Cecily (Prince!SteveRogers AU)

8

I have been debating whether to stay away until Steve is ready to see me, but find that I can't. A wife should check that her husband is in good health after something like this.
I linger silently at the door as the physician is cleaning some wounds from Steve's body. The two men now notice me before the physician leaves the room so as we can be alone.

Once he has gone, I silently head over and take the cloth from the pink tinged water, beginning to bathe my husband's wounds.

Steve turns his head to acknowledge what I am doing. "You don't have to do this". He tells me in a quiet voice.

"Why shouldn't a wife bathe her husband's wounds once he has returned from battle..." I ask, gently dabbing the cloth over his skin. The wounds are both old and new. They run deep, but I am yet to realise just how much.

"Captivity". He corrects me somewhat bitterly. "It was captivity". My fingers begin to trace the scars that have been left behind and I now look away, wincing slightly at just what he could have been through. Beatings? Torture? "You're scared of me..." his voice states

I shake my head at this, then continuing to wipe the blood from wounds that are reopening, reaching for the ointments to help them so as they do not become infected. "I am not the simpering little maid that you married to breed like some prized mare, the last few years I've grown".

And I have. Both physically and as a person.

"I can tell..." he hisses as the water makes contact with a newer wound.

"Sorry..."  I apologise but continue to bathe them, "what happened?" I now ask.

He shakes his head. "It doesn't matter".

"The wounds say otherwise". I drop the cloth into the water take the bowl and then round him so as I am now looking at him. I crouch down in front of the chair he's sat on and look up at him. Working on the wounds that are across his chest. "Steve...please".

"It's fine", he tells me quietly.

"You seemed surprised to still find me here".

"I did not expect you to be, unless a child had come from our wedding night, which obviously it hasn't".

I can't tell whether he is disappointed with me about this or relieved. I still don't know whether he'd wanted to take me as a wife in the first place.

"Perhaps it was for the best".

"Not when we need an heir". He now states flatly, "especially now".

I take the cloth away, really not wanting to get into this. "The wounds are cleaned". And stand up, moving back to the table to set the bowl on.

"You're avoiding the topic of discussion, Cecily".

My gaze falls to outside of the window. "I am not...I simply feel that maybe we should discuss it once you are rested and recovered".

His stare is burning into my back. "You will come to me tonight..."

"Steve..."

He cuts me off. "It's the greatest importance that you should have, we should have. We cannot waste any more time that we already have".

"You went to war the morning after our wedding!" I exasperate. "If anything it was your decision to leave!"

"To fight for my kingdom! My family! I was fighting for you Cecily! If I had actually died then you would have ended up the same way! That much was apparent! And Thanos was going to kill me, but I got to him first, even if it did take me longer than I wanted to".

By now he is on his feet, most likely just staring at me as my back is still to him. "You say you're not the simpering maid I married, but look at you! You can't even look at me!"

I swallow. "How can I? I barely know you just as you don't know me...we met a day before our wedding, married and then you went away".

I hear him move across the room towards me, now turning my body to face him, hands firmly on the sides of my arms. "Look at me Cecily!" He urges as my eyes slowly meet with his. "Let me know you..."

I stare at him, the desperation is there in his eyes. He has changed in some ways, he is more a man than he was when he left.

Did he ever think of me while he was in captivity? I still remember how he looked back as he rode out with the army on the day he left.

I want to ask him how he felt. Why he did it and what it meant to him? But part of me is hesitant. I don't want to stop the chance of knowing him. He has said he wants to.

It is good enough for me at this moment.

Slowly I nod. "Okay..."