Into the War || A Captain America Love Story

51

TORI

I drive Steve out of the hospital. His wound has just gotten stitches and he couldn't be any grumpier about it. He pouts in the passenger seat next to me, his arms crossed and a scowl across his face.

"You know I could've driven, right?" he asks as he quickly steps out of the parked car so that I can't help him.

"Yeah, but like Bucky always tells us, I'm just like you and I want to make sure that you don't do anything else stupid to hurt yourself again," I say, slamming my door shut. "Besides, stitches are painful. And even though you claim to be fine, I know that they hurt really, really badly."

He rolls his eyes, opening the door for me and following me into the house. "I am fine, I just can't do a lot of things."

"Exactly my point," I smirk at him. I order him to sit down and let me do everything for him. He glares at me, but quickly obeys. I get him a glass of water and sit next to him on a barstool. I giggle at his posture, which is now completely vertical instead of comfortably leaning with his arm on the counter.

"How long?" he asks, referring to the sutures holding his wound together.

"Doc said about a week," I inform him, propping my head up on the counter with my hand.

Steve almost chokes on his water, causing me to panic for a moment. "A week?" he echoes.

"You act like that's a long time," I laugh.

"Well compared to your situation, it's short. But that means I can't do anything for a week," he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

I clasp my hand on his shoulder, still giggling at him. "That means this week is me taking care of you, all right? Meaning that the next eight months are for you to take care of me. Okay?"

He gives me another glare. "I don't like being taken care of."

"Well both of us kind of vowed to take care of each other at the wedding, so I sort of can't break that."

"I can still do some things by myself," he whines.

"You really think that I'm going to let you?" I ask him.

He bows his head, biting his lip.

"That's what I thought," I scoff. "Now you can feel the pain I've had to go through."

"Okay, okay, I get it. I need to let you be a little more free," Steve sighs. "I can't help that I'm nervous though."

"I know you can't and I can't either," I reassure him, "but we still have a whole lot longer to deal with. Besides, it'll all be okay in the end." I sigh as I hear myself say that. I needed to hear from myself that it will be all right, no matter what happens. Sure, Steve tells me that all the time, but it's really assuring when I hear myself say that it will be okay, even after all of the struggles.

Steve glances down at my stomach, playing with his hands in his lap. "How are you both feeling?" he whispers softly.

I smile. "A little tired, but we'll be okay," I tell him.

A smile creeps across his lips, informing me of his improved attitude. "It'll all be okay."

•••

"Still hurting, Steve?" I ask him.

"No, I'm fine," he insists.

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm fine."

I sigh as I stare at him from the kitchen. I caught him wincing multiple times already, and it makes me feel a pang of guilt. He lays on the couch, tossing an empty cup in the air. He is bored out of his mind and clearly frustrated with his injury, so he's trying to calmly let that all out by flipping the cup up and catching it before it can hit his face on its way down.

I enter the living room, sitting on the edge of the sofa next to him. I catch the cup as it is midair, barely curling my fingers around it before it starts to fall. Steve glances up at me, a shy smile crawling across his lips.

"You going to stop almost breaking your nose?" I ask him, gently brushing his blond locks back with my fingers.

"I'm not going to break my nose," he retorts. "It will only hurt really bad."

"My point." I curl up beside him, being careful of the stitches. He drapes his arm around me, holding me close to him. I close my eyes and sink into his grasp, trying to ignore everything going on inside my mind. Steve seems to take notice of that and kisses the top of my head. I set the cup on the floor, resting against him. Before I know it, we've both fallen asleep on the sofa next to each other.