Taken

Chapter 10

Tony POV:

"It's dark." Tony thought, "Why is it so dark? It was always so bright in that room." He thought back to the room he had been held in. The lights had been so bright, buzzing like a swarm of angry bees. "Not been," He corrected, "Are. At least I think so? Have I left yet?" He wondered as more questions flooded into his mind. The dark place had the same scent- the sharp sting of alcohol, and smell of medicine and sickness. "It's kind of different." he noted. The smell was more clinical, cleaner. And there was a quiet, steady beeping- in time with his heart rate. He also felt slightly detached, from everything, it seemed. Almost as if he was floating. There was pain, but it was distant, like it belonged to someone else. Not sharp like it was before, but a dull and throbbing ache. "The drugs." He said to himself as he decided that no; he was no longer in Hammer's lab, but in a hospital. "They rescued me!" he thought suddenly, "Fury and Hill- they found us and broke us out." As the memories began to start flooding in, he groaned suddenly. He was nearing a state of conciseness, and as he did, the pain grew more and more. He groaned again as he tried to open his eyes. "Oh hell no!" he thought quickly as the sudden flash of white nearly blinded him. "Best just... keep them closed for the moment." He continued. He settled for trying to move his hand, once assuring himself he could, in fact, move, he tried to open his eyes again. The light assaulted his eyes less this time, merely causing him to blink quickly, instead of crying out in pain. He groaned once again. "Damn it, that still hurts." He thought angrily. He pried his eyes back open, ignoring the light, so he could take in his surroundings. "Yep." He thought,"Diffidently a hospital." He propped himself up a little bit on the pillows to get a better look. There was a large IV bag hooked up to his arm, and bandages wrapped around his torso. He gasped in pain as he reached up to touch his side. "Bad idea." He groaned aloud, internally reminding himself to not do that again. He glanced out the window, hoping to spot a doctor, and caught a glimpse of something he hadn't expected, Steve. Steve- as in Steve Rogers, as in the last person he had expected to be speaking with a doctor outside his room, and looking worried. "Huh." He thought, "I mean, Bruce I get, but Steve? I didn't know he cared."

Steve POV:

He was worried, and that was just an understatement. It had been two weeks, and Tony still hadn't woken up. There had been times where his eyes were open, or he would move slightly. But he was never really awake, unable to grasp onto his surroundings, or to know he was safe. So yeah, Steve was worried. He would even go as far as to say he was scared, and he knew the others were as well. Bruce had barely left Tony's side the entire time. Only leaving the day before, when Steve had forced him to go, saying that Bruce dying from exhaustion was no way to help Tony. Natasha was scared as well, even if she didn't show it. She was even quieter than usual. Only speaking when being asked a question, and spending most of her time in the shooting range or her room. He hadn't really had the chance to talk to her though, considering she had left five days after they were rescued, an urgent mission given directly by Fury. They had received no word from her since. He knew Clint had been affected too, but like her, he didn't say it. He had left with Natasha, also avoiding contact with his team. Steve sighed thinking about it, "What was so important they had to leave so soon?" He wondered, "And why couldn't they tell us where they were going?" he grew slightly angry thinking about it. "They both deserted him." He thought harshly, "When he needed us they left." but quickly stopped himself and shook his head, "No, they wouldn't do that to him. They care as much about him as I do." He glanced back down at the pale form of his sleeping friend. He had more color now, but blood loss was still a factor in his health, and it took a toll on his complexion. Steve shook his head again, "That's it." He thought, "It's been too long, I want to talk to his doctor. He said a few days but it's been much longer." He looked back at Tony again as he stood up, no change. "What did you expect?" He thought, "He was just magically going to wake up? Even if he could why would he? He probably hates you." He reminded himself sadly. He turned away from his friend and stepped out the door. "Why didn't he just tell us?" He wondered bitterly for the thousandth time, "It's not as if we would've thought any less of him." He ran over that same line the entire time it took him to reach the nurse's desk. "Hi." He said as he reached the front desk, immediately changing his sad tone to bright as he spoke to the nurse.

She smiled back at him, "Hi, can I help you?"

"Uh, yes." He started, "My friend was brought in over two weeks ago and he still hasn't woken up."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." The brightly clad nurse responded sincerely, "Would you like to speak to the doctor in charge?"

Steve nodded, "That'd be great."

The nurse turned back to her computer, "What's his name?"

"Tony, uh Stark." Steve replied.

"...Got it..." she said slowly as she typed the name into her computer. "Room 126?"

"Yes that's it." Steve agreed.

"Figured," The woman chuckled, "there's only one Tony Stark."

Steve smiled, "Yeah there is."

The nurse laughed, and added, "His doctor is Doctor Henry Allen, I've already paged him, so he'll be here in a few minutes."

"Thank you ma'am." Steve said before walking away. She gave him a little wave in response.

Steve sighed, "Please let nothing have gone wrong." He thought to no one particularly, "Just please don't let him die."

He had barely reached the door when a tall, slender man in a lab coat approached him.

"Doctor Allen?" Steve asked cautiously, he had grown wary of strangers in light of new truths.

The doctor nodded, "I was told you wished to see me?"

It was Steve's turn to nod, "I was just wondering when my friend was going to wake up."

"He did suffer major blood loss." Doctor Allen started, "And multiple head injuries. Quite frankly, it does not surprise me that he has been asleep for this length of time. His body needs time to rest, and to heal. So it may be a little while longer. If there's nothing else you require, I have many other patients I need to care for."

"Of course." Steve said quickly, "Thank you, for your time."

"You're welcome." The doctor responded, "Have a nice day."

"You too." Steve replied. He placed his hand back on the handle to open the door, and as he did he caught a glimpse of something that took him by surprise, Tony was awake. He had his eyes open and was examining his surroundings with a calculating look. Steve gapped slightly at the sight of his friend looking so alive so suddenly. Not that he wasn't before, but he just looked so different when he was moving. Steve quickly snapped himself out of his trance. He shoved the door open, the loud noise startling Tony and causing him to whip his head around to face the super soldier. "Tony!" Steve gasped.