Never Gonna Stop Me (Resilience Book 1) (Avengers Fan-fic) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 38

Sam

A week later and I felt like I was dying. I had managed to hide my non-existent sleeping, along with the headaches which constantly burned through my mind, but I could feel myself wearing down. My strong resolve was slowly withering away and dying. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, I’d had to throw myself headfirst into my work to give myself an excuse for avoiding the team.

I grabbed a cup of super-strong coffee and gulped it down like an espresso. Tony walked into the kitchen and smirked at me.

‘Hey Sam! Seems like a long time since I’ve seen you! How’s the tracking going?’ he asked, looking me over. I nodded. The Avengers had been left to go back to their regular daily lives while we worked on tracking and analysing.

‘It’s going.’ I replied wearily. Tony chuckled.

‘That bad, eh?’ I nodded and rolled my eyes. It was experiences like this that made me hate SHIELD. The dull throbbing slowly started back up, building slowly in my head. Suddenly, I was caught unawares by a jab of pain, shooting through my head. I gasped and put down my mug, gripping the sides of the counter-top.

‘Sam?’ Tony called as a ringing sounded in my ears as the pain got worse and worse. My knees gave way and Tony caught me, before lowering me slowly to the ground. He brushed my hair back, off my face before looking up.

‘JARVIS, get Bruce up here please.’ he called. I sighed and leaned my head, back against the cool chrome panel behind me. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair.

‘He hasn’t let me sleep for the past week.’ I mumbled. Tony frowned and looked at me.

‘Who... wait, do you mean Alex?’ he asked, frowning at me. The elevator doors opened and Bruce called out.

‘Tony?’

Tony raised his hand and waved over the countertop, still frowning at me. I sighed and rested my head against my knees as the residual pain slowly faded as I began to relax once more.

‘Is that why you’ve been avoiding us?’ he asked softly. I looked up at him, feeling bad.

‘I didn’t want you guys to have to add me to your ‘Things To Worry About’ list.’ I explained and his expression softened.

‘I’m lost.’ Bruce said, looking between us. Tony looked from me to him.

‘Alex had been attacking her whenever she tries to sleep.’ he said quietly. Bruce clenched his fists and sighed, releasing his anger, before re-clenching one fist. I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled softly.

‘It’s ok. It’s not like I slept much before, either way.’ Bruce frowned and I shrugged.

‘I have insomniac tendencies.’ I sighed before moving to get up. Tony and Bruce grabbed my elbows and helped me up. I sighed and leaned back, against the counter. I ran a hand through my hair, wincing as my hand brushed off the cut on my forehead. A wave of nausea washed over me and I closed my eyes, breathing deeply. I sighed, shook it off and opened my eyes, smiling weakly at Tony and Bruce, who were watching me warily.

‘I’m gonna head down to the lab.’ I said, making a move to head towards the elevator, but Tony grabbed my hand.

‘Sam.’ he warned, his eyes full of concern. I huffed and rolled my eyes, running my hand through my hair again.

‘I know it’s confusing Tony. They do both have only three letters. But I said lab, l-a-b, not gym, g-y-m. There’s a difference.’ I shrugged his hand off my arm and walked off towards the elevator, tears welling up in my eyes. I stepped inside the elevator, pressed the button, and the second the doors closed, I let them go, streaming down my face.