Long Lost And Found

Chapter 22

I wake up hearing beeping sounds. I open my eyes and see IVs and wires attached to my arms. I look to my right and see Natasha sitting in a chair reading a magazine.

"Hey sis" I say. She looks up and shuts her magazine.

"Hey, how ya feeling?" She asks me as she sits up straighter.

"Like I was hit by a bus." I tell her. She laughs a little.

"I'm just glad your okay. You scared me there for a second." She tells me.

"What, did you think that I was just gonna leave you that easily? I think I'll stick around a little longer." I giggle and tell her. She smiles and says"I'll go get you some fresh clothes to change in to."

"Thanks Nat" I say. She smiles and leaves the room. Steve walks. 

"Hey." He greets me.

"Hey" I reply.

"How are you?" He asks me with his signature "Concerned dad look" as I call it. 

"In pain." I tell him. 

"Understandable. You took some big hits out there." He tells me.

"Yeah, I was there." I say and look down.

"Who was he?"

"Someone of my past I was hoping to never see again." I tell him

"Ali, come on, you can tell me. You trust me don't you?"

"Steve of course I do, I just" I pause and take a deep breath looking up to the ceiling.

"Where I was raised-where I was trained. We just knew him as Lenkov. He was supposed to conduct the final test we had to take in order to move on to the graduation ceremony." My voice got shaky thinking back of the horrible memories I had of the red room. "He picked me as his prodigy. He trained me privately.... and when I failed" My voice broke and I had tears in my eyes.

"Hey hey it's okay." Steve tells me and grabs my hand. 

"He um... he uh..." Steve squeezes my hand in reassurance. "He raped me" I whispered. I felt so ashamed telling Steve that. I'm supposed to be able to protect myself and I let him take advantage of me. "I was only 16" I whispered to Steve again finishing my story. Steve pulls me into a hug. I cry on his shoulder. I've never  told anyone but Natasha that story. I felt too embarrassed to tell anyone else. 

"Steve, you can't tell anyone. Promise me you won't tell anyone else." I look at him with tears falling down my face. 

"Your secret is safe with me." Steve says as he wipes my tears away. Natasha comes in the room with clothes in her hands.

"Did I miss anything?" she asks.

"Nope, nothing. I'll see you later Steve." I say and he hugs me one last time before he gets up and leaves the room.

"Since I still haven't taken you shopping, here" she says and hands me the clothes "You can borrow mine for now." She says. 

"Thank you Nat." I say.

"You told him didn't you" She says.

"Yeah I did, I know I can trust him with it." I explain to her. She smiles and leaves the room closing the door behind her so I can get changed. I put on the dark blue skinny jeans, gray t-shirt, black sweater and black ankle boots she gave me. I open the door and walk down the hallway leaving the med wing of the compound. I run into Sam on my way.

"Hey, looks like your feeling better." He says.

"I am, thanks" I reply.

"Here, these are for you." He says as he hands me a bouquet of flowers.

"Sam," I say as a smile grows on my face. "They're beautiful" I finish.

"Not as beautiful as you." He mutters under his breath. He seems intimidated by me and I kinda understand why. I could kill everyone here in a matter of minutes if I wanted to. 

"Thank you Sam" I say as I give him a hug. "Come on, help me find a vase to put these in." I tell him as I grab his hand and head to the kitchen. Once we reach the kitchen I start going through cabinets looking for a vase. Knowing Tony, he had to put some cabinets very high, Being only 5'3 makes that very difficult. I finally find the perfect vase but its too high up. I can't reach it. 

"Hey, give me a boost?" I look over my shoulder and ask Sam.

"Sure." He says chucking. He grabs my waist and lifts me up into the air so I can reach the vase. I grab it and as Sam is putting me down he spins me around I'm facing him. His hands are still on my waist event though I'm on the ground. The vase is still in my hands. Were both staring at each other. His gaze goes from my eyes down to my lips and back up to my eyes. 

"Thanks" I say to him. My voice barely above a whisper.

"Yeah, no problem." He says back to me. I can't kiss him, not now, I just can't do this right now. He barely knows me. I avert my gaze to the side and pull away from him. I go over to the sink and fill the vase with water. I place the flowers in the vase.

"Thanks again for the flowers." I say. He smiles.

"I'm glad you like them, it's hard to buy a girl flowers when you don't know what she likes." He explains.

"Well, there's a lot you don't know about me." I say.

"Yeah? Like what?" He asks me.

"Well, for starters, I don't kiss guys that quickly, you need to get to know me better before you kiss me." I joke with him.

"Who said I was gonna kiss you?"

"Well it certainly looked like it for a second."

"Nah, I don't kiss girls I barely know"

"Touche" I say and turn to go find my room bringing the flowers with me. I look over my shoulder and smile at Sam. I look forward and keep looking for my room. I definitely should have asked someone for help. I have no idea where my room is. 

"Looking for something?" I hear behind me.

"Yes actually. Wanda, care to help me find my room?" I ask her as I turn around to face her. 

"Of course I will." She says and walks next to me as we walk down the hallway towards the rooms. "So, who are the flowers from?" She asks me gesturing towards the vase in my hand.

"Uh, Sam got them for me. He gave them to me as I was leaving the med wing." I tell her.

"Oh really?" She says elbowing me in the side. We share a look and then break into laughter.

"Anyways, this room is yours, ironically next to Sam. Mine is just across the hall and Natasha is on the other side of Sam." Wanda informs me.

"Thanks" I say and open the door to my room. What I see as I enter the room leaves me speechless. I drop the vase holding the flowers on the floor as I scream. 

"Oh my god."