HOME | DD

Description
On the run - Final Chapter

Steve’s P.O.V.
A soft beep filled Steve’s ears. Every single bone in his body hurt. He couldn’t remember how he had ended up here, but he was definitely in a hospital. A monitor was beeping next to his head and as he had finally figured out what had happened, he started to wonder why he was still alive.

He turned his head, as he felt a soft tug on his arm. You were sleeping next to him, holding his hand while you lay in the chair. You were wearing a hospital gown and he could see the bandage on your shoulder and the stitches on your lip and brows.

Steve smiled, looking at you while you were sleeping. He liked the warmth of your hand in his. He squeezed your hand slightly and brought it up to his lips to press a soft kiss on the back. You moaned softly, feeling his hot breath on your skin. You opened your eyes and a smile curled your lips as you realized he was awake.

‘Hey there, Sleeping Beauty,’ you whispered, clearing your throat and pulling your hand from his. ‘I thought you’d never wake up.’

‘Oh,’ Steve snorted. ‘Did I disappoint you? I can go back to sleep if you want to…’

You tucked your hair behind your ears and shook your head. ‘No, I like you better this way.’

‘What did I miss?’ Steve asked, still looking at you as you pulled your feet up the chair and embraced your legs, letting your chin rest on your knees.

‘Nothing much, I guess. Sam kicked Rumlow’s ass, for one.’

Steve laughed. ‘What about your shoulder?’

‘I might have stabbed Rumlow in the shoulder and he might have stabbed me back… Nothing to worry about.’

Steve frowned at your words. ‘Where is he now?’

You shrugged your shoulders. ‘Dead, I suppose. The helicarriers took down half the building in their way to the ground. Sam and I were lucky to escape when we did.’

Steve nodded, turning his head from you and wondering if he should tell you how he felt about you. He hadn’t known you for a long time and maybe it was too soon to tell you that we was in love with you, but after everything you had been through together…

‘What do we do now?’ Steve asked instead, turning his head back to you.

‘I don’t know…’ you started, looking into Steve’s eyes, shrugging your shoulders again. ‘I guess we just start over.’

‘But what if we can’t?’ Steve sighed. ‘After everything that has happened. Everything that we know… How are we supposed to start over?’

You swallowed hard. ‘You’re talking about Bucky, aren’t you?”

Steve nodded. ‘He’s always been there for me. I can’t just leave him like that, [Name]. He’s my best friend.’

You smiled, lowering your feet again and pushing yourself from the chair. ‘I understand. You’ll find him, Steve. I promise.’

‘Where are you going?’ Steve frowned, looking at you while you made your way to the door.

‘I’d better get back to my own room, before the nurse gets mad at me again.’

Steve smiled at you as you tucked your hair behind your ears and bit your lip. He looked into your eyes, thinking that you truly were amazing.

‘What?’ you frowned as Steve kept staring at you. ‘Is there something wrong?’

Steve shook his head, thinking he was stupid for not telling you how he felt about you when he had the chance. ‘No, absolutely nothing.’

‘Good. I’ll see you later, Steve.’

He gave you a small smile and watched you walk out of his room. He let his head sink back into the pillow on his bed, cursing himself for being so afraid to tell you how he felt. Maybe you were right. Maybe he was scared. Scared that if he would let himself love you, something bad was going to happen to you. He knew that was just all in his head, but he couldn’t shake the thought that everyone that he had ever loved, had left him in one way or another. Most of the time, they had died.

Steve sighed, closing his eyes. Maybe it was better this way. The further away from him, the safer you were. Or that was what Steve told himself at least. He had promised you he would never let you get hurt again, but more than once today he had almost broken that promise. No, it was better to just forget about his feelings for you. He should have known from the start that the super soldier serum wouldn’t make any difference. Steve would never know love. Not like everyone else did. Not like he wanted to…

Steve lay in his bed for several hours, trying to get you out of his head. A nurse came to check up on him several times, taking some tests and coming back again to do some more. Steve didn’t know how long it had been, until the doctor came into his room and told him he was good to go home. Steve thanked the doctor and started to collect his belonging, when Sam came walking into the room.

‘Hey man,’ Sam smiled. ‘Good to see you up. I see [Name] has finally left your side. How are you?’

‘I’m good,’ Steve replied, putting on his leather jacket and looking at the empty chair next to the bed.

‘Great, ‘cause I think Fury wants to see you.’

‘Now?’ Steve frowned. ‘What about [Name]? I don’t want to leave without saying goodbye.’

‘She didn’t tell you?’ Sam asked surprised, walking with Steve outside the room. ‘She was discharged two hours ago. She’s gone, Steve.’

Steve stopped, looking at Sam. ‘Gone? I don’t understand. Where did she go? I thought…’

‘I’m sorry,’ Sam smiled sadly. ‘She didn’t tell me. She only told me to give you this.’ Sam got the S.H.I.E.L.D. drive with Zola’s algorithm out of his pocket and handed it to Steve. ‘She really didn’t tell you she was leaving?’

‘No…’ Steve sighed, taking the drive from Sam’s hand. ‘She didn’t.’

Steve walked out of the hospital together with Sam. His thoughts were with you constantly. When he thought he had finally accepted you would never be his – that he would never love you the way he wanted to – you would do something like this. You would leave him. And you weren’t even dead…

Sam led Steve to his (new) car. Steve didn’t feel like going to see Fury, but he knew it was better that he did. He needed to discuss what would happen next and what Fury would do with all the remaining HYDRA members. He could only imagine how many more there were.

Steve spend his time in Sam’s car in silence, not really sure what to say. He wanted to ask Sam about you. Ask him if there was anything else you might have said, but Steve didn’t know if he wanted to hear it. He sighed when Sam drove up to the graveyard and parked his car around back. Steve got out of the car and followed Sam as he made his way over it.

‘Do they also have one of those for you?’ Sam asked, walking up to Fury’s grave.

‘I suppose they do,’ Steve replied, looking down at the gravestone, ‘but I’ve never been there. The exhibition in the Smithsonian is terrifying enough.’

Sam laughed softly. ‘I can imagine…’

In the distance Steve could hear footsteps and as he looked to the left, he saw Fury walking towards him, not wearing his iconic black leather jacket or eye patch.

‘So, you’ve experienced this sort of thing before,’ Fury sighed, talking to Steve and looking down at his own gravestone.

‘You get used to it,’ Steve said, looking at Fury, waiting for him to start about HYDRA.

Fury sighed again, turning his gaze from the gravestone to Steve. ‘We’ve been data mining HYDRA’s files. Looks like a lot of rats didn’t go down with the ship. I’m heading to New York tonight and I wanted to asked if you’d come.’

‘There’s something I’ve got to do first,’ Steve replied, thinking about Bucky. He had thought about it for a long time and even though it was important to take down all of HYDRA, he owed it to himself and to Bucky that he would find him first.

‘How about you Wilson?’ Fury turned to Sam. ‘I could use a man with your abilities.’

Sam looked from Steve to Fury. ‘I’m more of a soldier than a spy…’

‘Alright then,’ Fury nodded, looking at his gravestone one last time and turning back at Steve and Sam to shake their hands. ‘If anybody asks for me, tell them they can find me, right here.’

‘You should be honored,’ a voice called out from behind one of the trees as Fury turned around and walked away, ‘that’s as close as he comes to saying thank you.’

Steve turned around and smiled as he saw you walking towards him. ‘[Name]…’ Steve whispered, walking up to you. ‘I thought you had…’

‘You thought I had left?’ you interrupted him, frowning. ‘Steve, I could never leave without saying goodbye.’

‘But you are leaving…’ Steve swallowed hard, looking at you.

You smiled, staring back at him. ‘Maybe… But that's not important right now. I’ve got something for you. I asked Natasha if she could pull some favors in Kiev.’

You handed him the folder you had been holding in your hand and looked at him as he opened it.

‘Bucky…’ he whispered, looking at the picture of his friend in a cryo cell. ‘Thank you, [Name]. You have no idea what this means to me.’

‘I do,’ you smiled sadly, letting your hand rest at his cheek. ‘We all have things we would like to take back. Moments we wish we could change, but Steve, do me a favor. Don’t wait another two years to kiss someone. Life’s too short to just wait around.’

Steve nodded, smiling back. He liked the warmth of your hand against his cheek.

‘Goodbye, Steve,’ you spoke softly, stroking the side of his face with your thumb. You pressed a kiss on his cheek and turned around.

Steve watched you walk away from him. Was he really going to let you go? Was he really going to let you leave him like that?

Steve took a step forward and grabbed your hand. He pulled you back to him quickly, taking you into his arms. He took your face into his hands and pressed a longing kiss on your lips. You put your arms around him and gave in to his kiss, until a smile curled your lips.

‘What?’ Steve whispered, wiping the hair out of your face.

‘What took you so long…’

You both laughed and Steve pressed another kiss on your lips. ‘I was just scared. I still am, but I don’t want to waste another moment. You’re right. Life is too short, but how short my life may be, I want to share it with you…’

‘What about Bucky?’ you asked. ‘You’re going after him, right?’

Steve nodded, taking your hands in his. ‘You don’t have to come with me. I want you to be safe.’

‘I know…’ you smiled, looking up at him cheekily. He already knew there was no way of stopping you from coming with him. ‘When do we start?’

THE END