The Captain's Husband

40. Prognosis (Adam)

I walk down the corridor, coffee and tea in hand, as I look for a man with a metal arm and a young woman with electric green eyes. When I turn the corner, I find them there, standing at the door of their wounded captain's empty hospital room.

"Adam," Ana smiles, looking up at me as I approach her and her father.

Ana.

Bucky turns to me, saying, "Hey, traveller."

Ana's cheeks flush soft pink as she hastily turns back to the door.

Such a lovely girl.

"Good evening, Sergeant," I smile as I hand him the cup of coffee in my hand.

"Thank you," he says as he takes it from me with a sigh of relief. "And, Adam, thank you for helping us. You helped save Steve."

"Strange summoned me," I tell him. "I asked him to send for me the next time Thanos dropped in, and he didn't fail. I'm happy to help, and I'm even happier that your husband is alive."

Strange and I need you two to survive, Sergeant. It's imperative.

"Has anyone given you an update on Steve?" Bucky asks me.

I sigh, "No, I'm afraid not."

"Stevie's arms were shattered from the inside out," he tells me. "Tony and Shuri are currently in the operating room replacing all of the bones in his hands, wrists, and forearms. They're also putting a rod in both humeri. The surgical team told me that if something like this happens again, he'll lose both arms."

It's quiet for a moment.

Wow.

"How are you doing?" I softly ask him.

"Could be better, could be worse," he tells me. "My husband is alive, and Thanos has been sent back out of our dimension again, but Steve is going to have a long recovery ahead of him, and Thanos will eventually return."

"Sergeant, there's a reason why I brought your and your husband back from the dead and rescued you from Soulworld," I tell him. "Do you remember the conversation we had when I visited you there?"

"You said that Thanos would return, that we needed to leave the Soulworld and help our friends defeat him," he says.

"Do you know why I went to Soulworld specifically to retrieve you and Steve?" I ask.

He shakes his head.

"Do you know why your daughter's powers awakened when Steve fell?" I ask.

He looks at me, waiting for an explanation.

"Thanos' power is tied directly to your life, Steve's life, and Ana's life," I explain. "In a roundabout way, all of your friends, the Avengers, are tied to him too, but that's not the point. The point is that the three of you are the only ones able to defeat him and you need to work in tandem to deliver the killing blow. The reason Steve was wounded so terribly was because the three of you were separated, and the reason Ana's powers suddenly appeared was because he was almost killed. There is a balance of energy between you that greatly exceeds the power Thanos wields so carelessly. The energy shifted and had to realign, and now that he's alive and healing, the energy has rebalanced."

"What does that mean?" Ana asks. "How are we supposed to defeat him like this?"

"Ana, have you seen your fathers in battle or on a mission together?" I ask her.