The closest thing to a daughter

Season 5 Episode 17

"And again ... " Bruce turned the levers "back in five.... four... three... two... one." He pushed the button and nothing happened. Steve wasn't there.

"Where's Steve?" asked Sam, frowning. "I don't know, I don't understand! He's supposed to be here!" exclaimed Bruce.

"Then get him back!", Sam ordered him.

Bruce keeps trying, but
nothing works.

"I'm trying! Everything's fine, the lights are green, there's power, so why isn't he here?"

"Get him back damn it!" yelled Sam.

Suddenly, the machine broke down. The power switched to maximum and the brightness became so high that the three friends had to cover their eyes. When they returned to normal, Steve stood before them with a figure in his arms.

"NATASHA," Bruce called out as he ran toward them.

Natasha's body lay there, gently cradled in Steve's arms - unconscious - still in her suit. There was blood in her hair and she appeared to be in pain, but it was enough to see her chest moving up and down that gave the friends more pleasure than they could have imagined. Time travel had taken more out of her health than Steve and her would have believed. Bruce took her from his arms and ran in with her to examine her. Reluctantly, Steve looked after him but let him go. His jealousy had no place now. All that mattered was her well-being.

"Please take good care of her!" He would not be able to lose her again.

"Steve!" Bucky ran up to him and helped him off the platform. He hadn't realized how wobbly he was on his feet. "How did you do that? How did you get her back?"

"Is she... Is she okay?" He worried. Huge worries. The story of how would have time for another time, now all that mattered was that Natasha was back.

"She needs a lot of care, but she should be fine."

Now Steve let his tears of joy run free. He had done it. He had succeeded. She was back. Understanding, Bucky didn't say a word. He was just happy that his best friend was back, because he didn't believe it.

"Let's go see her, shall we?"

Steve agreed. He followed his best friend into the tent, which had been set up temporarily. There she lay. Fragile and attached to equipment, but she was there. And it was Natasha she would fight and make it through. His thoughts swung around to Abigail and one thing became clear to him in that moment. When she woke up, she would ask for her and then it would be up to him to tell her the truth. His heart was already breaking, but there was no way out.

Steve excused himself once again to get some fresh air. With the excuse to tell Clint the good news. With shaky fingers he looked for his cell phone and dialed the number of the archer. It chimed one, two, three times until Hawkeye finally answered the phone. "Steve what happened?" his voice came out worriedly. You could hear that Clint expected to be called only in an emergency. Who could have blamed him, after all, he had just been reunited with his family.

"Natasha's alive."

On the other end of the line, there was a languorous silence, and Steve wondered if he'd better put it more gently. "What?" was the first thing he heard again from Barton. "I brought the stones back and suddenly I had her back. It turned out that no one had ever brought the stone back before, so it was unknown if you could get the lost soul back in exchange. Thank God his words were only a deterrent."