On The Run) Romanogers

Part 12

Steve POV

Natasha had been right, the drive took thirteen and a half hours, give or take given the amount of stops we took. Natasha had been asleep for the first half of the ride, but she had been becoming increasingly stir crazy during the later half. We had just a few more minutes to go and Nat was giving the directions to Bucky as we winded down gravel roads and ended up off roading a fair amount.

"I swear, the car isn't making it up that hill, Nat," Bucky had slammed on the brakes while Natasha had been urging him to gun it.

The stop had jostled everything in the car, including Nat who was now grimacing in pain, "easy Nat," I was trying to soothe her while also uprighting her IV bag that had fallen.

"It's not going to make it if you slam on the brakes, she's right, get a jump start," Sam was sitting shotgun, rubbing the back of his neck. He must have slammed his head back.

"No," Bucky shook his head, "if you want to try it, be my guest, but I'm not the one who is going to get the car stuck." He unbuckled and got out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him.

Sam, who's anger was rising to match Bucky's, did the same thing as the two switched spots. He walked around to the driver's side and started to pull on the door, the thing wouldn't give. "Damn it, Bucky!" Sam kicked the car, only resulting in pain for his toe, and walked off into the woods a bit cursing. "He didn't get the car stuck, but he broke the fucking door," we heard a muddle under his breath.

I just rolled my eyes, I was beyond done with Sam and Bucky. Their bickering had been fun for a while, then it got old, and now it was causing problem after problem. I got up and climbed up to the driver's seat, "Steve, you're driving it up?" Nat questioned, eyebrow raised in giddy anticipation at the idea of watching me gun the car up a hill.

"No, Sam is going to do it," I answered, but Bucky's subtle grunt did not go unnoticed by me, "but I'm unjamming the door," I grunted as I started to push at it, Bucky had done a number on it.

After two minutes of pushing and pulling on the thing, we opened it. Sam got in, backed the car up a long distance, and gunned it up the hill. The wheels had started to spin a bit at the top, but the hill was cleared. I had taken the shotgun seat to put some distance between Sam and Bucky, so I turned to check on Nat. The fast and harsh motions of the car had clearly agitated her leg and she was in a lot of pain, but she was overall alright. I debated asking Bucky to help her a bit, but he was staring out the window in such a grumpy state that it might just make Nat more miserable to have to deal with his attitude.

Nat navigated from memory again and we were there in fifteen minutes. The wooden cabin was beautiful, a small paradise in the middle of seemingly nowhere. Sam and Bucky were both out of the car quickly and walking up to investigate the place. Natasha was struggling to get herself out of the car and free her leg, "hold up," I stopped and climbed into the back with her.

"I can do it," she growled at me, the angsty attitude from the car rubbing off on her a bit, or maybe it was all the pain. Either way, she was really the only one who had a reasonable excuse to be angsty right now.

"I know you can do it, but I can also help," I insisted as I started to free her leg from where it had been rigged up and unhook her IV. Gosh, the whole thing just felt stiff as I slowly helped her lower it, her face was trying so hard to cover the pain right now, I felt awful because it felt like I was causing the pain. "We'll get you settled inside and comfy, how does that sound?" I was trying to distract her a bit.

"Ya, ya," she hummed. Once I was done with her leg, I slung her good arm around my shoulder and maneuvered her out of the car, with all the stops on our drive, this part had become a rehearsed routine for us. Didn't make it less painful for her, but it was smoother than it had been.