Sink Into Me

Chapter Two

I found myself humming to myself as I changed Pietro's IVs. He'd been having attacks more often; at least that's what the doctors called them. I didn't like the term 'attacks.' It felt like it was too grim. To me it seemed like Pietro was fighting for something instead, maybe towards something. I wasn't sure which, but I knew it was something stronger than the doctors around here were claiming. So when I brushed my wrist against his forehead to see his temperature and the heart rate monitor began to speed up, I removed my touch quickly. It caused me to pause and stare at the monitor for a moment. I hesitated before I placed my palm on the back of his hand, leaving it there gently.

The monitor sped up once again, growing louder and more alarming. I held tighter and stood there, watching Pietro's face closely. His fingers twitched beneath mine and I glanced at them for a few moments. When I looked back, Pietro's eyes were groggily trying to open. Mine own eyes grew wide in shock.
"Doctor!" I shouted as I refused to leave him.
Moments later Pietro began to shout out. He wasn't speak works, just making a loud, pained noises as he seemed to be struggling to move his limbs.
My free hand found the panic button on the side of the bed immediately as I kneeled down beside him. I moved my fingers from the button to the side of his face, gently facing it towards me.

"Hey, Pietro. It's Evangeline. It's okay. You're here with me, 'kay? It's going to be okay. Just try to breathe. Don't try to move," I instructed in a calm voice as I gripped his hand tighter. I felt his fingers grasp mine as I spoke. "We're here to help you. I know you're confused, and I know this is scary. You're probably in pain, but it'll go away soon. I just gave you your medication," I had my voice louder than normal to reach his ears over his own screaming.
Pietro held my hand even tighter and I resisted the urge to wince and frown at the grip he had. "It'll be okay," I repeated instead as I moved my fingers from the side of his face to his hair, petting it softly. "Shh... shh now. Look, your doctors are here, okay? They're going to help!"

The doctor rushed in and immediately began to access Pietro just as Pietro's eyes rolled in the back of his head and closed.
"I'm not leaving you," I told him reassuringly. His hand gave mine one last squeeze before the tension between them went away completely. "Pietro! Pietro!" I shouted, gently tapping his cheek and hand at the same time. "No, no, come back. Come back!" I pleaded as the doctor administered medication to him through the IV.
"He's stabilizing now. He must be in pain. We'll switch his medications around and find something better," The doctor reported to me and the other nurse in the room. She took notes while I just stared at Pietro's face.
"He... he was awake," I said, looking at the doctor. "He's making it."
The doctor didn't look so sure at my second statement. He frowned as he looked at me. "I don't know about that," He sighed. "If he keeps having these episodes, it won't look good for him in the long run. He won't have much more, it'll exhaust his body."
I frowned at the doctor and refused to speak, trying not to roll my eyes. With my cold silence, the doctor turned and ushered the other nurse away and out of the room.

I collapsed into a chair bedside to the young Maximoff and placed my face into my palms. They were wrong. I just knew it.

~~

The second time Pietro woke up while I was in his room, I was sitting bedside to him with a book in my hands. I was busy studying, but I had been looking up at him every few minutes. I tapped my highlighter against the pages of the book as I read over the words again and again.
"A—angel..."
I glanced up from my book, not sure if I had heard anything at all.

That's when I saw him. Pietro, really Pietro. He was awake, groggy, but awake, staring at me with his bright blue eyes.
"Pietro?" I questioned, immediately setting the book and highlighter on my lap as I scooted the chair closer to the bed.
"You... are... Angel..." Pietro's voice was barely audible, weak, and raspy, and his accent made it a lot harder to understand.
However I had waited so long now to hear it, three weeks in fact, that I was listening too intently to notice much. "Yes, Pietro. I'm Evangeline, your nurse, but you can call me Angel," I told him, speaking clearly.

Pietro went to sit up, but I quickly found my hand against his shoulder.
"No. Stay down, Pietro," I instructed. "Here, let me get you some water," I added, quickly standing up. I forgot my book was on my lap and it and the highlighter fell to the floor. I listened to the marker roll away as I filled a plastic cup full of cold water.
I turned and handed it to him.
His hand came up very slowly, shaking, as he tried to grasp the cup. It began to splatter.
My fingers tingled at the spilled water as I cupped my hand around his. I used my free hand to get the head of the bed to sit up by pressing the button for it. Once he was into a more seated position, I removed my finger and put the hand towards the cup. Together we guided it to his lips and he drank it slowly at first before gulping at it.
"Slow down, don't make yourself sick," I told him worriedly. He listened and slowed until the cup was empty.

I took it from his hand and sat it on the floor by my feet before sitting back down. "Do you remember anything?" I asked him softly.
Pietro shook his head slowly. Then he stopped and nodded it. "Just a bit," He frowned. Then the heart rate monitor sped up at an alarming pace. "Where is Wanda?"
"Wanda is safe and sound with the Avengers, Pietro," I told him. "Do not worry about her, she is fine."
Pietro closed his eyes and leaned back against his pillows. The beeping from the monitor began to slow to his prior state. "I died."
"Yes," I replied.
"I was shot saving Clint and that boy," He continued. His voice was still raspy, but he was finding his strength now.
I just listened to him, hands in my lap.
"How long ago?" He asked, looking at me again. He studied me carefully and I felt his eyes take in my appearance: curly blonde hair, the underside a bright teal color, blue-grey eyes, probably bags beneath them.
I swallowed, looking away from him.
"No. Look at me," Pietro demanded in almost a growl, his accented voice now growing dark.
"A little over three weeks ago or so," I replied as we locked eyes.
That's when the heart rate monitor sped up so quickly that the beeping seemed to just blend in together as one instead of individual beeps.