MOVEMENT IS THE KEY
.
Steve couldn't believe how quickly Isadora healed him. It was quicker even than his own enhanced healing. Honestly, he would rather the dark haired doctor not be here at all, and leave him to heal on his own, however long it took- but once Natasha had heard the voicemail on his phone, there was no changing her mind.
So now, here they were.
The heat of Isadora's power enveloped the damage to his body like hot water, easing and soothing the pain as she worked. It felt like bleeding in reverse, like his body being stitched back together.
He caught Natasha's eye from where she sat in the driver's seat as he lay there, and she smirked at him through the mirror, raising an eyebrow as if to say: what about this one? She'd been bugging him for weeks about finding a date, and while it was all in good spirit, he was starting to get tired of it.
"So if you can heal people," Natasha started. "Why didn't you just use those powers at work?"
"Because I'm the anomaly," Isadora replied, still not breaking concentration. Steve stared out of the window, his seat reclined as trees whizzed past. "I've not been tried and tested. And I've certainly not been clinically approved. I wanted to be a doctor, not a superhero. No offence."
"None taken," Steve chuckled. It didn't hurt to laugh anymore. Then he felt a pat on his stomach as Isadora finally sat back, telling him she was finished. He sat up, marvelling at how easy the manoeuvre was. Just half an hour ago it hurt move, and now...
This woman had been his doctor for two years, conducting test after test, pushing his body to its limits, and he had never suspected a thing. It made him feel quite unintelligent.
"Thank you," he said, before realising Isadora's head rested against the window now, her eyes closed as she breathed deeply.
"Well, she's out," Natasha said, turning up the radio slightly, but not loud enough to wake their sleeping guest, and tapped her hand against the steering wheel.
"Turn that off," he said, and she rolled her eyes. The song that played was his least favourite kind- all computer sound effects and distorted vocals. There were plenty of things he missed about his own time, and music with real instruments was one of them.
"Alright, grandpa," Natasha teased. "So what do we do now? Are we keeping your little friend?"
"SHIELD knew I was withholding information from them just from my speech," Steve reasoned. "I'm certain they'll realise she's doctored those papers, as well. She's safer with us."
"But are we safer with her?" Natasha asked him. "How do we know she can be trusted?"
"You're the one who brought her here."
"Yeah but we could just dump her back at the station," the agent beside him smirked, and he shook his head at her frank sense of humour, but couldn't stop his smile.
"She's risked her entire career for this," Steve explained. "I know her. She never worked for SHIELD, she was just their Rent-A-Doc. But she's good, and if I'm wrong, we'll handle it."
"Good, huh?" Natasha repeated. "Well, I hope you're right."
The rest of the journey to Washington continued quietly, and by the time they arrived both he and Natasha were drained, but at least now they wouldn't have to sleep in the car.
Reaching Sam Wilson's place was a breath of fresh air for Steve. To be able to sit, and eat and not worry about being followed was refreshing. They arrived early in the day, and spent a long while formulating a plan going forward.
Now, several hours had passed and Steve was alone with his thoughts. Well, almost alone.
Sam had gone out for groceries, but Isadora sat on the couch beside him, still in her dark blue scrubs, knees tucked up to her chest and her laptop open in front of her. Natasha had fiddled with the settings earlier before going to have a nap, allowing the doctor to send emails without disclosing their location. It seemed that when Doctor Moore had access to a job to do, she wouldn't rest until it was finished.
The news played in the background, a light hearted segment about agriculture. It seemed trivial. He turned to glance at the doctor beside him, who still hadn't taken her eyes off of the screen, typing at an alarming rate. She slept for the whole journey here, explaining once she woke that the sleep was a burnout from not having used her power for so long. Steve wondered how her brain didn't suffer burnout as well as her body, considering how hard she worked.
"Do you wanna take a break?" He blurted, and she paused to look at him. Her curls were pulled into a high and voluminous bun, and she huffed to blow away a stray hair that fell in her eyes. "You've been at it forever."
Isadora glanced up at the clock, as if she hadn't realised that it was almost dark. She shrugged. "I worked longer in med school. And I've gotta fill in my Chief Resident on all the stuff that needs to be done. The Presbyterian is a hell of a big hospital, with a hell of a lot of patients."
"What did you tell them?" He asked her, curiously.
"That I had a family emergency that required me to leave the city."
"What did you tell your family?"
Isadora simply didn't answer, changing the subject and smiling widely. "Well, I've got Adrianne but she works at the hospital as well. She's my homegirl, we went to med school together, and we were medics in Afghanistan. She always had my back. Even when I got these... abilities."
Steve noticed the avoidance of the topic of family, but didn't push for it. "Surprising that you don't utilise it. This mimicry, you could do literally anything you wanted to do."
"Not anything," Isadora corrected. "I couldn't be super-soldier like you. Maybe I could mimic some of that strength, but the mimicry is always a paler version of the original skill. Plus I have no idea how to fight anyway, so how would I use it?"
Steve pondered what she said, wondering about their mission tomorrow. The plan had been to leave Sadie here as they pursued Jasper Sitwell, one of HYDRA's own moles. But he supposed it wouldn't hurt for her to learn a little, if it meant she would be safer when left alone.
"I could teach you a little," he found himself standing, and offering her his hand. She looked at him, calculating. "It's about time you took a rest from that screen. They're not good for your eyes, you know."
"That's why I've got these," Isadora laughed, tapping on her elegant horn rimmed glasses. "But seriously? It's not really practical."
"Then, let's take a drive," Steve shrugged. He was really pushing his luck here, but it was for her own good. "We have cover of night. We can leave a note."
She rolled her eyes, but took his hand anyway. He pulled her up, and she thanked him, brushing off her scrubs. "I need a change of clothes."
~
Either Isadora was a quick learner, or Steve was an excellent teacher. He assumed it was more of the former than the latter.
It was all pretty basic stuff, what she should do if she was held at gunpoint, if an assailant attacks from behind, or in a situation where there is more than one attacker. Steve taught her five main moves for self defence, and she practised them over and over again, each time becoming more and more determined.
Now, he would switch it up. See if she could perform all five manoeuvres in a sequence. He noticed that Sadie kept her alert high as he stalked around her, taking steps to make sure he was always in front of her. Her eyes flitted between the gun he held pointed at her (empty, of course) and his body movements.
"What did we say about eye contact?" Steve reminded her, and recognition ran across her face before she looked into his eyes, holding his gaze.
"Confidence delays conflict," she recited. "Try to reason with the assailant if I can."
"And if somebody gets in your face with the gun?" he asked her, stepping even closer into her personal space. He wouldn't hurt her, but he also wouldn't sugarcoat the scenarios she might encounter.
In a flash, Isadora disarmed him, whacking the inside of his elbow with force, pushing his aim away from her, before snatching the gun. Not quite strong but... fast enough. She smiled widely. "Catch them by surprise. That easy, huh?"
"That easy," Steve nodded, before darting behind her and wrapping his arm around her neck in a headlock, firmly, but not tight enough to harm her. "How long you got before you're unconscious?"
"6 seconds," Isadora answered, and he nodded. This seemed to be the part that came most naturally to her- remembering all of the things that are going on in the body during a fight, and how to utilise that.
Then, she dropped her weight, ducking under his arm, and twisting round his unguarded side, before grabbing his head and pushing it down, immobilising him as she brought her knee up into his abdomen with plenty of force. Steve encouraged her to keep going, taking more and more hits, despite the discomfort. In a real life scenario, it would take a while for someone her size to completely knock out someone much bigger than her. But Isadora didn't lose stamina until he tapped her back, signalling for her to let go.
"Ding, ding, ding!" She exclaimed, laughing as she impersonated a sports commentator. "Rogers is down, the fight goes to Moore, a complete KO!"
Steve allowed himself a laugh as well, imitating a roaring crowd before clapping for her as she bowed extravagantly, as if on a stage.
"That was great, Doc," he told her as they sat down for a break, ready to chug plenty of water.
The park they were in was empty, not a soul in sight. There were no streetlights either, so they were doused in darkness. Steve noticed how the stars above were so bright. With how much light there was in the cities these days, he hadn't seen stars like that in a long time.
"I think it'll be different in real life, though," she shrugged. "We don't know what my fight or flight response will be like."
"Don't let yourself overthink it," Steve said, encouragingly. "If you can't outfight them, you can always outsmart them. Especially you. You don't need any help there."
Isadora laid her hands flat on her thighs and suddenly seemed very interested in her nail polish. Steve cringed inwardly- that was too much, and he hoped she wouldn't take it the wrong way.
Before he could embarrass himself further, the two of them heard upbeat music in the distance, somehow both muffled and clear at the same time. Isadora was blocking the view of the direction it came from, but he could make out a faint glow behind her as she turned to look.
"They're having a bonfire party," Isadora chuckled, before leaping up, dragging him with her. "Gosh, I love this song! Let's go, I know you're young at heart."
Steve was tempted, but he had to keep a level head. "They might recognise me," he began. "But you go ahead, if you want, I could wait."
She didn't move, though, instead just letting her hair out of its tie. "Y'know what, the music is loud enough for me."
Before he could argue though, Isadora was already swaying her hips and shaking her head in time with the music playfully- and he couldn't help but laugh.
"I don't know how to dance to this stuff," Steve told her, leaning back against a tree. But she just shook her head, pointing at him as if to say, no excuses.
Then she took his hands and pulled his left arm towards her, before switching in time with the music, all the while still jumping around. Steve supposed he could get into the swing of this, if only to be polite. Isadora seemed to be enjoying herself.
"Looks like that took a weight off you," Steve said as the song faded out— her smile was wider than he'd seen it in professional settings.
"My mom always used to say that when times are tough, movement is the key to feeling okay again," Isadora said, but there was some sadness in that smile- sadness that just didn't look right on her face. "It brings you back into your body when your mind is somewhere else. Even now, she barely remembers me, but when I visit her, I always make sure to have a little dance. It makes her so happy."
Steve didn't know how to respond to that. It seemed like anything he could attempt to say just wouldn't cut it. He thought of Peggy, and how her memory was deteriorating more and more each day and his heart ached for her. But he didn't mention that to Isadora, instead deciding not to attempt to relate.
"You're doing good," he told her, and she sighed.
Then the music from the party changed, presumably to a song the woman before him recognised, and Isadora's face broke into a smile and she began to dance once more.
She'd told him movement was the key, and now, with his mind wandering to Peggy, and all the time he had missed... He wasn't sure it was right to dance again, even in good manners.
So, as the music reached its chorus, he sat against the tree, closed his eyes. A moment of fresh air, and relative quiet. Maybe the last he would get before tomorrow.
...
..
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wow I stuffed a lot into one chapter huh? so uh I'm tryna build a meaningful friendship between Sadie and Steve, but I've forgotten how to do that since it's been ages since I've written anything??? trying my best!!!
I also wanted to say thank you guys for 200 reads! That means the absolute world to me!!❤️
as usual, please comment any feedback you have for me! it's much appreciated x
-Amber.