"Enough!" Bruce shouted as he span round to stare down the blue eyed super solider questioning his every move. "I have seven PHDs Barnes. Seven! I am perfectly capable of looking after the two of them and I have a lot more knowledge on this stuff than you do, so enough. I want you out."
Bucky stared dumbfounded as the doctor stood with his arms folded and a stern expression across his face.
"I'm not going anywhere." His voice was low and quiet.
"Yes," Bruce countered with a sigh, "you are. If you want me to help them I need to be able to concentrate Barnes, so I need you to leave. Lizzie and Peter need you to leave."
Bucky glanced back to where Elizabeth lay, her hair fanned out beside her, the darkness surrounding her icy skin and her lips parted as she lay in a deep slumber. Seeping from her still were tiny wisps of blue, spilling from the bed she occupied and across the empty corridor. They pulled themselves towards the child in the bed in the room across from her, wrapping gently around his wrist and twisting their way into his wound. They lapped at his skin, stitching him back together. Even in her rest she was saving people.
His eyes misted with tears as he looked back to the doctor working to keep them safe and healthy and he nodded. He didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay and wrap himself around her. He wanted to stay and keep an eye on Peter. He just wanted to stay. But he knew Bruce was right. His panic was consuming him; his pain at the idea of losing either of them was controlling him. He was in the way.
Bruce sighed as Bucky stalked from the room and he moved from Lizzie's bedside back to Peter. He watched with wonder as the blue flames that seemed to tickle at Peter's skin wrapped themselves into his wound, pulling at the edged of his skin as it knit itself back together, fixing the damage from the inside out. He marvelled at how incredible Elizabeth truly was. He smiled as he thought about the miracles her body was capable of. The miracles she carried with her.
"You look like death Doc." Peter groaned as he opened his eyes and glanced at the trickle of blue that retreated from his side, leaving nothing but a faint pink line where there had once been a gaping hole. "Anyone would think we just fought a giant grape or something."
Bruce smiled as he ran a hand over his face, wiping away any threat of tears as he listened to the youngest Avenger crack a joke even after facing the edge of death.
"Glad to see you awake Kid. You're probably gonna be sore for a while, I think." He pushed Peter back as he went to sit up, furrowing his brow as he realised he wasn't actually sure what damage had been left due to Lizzie's intervention. "No more training with Barnes for at least six weeks, okay?"
Peter nodded as he stared at the scrape on his skin. He could recall darkness and Lizzie. Lizzie was floating and there were stars and colours. Did she fix him? He thought he had dreamt of the blue, but now? Where had he been with her?
"Hey," Bruce took his hand and squeezed it as Peter looked back to him with panic in his eyes. "What you did today? That was something special Kid. Stupid, but special."
Peter laughed, followed swiftly by a fit of uncontrollable coughing that left him clutching his side and wincing in pain.
"Yeah. No one told me she could do that whole force field thing." Peter scrunched his nose as he smiled. "Thanks for that."
"No problem Pete." Bruce laughed as he turned back to his other patient and was met by warm brown eyes that swam with fear. "Lizzie." He sighed her name as he moved to her side.
"Hey," she croaked as she moved to sit up, Bruce's hand firmly gripping her shoulder and holding her down. "What happened? Why am I in here?" Her voice was thick with panic and as the feeling of fear rose within her the pitch of her voice seemed to climb. The monitors strapped to her let out faster blips and images of flames and force fields consumed her mind, wrapping her mind in the pain of failing to control herself. "I thought I could control it now." She held back a sob and Bruce shook his head. "I really thought I could."
Bruce closed her door, smiling softly at Peter before he turned back to the woman crying in front of him and he sat on the edge of her bed. Slowly, he wheeled the smallest screen in the room towards them and Lizzie stopped breathing. She watched as she struggled to think straight as his fingers brushed over the keys in front of him and her stomach fluttered with energy as her tears stopped. She took in a deep breath and her eyes remained glued to the screen.
"I think Lizzie," Bruce whispered, "that you can control it."
She nodded as new tears spilled from her eyes and her hand found its place over her stomach.
"This little one can't though."
"Bruce. Is that? Am I?" Her eyes were glued to it; the shape of it. The beautiful, perfectly formed, tiny shape of it.
"I take it this was unplanned?" Bruce chuckled as she stared at the screen and held onto her stomach. Her eyes dropped to her hands and she smiled a wide smile as she laughed.
"Completely."
"Well. Congratulations Lizzie." Bruce beamed at her. "You're going to be a Momma."
*
When Bucky burst into the room Elizabeth burst into tears. He raced to her side, taking her face into his hands and kissing her passionately. His lips burned against her and his tears stained her skin.
"Jesus Doll," he rest his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, "don't you ever do that to me again. God you scared the life out of me."
Lizzie sighed as her fingers brushed over his cheeks, wiping away his tears, and a small laugh left her lips.
"I'm sorry."
His lips brushed over hers again.
"Are you okay?"
Elizabeth nodded and stared up at him, sinking into the crystal seas of his eyes. She wanted to scream the news, to tell him and kiss him and never let go. Instead she shuffled over in the bed and patted the mattress beside her. She watched patiently as he climbed in beside her, and waited for him to settle. He pulled her close, one arm draped over her shoulder and she clung to him as she kissed him with all of the love she felt coursing through her veins. His lips parted as she clung to his t-shirt, her breathing coming fast and heavy as his hands moved over her body. He caressed her, he held her and he pulled he closer still. When she pushed him away he pouted, leaning in again as she laughed and shook her head.
"I love you so much Bucky." More tears came and Bucky's eyes grew stormy with worry. "So, so much."
He kissed her cheeks where her tears fell and steadied himself for the news he now had to share. He took a shaky breath and frowned.
"I love you too Lizzie." He kissed her softly. "But I have some bad news about the wedding."
She nodded, still smiling slightly, and Bucky frowned further.
"The garden. Well. It was kind of destroyed when you went all flame thrower on us Doll. And when Thor got all sparky. Well, whatever was left was ruined." He paused to judge her reaction, shocked that she was still smiling. "I think we might need to push back Doll. Just a month or two?"
As his words sank in Elizabeth felt the twist of nerves in her chest. She was desperate not to postpone. She wanted to be his wife. She wanted her happy ending and her bliss. She wanted to wake up every morning as Mrs Barnes and she wanted to start their family as a married couple. She wanted him to know that a beautiful, perfect, magical little mixture of the two of them was growing inside her now. She wanted everything with him but she wasn't ready to tell him just yet.
"I don't want to postpone," she whispered.
"I know Doll, I do." Bucky soothed her as he pulled her closer to him and she rest her head against his chest.
"Can we just move it inside or something? I just - I want to be your wife. I don't want to postpone for anything. We don't know what the future holds Buck and I just want to marry you."
Bucky put his fingers beneath her chin, pulling her face up and brushing his lips against hers. He whispered to her, his lips still touching hers and she melted into his touch.
"Your wish is my command Doll." He pulled her closer still and she smiled as he kissed her again. "Let's make you Mrs Barnes."
"Yeah?" She giggled as he rolled over, pinning her to the bed beneath them.
"Mhmm," his lips trailed down her throat and the tendrils of his hair tickled her neck.
"Buck," she whispered as he nipped at her, laughing as she pushed at him. "We're in a medical room. Peter's just behind that door. We can't."
"Mhmm." His tongue brushed over her collarbone and she swatted at him.
"Oh my God I should have knocked."
Bucky ripped himself from Elizabeth, rolling back from her and tumbling from the bed as Peter stood awkwardly in the doorway, clutching at his side. Elizabeth laughed loudly as Bucky grunted, his arms now tangled in a mass of wires and Peter stifled his own laughter.
"I'm sorry." Peter smiled apologetically and Lizzie pushed herself up so that she was sitting properly, a grin forming as she peaked down at the furious expression on Bucky's face.
"It's fine Kid." He grunted as he untangled himself and got back to his feet, climbing back beside Elizabeth without a second thought. "Glad to see you up and about, but shouldn't you be resting?"
"About that." Peter chewed his lip as he shuffled his feet and looked to the floor. "I have a question."
"Ask away Peter." Lizzie smiled warmly at him as he glanced at her and his breathing settled slightly.
"Erm, well." He stepped forwards and came to a stop at the end of the bed Lizzie and Bucky sat in. "Did you mean to do this?"
As Peter raised his t-shirt to reveal the thin pink scar where his wound should be Lizzie gasped. She rocked forwards onto her knees and instinctively reached forwards, running her fingers across his abdomen and shaking her head.
"I saw you," she whispered.
"In the darkness." Peter finished, nodding as her eyes flashed up to his and blue sparks flickered behind her eyes.
"Peter I-"
Suddenly the teenager's arms were wrapped around her and he was crying. He held her close and buried his face into her shoulder as she shuffled to the very end of the bed and wrapped him in her arms. She stroked his hair and hushed him, soothing him as she rocked from side to side.
"You saved me Lizzie," he sobbed. "Thank you."
"Shhh." Lizzie brushed his hair from his forehead as she pulled from the hug, holding his face in her hands and smiling at him. "That's what family does Kid."