I feel myself wake up, and gently open my eyes. A harsh white light illuminates the room and stings my eyes.
I blink a couple times and try to sit up, but doing so sparks an incredible shooting pain in my chest. I wince, but continue to look around the room to get a sense of where I am.
The room is small and pristine with white walls and shiny tile floors. The door to my right is closed, and medical equipment is lined up next to my bed— an IV bag, a heartrate monitor, and a small table with a laptop. I trace the tubes connected to the IV bag and find the needle end of one inserted in my wrist. I'm hooked up to various other machines as well, and dressed in a thin hospital gown, laying under a blanket.
What happened?
My consciousness has fully returned, but my memories haven't. I rack my brain, struggling to remember what brought me here. But my mind feels foggy, so I lay back down and give up.
I must have dozed off again for a while, because I find myself waking up again, this time to the sound of the door creaking open.
An older woman walks in— who I can only assume is a doctor— wearing a white coat and holding a clipboard. Her dark hair is pulled up into a tight ponytail, and I can see her smile when she notices me watching her.
"Hello Allissa." She pulls up a small stool that was tucked under the table and sits down next to me. "I'm Dr. Elizabeth Preston." Elizabeth sets her clipboard down and focuses on me. "How are you feeling?"
I take a moment to assess myself. "I'm okay, just a little out of it."
She nods. "That's to be expected though. Gun shot wounds will do that to you." Her humor catches me off guard and my heart races at what she so casually mentioned. Was I really shot? I can't remember.
Elizabeth notices my anxious expression. "You must not remember. But I don't think it's my place to explain. Your boyfriend will be in here any minute though, so he will help you. I'm sure you'd rather have his company."
Boyfriend?!
"You know, he was here every single day for you, waiting. Hoping you'd be okay. He's a very sweet young man."
A knock on the door interrupts me as I'm about to respond.
Elizabeth smiles at me sympathetically while getting up to leave. "Just know that the surgery was successful, and that you'll be okay." She turns to the door. "Come in!"
The door swings open, and I look up to see Steve standing there, dressed in a simple tshirt and jeans. His worried expression calms when he sees that I am okay. "Allissa!" He rushes over to the bed and kneels down beside me.
I don't know what I expected when Elizabeth said 'boyfriend', but a twinge of disappointment strikes me anyways. She must've assumed that's who he was. I don't know him well, but he still came to see me. I give a half-hearted smile.
Elizabeth grabs her clipboard. "I'll leave you two alone. Come get me if you need anything." She glides out of the room and shuts the door tightly behind her.
I look back over at Steve.
He beams at me and grasps my hand. "I was so worried!" His thumb rubs my hand gently. I'm a little startled by the gesture, but I know it's innocent.
"Thanks for coming. I really do appreciate it." I say. His expression, which he doesn't do well in hiding, shows how relieved he is, probably because I'm awake.
"Allissa, of course." It's supposed to be such a meaningless sentence, but the way he says it packs so much emotion. My head starts to throb with confusion. Why is he so involved? I hardly know him.
Steve watches me for a moment, thoughtfully. Then clears his throat. "Well, I'm really glad you're okay. Do you need anything?"
I pause. "Yeah, actually. I just need to know what happened. How I got here, what happened with the surgery, that kind of stuff. My memory is foggy."
My simple request clearly catches him off guard. "Oh. Oh! Yeah, I can do that." There it is again. He seems distracted or worried about something.
"Well, you remember being in Asgard with Loki right?"
I bite my lip nervously as the memories return in a flood, overwhelming me. Tears build up in my eyes, but I hold them back. Those memories are painful— there's just too much to unpack. I can't form words, so I just nod.
"So Tony Stark contacted Loki a couple days before we went to go rescue you, in an effort to work out what was happening. But he didn't say much— not to anyone's surprise— so we decided to go to Asgard and try to get you out before anything bad happened, because we didn't understand his motives or anything. We went into the rescue not really knowing a lot about the situation.
There were problems as soon as we got to Asgard. Tony, Natasha, Clint, and I brought extra SHIELD agents to help in case, but the amount of soliders Loki had were more than we could anticipate. There was some fighting, and we lost a lot of people, but after Loki stabbed Tony, he disappeared. No one knew why, but we assumed that it wasn't a good sign. So we contacted hq to send help to get everyone home— including you.
When help arrived, I went to go find you to so we could leave. You'd gone for a walk to clear your head but when I found you, you were with Loki. He'd cornered you, and I- I wasn't sure what was going on. I assumed you were in danger, so I pulled out my gun to shoot him through the chest, but when you saw me pull the trigger— you pushed Loki aside and took the bullet.
I had no idea why you did that, and I still don't. I was shocked and devastated because I hurt you.
I thought I killed you. I was so scared.
When Loki saw what I'd done, he threatened me with a poised dagger, ready to be plunged into my chest. He was so angry— the expression on his face was crazy. Then he disappeared again.
I called the newly arrived medical team for help, and they brought two stretchers— one for Tony and one for you. We loaded into the aircraft and flew back to New York. Both of you were immediately sent to the ER and put through intense surgery."
Steve pauses for a moment to collect himself. The way he talks about me makes it seem like he's personally involved in my story.
"They had to remove the bullet because of how it was positioned in proximity to your heart and lungs. The surgery ended up being almost an hour long because you'd lost so much blood, too." His voice falters and he seems choked up. "They didn't know if you'd get better. Today is your fourth day here, and you don't know how happy I was to hear that you'd improved."
Now that Steve has filled in the missing pieces of my memory, I don't feel as anxious. But the story he tells me almost raises more questions than it answers.
"Wow," Is the only thing I can say in response. Steve's small laugh at my odd reply makes me feel somewhat calmer.
His bright smile brings instant comfort. "Yeah, it's been a crazy week." A light-hearted tone returns to his voice.
I smile too. There's something in the way he looks at me that I can't quite decipher. And in a weird way, I feel drawn to whatever it is. But these feelings are so confusing, and I am slightly overwhelmed by the amount of information I recieved, so I brush it aside.
"So what's next for you?"
Funny, I hadn't really thought about that. I sit for a minute to think. What will I do? Go back to college, back to that tiny dorm room with Marie? It doesn't seem fitting anymore. A hollow feeling creeps inside me. What am I going to do?
"I have no idea." I mutter.
"Well, I know you aren't ready for it yet, but I wanted to put the offer out there,
Do you want to work for SHIELD?"
-
Sorry the update was a little later than usual, i've been crazy busy! Hope yall enjoyed this chapter. Dont forget to vote on this chapter, and comment what you thought, or any predictions for the story. Just remember, this isnt the end. And loki will return 😘
Also, what do yall think about mr captain america?? Do u think him and allissa would work?
Stay tuned for the next update, which will hopefully be on time for next sunday. Thanks for 15k reads! <333 luv yall!