New Year's Day

Chapter 6

March 11th, 2015 Pt. 2

"I'll be fine, sweetie. It's just a check-up, once they make sure there's nothing wrong with me I'll be right back home."

"At least let me drive you," I insisted, sitting down in a dining room chair opposite the woman to face her. "If you're sick you don't need to be driving."

She paused, "Fine, but I don't need you to come in the room with me, it's not a big deal." She was trying to be optimistic, but I could tell she was worried. This was worse than she was letting on. I anxiously ran my finger along the dull paisley tablecloth, not meeting her eyes and instead focusing on tracing the sun-bleached brown and orange patterns.

"Okay, Mom, fine," I looked up, "I love you."

"I love you, too, Alex."

When I woke up, I was laying on the cold metal surface of the Quinjet medical table. The light above me was bright, and I lifted my hand over my eyes to shield them as they adjusted. I heard murmuring around me and sat up, looking around the jet. It went silent.

"Hey,"  Bucky rushed over to me, "how are you feeling?"

"Fine, I think." I paused, mentally assessing all the different sensations in my body. My head was definitely sore, and I felt a dull electric buzz throughout my chest, but other than that, I was okay. "What the hell happened? Did we take the base? Did we get the scepter?" I demanded. The team looked worried.

"Everything is fine. We got the scepter and Strucker is being brought into custody right now. Clint took a hit but other than that," Steve took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair, "we're all okay."

"Steve...," I began. He looked down at the ground. "Why am I on the med table?" I demanded.

"You sort of, passed out," Bucky interjected. "We're not really sure what happened. I came down to the basement after you called for us and the first thing I saw was you getting blasted backward and hitting your head." He looked worried; like the situation was worse than the way he described it.

"I touched the scepter..." I remembered, subconsciously rubbing the back of my head. "It was like what happened at my Dad's lab but this time..." I didn't finish. I made eye contact with Bucky, having a silent agreement with him. I would tell him about it later. "Look, I feel fine. If Clint is hurt, focus on him, don't worry about me," I managed a smile and slowly lowered myself from the table. My legs wobbled a bit and I grabbed Bucky's arms for support. Clint was already bandaged and was instead lying across one of the benches the team sat on during flights. "Put him back on the table, he obviously needs to be looked at more than me."

     There was a murmur of agreement as Steve and Thor walked over to help Clint up. I took his place on the bench and Bucky sat next to me, allowing me to rest my head on his shoulder.

    "As much as I love ya, kid," came Tony's voice from behind the pilot's seat of the jet, "we hit a few other minor snags while we were trying to get that precious alien glow stick back."

    "Tony...," Steve faltered for a second, "maybe right now isn't the best time."

    "What, Cap? You don't want to tell Sabrina the Teenage Witch about how Barton got shot? About what you encountered while you were bringin' in Strucker?" He stopped. "She has a right to know."

    I rolled my eyes. Steve and Tony bickered like an old married couple. "Can you two stop arguing and tell me what the hell is going on?" More silence. I looked around at the team. Sam looked just confused as me, Thor was standing by the wall clearly deep in thought, and Nat was talking to Bruce, who was wrapped in a blanket at the back of the jet.