"Christine!"
Steve looked at the woman in front of him, terrified. While sleeping, he heard someone struggling against something. It took him awhile to open his eyes, due to sheer exhaustion. When he did, he noticed Christine seizing in her bed. He called out for the doctor before running to her aid. Grabbing Christine by her side, careful to avoid her injuries, he laid her on her side. She continued to seize and Steve did the best he could to hold her down. Even with his advanced strength, he had trouble. Her guttural noises broke his heart and he pleaded silently that she would be okay.
"C'mon, C'mon. It's okay, Christine. Help is coming." He murmured while pressing his forehead to her unwounded shoulder. After what seemed like hours, Dr. Cho came running in with her staff. They made some gestures while Dr.Cho's face grew into worry. While taking her stethoscope off, she started to ask Steve questions. Becoming flustered, he answered to the best of his ability. When she asked how long she had been seizing, she grew more frantic.
"She has been seizing for too long, if we don't get her to stop, there will be damage"
Footsteps came closer to the room accompanied by hurried questions. Steve was greeted by Dr. Banner and Tony asking a flurry of questions. Giving them the same answers, Steve watched as they rushed to the bed. Tony grabbing a tablet to read her chart and monitor her heart rate. Dr. Cho instructed on of her staff to draw up a needle filled with some liquid and Steve blanched at the size of it.
"I need you to help me keep her still I have to inject the needle intravenously ."
Steve wordless nodded and gently grabbed Christine. By now, it had been minutes since she started. If not for her enhanced abilities, he was sure that she would be dead. Tony showed something to Bruce with a puzzled look, they both stared at the tablet.
"Dr. Cho. Her brain activity is alarming"
"I'm working on it, Tony" she said while pushing the plunger of the needle. Slowly, Christine's tremors became less violent and her noises of discomfort were filled with soft snores. Steve released his breath that he had been holding. Once again, he rested his head on her shoulder. Laying her on her back, once again, Steve hovered over her forehead. He gently pressed his lips to her slightly damp forehead.
Tony and Bruce glanced at each other again, the same question lingering in their eyes. They exchanged a sly smile before looking at Steve again. His once neatly combed hair was disheveled and he looked like he aged in the past couple of weeks.
"When did that become a thing?" Tony asked.
Steve ignored him and grabbed the tablet from his hands. "What was going on with her brain activity?"
Taking the hint, Banner explained their observations. While Christine was seizing, they saw a shift in her usual brain waves. Instead of them uncontrollably spiking, they slowed down. Either a malfunction in the system occurred or Christine was brain dead for those minutes that she was seizing.
''How is that possible?"
"It isn't."
Steve's confused expression matched those around him. Dr. Cho overheard the conversation and took it upon herself to look at the tablet that Tony was looking at. She used the time lapse below to look at the last six minutes. Tony's conclusions were correct, Christine was experiencing a crash in her brain activity during the time of her seizure. Dr. Cho then looked at her other vitals at that time and noticed the same thing. When she communicated her findings, they all looked onto the tablet. Christine's heart rate dropped along with her blood pressure at that time. Which could have easily killed her, if not for her metahuman abilities. "What happened on the field?"
"She was found with multiple gunshot wounds along with her other injuries." Steve said.
"No." She corrected herself. "When she came in, you said that something weird happened before you found her"
"It was like someone just turned off the lights. I remember looking for survivors and then being shrouded in darkness. It was terrifying."
"Did anyone have eyes on Christine?"
"The only other people there were Pietro and Ultron" Bruce chimed in.
Dr. Cho sighed. "Anyone else?"
"She used one of her shadow puppets to escort me and one of the survivors to the quintet" A new voice emerged from behind them and the group looked to see Clint standing there. They were unsure of how long he had been standing there. Taking small steps into the room, he moved around them to get to Christine's bed. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "How is she doing?"
"We stopped her seizing, but we are trying to figure out what happened".
"She was exhausted and has too many injuries to count. That was probably a contributing factor". He gave the woman int he hospital bed a worried look. "Is she going to be okay."
"As long as we control her symptoms and give her lots of rest." The doctor confirmed. The team took the hint and gave each other a farewell nod. Steve rubbed his face before taking a step towards the bed again. He was stopped by a gentle hand on his arm. "That means you too"
Steve shot her a quick smile before heading back to his room. Dr. Cho was finally left in the room with Christine. She went to her bedside and began checking her vitals again. "You can stop pretending to be asleep."
A smile appeared on her face before she opened her eyes. "How could you tell?"
"You brain activity changed." Dr. Cho motioned for her to sit up and Christine did, with help from her. "Also, your heart rate picked up when you heard Steve's voice"
Christine was grateful for her dark skin as her cheeks flushed. Her mind wandered back to her vivid dream. She could still feel his lips on her skin. Dr.Cho lifted Christine's shirt to expose her abdomen, she prodded at the newly formed skin and asked Christine about pain and feeling. Dr. Cho went about her examination of all of her injuries and the recovery process. Placing her stethoscope back around her neck, Dr. Cho concluded her examination.
"Do you want me to let them know that you're awake?"
"I'm probably going to take a shower first and then-"
"I'll got let Maria know you want to take a shower" She left the room before Christine could reply. She scoffed and leaned her head back onto the pillow and waited for Maria to come in. Light footsteps were heard outside her door, Maria walked into the room. She had clothes in her arms and a towel. She placed the clothes into the adjacent bathroom before coming back over to Christine.
"Come on."
Christine lifted her upper body with the help of Maria. The women took their time getting to the bathroom before Maria left Christine. Christine took her time getting into the shower. Although Dr. Cho healed the gunshot wounds and her shoulder, she was still very sore. Her injured ribs made it uncomfortable to breathe. Every movement was slow and she was careful not to put too much pressure on one side or the other. She washed her body with the available hygiene products int he bathroom. Tony was never frivolous with his hygiene, so it left her skin feeling clean. Normally she would avoid washing her hair, due to it being so close to her last wash; but, her hair was filthy. She took her time finger detangling each section under the spray of water. It must have taken awhile because Maria eventually came in to check on her.
"You okay?" She called out.
"Washing my hair" Christine replied.
Her voice could barely be heard over the shower and Maria started to grow uncomfortable. The frosted glass on the shower prevented Maria from confirming if Christine was okay. She paused a minute, biting her nail before deciding on what to do next. Without further thought, Maria closed her eyes and opened the glass door.
"I couldn't tell if you were okay, so I'm coming in"
Christine peered one eye open to see. Maria stood in the door frame with her eyes covered. She laughed. "I'm okay, I'm detangling my hair. I don't have any of my hair products, so I have to use my fingers." While reaching up to detangle the top of her hair, she groaned from the stretch in her ribs. Maria heard the sound and sighed.
"I can help you do it, if you show me how. I don't want you hurting yourself. You're just gonna have to be okay with me seeing you naked."
Christine was gonna decline, she didn't mind Maria seeing her, she just did not want to be a burden anymore. Since Christine has been injured, she knows that Maria put her life on hold to take care of her. That, and her history was cause for anyone to be worried. However, as she was standing there —fully clothed in the shower with her—she smiled. "Okay."
Christine sat on the in-shower bench and guided Maria, who still had her eyes closed, to her hair so she can teach her how to detangle her hair. She was gentle with her hair, and she even seem scared to hurt her. Maria would take small sections of her hair, even checking in to make sure that she was doing it right. When Maria felt like there was to big of a knot, Christine would help out.
After using all of Tony's conditioner, Christine rinsed out her hair and began twisting it into big sections. Christine sat on her bed with her t-shirt and shorts. Droplets from her hair ran down her back as she waited for Maria to return from changing her clothes. Her back was turned to the door, so she was not able to see who came into her room.
"That was fast" She said, absentmindedly.
"Christine?" The accent gave the younger Maximoff away and Christine turned around quickly to face her. Wanda was standing at the end of her bed, waiting for her to turn. Her brows were furrowed and she had a faraway look on her face. She recognized that look and her heart sank.
She didn't want to believe it, so she asked the question that she already knew that answer for. "Did he make it?"
She didn't need an answer as Wanda's face was enough. She turned her face away from Christine, to hide her tears. Christine's eyes burned as she felt her tears begin to surface. The lump in her throat started to become a rock and she felt like she couldn't swallow down the emotions building up inside her. It was hard for her to identify what emotions were trying to surface, but she knew that they were heavy. She could feel her body start to sag with the weight. Her ribs protested against the phantom weight and she felt like she could no longer breathe without difficulty.
"I know that you were with him until the end."
She nodded.
"Thank you." She started. "I-I'm happy to know that he was not alone, when he-when he died. He did not deserve that"
"I'm sorry I couldn't-" Christine cleared her throat. "I'm sorry I couldn't save him. I tried. I know what it's like to lose a sibling and I did not want that for you. Even if they are different circumstances."
"The loss is still the same." Wanda affirmed.
"The guilt isn't, though."
The silence between them was not awkward, but it wasn't comfortable. One could feel how much the other wanted to talk, to give comforting words, or something. There was nothing that possessed Christine to do what she did next. It might have even been for her benefit, too. Maybe she needed the comfort, but she moved from her spot on the bed and engulfed Wanda into a hug. Although stiff at first, the grieving women embraced each other. Both of them leaning on each other for more than just physical support, but emotional. No words were exchanged for as long as the hug went.Wanda ignored the water droplets getting onto her from Christine's freshly washed hair. Instead, she sunk into the hug more, taking in the young women's comforting scent. She eventually felt her facade break and the tears came in waves. She had spent the last few hours pretending that she was fine, but she could no longer hold It in.
Her sobs were muffled, but loud enough for Christine to hear. She wrapped her arms around Wanda and held her while she cried. The only thing that she could do was comfort her while she held back her own tears. She wanted to lie to the women and tell her that it was going to get better. That he was in a better place, all the bullshit that people fed her during Amilla's funeral. However, she couldn't push herself to lie to her. She endured hell for years after Amilla died. She suffered with insomnia and PTSD, she couldn't get out of the bed for days and refused to maintain a steady job. Often times, the only sleep she would get was after she drank a whole bottle of brown liquor. The pain never went away, but there were days that were more bearable than others. Even now, she still has days when getting out of bed is too much. She still hasn't been able to fully shake the heaviness of her death, but it got a little lighter.
"I don't know how I'm gonna live without him, we've been together for so long"
"You don't get to live without them. You survive." Christine said. "and that is the best that we can do."
Maria chose that time to return to the room. She opened her mouth to say something, but realized the intimate moment she walked into. She looked at Christine comforting the women and smiled. Christine made eye contact with her in that moment, she gave a small smile back. Maria silently asked if she was okay, ready to jump in, if needed. Christine took time to mull over the question before nodding. Maria mimicked the movement and decided that t was best to leave them alone. She gave one more smile to Christine before exiting the room.