To The Moon And Back (Fanfic)

Chapter 19

"I don't get it," Steve confessed from his hospital bed. His gown was cut open from his waist down to his hip on his left side and he sat leaned back while the nurse was hard at work mending his stitches. All but one stitch had burst open in he and Natasha's hurry to escape the gunfire, and the nurse had to remove and replace the thread completely in order to clean and re-patch the wound. He said he couldn't feel the tiny pinpricks of pain under his injection of lidocaine, but Natasha still winced every time she watched the stitches pierce his skin.

"You said we were long since out of their reach when Wanda dropped the barrier. There's no way they could have followed us."

Natasha chewed on her nails, "Maybe they didn't follow us..." she suggested; thinking back to their hours wasted beforehand. "In the waiting room, families were looking at us like we were these... monsters. And Wanda; she was using her powers to spin a nickel on the table. I guess that must've freaking a couple parents out."

"Maybe one of them called the authorities?"

"Or maybe Ross traced Maria's call."

Steve sighed. It didn't make any sense. No matter what their situation was, Ross always seemed to be one step ahead of them – often in ways that they couldn't break down enough to understand how it was possible. And it was infuriating on so many levels.

The nurse paused mid-stitch and sighed, "They have your friends, don't they?"

Steve looked across the room at Natasha, who didn't return his gaze, but froze in her seat. She lowered her eyes and painfully, she nodded, "Yeah." She swallowed, "Yeah, they have our friends... I guess that makes two for two now? Three, for Wanda?"

Steve's eyes lowered to the floor as Natasha exhaled, "Well, something like that..." Their entire team was in the hands of the bad guys for the third time because of them... and it killed Natasha more than she was willing to show.

Off guard, the nurse injected Steve in his hip with a syringe. He flinched at first, taken aback by the sudden pressure from the needle, and he looked at her. "What is that?"

The nurse stayed concentrated on the syringe. "I'm giving you some Benadryl. Lots of it, actually. You should start to feel sleepy in a couple of minutes; this'll help you get some rest before it's time to put some food into your system. Are you hungry at all now?"

"No."

The nurse chuckled and widened her eyes, "You will be."

Moving on from her comment, Steve flipped his attention back to Natasha – who was sitting in a plastic chair at the foot of his bed. "You know we're gonna have to go back for them."

Natasha met his eyes, "We always do, but they're not my priority right now – you are."

"Natasha, I'm–"

"Don't–" Natasha squinted her eyes shut and flashed her teeth, "–Don't say the word. I'm gonna go get a water," She said, using her thumb to point behind her to the door. "Do you want one?"

"It's best for him to avoid fluids after a Benadryl shot; makes it easier for the patient to relax that way." The nurse chimed in before Steve could give the wrong answer.

"O-K," Natasha said awkwardly, "I will... be right back."

And then she left the room, closing the door softly behind her and pacing away quickly as she could to the vending machine. For some reason, the whole environment made her feel awkward and out of place. She had never been very good in social settings with people she had never met before. She didn't feel comfortable talking about the problem to Steve while the nurse was present, despite her welcoming hospitality. And when she got nervous, she got parched. Quite honestly, she didn't even know if they had a vending machine in the hospital – which is probably why she got an awkward look from the nurse when she announced she was going to get a water from one. But all hospitals had vending machines, right?