Baby Barton

Chapter 25 Chloe

"Chlo! Will you lie still?!" Bruce scolds you as you wriggle on the gurney.
Thats easy for him to say, 'lie still', he's pulling your stitches tight with a clamp so he can clip them and take them out, and you are still a bit tender.
"Shut it Banner, just get them out so I can get lunch, I'm starved." Your stomach growls.
Tony is working on the computer next to you and Bruce offering absolutely nothing but sarcastic comments, at least he's distracting you.
"Who knew you were such a baby, kid." He winks at you. Thankfully there hasn't been another 'roof' incident, no awkwardness either. You both know where you stand, as friends, and its the best feeling in the world.
You wish things with Steve weren't as overly complicated as they have been recently, he arrived back at the tower yesterday and he hasn't spoken a single word to you, acting pretty childish as well, leaving a room when you enter and avoided eye contact with you completely.
You understand that his ego is bruised but seriously, he needs to grow up.

Bruce clips another stitch and you jerk your body at the irritating pain, you could really do with something to take the edge off. Closing your eyes as Bruce starts to put creams on your wounds, you cast your mind to Loki, wondering what he is doing, if he's reading any of the books you dropped by.
Yesterday taught him how to play Candy Crush on your cell phone, it took him a while but once he got the hang of it he was quite taken by it.
You spent hours and hours with him, reading passages from books, and acting out plays, he laughs at your accents, you laughed when he let you braid his hair, although when he saw it he was less than pleased, which only amused you more.
"Hows it going down there with the god of grease?" It was almost as though Tony could read your mind. Startled you look round at him "none of your business Stark," he already knows anyway, he has J.A.R.V.I.S play him the footage of the cell every evening.
Tony raises his eyebrows sarcastically, and launches a blueberry at you, making you flinch as Bruce attempts to untie the last stitch.
"Don't get too attached Chloe," Bruce looks at you softly but clearly concerned, "he's going back to planet crazy soon enough," it hurts when they jest Loki like that, you become defensive.
You frown at Bruce "He intrigues me," you look over at Tony who is throwing more blueberries at Bruce, he prompts you to raise your arm above your head, so you do. 
"Ooh using big words now Chlo!" Tony tickles your arm pit. He really doesnt know what to do with himself today, always full of mischief, but today he is being extra annoying.
You scowl at him stick out your tongue, he returns with a wink and pops a berry into your mouth.
Bruce looks at you both suspiciously, "Did something happen between you two?" His tone curious.
Before any of you answer Tony pokes him in the side with a pen, just as he is clamping the last stitch causing him to yank it tight sending a deep pain through your abdomen, "watch it!" Shouts Bruce.
"OW! Stark! Quit it!" You chastise him playfully.
The three of you burst into laughter, each of them taking an arm and helping you to sit, still laughing and eating berries.

The door swings open and Steve barges in like a man on a mission, face red and eyes bulging with anger. Who shit in his cornflakes?
"Are you nuts?" He looks right at you, seething.
His blonde hair sitting perfectly, he is wearing his suit, so either about to go on a mission or just back from one.
"Jurys still out..." Tony replies quickly and sarcastically, must to Steves dismay.  He doesnt even look at Tony, but continues to storm towards you. Whats his problem now, hasn't spoken to you in weeks, and now he's come in here to shout at you. What an asshole!
"Are you really meeting with him again Chloe?" He questions you, irritation in his voice.
You swing your legs off the bed and stand in front of him, meeting his gaze, ready to unleash on him.
"From what I hear Cap," sometimes you wish Tony would learn when to shut up, "she doesn't answer to you!" For fucks sake! Whats the matter with him, its like he wants to enter into a fist fight with Steve. They begin to square up to each other, breathing like a couple of gorillas in the wild. You step between them, pushing them apart "Guys!" You try to diffuse the quarrel.
"Whats it to you Steve? I'm a free woman," sometimes you cannot control the words that come out of your mouth, he takes a step back, cut by your statement.
He looks into your eyes, taking your hand gently "after everything he did to you, you wanna be his friend?"  Exactly, you want to forgive him, and be his friend.  Look how well forgiveness worked out for you, of course you would want to do that for someone else. But Steve doesn't know the good you see in him, Steve can only see black and white, good and bad, he never sees the in between. The place where the likes of you and Loki lie.
Steve touches your face, which reinforces your defence mechanism, one minute he is far too hot, the next he is cold, "you were a complete dick to me Steve, and I'm still your friend." He steps back from you, lips fallen to a straight line, he folds his arms and looks at you like you have just spat in his face, "though I'm trying to remember why." You finish.

Tony and Bruce look at one another, shrugging their shoulders in agreement, Steve shuffles his feet, and just before he has the chance to reply you spin on your heel and storm out of the room, wishing you could have slammed the door dramatically. Damn those sliding doors.