All This Time

the battle between a car and Diana's arm

Steve tried not to worry, he really did. He knew better than anyone how capable Diana was of taking care of herself and that there wasn't really anything he could do to help her do her job better. That did not mean, however, that he did not immediately panic when Diana came home late on a Sunday night with a cut along her arm that was still bleeding.

He'd watched her on the news, following a car chase after someone decided to rob a bank. What the news had failed to show, however, was when Diana landed in front of the car. According to her, she was fine. According to Steve, getting hit by a car going 90 miles per hour did not qualify as being fine.

"You're bleeding on our floor, Diana," he said, guiding her into the bathroom. "You're not fine."

"I will be," she insisted. She grimaced as she pulled off her armour and Steve gave her a look. "I will be. It looks worse than it feels." She stepped forward and with her uninjured arm, she gently grabbed his hand. "By morning, it should hardly be there."

Steve stared at her, still bleeding and covered in enough grease and dirt he would have thought she had a day job as a mechanic. He wanted to insist she stay home forever—just like he always did when she got hurt—but he knew she would hardly have a mark by morning and she'd just get restless at home with nothing to do (which would likely lead to more problems), so he nodded.

"Alright," he agreed.

Diana grinned but Steve gave her a stern look.

"But you're going to wash up and go straight to bed, okay?"

"Okay." She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his before turning around to get in the shower.

While Diana cleaned up, Steve reheated the dinner he'd left for her and went in search of their makeshift medical kit. It wasn't often that Diana was injured badly enough to actually warrant it, but Steve always had it on hand just in case. If it was anyone else, he would find it a waste to use good bandages on something that would be gone in a day, but this was Diana and he worried more than was good for him, so he didn't mind.

Just as he walked back into their bedroom with a plate of food in one hand and the medical kit in the other, he heard the shower shut off. He set the plate on the nightstand and knocked softly on the door.

"Come in."

Steve twisted the handle and stepped into the bathroom to find Diana standing in a black towel in front of the mirror. Already, her arm had stopped bleeding, but the cut still looked red and angry.

"See? Already healing," Diana said, turning so he could see her injured arm better.

"I'm still going to wrap it," he told her. He gestured to the sink countertop and Diana shifted so she was sitting on it. "No use in you bleeding all over our new sheets."

Diana smiled softly as Steve stepped beside her and started cleaning and wrapping her arm. She'd long since stopped flinching when he applied the alcohol solution, but Steve still felt bad enough about it that he kissed her shoulder before pulling out gauze and a wrap. As he tucked the end of the bandage in and smoothed it out, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Diana's.

"I don't like it when you get hurt," he murmured.

He wrapped one arm around her hips and pulled her forward until she was just barely sitting on the counter. Diana's uninjured arm snaked around his neck and she leaned forward to kiss him again.

"I heal quickly." She didn't need to remind him, but she always did.

Steve hummed and pulled her off the countertop. "Dinner's waiting on the nightstand."

"Thank you." She kissed his jaw and slipped out of his arms to find her pyjamas.

Steve waited for her in the bed, trying not to imagine what must have happened when the car hit her to leave such a deep mark. Thankfully, his thoughts were disturbed when Diana slipped under the covers a few minutes later, leaving the dinner plate untouched in favour of curling around him and tucking her face in his neck.

"Aren't you hungry?" he asked, wrapping one arm around her gently. Diana shook her head. "Liar."

"Tired," she murmured, her warm breath hitting his neck as she spoke. "I'll eat two pancakes in the morning instead."

Steve hummed. "Alright."

He reached for the lamp on the nightstand, trying not to disturb Diana, and flicked it off. Settling back into the bed, he made sure to be careful of Diana's injured arm as he pulled her to his chest and kissed her forehead, hoping he wouldn't dream of her getting hurt worse.