The Spark That Never Dies Part: One

Chapter Fourteen

Her voice was broken, but she hid it well. She took your hand in hers, the warmth a nice contrast to your cold one. You felt more tears fall and you had to bury yourself deeper not to let yourself believe this was really happening. The circles she traced on your palm pulled at you, and when she started tracing letters, you focused on what she was spelling. She traced phrases like 'I miss you' and 'Come back to me' which just made you sob harder.

"She's crying." Bucky pointed out and Natasha cleared her throat, thinking he meant her at first, but when she peered at your face, she realized he meant you.

"Bruce?" Thor asked, hoping it meant something.

"She can hear you." He told them.

"I don't like this," Thor announced, "She needs to wake up."

"She will," Bucky assured him, "She will."

"But she needs to do so now because she just," Thor paused, "She looks so much smaller than normal. They didn't feed her, that much is obvious."

"Why don't we go make her something for when she wakes up, okay? We could get a bunch of her favorite snacks, huh?" Bucky suggested, their voices getting more distant, so you knew he was leading him out.

There was a long moment of silence before you heard Bruce shuffle over to your other side.

"Would you like a moment alone?" He asked her softly and you felt her shift.

"Yes, um," She sniffled, "Thanks, Bruce."

You heard him walk out and then the opening and closing of the door before the bed dipped some where you assumed, she sat next to you.

"You're worrying Thor," She laughed a little, "You know how he gets."

She was quiet for a while, tracing over the stitches lightly on your arm.

"I know what you're doing," She whispered, "You think this is all fake and we're going to vanish as soon as you open your eyes. Wanda said this could happen when you came back," She took a deep breath, "But you need to know this is real, all of it."

She waited for a sign, any movement you'd give to indicate you were trying to reach out to her but found none.

"Since when do you not talk?" She smirked, "When you come back I know you're gonna talk my ear off again," She smiled at the thought, "I think you'll be so happy to be back that you'll tell us everything that happened these past two days."

It's been that long?

"You'll put on an act about how it was some crazy adventure," She stopped and then added lower, "But I hope you'll trust me enough to tell me how it really was."

"Nat," Someone called, sounded like Tony, coming into the room, "You haven't slept since she went missing."

"Neither have you." She pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's normal." He laughed and you now knew for sure it was Tony, "Come on, just get a few hours and then you can come back."

"What if she wakes up and no one's here? What if what Wanda said is true and when she wakes up alone, she gets too upset to stay present?"

"You really care about her." He observed out loud.

"She's a part of the team, Tony." She grumbled, turning away from him and back to you.

"I'll make you a deal, Romanoff," He ignored her, "If you take a break, just sleep for a little while, I'll make sure she's never alone and I'll wake you up if anything changes."

She pondered on what he said for a moment because on one side she didn't want to leave you, but on the other she knew she was no good sleep deprived and one of the guys who had you got away.