Falling, Fallen

Chapter 23

RAQUEL'S POV

"She's gone"

"She could still be alive. We can't just turn off the machines and give up!"

"Stark. She's gone. Dr. Cho already said that she isn't waking up."

"Yeah well, Dr. Cho isn't god and we aren't giving up on her yet."

This is not how I imagined waking up. I expected to wake up in either chaos or quiet. Either that or not at all. Instead, I wake up to people arguing in hushed voices.

I blinked my eyes open and glanced around the room, waiting for my vision to clear. No one seems to have noticed the fact that I woke up.

"You aren't getting rid of me that easy!" I stated. Everyone stepped back in shock and stared at me. None of them moved, almost as if they were afraid it was a dream and that they would wake up.

"What? I don't get a hug?" I teased.

Tony was the first to move, he rushed over and hugged me before turning around to look at the rest of the team. "See! I told you so!" He said causing the rest of the team to simply roll their eyes before rushing over to me.

I looked over at everyone but two people were missing, Pietro and Wanda. "Where's Pietro? Is he okay? Is he dead?!" I panicked.

"Pietro is okay," Steve answered.

"Yeah, Wanda had to practically drag him out of your room so he would get some sleep," Nat added.

I was relieved. "How long was I out?"

"A year," Tony answered, nodding morosely.

"Yeah, I don't believe a word that comes out of your mouth," I said turning to Steve.

"I am hurt," Tony sighed. "I am really hurt."

"Two weeks," Steve answered, "we were kind of worried you weren't going to make it."

"Then who'd be here to kick your asses when you get out of line," I replied mockingly.

It took me a while before the question of how am I still alive popped into my head, it was soon followed by the question of how did I get here.

"How'd we get out of there?"

A panicked look crossed their faces, they all turned to look at each other before turning their attention back to me. They all started to have a hushed conversation between themselves.

"Could somebody please just tell me!" I said annoyed.

"It might be easier to just show you," Steve said before leaving the room, leaving me extremely confused.

"Do you remember that coding technique you told me about?" Natasha started.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Well someone sent us a code to let us know your location," Natasha said.

"I didn't," I frowned.

"I know," Natasha smiled before turning to look at the door. 

I followed her gaze only to see Steve finally walked back into the room, behind him was Charlie. I gasped in disbelief, there was no way this was real.

I started to shake my head in disbelief. "No, no, no, no," I said, "He's not-it can't be him. He-he can't possibly have-"

Charlie just looked at me with a smile on her face. "I risk my life to save you and I don't even get a hug?!" He said.

I jumped out of the bed and ran to him, hugging him as tight as I possibly could.

"I missed you too," he whispered into my ear, causing me to hug him even tighter before pulling away to take a good look at him.