To The Moon And Back (Fanfic)

Chapter 20

The trees howled as the jet hovered above them, about to land. Leaves blew from the branches and flew in loopdy-loops through the air until the engine roared and the jet came to a halt in the middle of the grass, only a few meters away from the Waco S.H.I.E.L.D facility.

The building was like most of the division's facilities. It was large and dull and had the big S.H.I.E.L.D logo plastered above the front entrance in silver, but unlike most of their facilities, it was seemingly isolated from the rest of its surroundings. Whether this was done intentionally or unintentionally, it seemed to keep the "low-profile" concept at a steady rate because neither Steve or Natasha nor the rest of the Avengers had known a facility in Waco existed until roughly a week ago.

Once Natasha had landed the jet, and Steve felt it come to a definite stop, he stood up quickly from his seat as a co-pilot and inhaled sharply through his teeth at the movement. Although he could walk on his own now, he still felt sore all throughout his limbs especially after hours of inactivity.

Natasha reached up tenderly and touched his forearm. "Don't strain yourself," she said calmly before rising to her feet and standing next to him, "You're one forced movement away from being a super-serum Humpty Dumpty."

Steve exhaled, "Noted." A discrete smile formed on his lips and he didn't even try to hide it. Natasha knew when to pick her moments to joke around and while it wasn't the perfect time, there was a sense of lightness in her tone despite her joke being a warning for him to be careful. It was almost soothing in a way that made him feel better about, like she said, being a forced movement away from a Humpty Dumpty.

Natasha leaned back and flipped a lever at the control panel. The backdrop lowered open, and they both sighed in perfect unison – which only added to the unexpected lightheartedness Steve felt. She placed her hand on his back, and Natasha helped guide him out into the open.

They had left the hospital early that morning, hoping to get to the facility as quickly as possible. They and Dee had said their goodbyes, and she wished the two of them the best of luck and reminded them of something important. "Sometimes you have to save yourselves before you can save the world," she said. Poetic. Natasha thought she'd make great fortune-cookies one day.

As they walked through the entrance to the building, Steve caught eyes with Maria, who sprung up from her desk across the room after chewing her thumb and rushed calmly over to greet them. She hugged Natasha, not in way of 'I never thought I'd see you again,' but more in a way of 'thank goodness you made it back whole this time.'

Maria turned to embrace Steve after exchanging a relieved smile with Nat, but found herself distracted by the fact that it had only been two and a half days since the shooting and Steve was already standing perfectly on his feet.

She awed, "I see you're back in one piece."

"You'd be surprised how often I hear that." Steve remarked, pulling her in for the hug he'd missed out on a few seconds before.

Maria patted his back and pulled away after their short embrace. "Actually, I wouldn't. You're Steve. You're like a cat – nine lives and all."

Natasha rubbed Steve shoulder teasingly, "and he's already blown through ninety-nine percent of them."

Maria looked at him challengingly, "You think you can make it through the rest of this shit-show without losing any more?"

"I don't know," Natasha said for him and whispered in addition, "We may need a new cat."

That earned a laugh from Maria. "Let's save the Avengers from the floating-prison, then we'll get a new cat." She gestured for them to follow her, and they began walking and talking in her lead.