When Scottie started to wake up, she found herself instantly focusing on three things: the soft beeping of the machine that she was plugged into, the soft yellow lights that were barely lighting the room as she presumed it was night time, and the soft hand that was gripped on to her own.
Groggily squinting as she waited for her eyes to adjust in the light, she rolled her head to the right to look at who was the culprit holding on to her for their own life. A soft smile spread across her lips as she noticed Natasha with her head resting on the back of the chair she was sitting in, her eyes shut as she had let sleep take over. Scottie was well aware that any slight movement or change in the environment would wake the Russian immediately.
"Nat," she murmured, lightly moving her hand that the woman had been clutching. The red-head's eyes opened instantly as she jumped in her sleep, her hand instantly going to the buckle on her waist where Scottie was sure either a gun or a knife was concealed. Once she realised just why she had been awoken, the woman sighed deeply and grinned, glad to see her friend was awake.
"You really scared us all there, Casey," Natasha teased, reaching over and placing a light kiss on the crown of the girl's head.
"Where am I?" She questioned, looking around with sleep covered eyes as she tried to adjust to her surroundings.
"HQ, one of the recovery rooms. Tony didn't want you in hospital incase reporters came snooping, or rather more HYDRA agents looking to finish the job."
"Well you know what Steve always says: the safest hands are our own," the blonde girl replied as she noticed the large 'A' sketched into the metal on the side of the room. Rolling her eyes at the need for the new facility to have the Avengers team branding all over it, she looked back to see Natasha staring intently at her.
Scottie simply laughed back before looking down at herself to see what damaged had been done.
Surprisingly, she was mostly free of harm. There were a couple of scratches on her arms, but she knew that the wound on her side was going to be the real deal breaker. Tugging the gown she was wearing up slightly as she looked down at her side, Scottie's lips parted as she noticed the large wound that had almost killed her was nowhere in sight.
"Helen Cho sorted that one out," Natasha told her, reminding Scottie of the mission where Ultron had first properly started. Clint had received a fatal blow to the side, or rather - what should have been a fatal blow. Helen Cho's machine had fixed his skin back up in no time and she presumed that was exactly what the woman had done to her. "The one on your head is a different matter, she didn't want to risk touching it incase she accidentally hit your eye, so it'll be a cut until it heals."
Scottie raised her hand to her eyebrow, feeling for the gash that she remembered the woman slashing across her head. Wincing slightly as she felt it sting, the girl was quick to remove her hand from the cut. Shrugging slightly, she looked back at Natasha with a small smile on her face as the woman stared curiously back at her.
"It's good to see you, Nat," she murmured, noticing how the woman had been watching her carefully to make sure that she wasn't going to suddenly collapse any second. Natasha laughed lightly, a smile cracking across her face as she rolled her eyes at the girl.
"It's good to see you too, Scottie," Natasha said, the two of them sharing a moment before the older woman rose to her feet. "You've got a large fanbase waiting to hear about you waking up, I wouldn't want to keep them waiting if I was you."
Scottie chuckled slightly, wincing as she felt the fresh skin that had been constructed over her wound stretch a little. She knew there would be a little discomfort for a few days - she had seen that in Clint after his time using Helen Cho's machine. She saw Natasha's smile falter slightly at Scottie's obvious discomfort but it was quickly back to normal as she noticed the girl didn't appear to continue to feel pain.
"What can I say, I'm a ray of sunshine. Literally. Wait, Fanbase?" Scottie questioned, not sure who Natasha was really talking about.
"Really just the team," Natasha began to explain, pausing at the door of Scottie's room as she turned back to look at the girl who was sitting up a little more at the mention of her friends. "Mostly Tony and Wanda, neither of them have really left your side for the past day. Steve and myself finally managed to convince them to go shower and sleep since we didn't think you'd wake up for another few hours."
Scottie paused, a grin breaking out across her face as she thought about Tony. The man would have been worried sick and she was just glad that she wasn't going to be putting through him any more stress at the moment. She knew that he was already stressed out after having been arguing more with Pepper, and she just hoped that this wasn't going to cause them any more issues.
Thinking back to what Natasha said, her smile faltered slightly as she thought about Wanda having been sitting at her beside the whole time she was out. Natasha paused her exit as she noticed Scottie's smile drop, not sure why the girl was seemingly now hesitant to see her friends.
"I thought you'd be happy to hear Tony and Wanda have been waiting for you to wake," Natasha murmured, walking back into the room and shutting the door behind her as she realised that this was most likely a private conversation that Scottie wouldn't want anyone walking in on.
Scottie sighed, slumping her head backwards slightly as she tried to find the words to explain her thoughts to Natasha.
"It's not Tony..." she started, but allowed Natasha to finish her line of thought.
"...it's Wanda. I thought there was something good going on with you two?" The assassin asked, confused that she had read the situation wrong. She was excellent at reading people - especially ones that she knew as well as she did Scottie.
"There is, at least I think there is," Scottie defended instantly, a frown forming on her face as she thought back to the last time she had seen Wanda. "It's just, ehm, the last time I saw Wanda we kinda almost kissed... at least I think that's what was about to happen. I just don't know if she feels the same as I feel about her."
Natasha burst into laughter which only increased after she noticed the scorching glare that Scottie sent her straight after. The red head reached over to the girl, placing a light hand on her shoulder as she looked her directly in the eyes.
"That girl is head over heels for you, Scottie Casey, just as you are for her," Natasha informed her, turning around as she headed towards the door for the second time. "It's about time the two of you realised that."
"Okay, bye!" Scottie yelled out after the woman as she exited without another word. She could faintly hear Natasha's laughs as the woman walked down the corridor that connected the room as she seemingly went to retrieve the others.
"FRIDAY?" Scottie called out, knowing that the AI system was installed all throughout the facility.
"Miss Casey, glad to hear from you again. How can I help?" The disembodied voice floated throughout the room, the irish accent causing Scottie to smirk a little before she remembered what she was trying to ask the AI to do.
"Can you tell everyone I'm awake?"
"Mr Stark is already on his way, but the rest of the team is in a training session that Captain Rogers ordered not to be disrupted under any circumstance."
"Any circumstance? I'm the best circumstance they'll ever get," Scottie scoffed slightly, rolling her eyes as she muttered under her breath. "Thanks, FRIDAY."
She received no answer from the AI, but she wasn't really expecting one back in the AI's defence. She was just waiting patiently for her adoptive father to come through the doors so that she could give him the hug she wished she had given him before they left for their fake battle.
It was only a minute later when she heard the heavy footsteps pounding along the corridor that she knew symbolised Tony returning to her bedside. She was right, for the billionaire almost fell over as he skidded into her room with optimism written all over his face.
His grin was maybe the biggest she had seen it in a while, and the bags under his eyes also seemed relatively bigger than usual. Her heart dropped at the thought of her being the reason for the bags, but it was instantly gone as she realised how glad she was that he was there.
"Scottie," he breathed, crossing the room in less than a second to wrap his arms around the girl. She simply hugged him back, knowing that nothing needed to be said between the two. They were the closest thing that each other had to family - there was no denying that.
"Don't you ever dare do that to me again," Tony mumbled into her hair, a tear dipping on to her scalp.
"I'm not planning on it."
___________
"Tony, Natasha, I thought I made it clear there wouldn't be any time for interruptions during this session?" Steve's arms were crossed across his chest as he tapped on the smart watch on his wrist to stop the simulation he had been running with the rest of the team.
Natasha and Tony rolled their eyes at his theatrics while the rest of the team were shooting them thankful smiles as they all panted for breath. While Steve had super stamina, it was clear that rest of them certainly did not. Sam even sat down on the mat he had been previously standing on, holding a hand up in the air to signal to everyone he was okay.
"Yeah well, this is worth it," Tony joked, cocking his head to the side as he moved to allow the rest of the team to see a now non-hospital dressed Scottie smiling back at them all. The cut across her head was still a little tender and she had a couple of bruises on her but the team was just glad she was in much better condition than when they had first seen her.
Steve was the first to cross the room, reaching out and placing both of his hands on her shoulders before breaking into a smile and pulling the girl into a gentle hug. Scottie smiled against his shoulder, laughing as he ruffled her hair when they pulled apart.
"Took you long enough, soldier," Steve joked, a playful wink falling from his eyes as he moved back to let Rhodey also mirror his actions. The man was basically an uncle to the girl and he was estastic to find that she was going to be just fine.
Sam was a bit more careful approaching her, the two still not really knowing each other that well. Scottie had avoided the man since the incident in this very training room only a few weeks before but she knew that there wasn't any hard feelings between them. Sam had tried to make that clear on various occasions (even making FRIDAY tell her repeatedly since she was refusing to see him).
"Glad to see you back on your feet, fireball," Sam joked, causing Scottie to laugh lightly as she shoved the man's shoulder. He jumped back, fake yelping as he pretended that her hand had been hot. She rolled her eyes but smiled non-the-less, easing the tension that had been present between them.
"Miss Casey, I am glad to see you have recovered. Your engird is once again on level with the stone," Vision interrupted their joking, the android curtly nodding to the girl as he glided to stand beside Steve. They all paused as they waited on Vision to expand on what he meant by that, but as he remained silent they all decided it was best to ask another time.
Scottie grinned at them before she realised that there was still one last person in the room that she hadn't spoken to. Looking just over Natasha's shoulder, she noticed the red-head had frozen in her place like a deer in headlights at the sight of Scottie in the room.
Natasha smirked at Scottie, well aware of who she was looking at over the assassin's shoulder. The woman grinned before turning to look at the rest of the team. She nodded her head back towards the door, a slight mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Let's leave these two alone to... sort their issues," Natasha worded carefully, looking at the confusion on all of the men's faces as she ushered them out of the room. Scottie and Wanda watched them all go, looking at Natasha both with mirrored expressions of disbelief for meddling with their business.
The silence between them was shocking as they stared across the room at each other. Wanda leaned back against the pillar she had been previously standing beside, her eyes slowly looking over Scottie as she tried to adjust to each and every mark or bruise on her skin.
Scottie could see the agony in the girl's eyes, but she wasn't sure what was causing it. She knew that she was the reason why, but she wasn't sure if it was about the bruises or something that ran deeper under their skin.
"You look good," Scottie broke the silence, almost grimacing as she realised that of all the things she could have said she chose potentially the worst.
Wanda crossed her arms, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she tilted her head ever so slightly.
"You look like shit," the Sokovian finally settled on, huffing slightly to show her satisfaction at the laugh that the joke drew from Scottie's mouth. The silence settled again between the two - still awkward but slightly less so.
Scottie kicked awkwardly at nothing on the floor in front of her, rubbing the back of her neck as she allowed her body to take one step closer to Wanda. The girl was watching her with hawk-like eyes as she tried to guess what Scottie was thinking.
"Ehm, you know, until recently I always wanted to ask you if you had ever looked to see what my worst nightmare is," Scottie admitted, continuing before she allowed Wanda to protest that she would never do that without the girl's permission. "But I don't think I really need to know now."
Wanda nodded, thinking that she understood what the girl was trying to tell her. It was common that people's worst nightmares involved dying or coming close to death but she was slightly surprised that Scottie's would have been that.
"Many people's nightmares are death," Wanda informed the girl, her voice soft as she watched Scottie take another step closer to her.
Scottie shook her head, looking Wanda in the eyes. "Nah, it wasn't death itself. It was leaving things unfinished."
Wanda furrowed her eyebrows, her mind instantly going to where they had previously left things between themselves: unfinished. Her heart rose slightly, praying that Scottie was saying exactly what she thought the blonde girl was trying to say.
"Death?" Scottie said, backtracking slightly as she seemed to lack her confidence for a moment at Wanda's furrowed eyebrows, worried that she was confused about Scottie maybe having feelings for her. "Is that what yours would be?"
Wanda shook her head, allowing herself to take a step closer to Scottie. There wasn't much distance left between the two; and Wanda was well aware of the fact that the rest of the team was watching them from the viewing gallery even if Scottie hadn't realised. She could almost feel Natasha sending loud thoughts in her direction about hurrying up and getting a grip.
"I don't need to have powers to know what my worst nightmare is. My worst nightmare is the day that I have to lose you," Wanda told her, their eye contact not wavering as they both looked at each other. "The past few days taught me that."
Scottie nodded, taking one cautious step towards the girl with the heavy hope that the Sokovian wouldn't take one back. When Wanda held her place, Scottie took another step with less hesitation this time. They were so close to each other now that Scottie was sure she could almost feel every breath that Wanda was taking.
"You'll never lose me," Scottie lowly murmured, feel her hands heat up ever so slightly as her pulse raised. Looking down at her hands, she almost felt panicked as she thought about how inappropriate time it was for her powers to start to come to focus.
Wanda noticed her panic immediately, and without a single second of thought she reached down and placed her own hands against Scottie's warming hands. Almost instantly Scottie breathed in deeply as the heat in her palms faded, a cooling sensation passing over them at Wanda's very touch.
"You'd never hurt me, Scottie."
Scottie looked up at Wanda, looking at how the girl's lips were slightly parted as she finished her sentence. She could see that Wanda was about to continue talking, the girl's eyes staring directly into her own.
"I trust you and I know you don't always trust yoursel-"
Their lips connected, Scottie's hands looping around to the back of Wanda's neck as she pulled the girl in closer. Wanda shut her eyes almost instantly, one of her hands tangling into Scottie's hair as the other rested naturally on the girl's waist.
It was as if time had finally slowed for the two superheroes, and my gosh, Scottie swore that this moment had been the one she had waited for her whole life.