⤷ march 30, 2014
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In George Washington University Hospital, two guards stand stationed in front of a single room, dressed in all black, guns front and centre. A passing patient — an older man with a head of white hair and round black-rimmed glasses over his eyes — walks by, hesitantly eyeing the guards.
But when a soft melody filters out the door and to his ears, the patient's eye widen in recognition beneath the shades, and he spares a quick peak through the doors.
The sight inside makes him smile softly, before wandering off with his walker.
Inside the hospital room, a lone bed rests, a heart monitor methodically beeping, but muffled under the soft tunes that ring out through the record player resting on a table, the vinyl record spinning round and round.
"Everybody loves somebody sometimes,
And although my dream was overdue
Your love made it well worth waiting
For someone like you..."
When Steve wakes up, it's the first thing he hears. That lovely melody he'd come to love most out of all the songs he'd listened to after his crash, the songs that'd been made with love and care for over 70 years. He enjoyed them all, but this. This song, this tune...
Brown eyes looking up at him through long lashes,
slender fingers sliding into his, tickling his palm just slightly,
the twirl of brown curls,
the scent of mahogany teakwood...
His eyes flutter open, as painful as it was. He takes in the lights, soft as they were, and slowly, his body connects to his mind again, letting him know what he was feeling. He feels the gentle brush of soft fingertips against his left palm, and looks over.
Irina is there, dutifully by his side as she reads a book, one hand holding it and flipping pages while the other soothes his hand with gentle strokes distractingly.
Pride & Prejudice, by Jane Austen.
A classic, and one of Steve's favourites. He remembers watching the movie with her. God, he loved it. Loved the fact that one of his all time favourite books had even gotten a movie, and that he had seen it with Irina, blankets on their laps and hot cocoa in their hands.
His lips twitch upwards as he regards her with soft appreciation. ""I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh."," he murmurs, so quietly, so gently.
But even over the monitor and the music, Irina hears him, and her eyes immediately dart up to his face, meets his eyes, and something breaks inside of them.
"Steve?" She whispers, voice cracking on her while her eyes shine with the beginnings of tears.
Steve just grins crookedly at her, slowly wrapping his fingers around her hand and squeezing, assuring her. Her mouth works, trying for words, but she can't seem to. Instead, Irina's eyes slowly fall to their hands, tracing Steve's.
And he watches her, content with the scene in front of him.
After a moment of silence, Irina grabs his fingers and slowly bring his hand up to her lips, brushing them over each knuckle, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to every one.
""There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense."," she returns with a different quote, pressing one last kiss to the knuckle of his pinky before pulling away and looking into his eyes again.
Steve doesn't mind the little stutter his heart gives.
He feigns a nonchalant smile. "That your seventh time reading it, now?" He asks weakly.
Irina looks back at him, tearful eyes shining so beautifully, lips pursed and shaking. She's relieved. Beyond it, even, but he can see the undertones of anger towards him, and understands.
His smile falters, and he squeezes her hand again. "...I'm sorry, Irina."
She sniffs. "You better be, Rogers. Talk about giving a woman a god damn heart attack," she huffs. Steve can only find amusement in her words, and grins again, before curiosity hits him.
"What happened while I was out?" He asks.
Irina struggles to slide a bookmark into where she was leaving her progress, but manages, and shuts the book to look at Steve, both hands now going to hold his own. "The Winter Soldier pulled you out of the water," she says, first and foremost. Steve's eyes widen, and she continues before he can start freaking out. "Me, as well. He was leaving, wandering off...you probably made him question his entire life."
"Is he all right?" Steve blurts, jolting forwards only to groan in pain and lay back down. Irina presses a hand down on his chest to urge him so.
"He's..." she hesitates, before dropping her head with a sigh, "...god, Natasha's going to be so pissed at me for this... He's in the next room over, recovering. Sam and Natasha are watching over him."
Immediately, Steve's jolting back out of bed again, trying to fight past the pain, even though he has to grit his teeth harshly to do so. "I have to see him," he grunts. Irina stands up from her stool, using both hands this time to urge him back down.
"No, you won't," she rebutes. Steve continues to try and get up, and taking his super soldier strength into account, she tries more harshly to push him back down. "Steve, he's already having an existential crisis as is. Do you really want to make it worse, when he's the reason you're this banged up and were on Death's door just a few days ago?" She hisses.
"That's exactly why he needs me, Irina," pushes Steve, still trying, though the pain is getting to him again, and he slowly begins to sit and lay back down with hisses of pain. "I'm his only friend. I can help him —"
"Not when you look like that," Irina pushes back. "Because even if he does start to remember you as his dearest friend, how do you think he'll react seeing you like you are now and knowing he did that?" She says.
"But he didn't! It was HYDRA! HYDRA had control of him —"
"You think I don't know that?" hisses Irina lowly, fixing Steve with a glare that has him pausing. "You don't think I, of all people, don't know what he's going through? You may be his closest friend, Rogers, but you don't have an inkling of understanding as to what he's going through, what's happening to his mind right now."
"They had me for twenty years, and it's still bad. The Winter Soldier has been with them for seventy," she says. "That's triple the time I spent with them, so triple that damage, and triple the amount of time, effort and care he'll need to become even slightly stable."
Steve fixes her with a stern look. "Bucky. His name is Bucky," he insists.
Irina grimaces, still slowly working him back into a lying position. "I know. Sorry. It's just hard finding out the man who's tried to kill you several dozen times with his bare hands is your roommate's old best friend who had supposedly died seventy years ago," she huffs. "I'm trying here, Steve. We all are."
"Who's "we"?"
"Three guess, Capsicle," Tony Stark says as he saunters in, dressed head to toe in a fashionable blue suit, expensive shades on, even indoors.
Steve fixes him with a polite look. "It's nice to see you again, Mr. Stark," he greets in a more business-like tone.
Tony flashes him a grin, striding over to Irina and patting her head. "Feeling's totally mutual, Cap. Indefinitely. Totally not putting on a show just for Nina, here," Irina elbows his gut, scowling up at the man.
"Watch it," she warns.
Tony snickers, stepping away and lifting both hands. "Still touchy. Sheesh. Couple of years with Rogers and now his shield is stuck up your ass, too. Anyways, Cap, no worries about your buddy. Nina filled me in about the whole "turning-his-brain-into-Nazi-mush" part. She also used up her favour from New York, and feel grateful she used it for you," he points at the captain, "otherwise I probably wouldn't be doing shit right now, and be in my penthouse, making sweet, sweet love to my —"
"Tony," Irina presses sternly, "don't corrupt Captain America. At least not anymore than I have," she flashes a small smirk towards Steve, who puffs out a breath of exasperation.
It was like having two Howards in front of him.
The billionaire waves his hand half-heartedly, still smiling. "See? We're related for a good reason. Anyways, I got top-of-the-line Stark security all around the hospital, and all along this floor. Banner is working with that Wilson guy on the best ways to try treating your little friend, get that HYDRA mush out of him. It'll take awhile, of course. So I was thinking once this is all cleaned up and everyone is nice and dandy again, we all take my private jet straight back to the Tower and hole up in there."
"Romanoff's already back on board. Says she'll go anywhere you two go — honestly, how'd you do it? It's mind boggling. Truly. Banner's been living there the past two years. Mostly using up the labs and stuff, but still. Got no word on Barton and the Guy Upstairs, but if you two agree, we'll have most of the gang back together. Plus an additional super man-weapon — hey, d'you think I could get a look at that arm sometime? Looks advanced for being seventy years old, is all," he rambles, eventually managing to stop for a breather.
Steve and Irina look at him with raised eyebrows. Irina's lips slowly turn up in amusement. "You done?"
Tony holds up his pointer finger, looking off, feigning a thought, and after a long moment, he shrugs and shoves his hands into the pockets of his suit. "Yeah. For now."
"Joy," snorts Irina.
"Wait," Steve frowns, looking at Tony, "you want to get the Avengers back together? For what reason?"
"Well, besides the fact that you're now sort of homeless and have nowhere else to go..." Tony grimaces softly beneath his shades, "...Loki's scepter has gone poof."
Immediately, Steve glowers, and Tony winces softly. "...aaannd is, like, 100% in the hands of HYDRA, given that they'd apparently taken over S.H.I.E.L.D. and all."
At that, Steve lets out a small "Damn it," and lets his head fall back against the pillow. Irina grabs his hand again, squeezing gently.
"Hey, don't worry. It's us. We can track it down, just like last time. And taking down more HYDRA with Tony and Dr. Banner might be better than just you, me and Natasha ourselves while on the run," she insists. "For now, we're safe. No HYDRA, no threats. Just relax, and focus on getting better. Because when you get better, you can help Barnes get better."
Steve sighs, frustrated with the sudden difficulties that had arisen, but she was right; they almost had the team back together again. With HYDRA, the last major threat to them on Earth, having taken a huge hit after the collapse of Project Insight, it was just the small fries left, scattered like ants across the world. Picking them off would take time, locating the scepter even more so, but it would make things fine in the long run, once the century-old corporation is finally dead and gone for good.
He looks back at the two brunettes, managing a grimace. "Alright. When do we head back out?"
Tony lifts an eyebrow at him, expression sassy even beneath eye-blocking shades. "When you're not filled with more holes than you should have," he says. Steve sends an unimpressed glare towards Tony, who merely flashes a grin. "Joking! God, no one has a sense of humour anymore," he murmurs.
Steve lets out a sigh, before his eyes drift over to Irina, who was watching him carefully, worry still shining clear in her eyes. It makes him smile softly, before his face falls to seriousness. "Let me see him," he says.
Immediately, she sighs. "Steve —"
"I don't have to talk to him. He doesn't even have to see me. I just —" his voice cracks on him, and Steve takes a moment to swallow down his anxiety and collect himself, "...I need to see him."
Irina exchanges a worried look with Tony, who gives a one-sided shrug. The silent communication between the siblings is new, definitely not something Steve predicted happening so quickly into their developing relationship...but he was content, seeing Howard's kids getting along so well, despite their circumstances — despite Irina's circumstances.
Then, with a more softer sigh than before, Irina looks back at him. "You sure?" She checks.
Steve nods rapidly, trying to hide how it hurts his head the slightest bit. "Serum lets me heal faster than most others. I can do it. I just...I'll need a bit of help," he mutters sheepishly.
Her lips curl upwards in amusement. "Need a wheelchair, Rogers?"
"No," Steve says, turning pink slightly in the cheeks, "he's just next door, right? Just...help me walk over?"
Tony narrows his eyes at the confrontation, humming low and suspiciously as Irina nods and stands up. "Aye-aye, Captain," she says with a wink. Steve grins weakly back.
Gently, her and Tony aid him out of his hospital bed, a muscular arm draped around each Stark when he stands. It takes a moment for Steve to bite back the aches in every one of his limbs, but he does it. Irina pulls along his IV stand with one hand while the other wraps around his waist, holding him up, with Tony's in between his shoulder blades, offering small pats of comfort whenever Steve grunted as they slowly walk out of his room.
There was a window viewing into Bucky's room, a two-way one, given the way Natasha did a double-take when spotting them, arms crossed at her chest as she stands beside Sam. She narrows her eyes at Irina, who offers her a sheepish grin, but Steve's eyes can't leave the man on the bed.
Bucky.
He's unconscious, an IV line hooked into him, the heart monitor going steady. Dr. Banner was at his bedside, scribbling down on a piece of paper what looked like notes and analyzations, and Bucky was — Bucky was just there. Just lying in bed, sleeping peacefully. Steve had no doubt of the part drugs and medications played into that, but it was still...
He punches out a breath thick with emotions, his voice lost to him.
Bucky was there.
He'd stayed.
How had he stayed?
He feels Irina's hand, smaller than Tony's, rub gentle, soothing circles into the back of his waist. "He's gonna be just fine with us," she whispers, eyes distant as she stares at Bucky, at who she still can't help but think of as the Winter Soldier, the man who taught her all she knew, and had used what he'd taught her to try and kill her, too. She didn't see Bucky just yet, just the killer she always knew...
...but she made him stay.
For Steve.
Steve softly clears his throat, finding his eyes stuck on her face, filled with affection for the broken but beautiful woman in front of him. He finds his voice again, as soft and cracking as it was. "Thank you," he whispers.
Irina blinks, registers the words were meant for her, and looks back up at him, lips stretching into a tender smile. "Just what friends do," she murmurs.
"God, I'm gonna be sick," interrupts Tony, looking at them with a disgusted look. "You're actually going to make me throw up. Stop it. It's weird."
A soft snort escapes Irina's mouth, and Steve can't help but let himself grin, wide and happy and content despite the way it pulls on his stitches.
Coming out of the ice had many bad things that came with it, but the good was just as much present.
He knows he can never go back to how things were; Bucky, Peggy, Howard, Phillips, the Howling Commandos...most of them were just memories now, he couldn't see them again. Most of them would just remain past memories of "the good old days".
But here, with his new friends, his new team, Bucky still with him, and Irina helping him float in the midst of free-falling...
...Steve Rogers can't help but admit that he wants things to always stay this way.
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Did the POV switch confuse you? Nw it's the only one for awhile. We're back to Irina after this.
But tbh after the events of this entire part I had to give Steve some perspective towards his relationship with my girl <3
More POV change specials in the future?? Mayhaps 👀
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