•Night Angel•

CHAPTER - [ERROR] PT.2

2009. 01:06. LOCATION: UNKNOWN.

-Bullet wound to the abdomen, she's lost at least two pints, heart rate slow, pulse is getting weaker!.- The nurse said as she and a couple more rushed Natasha to the OR. The doctor was checking her wound.

Sophia started to run behind them, but Nick, who had been waiting there, stopped her.

-Nick, I need to go, I need to be with her, I need--. Sophia said, but Nick held her back.

-No. You need to wait here. You're not going to be of any use if you're in there all nervous.- Nick said and Sophia stopped fighting.

She walked away from her uncle and around the place. They were in a hospital that had an affiliation with S.H.I.E.L.D, so the floor was only for them. Sophia sat down in one of the chairs and placed her head on her hands, grabbing fistfuls of her hair.

Without any warning, a tear streamed down her face, but she cleaned it quickly. Taking a deep breath, she straightened in the chair.

-I know you're feeling desperate. And I know you want to be there, but you can't. You know Romanoff. She is tough. She is going to be fine.- Nick said, trying to comfort his niece.

Sophia nodded and looked at him.

-How do you do it?.- She asked and Nick looked back at her.

Without even asking, he knew what she was talking about. Taking a long sigh, he looked back to the front.

-After so many years, it just comes out normal. I shaped myself like this. I knew that feeling everything was not an option in this job. So I just stopped.- Nick said and Sophia laughed dryly.

-I was shaped like that. I was shaped, trained to leave feelings and emotions behind. I was made to be unbreakable.- Sophia said sourly and shook her head. -And now? Now I'm an emotional mess. -She said as she looked at her feet.

Nick turned around to look at her with an eyebrow raised.

-You wanna know why you are an emotional mess right now?.- Nick asked, looking at his niece.

-Because my best friend is almost dying?.- Sophia asked, looking back at him and he looked at her sternly.

-No.- He said. -It's because you've refrained yourself from feeling in the last years.- At this, Sophia scrunched her eyebrows.

-That's not true.- She said, but Nick gave her a "are you kidding me" look.

-Since your mother passed away, you have been in a place where you don't allow yourself to feel pain. You cried for three days, then stopped. You bottled it up. Then, your father dies, and again, you cry for three days, then shut down again.-Nick said and Sophia just looked at him.

-You're talking like I don't have feelings at all.- Sophia said with a raised eyebrow.

-Oh, no. You have feelings.- Nick said, nodding and ironically. -But you only recognize the ones that make you feel good. Like liking that doctor, being happy, sassy, sarcastic. But you shut down the others. It's obvious that when something like this happens. Someone you love almost dying, you start to break. Why? Because you care. You have a heart.- Nick said as a matter of factly and Sophia looked at him with wide eyes.

Why? Because it was true.

After her parent's death, she shut down every feeling that made her feel weak, that made her sad, that hurt her. She pushed them aside and ignored them. She bottled them up.

But eventually. Just like Nick said, she was going to break down.

Sophia didn't say anything else, letting the words sink in. Nick stood up and started to leave, but before he turned to Sophia.