What was their last hour together seemed like mere minutes. All they did was sit their talking to Tony. Hoping any one single word would help him recover.
An eye twich, a half smile, a shaking finger, anything. Any small sign to indicate to keep him alive. Sadly, what happened, was nothing.
You know how it goes, right? Even in hard times and madness you still hold on to something, just so you can say you believe. This was no different, they wanted to believe it would all go back to normal. As the doctor stepped in, everyone but Steve stepped out.
"Mr. Rogers, it's been an hour, have you made your decision?"
"I..I..I don't know.."
It was then the doctor showed an emotion he hadn't shown to them before; empathy.
"Look Mr. Rogers.."
"Call me Steve"
"Look, Steve, I know what this is like. To have to make the decision if someone lives or dies. It tears you apart from the inside out. It breaks your very being. To have to sit in a depressing room just staring, watching, and waiting for a sign. A sign to help you figure out whether to let them hang on longer or end their suffering. It's emotional, it's draining. Here's the thing though, you have to do what's best for the patient. You have to do what you believe they'd want. You also have to think about if it's fair to them. It's hard I know.
How would you know what it feels like?
"I know what you're probably thinking, Steve. How would I know. I'll tell you, I was 12, my mother was dying of pneumonia, living on a repirator. I had to make the choice of whether to pull the plug or wait. After putting it off and putting it off, I finally had to make the choice best for my mother."
Sighing, Steve hung his head, he knew the doctor was right. He had to make the decision best for Tony, no matter how much he wanted to keep him around.
"I'll give you a few more minutes."
How could this happen? I'm sorry Tony. I let you down. I promised you, I promised the team, that no one would get hurt. I let everyone down. I let myself down. I guess this is a good rule: don't make promises you can't keep.
He took one last look at Tony, letting all the memories flood in. Fighting Loki, talking about Agent Coulson after he was murdered by Loki, trying to cheer Tony up afterwards, all their annoying, immature spats. All of it. As selfish as he knew it was, he couldn't let Tony go.
"Have you gotten it figured out, what you'd like to do."
"I have and I..."
He wasn't able to finish his sentence, he was cut off by the continuous beep of the heart monitor. Tony was flat-lining. He had, finally, passed.
Steve couldn't talk he couldn't do anything. All he could do was let the tears, finally, escape his sullen eyes.
"I'm very sorry, Steve. I'll go inform the others," and the doctor left the room.
He walked over to Tony and saw the peaceful look on his face. He finally knew just what it was he felt. Love. It was love, and not the friendship kind. It was the more than friendship kind.
As he stood by Tony's side, he whispers the only thing he could think of.
"I wish I knew my feelings sooner, not that you'd feel the same, but maybe then I could have at least told you. I'm sorry I broke my promise, but just know I never wanted to let you go."
With that, he did the only think he could think to do, he leaned to down to the beautiful face he knew as Tony, and placed a soft, gentle, kiss on Tony's angelic lips.
As Steve exited to find the others, he whispered, "I guess this is goodbye, Tony. I love you."
YOU ARE READING
Here Comes Goodbye (A Stony Fanfiction)
FanfictionSteve hated Tony, at least that's what Steve always thought. He always thought Tony was too pompous, arrogant, self centered, and that he was too much of a playboy. He KNEW he hated Tony, that was until he was left to make a biggest and hardest deci...
