awake?" Jace asked as he came back in the room.

"Like you can talk! You took a nap, too!" Sarah stuck her tongue out at Jace, and his grin widened.

"Just enough to tide me over for a while and help with the jet lag."

Jace sat back down next to Natasha as he stuck his tongue out at Sarah, making them all laugh. I simply smiled, laughing would hurt too much right now. I caught a motion from the corner of my eye and looked over to the door to see Dr Blake standing there, putting hand sanitizer on before coming into the room.

"Good evening, Captain. You look a lot better."

"I feel a lot better."

"I'm certainly glad to hear that. Since you're awake now, I'd like to get some new scans, see how you're healing. Dr Q left already, but asked if we would forward them on to him."

"Is there anything I need to be concerned about?" I asked, meeting the doctor's eyes. He didn't say anything right away, instead looking over my screens with a thoughtful look on his face. Finally he turned back to me.

"We'll know more after your scans. Until then, I'm afraid it's too soon to answer that question. I still don't know how you survived the amount of damage you sustained, let alone the journey here from your mission."

"I had a very compelling reason to pull through, Doc," I said, squeezing Sarah's hand. She smiled up at me and shook her head slightly.

"You just didn't want Nat to kill you because you tried dying without permission," Sarah said with a grin. Dr Blake looked at Natasha with a raised eyebrow, but she only shrugged, making me grin at her.

"I believe it worked," Natasha said, eyeing me. "You're still with us, even though it was touch and go for a while there."

Dr Blake cleared his throat, bringing us back to order. "You are free to eat and drink if you feel like it, Captain. If you don't that's understandable, but as high as your metabolism is, I must advise you to try to at least eat before you go to sleep tonight. You've already lost what little body fat you had, and I don't want you to lose any more weight."

"I am kind of hungry," I agreed. "I'll try to eat after my scans. Thank you, doctor."

"Excellent. They'll be in for you soon." Dr Blake said as he turned to walk out.

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Sarah's POV

"What do you feel like eating, Steve?" I asked, standing up and stretching. "I'll order as soon as they come get you so it isn't cold by the time you get back."