Ultron Aftermath

Chapter 58

"Can I help you?" Pepper teased as she tried not to laugh at the 9 year old.

AJ scoffed, "what so you didn't miss me?"

"Well that depends are you AJ or Tony right now?" Pepper smirked.

"Hmm who do you prefer?" AJ asked as she pulled the sunglasses down to rest on her nose so she could look Pepper in the eyes dramatically.

"Definitely AJ"

"That's cool. I didn't want to be Uncle Tony anymore anyways" AJ shrugged as she threw the sun glasses off and ran over to her aunt to hug her.

"Ava Jay, your mother told me you're meant to be taking it easy" Pepper scolded but nevertheless wrapped her arms around the girl and pulled her into a hug.

"Sorry" AJ mumbled, she wasn't sorry they all knew that.

"Sure you are" Bucky rolled his eyes.

"And you must be Thomas?" Pepper asked as she looked at the boy who was sat beside Wanda. The boy nodded. "I'm Pepper it's a pleasure to meet you"

"You too" Tommy smiled politely.

"So you guys are clearly going out of your minds being stuck down here then?" Pepper laughed as she headed over to the sink wetting a piece of towel before walking back over and wiping the pen of AJs face.

"Excuse me Potts! I've been growing that for ages" AJ huffed jokingly.

"Sorry sweetie, you're gonna have to start from Scratch" Pepper chuckled as she finished cleaning AJs face. "Why don't you guys watch a movie, I'll give you Uncle Tony's card pin so you can buy whatever movie you kids want"

"Can we buy a horror?" Aj asked excitedly.

"Not a good idea squirt" Bucky shook his head.

——-

Natasha had been pacing back and forth outside of the operating room for the past 40 minutes, her nerves clearly getting the better of her. Tony had messaged her to let her know that they were wrapping things up within the next hour, so she would not need to wait much longer for updates. Bucky and Pepper had offered to sit with the kids while Natasha and Yelena waited.

Tony and Bruce stepped out of the operating room, their exhaustion clearly evident on their faces. They had just finished the surgery, and both of them looked as though they were drained from the ordeal. They were clearly exhausted, but they both looked relieved.

"Is he okay?" Natasha immediately asked when she saw the duo.

Bruce and Tony shared a quick glance before Tony nodded at him, indicating that Bruce should be the one to deliver the news.

"Good news is the bullet entered just above his heart meaning the organ itself wasn't damaged however his left artery above his heart was ruptured so we had to undergo a coronary angioplasty procedure which was successful" Bruce informed them.

"So he's alive?" Yelena asked bluntly, she was certain her sister didn't want the details of the surgery she just wanted to know if Steve was going to be okay.

"Yes he's alive and he's stable as off right now" Bruce told her.

"As off right now? What does that mean?" Nat frowned.

Tony sighed, Bruce really wasn't the best at wording things. "He's in a coma Tasha, he's stable right now but there's no telling when he'll wake up. We should know in the next day or two"

"But he's going to wake up right?" Natasha anxiously bit the inside of her mouth as she looked at Tony, desperately hoping for an answer, her eyes pleading.

Tony stayed silent, looking down at the ground as he tried to regain his composure. He, too, was fighting off tears, the pain  evident on his face as he struggled to get through this conversation.

"Tony?" Natasha's voice cracked as she spoke.

The man took a deep breath before finally mustering the courage to break the silence "I'm sorry Natasha we really don't know"

With no more strength to hold back her emotions, Natasha broke down in tears, dropping her defenses and allowing the floodgates to open. She could no longer keep it bottled in, and her entire body was consumed by grief.

Tony had never seen this side of Natasha before, and he was caught completely off-guard by the sight. Despite their many shared years, he had never seen her break down in this way. In the face of this unexpected outburst, he instinctively wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug, the sudden release of emotions finally catching up to him as well as he began to cry to.

"He's strong Nat. He'll pull through" Tony did his best to reassure her and himself that Steve was going to be okay.

"Can I see him?"

"Nat I don't think-"

"Please Tony"

"Alright I'll take you to him"

———-

Natasha felt her breath catch in her throat when she saw Steve, unconscious and connected to multiple wires and tubes, his condition critical. Natasha couldn't bare seeing him like this, She was struggling to even stay standing, her legs trembling slightly as her entire body ached, her chest tight as another sob escaped her.

Nobody had anticipated this outcome, but here they were, the toughest of them all laid out in a hospital bed, unconscious and barely clinging onto life. Steve was the ultimate soldier, someone who had been through it all - world wars, alien invasions, you name it - and had always found himself back on his feet yet he was now lying in a hospital bed, a mere mortal, and fighting for his life because of a single bullet. It was unthinkable to think that Steve, the man who had stood by the side of so many Avengers during their times of trouble, comforting them and helping them through their injuries after missions,would ever find himself in this precarious position.

"This isn't fair" Nat whispered to herself as she clutched onto Steve's hand. looking down at his motionless form, she missed his touch, she missed his voice, all she wanted was for him to wake up, to look at her and let her know that he was alright.

"Have some faith in him Natasha, he's Steve, he'll come around" Tony was clinging on to every last bit of hope he had but deep down he was terrified. Scared shitless that he might lose Steve,Tony wasn't sure if he could ever recover from such a loss if it did come to that.

———

A/N: Next chapter is the last chapter of Act2 and then we're moving on to Act3 🫶
Thank you for reading🫡