Siblings In Everything But Blood

Chapter 16: In Which Bruce Is Extremely Concerned

Hey guys! The next five chapters are about the time between CA:WS and A:AOU. This chapter in particular is also about the time period between the Agents of SHIELD episode "Turn, Turn, Turn" up to the end of Season 1. It's a lot less plot-heavy! Actually, this chapter doesn't have much plot at all. Just a tiny bit, intermixed with filler. Well, I guess there's a ton of character development as well. Oh, and just so you know, the story is going to get a bit darker as it progresses. R&R! - Spathi

Bruce's P.O.V

It was already night. Natasha had just gotten back from D.C., and she looked physically and emotionally drained. He wasn't quite sure what to do when she stumbled through the doors of his lab, and collapsed at a table. She groaned, resting her head on the desk. He absently noticed that she was wearing a jacket over a tank top, and jeans.

After a minute of just watching Natasha, who didn't move from her position at all, he had an idea. He went over to a cabinet, removing a side panel, and grabbed a small vial of nectar. Then, he went over to his personal coffee maker and poured a cup, adding in the nectar, as well as a bit of Irish cream. Bruce went back over to the woman slumped over the desk, and put the coffee down in front of her.

"Thanks." she muttered as she took a sip. Her eyes widened, and she took a bigger gulp. He laughed a little at that. He noticed that her shoulder was bleeding a little bit. He suddenly remembered seeing a video of her getting attacked by the Winter Soldier. She had been shot in the shoulder, hadn't she?

"May I?" He asked, gesturing towards her shoulder. She shrugged off her jacket, and he carefully slipped the straps of her tank top and bra off her shoulder, peeling them downwards a bit so that he could see the wound. It had been stitched up, but not well enough, and she had popped several of the stitches. The scientist grabbed a small pair of scissors, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and another bottle of nectar. He carefully cleaned the wound and cut the stitches. While doing that, he inspected the wound again. She seemed to have fractured it, at the very least, and the muscle seemed to be damaged badly.

"How had she helped Steve take down three helicarriers with this wound? She's lucky the arteries weren't damaged." the doctor thought. He finished taking care of the wound, and then sterilized it with the hydrogen peroxide. Natasha's face didn't change, but he felt her tense. If he hadn't been touching her, he wouldn't have noticed at all. He quickly realized that the stitches probably wouldn't hold.

"I think I'm going to have to cauterize it." he said. Natasha nodded silently. He retrieved a small tool used for cauterizing wounds, and switched it on.

"I'm going to start cauterizing it on the count of three, okay? 1...2...3!" He brought the tool close enough to her skin that it started to burn it, noting that Natasha barely flinched. She seemed really out of it. Once he was done, he picked up the bottle of nectar, and poured it over the wound. He looked at her.

"Usually, a wound like this would take two to three weeks for it to heal. Factoring in our heritage, and the fact that it's you, I don't want you to do anything that stresses this shoulder for at least three days. I'd prefer a week, but that's probably not happening. So three days. Just in case." he said firmly.

"Whatever you say, doc." she said in a rather husky tone. His brain stuttered slightly, and then rebooted slowly.

"Um. So, yeah. Just- yeah. Right." Bruce was sure he was blushing. Natasha patted him on the shoulder as she got out of the chair. She pecked him on the cheek, causing him to redden further.