Heartlines | Steve Rogers

III

THREE
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Meredith got up too, quickly wiping more tears that fell. She felt like maybe she wasn't strong enough to be a part of the Avengers. What if she wasn't? Maybe Tony was right. It was too dangerous for her here. She couldn't hold her owner, she couldn't make the smart play, and she couldn't hide her emotions. She was too much of a girl. Natasha would never act like this. Natasha was too strong for her own good. As she was trying to walk away, Steve easily grabbed her arm and stopped her. She was limping, after all. She swung around to look at him as she wiped her eyes quickly. She was embarrassed that she couldn't keep her feelings contained like them. They didn't even seem that sad. Maybe Steve wasn't, he barely knew him, but Fury and Tony weren't acting like this. "... You should put your foot up and let it heal."

"Why are you worried about it?" She asked defensively, glancing down at his strong hand that held onto her arm.

"Because, I don't want another soldier hurt."

"I'm already hurt, and I'm not a soldier." She retorted, then mumbled. "Obviously."

"What do you mean?" He asked her, giving her a worrying look. She didn't mean for him to hear that, but of course he did. It was only the two of them standing there.

She just shook her head and tried to walk away from him, but he pulled her back. He wrapped his arm tightly around her waist and began to help her walk, and she gave him a look. "What are you doing?"

"You're hurt, Meredith. I want to help you." He shrugged. He took her to the room they first spoke in, sitting her down on the couch. He lifted her leg up onto the ottoman and placed a couple of pillows under it. He got her an ice pack and placed it on her foot after wrapping it. She felt so weak right now, and it was insulting. She couldn't help herself when she continued to cry a little more. Being a girl sucks sometimes. "I'm sorry for hurting you."

"You're not hurting me, you're fine." She shook her head, continuously wiping her tears. Her face was red and her eyes were puffy. She hated for the man whom their father told them to look up to, to see her this way. She felt like such a disappointment. She should've known this mission was going to dig up some feelings.

"Then, what's wrong?" He asked as he sat down next to her. She shook her head, continuing to wipe her face. He finally grabbed both of her hands and pulled them away from her face. Neither of them paid any attention to the fact that he kept holding onto them. "You can talk to me."

"Why do you want to know?" She asked him, confused.

"I just want to help." He replied, being the golden boy he was always described to be. He really lived up to her father's description of him. Goody-two shoes attitude, perfect, golden blond hair and straight, white teeth. Large muscles, and...

She swallowed hard as she looked at him. "I could've stopped that from happening."

"Phil Coulson? What do you mean?"

"I should've went up there. I should've went to Loki's location as soon as the ship was hit. But I didn't, I wasn't smart enough to make the play. And I waited so long to finally go up there when I did think about it. I could've stopped everything that happened." She shook her head.

"It was chaos, Meredith—"

"If I want to be an Avenger, I should be prepared for chaos. I should be able to make the right decisions despite any adversities. But I didn't, and that's why I'm not strong enough to be a part of this, I'm not good enough—"

"Shh! Don't talk like that!" He furrowed his eyebrows at her, confused as to why she was saying all this stuff about herself. Normally, both she and her brother were over-confident. "Why would you say that? Don't be so hard on yourself. You're incredibly useful to the team. That's why we were all called in."