In Loving Memory [A Marvel Cinematic Universe Fanfiction] *Discontinued*

Sleeping Beauty

I think i might have passed out after we got close enough to the city, because i remember someone calling 911 for a bunch of ambulances then everything went black. Walking back took forever but i didn't say anything about how badly i felt because i would have sounded selfish considering ehat had just happened, but all i remember is my leg and chest getting worse witth every step i take, black spots appearing in the corners of my eyes. Towards the end i had to get Peter to stop for a few seconds because my leg had buckled and i almost fell to the ground.
I wake up in a bright room that smells really weird. It's stuffy and too warm, which only makes the smell worse.
I soon realize i'm in a hospital room, an i.v. in my arm just below my scar. They must have stitched me shut, because as soon as i move i feel a sharp, throbbing pain on ny ribcage and leg, spreading through my whole body in seconds. It soon dies down, though, and it's not as bad as i thought it would be. I look up and sure enough, the bag the i.v. is attached to is filled with the same dull-yellow colored morphine they pumped in me 4 years ago when i was in the hosptital after...well, you know now.
Everything quickly comes back to me in this morphine induced haze i'm in. Everything is fuzzy and cloudy. I remember almost drowing, seeing Peter, fighting the telekinetic alien, almost killing Thanos with Wanda...the bombs...and Tony dying.
"You're awake," someone says beside me. It's a girl a little younger than me. 19, maybe 20. "Finally, someone to talk to."
"Who are you?" I ask. I pick at the i.v. in my arm. It itches, but i know from experience nothing good can come from scratching it so hard it comes out. There's another one in my other arm pumping in blood.
"Christina," she answers. "I blipped back right in the middle of the street and got hit by a car."
"Damn," i say, my throat still sore. "Blipped? What's that?"

"It's what everyone who got Snapped is calling the 5 year gap." She says. She kind of reminds me of Skye from Then Came You. "And getting hit by a car sucks, don't let anyone tell you any different. I mean, i've only been here for about 2 days, but i still feel like shit."
"It's been 2 days?" I ask.
"

Well, i guess i came here sometime yesterday, and it's been a whole day and today. It's around 11:00, now. And you were out like a light the whole time. That reminds me, this boy came twice asking if you'd woken up, yet. Short, brown hair, brown eyes. Cute, but way too young for me."
"Peter?" I ask.
"Yeah. Kept going on about needing to talk to you and he needed help with something. He seems a little young for you."
"First of all, we're just friends. I mean he is gorgeous, but we're just friends. Second of all, he got Snapped and i didn't."
"Oh, damn. Sorry." She says. She has big brown eyes and they go from bright to sad in a few seconds.
"Well, at least i got him back, along with everyone else in the world."
"Yeah, that's good. Although, it has created a lot of chaos all over the world. People end up like me...and sometimes worse."
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone Blipped back to exactly where they were when they got Snapped. For me it was in the middle of the street and for others...it might have been on a plane, so they Blip back and fall thousands of feet to the ground and--" she makes a crashing sound.
"We didn't think of that."
"What do you mean 'we didn't think of that'?"
I turn my body to look at her better, sending a wave if pain through me. "Do you now know who i am?"
It takes her a second, but she finally figures it out.
"Oh my god! You're...you're Frankie Grant." She sqwirms a little in her bed, but tries to act normal. "I didn't recognize you with the long hair and all."
"It's fine," i say. "You know...i'm not the same person i was 5 years ago."
"No?" she asks and i can hear a little fear in her voice.
"No," i answer. "I've changed a lot. I haven't hurt anyone..." I think back to sending Thor through the wall. "Purposely hurt anyone since 2018." I pause and smile a little bit. "Unless you count aliens" i add.
"So you helped bring everyone back?" She asks, the fear in her voice seeming to die down.
"Yeah. I did." I say, smiling a little bit to myself.
Then i remember how we got everyone back.
And who we lost getting there.
That familiar feeling spreads through my chest again. Not the one i felt when i saw Peter a few days ago. No, this is the one that spreads through you slowly, leaving you feeling cold, dead, and empty.
"Well, thanks, i guess." She replies. "The whole getting hit by a car thing wasn't exactly ideal, but at least i'm alive," she pauses fir a second before saying "Are you okay? You seem..."
"I'm fine," i say.
It's okay Nat says in my head. You can let me go.
"Ok. Shoot!" She cries out. "I was supposed to let the nurse know when you wake up." She reaches to a button on the side of her own bed and clicks it. "Your friend usually comes around noon, in case you wanted to know."
"Thanks," i glance at the clock. 11:13. 47 minutes. Although she said around noon, so it could be later, could be earlier.
A nurse walks into the room with light blue scrubs.
"Hey, sleeping beauty," she says with a sweet voice and a smile. "I'm your nurse, Ally. How are you feeling?"
"Crappy," i answer.
"Well, that's expected," she says, glancing at the screen with my vitals. "How's your pain level, 1 to 10?"
"Uh..." I take a second to think. "4."
"That's good, the morphine must be working. To be honest, it took awhile to find a vein we could use, considering...um...anyways, and we were worried it wouldn't work, but it seems to be working." She smiles sweetly at me. "Are you hungry?"
As if on cue, my stomach growls almost violently. I hadn't noticed before, but i never do. I'd just gotten used to being hungry.
"Yeah," i say.
"Ok, i'll get you something to eat," She turns and walks across the room to Christina. "And how are you feeling?"
"Better than yesterday. The ice cream seems to help a lot," Christina answers, mimicking the nurse's smile.
"That's great," the nurse laughs and looks at me. "By now, everyone on this floor knows how much she loves ice cream."
Ally walks out the door and into the hallway. She reminds me of Glinda the Good Witch.
"She's a character, alright," Christina says, shooting a small smile at me.
...
"So how long have you been an Avenger?" Christina asks, putting another spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.
"I don't know," i say, scooping some green Jell-o out of the container. "There was never an official pronouncment making me an Avenger, it was just kind of assumed."
"Huh, intresting," she says after she swallows.
I had considered calling Peter to tell him i was awake, but i remembered my phone was destroyed when Thanos bombed the Compound and i don't know his number from memory.
So i wait.
11:43.
11:50.
11:56.
11:57
12:00
12:03
Oh my god. Im an idiot.
I close my eyes and start sifting through everyone's throughts in the building. There's lots of crying, lots of hugging, beeping machines, talking, and medical talk i don't understand one bit.
I stretch farther and farther out, trying to hear Peter in the sea of thoughts.
"What are you doing?" Christina asks.
"Shh," i hiss.
He's talking with Ally, my nurse.
"Yes, she's finally awake," She says to him sweetly. "But she doesn't feel too well, which is expected."
He smiles a little. "Same room?"
She nodds.
He walks away and starts to jog when he gets around the corner. I have no idea where i am in the hospital so i don't know how long it will take for him to get here, but i get out of his head and wait very impatiently, tapping my finger on the side of the bed.
"What did you do?" Christina asks.
"I found where Peter is," i say, tapping my fingers to the beat of a song and mouthing the words. I've been watching you for some time. Can't stop staring at those Ocean Eyes.
"So where is he?" She asks.
"In the hospital. I don't know where, though."
"Well we're at the back of the 5th floor, so it should take a minute."
"Ok," i keep tapping the beat in my leg.
No fair. You really know how to make me cry when you give me those Ocean Eyes. Those Ocean Eyes.
I hear running footsteps in the hallway and turn back to see what it is, as if i didn't already know.
"Frankie!" He half-shouts as he jogs to the side of the bed so that he's between me and the window next to the hallway.
"Hey," i say as he leans down to hug me, which ends up lasting a little longer than i thought it would. He almost forgets about my rib and loosens his embrace when i wince. I wrap my arms around him and feel instant relief, like i'd been holding my breath this whole time and i finally let it out.
"Hey, Christina," he says as he let's go.
"Yo," she says.
"You okay?" He turns back to me.
"I guess, all things considered," i answer.
He seems different. He doesn't have his old brightness, but i might just be remembering him wrong.
No, wait, it's because of what happened 2 days ago. I can't believe i forgot about that.
"Are you okay?" I ask, looking directly into his eyes. He takes in a shakey breath while closing his eyes and opening them back up a second later. He doesn't say anything, just glances at Christina then back to me. He doesn't want to talk about anything with her here. I get that.
"Later," i whisper so quietly that if he didn't have his powers, he couldn't hear me.
He nodds ever so slightly and glances at my arm before looking right back. He doesn't say anything, but i don't have to read his mind to know it hurts him to see that i did that.
I change the subject. "How's May?"
He starts staring at the scars, as if entranced by them.
"Hello?" I try to get his attention back, but it doesn't work well, so i turn my arms to my sides so he can't see the scars.
He looks back up to me. "So when are you going to tell me about that?"
"Later," i lower my voice again so Christina won't hear.
Peter just looks down at the ground for a few seconds before saying "The funeral is tommorow."
"Whose?" Christina asks. She's very nosy.
"Tony Stark's," i say quietly.
She's quiet for a second before only saying, "Oh."
Peter's squeezes his eyes shut for a second like he's trying to hold back tears, but they don't come.
I try to change the subject so he doesn't have to think about Tony any longer. "Where have you been staying the past couple of days?"
"Mrs. Stark's," he says. I can hear his voice starting to shake. "I have to go," he says, walking fast past the window and out of the room before i can object.
"Ouch," Christina says.
Peter collides with a doctor outside of the room. I can see that he apolojizes but immedeatly walks away without listening to what the doctor was going to say. He shakes his head and walks into Christina and I's room.
"Hello, Miss Grant. Glad to see you're awake," he says. "I'm Dr. Marshall."
"This guy is a miracle worker," Christina announces with a small smile.
"Well, i wouldn't go that far," the faintest blush appears on his cheeks.
"Let's see. Ruptured spleen, four broken ribs," Christina counts her injuries off on her fingers. "Collapsed lung, broken arm, femur, foot, 72 sutures and one dislocated shoulder. All fixed and on the mend."
"Damn," i say.
"You say that a lot," Christina says.
"Anyways," Dr. Marshall continues. "You, Frankie, are much better off than Christina over there. I filed down your rib so it won't tear you apart from the inside out and stitched everything up. You still need to be very careful because the way you cut your leg severed vital veins. I fixed it, but if you put too much pressure on your leg, you could rupture it and bleed out. But that will only happen if you do something too strenuous too quickly, but i trust you won't do that. Otherwise, i see no reason you can't go home."
Home, I think. Where would that be?
Because the place i've been living for the past 5 1/2 years is destroyed, and the person i was living there with is gone.