It was a bitterly cold evening in London. Snow flurries filled the chilling air and powdery white snow covered the pavements of the capital.
You, a young nurse at St. Jude's Hospital were in the midst of
finishing your rounds in the Paediatric ward when you got a message from one of the other nurses starting their shift.
Steve had been admitted onto the Beech Ward again. Only last week had he been discharged from the hospital for a previous bout of pneumonia.
Quickly collecting your belongings, you rushed to that particular ward as quickly as you could, climbing multiple stair cases to reach the desired floor.
When you finally got there, red in the face and out of breath, you came face to face with your best friend, Diana Prince. “Is he okay?” you gasped, trying to regain your normal breathing pattern.
Sensing your exhaustion, Diana quickly guided you to one of the plastic chairs in the hallway. Sitting you down, she knelt beside you. “I wish I could lie to you but...he's not great, (y/n).” she took your hand in hers. “It's, it's not looking good this time.”
“'Not looking good'.” you mimicked her words, sighing. It was never 'good' when Steve was in hospital. “What happened this time?”
“He collapsed at home.”
Your eyes widened. “What?”
“I...I found him in the bath room, lying on the floor. The Docs think his lungs gave out, again.”
You had to stifle a cry of shock by covering your mouth with your hands. Tears already in your eyes. “No.”
The raven-haired beauty nodded, tears in her own eyes. “They got him here as quickly as they could. They,” her voice broke. “they don't think he's going to make it through the night.”
You suddenly couldn't control yout tears any longer, they poured down your cheeks. A sob caught in your throat. “He can't die, Diana...he can't!”
Your friend stood up to hug you, trying to not lose her self-control either. “I know, (y/n), I know.”
“He's our friend, he's supposed to be part of our future!”
“I know.”
“He's supposed to get into fights with guys disrespecting their ladies and you're supposed to intercept and make sure he doesn't get his butt served to him on a silver platter, again.”
“I know.”
“He's supposed to get married to a beautiful person and live happily ever after with them.”
“That was supposed to be you.”
“He's supposed to- Wait, what?” that made you stop talking. You suddenly stopped mind-sentence and stared at Diana in disbelief.
She shook her head, truly amazed by your ignorance. “You can't tell me you didn't know? He's liked you since he met you."
“I never...” now that you thought about it, that more Diana's statement made sense. The sideways glances, the over-protectiveness (you always assumed it was because he saw you like a younger sibling), the private jokes- how had you not noticed?!
“How could I have been so ignorant?” you whispered. “Now,” your voice broke. “now it doesn't matter 'cause he's not going to be around for me to reciprocate the feelings!”
Only, it did matter. Steve did wake up. Ok, so maybe it did take him months to actually be able to converse or breathe by himself but nonetheless he made it.
Steve woke up to find you and Diana sitting by his bed side. Steve woke up to your smiles, Your humour and reciprocated affections.
When he was finally able to talk without nearly chocking to death, you and he talked a bit and eventually, you told him how you felt and vice versa.
From that moment, it was official, you were a couple. Even if it did mean merciless amounts of teasing from Diana.
