Finding Love Again

Chapter 31

It wasn't long until Dr. Cho came back in. "Mr. Rogers, I can take you to her room now."

Steve got up as well as Natasha. They both started to follow Dr. Cho. She turned to make sure Steve was following her and saw Natasha as well. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but only family is allowed to see her right now."

Steve saw Natasha's look of disappointment, so he quickly thought of a way that would let her go in as well. "She's my fiancée."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Rogers, I didn't know. In that case, you're more than welcomed to tag along."

Natasha gave Steve a surprised look. She grabbed his arm so that he wouldn't go follow Dr. Cho right away and released it when she felt there was a reasonable amount of distance between Dr. Cho and them to talk to him without Dr. Cho suspecting that they weren't following her. "What was that? Fiancée? Really?" she whispered.

"It was the first thing that came to mind on such short notice."

"I could've stayed behind. She needs you right now, not me."

"I saw that look of disappointment, so don't go telling me you don't want to see her," he argued. "Besides, I know she'll want to see you when she wakes up, and I think who she needs right now is you."

Natasha couldn't think of any answer to that. They walked in silence the rest of the way. Dr. Cho stopped outside of room 320. "This is your daughter's room. She can't have any visitors that aren't family today, but tomorrow anyone is welcome during visiting hours." She opened the door to the room, and Steve and Natasha walked in. "There's a button beside the bed. Push it when she wakes up, and I'll come immediately." That said, Dr. Cho left the room.

Steve rushed to the bedside to see Livy. She was hooked up to monitors and had an IV in her. Her face looked so peaceful.

Natasha had stayed behind near the door. She didn't want to disturb Steve. She observed him as he lovingly stroked Livy's hair and whispered in her ear. She could see his eyes brimming with unshed tears. He kissed her on her forehead and left her side. "Don't you want to come see her?" he asked quietly.

Natasha made her way over while Steve pulled up a chair. "I know you may want to get home and all, but can you stay here until I get back? I need to go clear my head. A lot has happened today, and I haven't processed it all. I also need to make a few calls explaining what happened. Call me if she wakes and asks for me. I'll try not to take too long."

"Are you going somewhere in specific, or are you going to stay on the hospital premises?"

"I'll be staying on the hospital premises, so I can be close by just in case. I'll call you before coming back to see if you want something to eat."

Natasha nodded. She couldn't believe he was leaving his daughter, but she knew that he had to let his family know what had happened. At least he trusted her enough to leave Livy in her care. She watched him as he quietly slipped out of the hospital room. She looked back at Livy's peaceful face. "Please, wake up. Your daddy needs you," she whispered to her. She grabbed her hand and started drawing circles on the back side. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep on the chair. She didn't know how long she was asleep when she started hearing whimpers.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Livy was whimpering. Natasha jolted awake. She saw Livy tossing her head a little. "Mommy!"

To say the very least, Natasha didn't know what to do. She definitely wasn't her mother. For goodness' sake, her mother was dead. This could be one of the side effects of the anesthetics. "Hey, baby. It's all right. You're going to be okay," she tried to soothe. She grabbed her hand again.

Livy slowly woke up when she felt the contact. "Mommy?" she asked groggily.

"No, it's Miss Nat. You're going to be fine."