She's Mine) Romanogers

Part 21) Preparations

Captain America never lied, but Steve was wrong. I didn't feel better at all in the morning. I couldn't sleep despite how tired I was, my mind couldn't stop running scenarios of Bruce coming back to the tower and finding something out of place and causing worlds of hurt.

I made a mental checklist of all the things I needed to put back, like Steve's stuff from my room and mine from his, and all the other tasks I would need to do to make sure Bruce had no idea what was going on. The worst part was when my brain would flash images of Bruce going green and hurting Steve, those would bring such a panic I thought my heart might beat out of my chest.

In the early hours of the morning, Steve was in a deep sleep and I crept out of the bed without waking him up. Without making a sound, I started to put things back where they belonged, putting his clothes and toiletries in his room as well as bringing mine back. I had debated taking the brace off my ribs, but I felt guilty about it due to the promise I had made Steve.

I had finished what I needed to clean up in my room, and was close to done in Steve's room. Given that Bruce would have no reason to go in that room, I wasn't as worried about making everything perfect in there, but I would because I would be taking no chances. I would just be doing that later because the exhaustion was hitting me right now.

I carefully opened the door and found Steve awake with a slightly judgmental look on his face. "You cleaned up the rooms?" He assumed.

I took off my rib brace and sling for sleeping, and I knew Steve wouldn't be thrilled about it, but I think they might have been part of the reason I wasn't sleeping... or at the very least that was a good excuse to take them off and not feel as guilty about it. Luckily, he didn't say anything. I carefully came back into the wonderfully warm bed and started to tuck myself in, but Steve pulled me close to him and covered me up. I nuzzled into him while I nodded.

"I thought we agreed to put this off till the morning," he whispered against the top of my head. I could feel him taking me in and holding on a bit tighter.

"It is the morning," I corrected, "three in the morning."

"Haha," he spoke sarcastically, "smart ass."

"I'm just using my time wisely," I sassed right back.

"No, using your time wisely would have been sleeping," he took a large breath and I realized he was tired too.

I debated lying to him to make him feel more at ease, but I wouldn't do that to him. "I couldn't sleep," I admitted.

He stopped relaxing at that, "Natasha, you're bone tired. You need to rest."

"I know, believe me, I wanted to sleep! I just couldn't, I'm too on edge," I explained, "I want to sleep, believe me."

He gave a hum as he just held me close to him, it was clear he was tired too. After a long silence, "you comfortable here?"

"Are you holding me because you don't want me to keep running around and getting everything ready?" I observed, my voice slurring a bit given how sleepy I was.

"Maybe," he huffed, his voice just as sleepy, "maybe I just like holding you. You comfortable?" He restated the question.

I just nodded, "I think the brace was making it hard to sleep again, are you mad at me for taking it off?"

"I'm not mad at you, the thing doesn't look like a lot of fun to wear, I can see why it would be hard to sleep. Let's ask Stark about it tomorrow and see if you are healed enough that you don't need it?" He suggested.

I nodded again and closed my eyes, gently curling into Steve's arms.

A few moments passed, maybe more? I wasn't all that sure... and we were both on the cusp of sleep, but suddenly my mind flashed a terrifying image in my head again, this one of Steve being ripped apart by Hulk. "Steve," I took in a breath, "I love you."

"I love you too," his tone was implying a question, and to his credit, the way I had just told him I loved him probably sounded scary.

I bit my lip to help hold back the tears, "I can't stop thinking about you getting hurt," I admitted, so quietly I barely heard myself say it.

"Nat," he started to run one hand through my hair and I knew he was stalling to find the perfect words to say. "We'll get through this, and we are both going to be okay," he decided on.

"Okay," I hummed and held him closer to me, the dull ache of my ribs flaring, but it was a grounding sensation. I needed him to be close to me, to be safe. I felt his grip tighten a bit too. I loved him so much it was terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time. I listened as his breathing evened out, and once he was asleep, I wasn't too far behind.

I woke up to the sound of the door opening and craned my neck only to hear a voice that had my blood running cold. "Nat, Steve, what the hell is going on here?!" Bruce growled.