Let Me Love You

Returning

Steve's POV

Our missions all took longer than expected but all three teams were successful. Not only did we have to extract information, we had to save the captives, return them to their homes, and destroy the bases to prevent them from doing this type of thing again. Luckily, it seems that we caught them early since none of the captives were tested on.

It's now 4 days later and we're arriving back at the tower. I step off of the quinjet to see that the rest of the team is already waiting in the living room. How long have they been here?

I walk into the room and everyone glances at me before looking away. I furrow my eyebrows and look at Tony to find him drowning himself in whiskey. Realizing what must be wrong, I drop my shield and run to the elevator, pressing the button to the sick bay.

"Where is she?" I ask, bursting through the door.

"Steve, listen-"

"WHERE IS SHE?" I raise my voice, slamming my fist against the wall.

Bruce takes a deep breath before leading me to the same room she was kept in before we left. I rush inside but am confused when I find her to just be sleeping.

"She's stable." Bruce speaks from behind me.

"Stable?" I ask, feeling my heart sink. "What happened?"

"She's been in a coma for 5 days. I'm not sure what caused it but as long as she's stable she should be fine." He explains. "You should go wash up, eat something, rest. I'll call for you if anything happens."

I open my mouth to protest but he's already dragging me out of the room. I decide to take his advice and clean myself up since I've been out for 4 days.

Tony's POV

The team tries to include me in their conversation about their missions but I block everyone out. How could I let this happen? Kate could be on the verge of death and all I can do is sit around and hope that she wakes up.

"Tony.." I feel a pat on my shoulder.

"I said to leave me alone." I say, taking another sip of my drink. It feels as if no amount of alcohol could get rid of the pain.

The person behind me spins me around and quickly pulls me into a hug. Shocked, I hesitantly hug back before pulling away to see Steve standing in front of me with tears in his eyes. He and I haven't been getting on too well ever since Kate came into the picture. Before I can say anything, he walks away and disappears into the elevator.

"What was that about?" Bruce asks, joining all of us. We immediately perk up, hoping for good news.

"No idea." I admit. "How's my girl doing?"

"The same." He sighs. "I ran some tests.. I um.. I think you guys should sit down."

We all exchange glances.

"We should wait for Steve." Sam says.

"I already spoke to him on our way up. He probably needs some time to process it."

"Just spit it out already, Banner." I say nervously.

"Kate um.. While she was held captive we know that they questioned and tortured her. What we didn't know was that they used her as a test subject." All of our eyes widen. "Thanks to the files you recovered, we know that HYDRA has already tried and failed to make their mutants on multiple occasions, apparently the subjects weren't strong enough. Kate, for some reason, has been on their files for years as an ally.." He pauses to let the information sink in. "After testing her blood for traces of anything abnormal, I found that her bloodstream had some other type of drug going through it. It healed all of her wounds at an incredible rate, but that's all I can tell from it so far."

"So you're saying she's been with HYDRA this whole time?!" Clint asks, standing up.

"It seems so."

"No, she's not." I defend. "She's a business woman, not a spy, not a weapon, not a monster."

"Tony, I-"

"No! You're wrong!" I stand up, tears forming in my eyes. "You're all wrong." I mutter, grabbing another bottle of whiskey to bring to my room.

Bucky's POV

I want to believe Tony, I really do, but we don't know enough to prove that she's not with HYDRA. As everyone talks about whether or not they think it's true, I knock on Steve's door. I hear only sniffling in response and decide to let myself in.

"Not now Buck." He says quietly. I sigh and sit beside him on his bed.

"Tony said it's not true." I place a comforting hand on his back. "He knows her better than any of us."

"It can't be true. I don't know what I'd do if it was." He holds his head in his hands. I can't stand seeing him this way. "But right now it looks like there's no way to prove that she's not with them."