Lieutenant - Daughter of the Captain

Chapter 25.0 - Strangers

"They used the scepter" Carter repeated. Her voice was steadier, and she looked around at the people in the room.

"How do you know-"

"I felt it," She explained, interrupting Steve, "On the balcony, I felt it. It hit me like a truck- I...." Her brow furrowed as she realized she was in a medical bed.

"What happened?" She asked, looking to the others for an explanation.

Bruce cleared his throat,"You screamed, and we-" He hesitated briefly,, "Steve found you completely out of it-"

"And floating two feet off the ground, glowing like a tree-topper," Tony interrupted bluntly, but he spoke too quickly and she couldn't read his lips.

In an act of exasperation and built-up frustration, she reached up and turned off her E.A.R.S..

And regretted it instantly.

She let out a cry of pain at the sudden pressure, her hand finding Steve's arm again.

"Hey, you don't have to do this, we'll explain it all, okay?" He whispered, feeling her frustration through the bond and wanting nothing more than to ease her mind.

But he didn't know how.

She didn't respond for a moment, and then gave a slight nod.

He quickly turned the devices back on, expecting her to breathe a sigh of relief.

But she didn't.

Sobs racked her body, and she shook with the force of them.

Bruce came forward, "What's going on, are they not working?" He asked, concern lacing his tone.

Steve shook his head, locking eyes with Tony, who shook his head as well.

"Move."

Natasha suddenly came up beside Steve, and once he did as she asked she didn't let a moment pass before she was sitting beside Carter and had enveloped her in a tight hug.

To everyone's surprise, the girl hugged back just as tight, practically clinging to the Widow.

Slowly, the others began to trickle out of the room. Clint left to go tell Thor what they knew, Bruce went to scan the balcony for any trace radiation, and Tony...he just exited the room without a word.

But Steve didn't move. He watched as the little girl broke down. She cried, and sobbed for what felt like hours, but in reality couldn't have been longer than ten minutes. She wailed  in a way he had never heard before.

It broke him.

Seeing her in so much heartache...

And then Natasha.

She sat with her, held her like a mother would. She rubbed her back soothingly, and hugged her tightly. She didn't speak. She didn't move. She knew exactly what the girl needed.

Steve realized that this was what Carter needed. He could bring her back from a panic attack, sure. But this...

This was something entirely different. He'd seen the hard, emotionally unavailable little girl. She'd begun to open up, and what he never realized was what truly came with that vulnerability.

Natasha had gone through something similar as a child. She'd been much older when she joined S.H.I.E.L.D, and she'd lived most of her life the way Carter had been destined to. She was trained in a way that Carter was currently trying to recover from.

In a way that Steve could never understand.

But he would try.

Carter had quieted a few minutes ago,  drifting to sleep in her exhaustion. Steve caught Nat's eye, and the widow nodded.