A/N: Just putting a warning here for possible triggers. Mentions of some violence and blood. Also some medical stuff. Am I updating too much?
Cora stood up from where she was bent on the floor in front of the toilet. She flushed the handle and went to the sink to brush her teeth.
Another restless night riddled with bad and odd dreams. And another morning spent throwing up. It must have been her nerves and all of the stress.
After taking a shower and getting dressed in a pair of jeans and a light weight sweater, Cora made her way downstairs.
As she was sipping on some ginger ale, a hurried knock sounded at the front door.
Going to answer it, Cora was surprised to see Pepper.
"Pepper, come in, please." Cora stepped aside to let her in, but the red head shook her head.
"I'm sorry. I can't. There isn't enough time. I need your help, Cora. The guys are killing each other, and I think we may be the only ones to stop them."
"Do you know where they are?"
"Yes, we have to hurry."
"Say no more." Cora grabbed Steve's lather jacket and threw it on. Pulling the front door closed behind her, Cora followed Pepper to her white car.
***
On the way to where the fighting had broken out, Pepper filled Cora in on what she had missed.
Steve and the guys had been running from Tony and the team he had put together for just over three weeks. The council had issued warrants for Steve, Bucky and Sam, but were willing to drop the charges on Steve and Sam if Bucky came quietly.
"There's no getting around this. He has to stand trial for his actions." Pepper pulled the car to a stop at the curb. "The longer Steve keeps pushing him to fight, the worse it is going to be for all of them."
"Pushing him?"
Pepper nodded. "Bucky tried to surrender. Steve stopped him. Which is when the really bad fighting started between Steve and Tony."
Cora shook her head. "Oh geeze. Where are they now?"
Pepper nodded towards the large building they had pulled up to. It was an empty warehouse. "Somewhere inside. Things seem quiet. Too quiet."
Cora followed Pepper into the building. There was debris everywhere and scorch marks undoubtedly from Tony's phasers. Cora also noticed several dents and gashes in the wall, undoubtedly made from Steve's shield. Just as they were rounding a corner, Sam ran up to them.
"Bucky surrendered. Widow took him into custody and Cap and Tony started fighting again, they're out back!"
Sam led Pepper and Cora through the warehouse to where Tony and Steve were fighting. He took them to one of the loading docks where the door had been thrown open. The fighting was such a mess, it was hard to tell who had the advantage.
Steve had blood running down his face from a head injury and was favoring his left leg. Tony's suit was badly damaged and giving off sparks. But still the two fought.
Cora watched as Tony blasted Steve back, while trying to regain his footing, but Steve flipped with the blast and moved away. Turning, Tony flew several feet away, trying to distance himself enough to gain the upper hand.
Steve chased after him, raising his shield and grabbing Tony by the leg, slamming him down into the ground. He slammed his shield down on the suit, right in the center over the arc reactor.
Again and again he hit Tony, not giving the other man a chance.
Horrified at what she was watching, Cora jumped down from the ledge where she was standing and ran towards them.
"Cora, no!" Pepper yelled after her.
"Get Tony!" She shouted over her shoulder. When she got closer to Steve, Cora threw herself with every ounce of strength she had against him. It was like hitting a brick wall, and knocked the wind out of her, but she clung onto him. Pressing her lips to his, she wrapped her arms and legs around Steve's torso as tightly as she could, feeling already broken ribs move under the pressure.
The pain got Steve's attention, and he dropped his shield as Pepper helped Tony. "Cora?" He gasped past the pain.
Not saying anything to him, Cora looked back to Pepper. "Get Tony out of here." Turning back to Steve, Cora looked at him. "You good?"
"Yeah," he groaned, almost stumbling under the pressure around him from Cora holding onto him. "Doll, could you loosen your grip a bit?"
"No." Cora squeezed just a hair tighter until Steve looked at her. "Not until you promise me that when I let go you won't go after anyone else."
"I promise."
"You're done being stupid?"
"Yes."
"Say it. Say you're done being stupid." Cora glared at him.
"I swear I'm done being stupid."
Cora released him and stood on her own two feet, watching as Steve coughed and wheezed. "I'm sorry I hurt you. But you were being a damn fool."
Steve panted, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Looking past Cora, he glared at something.
Turning Cora saw that Pepper was attempting to help Tony to his feet. Going over, Cora took Tony's other arm and together they lifted him to his feet.
Once he was standing, the face plate on the suit came open and Tony's sweaty face was revealed.
Looking back at Steve, Cora caught a look of hurt that passed over his face at seeing her help Tony. She rolled her eyes and went back to Steve. Placing an arm on his left bicep, she went up onto her tip toes and kissed his cheek. He refused to look at her.
Looking around, Steve said "Where's Bucky?"
"He turned himself in and let Natasha take him into custody."
"What?" Steve made to grab his shield from where it lay on the ground, but he was slow due to his broken ribs and Cora beat him to it. She ducked around him and snatched up the shield, slipping her arm through the strap and holding it the way Steve had taught her.
Any other time, Steve would have been proud of seeing his girl so expertly holding his shield, but right now, it just irritated him. "Cora, don't."
"No. You don't." Cora turned to Pepper and Tony and said. "Tony are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm all right."
"It's my understanding that since Bucky turned himself in, Steve and Sam are off the hook?" Cora kept a hand on Steve's arm, both helping him to stay steady on his feet and to keep him from charging Tony again.
Tony nodded. "Yeah, they're good to go."
Turning back to Steve just as Sam landed at his side, Cora said. "Then let's go home." Turning back to Pepper she said "Thanks for coming to get me. Stay in touch, but for now I think we need to keep these two," She motioned to Steve and Tony, "separated."
Steve growled under his breath and Cora placed a hand against his chest. "Stop. It's done. It's over. We need to get you home and looked at." She tucked herself into his side, and gently tugged him in the opposite direction. "Come on, Steve." He refused. "Steve."
Slowly, he began to limp along with her, the adrenaline from the fight draining and all of the exhaustion from the last few weeks hit him at once, he stumbled and would have sank to his knees, but Sam caught him under his other arm and helped Steve balance.
"Sam?" Cora asked from Steve's other side, "Do we have a way out of here?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah, there's a quinjet waiting to take us back to New York."
Steve stopped walking. "I'm not getting on it."
Cora huffed. "Steve, you need a doctor. S.H.I.E.L.D medical or Stark medical are the only ones that are capable of treating you."
Steve shook his head and pulled away from Cora and Sam. He took several steps on his own, then sank to his knees, wracking with wet sounding coughs.
Kneeling beside him, Cora watched as Steve wiped his mouth once more with the back of his hand. It came away covered in blood. "Sam!" Cora rubbed Steve's back, watching as he struggled to get his breath. Blood poured from his nose and he coughed as more made its way up his throat.
"Cap?" Sam knelt beside Steve, smacking him across the back as he began to choke. "Steve?"
Steve choked harder, shaking his head as though trying to clear his throat. He began to shake and he fell forward onto his front.
Flipping him over, Cora pressed her ear to his chest. "He's not breathing." Not waiting for a reply from Sam, Cora tilted Steve's head back and blew air into his mouth. His cheeks puffed out but his chest did not rise. His throat was blocked.
"Get the jet, we have to get him to a doctor!" Cora opened Steve's mouth and reached in. At the back of his throat she found a clot of blood blocking his airway. Pulling it out, Cora immediately returned to trying to push air into his lungs, but once again, it didn't work.
Her hands beginning to shake and Steve's skin beginning to look blue, Cora once again reached into his mouth. Digging as deep as she could, she hooked her fingers and dragged upward, finally managing to clear Steve's airway.
Pressing her mouth over his and tilting his head back, Cora began CPR. Just as she was breathing into him for the third time, Steve coughed and jerked. Backing up to give him air, Cora helped him to sit.
Steve tried to speak, but wasn't able to get his breath.
Rubbing his back, Cora look up as a small quinjet landed not far from them. Sam walked down the gangplank and rushed over, followed by two S.H.I.E.L.D workers with a gurney.
Steve tried to force his way away from them, but he was too weak to get to his feet. The effort caused him to black out with a grunt of pain.
With Sam's helped, they managed to load Steve onto the gurney and rushed him onto the quinjet, Cora following closely behind, carrying Steve's shield.
***
Once they arrived at Avengers Tower, it being closer than the facility, Cora followed behind the medical staff as they rushed Steve to surgery. He had been unconscious almost the entire flight over. When he did wake, he nearly sobbed from the pain and exhaustion, his body screaming for deep breaths that he literally couldn't take.
Moving to go inside the surgery room, Cora was stopped by a hand on her arm. "Don't go in there."
Turning, Cora gave Sam an incredulous look. "He needs me."
Sam shook his head. "He wouldn't want you to see."
"Sam, I'm a nurse. It's nothing I haven't seen before."
"That's not what I meant. I mean, he wouldn't want you to see him like this. Weak and in pain. Come on, you know how he is."
"I'm not leaving him, Sam." Cora crossed her arms.
Sighing in defeat, Sam said, "Fine then. But you have to stay out here. If you really want to watch, you can watch through the windows."
Giving in, Cora followed Sam to the wide windows that looked into the operating room. She watched as the on duty medical staff went to work.
Steve was stripped from his uniform and moved onto the surgery table. He jerked and cried out when the cold metal hit his back.
Cora watched, her hand pressed to the glass, tears falling from her cheeks.
One of the nurses moved around the sides of the table, wrapping something around Steve's arms and legs. When the nurse moved, Cora saw that they were restraints pinning Steve to the table. Two on each arm and leg. His biceps, wrists, ankles and thighs.
"What the fuck?!" Cora turned to storm into the room, but Sam stopped her.
"Cora, stop."
"They're tying him down!"
Sam turned her back to watch as Steve actually tested the restraints and nodded at the nurse to tighten them. "They have to."
"What? Why?"
"Cora, think about it. Sedatives and pain killers don't work on Steve. They have to do surgery. You know what that entails. The restraints were designed by Steve. They were his idea. He even had Stark salvage some left over vibranium to make them stronger."
Cora felt sick as everything began to click in her mind. "Oh my god. I mean...I knew they didn't work...I just..." She shook her head and turned back to the window.
Steve's skin was slick with sweat and he was deathly pale. As one of the nurses pushed a needle into his arm for a saline drip, Steve turned his head and his eyes met Cora's.
They were so filled with pain that it made Cora's heart ache for him. Turning she pushed her way past Sam. "Don't Sam. I know what I'm doing."
Pulling on a pair of gloves and scrubs over her clothes and shoes, Cora made her way into the operating room.
"Hey you can't be in here," Called one of the nurses.
"She knows what she is doing." Dr. Johnson entered the room, giving Cora a single nod.
Cora made her way over to the head of the table and knelt down so she was eye level with Steve. He turned his head and tried to give her a smile. "Hey, Doll."
Cora kissed his burning forehead and said "Hi, Sweetie."
"W-what are y-you doing h-here?" He panted with the effort to speak as the med staff continued to bustle around, still prepping everything for surgery.
"Shh, I'm just here to keep you company." Cora kissed him lightly, Steve jerking away with a gasp of pain.
"Foley's in." One of the nurses said.
Looking down, Cora saw why Steve had jerked in pain. Who the hell inserts a catheter without warning the patient first? She clenched her fists as anger riled through her. Forcing herself to stay calm for Steve's sake, Cora took a deep breath.
"Alright, Captain. I know you hate it but we've got to get you on the vent. Better to do it now than after you need it." Michon held the ventilator piece in her gloved hands.
Steve groaned and opened his mouth. Cora watched as he winced in pain as the vent was pushed down his throat, scraping it raw. Reaching down, Cora held his hand in hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
Once the final preparations were finished, the staff went to work.
***
Cora watched as they wheeled Steve to his recovery room, then went to remove her scrubs. When she was done, she left, ignoring Sam who was still standing in the hallway.
He had been joined by Tony at some point, and they both called out to her, but Cora held her hand up to silence them. Going to Steve's room, she sat in the chair to his right.
He was asleep. Steve had blacked out when Michon had needed to rebreak his ribs in order for them to heal right, and had thankfully been unconscious through the rest of it.
Putting the side rail down Cora leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Steve's cheek. His skin was warm, but no longer feverish. There was stubble, and it pricked at her lips. "I love you, Steve."
Reaching into her pocket, Cora pulled out the pocket watch that he had been carrying with him. She placed it into his hand, and closed his fingers around it.
Finally feeling the exhaustion hit her, Cora lay her head forward onto the bed by Steve's arm. She was asleep almost immediately.