The Prince And The Rose

24 - This is Me & You

Steve was massaging his shoulder, a vacant look in his eyes, fingers stretching to reach between his shoulder blades. Nat couldn't quite believe that the skin and muscle were whole and intact; had it really only been a few hours since he'd been lying on the ground trying not to scream because his shoulder had been practically destroyed and he couldn't move his arm?

Natasha threaded her fingers through his, stopping the movement of his hand, and he glanced over at her with a sheepish smile. But when he moved his hand, she left hers on his shoulder, tracing light patterns. When he raised an eyebrow, she shrugged. "I just have to make sure you're all here," she said. She still hadn't been able to get the image of his burned, raw flesh out of her head.

"Yeah. You and me both."

"Those Asgardian healing stones are the best," Tony grunted. His goatee was singed off on one side. "I mean, it sucks that they don't fix hair, but otherwise they rock." He winked, and Natasha huffed a laugh and buried her face in Steve's back.

"That was awful!"

"I gotta agree, Tony," Bucky said. "Terrible pun. Worse beard." He was tracing his fingers over the ridges of his metal arm. It had been badly damaged during the battle (again), but Tony had shut down the artificial nerves, so he didn't seem to be in much pain.

Asgard was in ruins, for the most part. Thanos hadn't left anything sacred. They had spent the afternoon having a proper Norse funeral for the dead warriors, and, strangely, one of the honored fallen had been Loki. Thor wasn't talking much now; he was wrapped in a thick green cloak, his icy blue eyes dark and somber and a little teary. He and the Goddess of Healing, Eir, had managed to recover several crystalline stones which they had said could heal all but the deadliest of hurts. And, thankfully, that proved to be true.

Still, a lot of their teammates were dead. The healing stones had been too late for them.

Clint.

Vision.

Lang.

Strange.

Natasha closed her eyes and reveled in Steve's returned strength. At least he hadn't left her.

"You okay?" he asked. It was a stupid question, but that seemed to be what they all wanted to know. Was everyone else okay?

"Yeah." She wasn't. But she was alive and she was coping and that was what he meant, anyway. "You?"

"Mostly." He twisted around and scooped her up, setting her on his lap. She snorted,

"I'm glad you aren't dead," she said softly, fussing with the collar of his Asgardian tunic. She thought maybe she'd be lost without him, and she should have hated that, hated that she relied so completely on another person, but at this point she couldn't quite bring herself to care.

Steve sighed and put his arms around her, burying the fingers of one hand in her hair (as he'd become so fond of doing). "Me too," he said wryly.

"I thought you were." Nat still didn't look at him. For a moment, when he'd been shot and he fell, all she could think was no, and it hurt so bad, like her heart had literally broken into pieces. It still hurt a little, like she hadn't quite accepted that he was alright.

"Nat." He moved his hand to smooth her hair out of her face. "Can you look at me?"

She did, a bit hesitantly. She couldn't help but be ashamed of her feelings; they were irrational and weak and ridiculous. But he never seemed to think they were. His grey-blue eyes were compassionate and earnest as he looked at her.

"I'm right here." It was a stupid thing to say. She knew that. But, as usual, Steve managed to make her feel safe in the simplest of ways. "I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

"I know," she muttered half-heartedly, then leaned her head into his hand, closing her eyes with a little sigh. "I was... I was scared," she said, whispering. "I still am."

She felt his other hand brush into her hair, then his lips met hers, hesitant and a little clumsy, but not by any means unpleasant. What he lacked in "practice," he made up for in sweetness. Not wanting to open her eyes yet, she kissed him back as earnestly as she could, and he laughed a little, the incredulous sort of chuckle where he didn't seem to quite believe what was happening. The fact that he laughed like that while he was kissing her made her feel so deeply happy that she laughed too and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him harder.

"Excuse me," Tony said, breaking in on their moment. "But, in case you forgot, we're still here."

Natasha sighed and leaned back, shooting him a glare that she knew would make him fear for his life, or at the very least, his hair. She actually had sort of forgotten about the rest of them, but she wasn't going to tell them. "How about you keep your mouth shut, Stark?"

"How about you two don't get pregnant in front of me, Red?" he retorted.

Natasha did her best to ignore the pang his words gave her, and she saw Bruce shoot her a sympathetic look. Steve's jaw went tense, and she gave him a little eye roll to tell him calm down. She was fine. She was always fine.

"Love you," he said quietly. Casually. Like it was the simplest thing in the world. And she adored him for it.

"I love you too."