bulletproof

10

Her eyes hurt as they opened to brightness and she screwed up her face, trying to lift her hand to rub her eyes but unable to, wincing as a steady pain started in her chest. She groaned but couldn't hear herself and her throat ached with dryness and discomfort. She longed for a glass of water.

As her eyes adjusted to the light, she looked around the room she was in. It was simple and resembled a hospital room. She craned her neck forward as she saw that there was a window to the door and she tried to look through it but she couldn't see anything through it.

A woman dressed in blue and white with a clipboard walked over with a bright smile on her face, "Hey there, how're you doing, Y/N?" she asked gently, standing by her bedside with a pen poised over her clipboard, ready to take note.

Y/N squinted up at her and tried swallowing back the desert-like feeling in her mouth and throat but winced instead and croaked out, "Great" before coughing and wincing from the force of her cough.

The woman made an 'mmm' sound and jotted down a few notes before handing Y/N a glass of water and watching her drink, "Do you know what happened to you?"

Y/N's brow furrowed, and she stammered as she tried to recall the events, "I got shot and...Steve and I ..., I think...and we were in the jet and..." She faded out as she realised she couldn't remember the rest, "That's it...I think"

The woman, who Y/N deemed as a nurse, nodded and said, "That's right, your friends brought you here on a jet and you got that bullet taken out of your chest. You've experienced a terrible shock and..."

Y/N ignored the rest of what she was saying, the nurse was talking to her like she was a child, "Where're they?"

"They?" The nurse didn't seem to mind the interruption in the slightest, "You mean your friends? Do you want to see them?"

Y/N nodded minutely, "Yeah, I need to talk to Steve first, though...is Steve there?" she asked, hopefully, trying to lift herself up in her bed but her arms were too weak to hoist her up.

"I'll check," the nurse turned away and opened the door, sticking a head around the door.

The door to Room 19B opened and a nurse stood at the doorway. The three of them stood up as she looked at each of them.

"Is there a Steve here?" She asked, softly and Steve raised a hand up like he was in school again.

"That's me."

The nurse nodded her head toward where Y/N lay, "She wants to talk to you first..." She widened the door as he walked past her, and she closed it behind her, facing the two others, "I understand that you want to talk to your friend, but you need to understand that too many people will excite her, and she'll get tired easily. I'm sure the others have told you about her having to get a blood transfusion before the operation, so she won't have a lot of energy to talk to you...it's not something you should be worried about, it's just to let you know."

"A blood transfusion?" Tony said, sharply.

The nurse nodded and walked away to tend to her other patients.

"Hey there..." Steve said cautiously as he entered the room and the door shut behind him.

Y/N's face lit up as she saw him, grinning widely and extending an arm toward him as he approached her bed, "You okay?"

"Not too great but I think I'll make it..." she smiled back, "How 'bout you?"

He shook his head and chuckled, "I'm not in the hospital bed, am I..."

They sat in silence and then Steve swallowed, feeling nervous as he brought up the subject of the kiss to the table, "So...we kissed..."

Y/N beamed at the memory, "Yeah...it was not bad for someone who hasn't kissed anyone since the 1940s" she teased, holding his hand and looking into his crystal blue eyes with mirth.

Steve's head shot up, "Who told you that?" He asked, panicky.

Y/N laughed before admitting, "Romanoff. When we were on that mission in St Petersburg."

"Just...don't tell Tony, okay? He'll make fun of me forever," he begged, a grin still playing on his lips as he watched Y/N giggle.

"Wouldn't dream of it..."

The blond super soldier smiled, "Speaking of the mission in St Petersburg...was that when you realised you liked liked me?"

She let out a peal of laughter that made his heart soar, "That was weeks ago! No, I liked you the moment I met you...sort of..." she replied, her eyes twinkling, "Maybe when we were doing that mountain climbing training in the gym and I fell on top of you...?"

Steve groaned at the recollection, "Oh...my back hurt for weeks after that! I didn't think it was possible for me to have long-lasting bruises but that was when you proved me wrong..."

"Shut up!" she grinned, "I wasn't that heavy!"

Steve shook his head, "No, but the backpack full of weights on your back was...sweet Jesus, it felt like a ton of bricks had collapsed onto my tailbone...I couldn't sit for weeks without wincing," he winced as he remembered the amount of mocking that had ensued after that injury.

"Stop being so dramatic!" she smiled.

He threw his arms up in the air, "That's what Sam said!"

She began laughing again but then choked and laughter turned into coughing, having Steve get up and look down at her anxiously, not knowing if he should call for a nurse or a doctor or something...

She waved him off and pointed at the seat before clearing her throat, "God, I thought I was going to die..." she joked but quietened at the sad expression on his face, "Hey, Stevie? I'm fine, I ended up being okay, all right?" She saw how his mind took him back to the awful hours of him holding her hand and crying.

He looked up at her with an innocence and a need for reassurance she had never seen before...he looked like a child right there.

"You know...when I thought I actually was going to die, when we were in the base, I swear I saw my life flash before my eyes...that's why I told you I liked you...I couldn't bear to die without telling you how I felt..."

Steve took a hold of her hand and kissed the knuckles, "I'm glad you told me that you did."

She sighed with content and stared up at the ceiling, "Great, now enough feelings talk. Can you bring the others in now?"

The super soldier laughed at her request and went to the door to let them all in. Sam, Bruce and Nat had joined them and they all held excited looks on their faces as he opened the door.

"Y/N!" They cheered as they rushed to her side and filled the room with happiness and relief.

Y/N grinned up at all of her friends, knowing how lucky she was that she had friends who loved her and were prepared to go through thick and thin to look after her. She was so lucky to be surrounded by people who adored her as much as she adored them.

A/N*I wasn't sure if I should make an epilogue or not...what do you guys think? tbh...I'm not sure, I haven't really got any clue on how to end it (this is the first time I've ever managed to complete a story so I'm just lost rn)...let me know how you want it to end!*