The Sapphire Legacy (Steve Rogers)

Chapter 24

"Okay, I think I've got something." Bruce walked over to Taylor who was still breathing shallowly and her skin was a pale shade. "Taylor, this device should help restore your energy levels." He approached her side with the device in hand. Taylor looked at him with a mix of fear and hope in her eyes. "What is it?" She asked. "I was able to create this device that harnesses the power of the Tesseract. We're going to use it to somewhat jumpstart your energy. Similar to how you would jumpstart a car battery." Bruce explained. Taylor nodded and squeezed my hand tightly. "And let's just hope it doesn't fry her brain." He mumbled. "Bruce?!" I shouted. "I'm optimistic it won't..." Oh god.

Bruce carefully placed the device on her forehead and I felt her entire body tense before a faint blue light started to radiate from her body. "Bruce?" I looked at him as a look of pain crossed Taylor's face. "I think it's working...but we might want to step out of the room." He said. "I'm not leaving her."

"Steve..." Bucky said as the blue hue of her skin got deeper. Bucky, Sam, and Bruce all slowly backed out of the room. "Steve..." "I'm not leaving her Bucky!" I yelled, keeping my hand in hers. I felt the energy radiating off of her body as she glowed a deep ocean blue color.

Taylor gasped and a surge of energy flowed out of her blasting the entire room in a wave of blue energy. I quickly ducked out of the way, making sure not to let go of her hand, as things went flying. I looked up and saw Taylor's breathing slowly return back to normal and the blue glow started to slowly fade. "I think it worked." Bruce said as they reentered the room. He took the device off of her forehead and ran a few tests to make sure.

After a few minutes Taylor's eyes opened, "Steve?" "I'm here." I cupped her cheek and felt her relax into my touch. "It worked!" Bruce yelled and looked over at Taylor and I. "It worked. I can feel my energy again. For a while there I didn't feel like I was in my own body." She smiled and I passionately kissed her.

"You do know we are still in the room right?" Sam remarked with a smirk on his face. I pulled away and let out a soft laugh. Taylor gently squeeze my hand as relief flooded my body. "Thank you, Bruce." She said, smiling at him. "Anytime, Taylor. You still probably need a lot of rest so maybe don't try to use you're powers for a little bit and let them fully kind of restore and level out." She nodded and I helped her slowly sit up on the table.

"I need to go see Pepper and Morgan." She said. "Sweetheart, maybe you should get some rest first..." I suggested but she shook her head. "No, now." Tears welled in her eyes. Did I miss something? "Okay, I'll take you there now." I helped her off the table fully. "I kind of shut them out after you disappeared. I shut everybody out." Her face dropped and I put my hand on her cheek. "Hey, look at me, it's okay. They'll understand." I pulled her into a hug and thanked Bruce one last time, promising to return the stone...again...before walking out with Bucky and Sam. I helped Taylor into the car and turned to Bucky and Sam.

"Thank you both for being here and for making sure she was okay." They nodded and Bucky placed a hand on my shoulder. "We're just glad she's okay." I smiled and we went our separate ways. I got into the car and intertwined our fingers before driving her to her to Pepper's home.

Taylor's POV

Steve turned down the long driveway and my heart began to race. "It's okay." He squeezed my hand and gave me a reassuring smile as he parked. I gave him small smile back as we stepped out of the car. Pepper walked out of the house quickly, breaking into tears when she saw me. I met her halfway, pulling her into a hug. "Oh my god, Taylor." She wrapped her arms tightly around me and we cried in each other's embrace. "Pep I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I abandoned you and Morgan. I'm so sorry." I sobbed and she rubbed my back. "It's okay, we're okay." She pulled away and placed her hands on my cheeks, wiping the tears away. She quickly wiped her own before looking at Steve.