Recovery-Sequel to Burn and America(Captain America FanFic) [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 7

Knock knock knock. "Freya?" Steve's soft voice is slightly muffled through the door. My stomach knots itself into a tight ball of nerves and apprehension. "Just, give me a sec!" I yell. I breath in and out, and I slowly start to calm down.

As I walk across the room Tony gave me to stay in, thoughts flash across my mind.

What if he can't look at me the same way anymore? Because of what I did, and what happened to me?

Everything Thor said comes crashing back into my mind, like one of those ancient battering rams, breaking down the feeble walls of peace and calm I've built in my mind.

I hesitate, my hand hovering over the door knob. Just open the damn door Freya! I internally yell at myself.

Before I can loose my courage again, I take hold of the handle and twist, then pull the door open.

Dressed in gray sweat pants and a white shirt that looks almost too small for him, Steve is leaning against the door frame when I open the door.

All my doubts and fears of him looking at me differently vanish, and I smile broadly. "Come in." I say, moving away from the door. He walks in, not as nervous as he was the first time he came into my room. I smile at the thought and giggle lightly.

He turns to me as I close the door. "What's so funny?" He asks, an amused expression on his face. "Its just, do you remember the first time I invited you to come into my room on the hellicarrier?" I asked him.

He blushed slightly but laughed. "Yeah, I remember that." He says.

I laugh as we both sit on the edge of my bed, him in his casual clothing, and I in a pair of my old black sweatpants and a form fitting navy blue v-neck shirt.

Now that I think about it, I wonder how all my things got here. I look around the room. "Wait," I say. "How did all my stuff get here?" I ask him.

He smiles lightly. "We gathered everything from your room on the hellicarrier and fixed it all in here." He answered. I smiled, feeling touched. "You guys didn't have to do that." I say softly, smiling happily.

Steve laughs. "Of course we did. We didn't want any of your things getting thrown away. You probably wouldn't have been very happy if you came back and found out all your things were gone." He answered.

I laugh. "No, probably not." I admit.

He smiles again, lightly, but his face grows serious. "Freya, are you okay?" He asked me. I laughed uneasily. "Well, yeah. I'm alive, aren't I?" I joked. He smiled lightly. "Yes, you are. And I couldn't be happier."

I feel a blush spread across my cheeks as he takes my hand. "But are you.... okay?" He asks again, and I know what he means.

The smile slips off my face as I think about my trials. After a moment, I shake my head, looking down and biting my lip nervously. "Not...... Really......" I say softly and slowly.

He lifts my head up to meet his eyes.

We spent the next hour and a half talking about my eight trials, the creepy fire demon in my first trial, the physical pain I experienced in the fourth and fifth trials, and the horrifying screams of agony from the sixth trial.

Steve listened the whole time, without interuption, until I finished. I let out a breath and  I looked up at him, half expecting some kind of terrible reaction that would leave me depressed and worse off than when I started.

But I knew he wasn't that kind of guy, and when I looked into his eyes, all I saw was compassion and understanding. He took my smaller, thinner hand in his two larger ones, and held it tightly between us, like an invisible bridge that spurred me to cross.