The Captain's Husband

15. Guardians

"Good morning!" Nat hollers over her shoulder as Bucky and I come into the kitchen.

     It's the morning following the engagement of the century...the engagement that Bucky and I are happy to call our own. I had to explain some things after he said yes, like how my heart problem is the result of me not injecting the recreated serum into my heart, and how I didn't plan on having problems following the injections I performed on myself.

     He eventually came around and forgave me, but Dr. Cho recommended that I recreate the serum one final time and let her fix my heart.

     We planned that procedure for later today. Bucky's not feeling it, but he's willing to support me — despite my idiocy.

     And, Bucky and I were going to livestream our official announcement and release the wedding date after our daily run and team breakfast and before my heart procedure, but given the latest circumstances, a few other things are on our minds.

The most important thing?

     We have a war on our hands.

Tony waves without looking up from his phone, "Mornin', boys!"

We stand there, battered and speechless.

We're half an hour late, came in from the damn balcony, and we're soaked in blood and sweat.

Look at us.

Clint looks up from the newspaper in his hands, "You two look like hell."

Finally.

Tony and Natasha look over at us as Wanda says, "Are you two okay?"

     An explosion rocks the tower from miles away. Everyone but Bucky and I nearly jump out of their skin.

Sam raises an eyebrow, "What the hell?"

     Tony looks out the window as smoke rises over D.C.

     He turns to us in confusion.

     Vision looks us up and down, "I do hope neither of you have any broken bones."

Tony finally realizes what's happened.

     More explosions can be heard from across the city. Wanda runs to the window as they become visible and grow closer.

I start to lose feeling in my legs as I reach for the kitchen counter, saying, "We've got a situation."

     Nat stands up from the couch and looks at Tony, saying, "We need to call Fury."

     Bucky's eyes roll back and my knees buckle. I do my best to catch him as Natasha rushes forward to catch me.

Tony's phone lights up.

     His eyes go wide.

     Bruce's phone blares an alert as a larger explosion rocks the city, letting him know that there was an earthquake. It's a handy alert, but we all know the seismic reading came from the huge explosion we just saw.

I collapse on the kitchen floor with Bucky in my arms as my legs finally give out, and Natasha does her best to make sure our heads don't hit the tile.

     A flurry of boots are heard coming into the tower, and Jarvis happily welcomes them. It's a special team of expert agents that Natasha chose herself. Bucky called them on our way here.

"Shit," Tony hisses as he rushes to the landing.

Sam and Wanda run to our side, checking vitals and picking us up off the floor while Clint calls Dr. Cho and Tony gets the lowdown from the incoming agents. Wanda and Clint help Nat carry Bucky, and Sam recruits Thor to help him carry me.

As we're carried to the elevator, Tony learns that Bucky and I were, in fact, attacked. He also learns that a group we call the Guardians of the Galaxy are currently dealing with the situation that we were caught in. While Tony questions them and they question him, Nick Fury's helicopter is heard landing on the roof, and Bucky and I are taken down to the tower medical center in the lab.

Based on what I remember, a pack of nightmarish minions attacked us in front of the Lincoln Memorial. While we were fighting for our lives, the Guardians landed and came to our rescue. Peter Quill alerted Nick Fury and proceeded to shoot everything in sight, Drax informed us that Thanos was back in our galaxy with an entire army, Rocket shouted something about "chasing the bastards across the whole goddamn Milky Way," and then Gamora created a distraction so Bucky and I could get away intact. Groot was involved in the mess somewhere, but I don't exactly remember what he was doing.

"While we wait for Dr. Cho to get here, can you prep them for surgery and sedate them?" Natasha asks Bruce as Bucky and I are lifted onto hospital beds. "We need to stabilize them."

Bucky's eyes open and he reaches his hand out to me, saying softly, "Hey, sorry I fell on top of you, Stevie."

I numbly take his hand and squeeze his fingers, saying, "It's fine, Buck. Nat caught me before I hit the floor."

He looks at Nat with an attempt at a grin as she cuts off my t-shirt, "Careful. He might enjoy that."

She raises an eyebrow, "Really now?"

I laugh, "What the hell, Buck?"

He smiles as he looks at me, "I wanted to see you smile. It worked."

I roll my eyes, still laughing, "Thanks, babe."

"Anytime, Stevie," he beams.

Bruce walks over with a handful of syringes and IVs. While Bucky and I giggle at each other and nearly piss ourselves laughing, he and Nat get our IVs set up so they can start pumping anesthesia into our veins.

Before we know it, we're completely out cold, hand-in-hand, in the middle of the lab.