Her Second Soulmate | Steve Rogers

Chapter Thirty One

~Steve's POV~

The beeping was reassuring. That meant I was still alive. My heart was still beating regularly.

That's one good thing.

It was visiting hours. Bucky had just left, after telling me a story about his new cat, Alpine. It was white and fluffy and made him smile, and that was enough.

Where was my Noelle? She was usually here by now.

I could hear the beep continuing, steadily and slowly as I lay there, still.

I could hear the squeak of a door, footsteps, and then a rubber gloved hand was poking the skin on my face, before peeling an eyelid back, one at a time.

I could see a bright light, and hear a doctor mumbling to themself.

I could faintly hear the nib of a pen scratching on paper, and the gentle clunk of a clipboard being clipped back to the end of my bed.

And then heavy footsteps thudding further away, a loud voice, and the squeal of the door swinging quickly open.

"Excuse me, miss, visiting time is almost over. There's only 5 minutes left."

"So that's 5 minutes I can sit with my soulmate then?"

I felt like I could fly. If I could smile it would be a beam, stretched across my face.

Noelle had arrived.

She was busying herself with something, moving items and scraping chair legs across the floor.

Her voice was always calm and soft when she spoke to me. Soothing, peaceful.

"Hi Stevie," I could feel her soft lips press against the skin of my forehead, could faintly hear her breath as she sat next to the bed. She lifted my hand slowly, and placed it onto her belly. "We all miss you. Angie especially, she doesn't like the Pirate Angie stories I make up for her. I guess she likes the originals."

Pirate Angie and the night time monsters. I'd been planning that story while my mind ticked over in this prison.

It would be the best one yet.

"I'm six months today, yay!" Her voice was light, almost happy but tinged with something sad. "You'll be shocked at how massive I am. I remember Luke's brothers giving me grief about it, back in Wakanda, but I really am huge. It's only the one baby, it must be from your side of the family."

Something moved under my hand. Noelle's stilled on mine.

Was that?

"Can you feel that?" Her voice was almost a whisper, but I could hear it, word for word. "They started doing that this week. I wanted to show you, let you feel it for yourself."

My baby was kicking.

My baby was alive, and kicking.

"I had another appointment and scan and everything. Sam went with me this time." I could hear guilt tracing her words, as if she regretted it. "I wish you could have come. I told you about it last week, do you remember?"

She trailed off, and I could feel a finger tracing my hairline. "You're looking really great. The cuts are healing, no more bumps on your face. Your jaw and shoulder and leg and... well, the bits that had real damage, they're healing too. You've been here about 6 weeks I think, you might have to wear a cast on some of them, but the doctors don't want to answer my what if he wakes up soon? questions. Something about them being hypothetical."

There was a knock on the door, and I could faintly hear Noelle mutter, "they're going to send me home. Not home. They're sending me back to the Tower."

"Miss Miller, times up. You've been coming long enough to know these times by now."