Meant to Be

Captain Rogers’ proximity to Chick made her hyper-aware of her body’s insecurities. Her hair was tangled and greasy, and she could only imagine how tired and worn her skin looked. It made her fingers twitch to scrape off her skin and pull out her hair.

It’s not like she would feel it if she did.

Unfortunately, she could hardly focus on the movie without remembering how her heart fluttered so quickly at his charming banter with her… He wasn’t just Captain America anymore- he was Steve. The Winter Soldier was Bucky. Iron Man was Tony. Chick was in over her head.

Chick’s eyes flicked to her peripherals throughout the movie, glancing over at Steve’s happy face. He had an infectious grin on his face that made his eyes wrinkle at the outer corners. He looked human- innocent, vulnerable, kind. It made her more and more confused.

Underneath her insecurity and flighty emotions, she also felt some kind of sadness- nostalgia and loss. The movie made her think of her father and how much she wished to talk to him; share this experience with him.

She had already tried to get in touch with her father during her stay in Stark’s hospital. When she was admitted, someone had taken her phone away, and no one let her speak to her father- possibly due to the sensitive technology and information gold mine she was currently sitting in.

She had assumed that Stark would draw up a gag order and confidentiality disclosure to ensure that Chick would never speak a word about what she went through. Of course, she knew better than to fight it. Stark was rich and powerful, and if she wanted to salvage her job with the UN, she would cooperate any way that she could.

By the end credits, Chick had started to notice odd physical symptoms. When she steadied her breathing, she could hear her heart beating rapidly. Her vision would blur and blacken occasionally, but pass quickly. When she rubbed her eyes, she felt her skin slippery from a heavy layer of sweat.

Something was wrong.

“What’d you think?” she asked, trying to push through the discomfort.

“Worth the wait,” Steve laughed, turning to Chick while stretching out his shoulders and arms. She let out uncomfortable, involuntary moan and leaned her hand into her hands.

“Hey,” Steve said quietly. “You okay, Chick?” She rubbed her eyes. Her eyelids felt heavy and her breathing felt labored without reason.

“I don’t know… I don’t know,” she repeated, feeling disoriented and confused. Steve placed a hand on the back of her neck.

“You’re burning up,” he said.

“Help,” she whispered pathetically. She gasped sharply when she felt a familiar stabbing pain radiate through her bones. “Steve,” she squeaked fearfully.

It took a second for Captain Rogers to scoop Chick up and start running with her out of the theater and back towards her room. She felt paralyzed with pain, noticing that her vision was blurring due to tears that flowed down the sides of her face. She held her eyes wide open, staring ahead, afraid to breathe too deeply as Steve ran with her down the hospital halls. Every bounding step that Steve took shook Chick with waves of pain.

“Hey, we need help,” he shouted near the nurses’ station before running into her room.

“It hurts,” Chick whimpered, blinking more tears away. She caught Steve’s worried expression between moments of blurred vision. Laying in her bed, she subconsciously looked to her left, searching for the one thing she knew could help her.

The morphine was gone.

Chick began to panic, unsure of how to process the pain. She watched several nurses rush around her, hooking her back up to the saline drip, covering her with cooling blankets. But no one gave her anything for the pain.

“Please, it hurts, it hurts,” she moaned.

“You have to calm down, Ms. Abbott.” Her teeth began to chatter and she tightened her hands into fists around the bedsheets.

“You’re not listening to me.” She shivered violently, continuing to sweat.

“Miss, you’re in withdrawal. The pain is in your head.” Chick looked around the room quickly, trying to find anything to numb her. Steve stood by the door, watching with pity.

“Withdrawal? From what?” Chick felt anger clouding over the pain.

“The painkillers, miss.”

“Withdrawal from painkillers? I’m not an addict, you idiot. Who told you that?” She looked over at Steve by the door, feeling embarrassed. But, the look on his face helped everything click into place. “Rogers, did you tell them I’m addicted to painkillers?” Her voice was deep and rough. Steve looked away from Chick. One of the nurses spoke to him in a hushed voice. “Rogers,” she growled. Steve gave Chick a pained look. She looked so betrayed, but he knew that this was for her own good. He turned and headed out the door. “Rogers!”

The room was too bright; the noises were too loud.

The pain that Chick had felt was completely replaced by fear and anger. She struggled against the nurses who poked and prodded her. She ripped the IV from her arm forcefully as the nurses protested and tried to pin her back down to the bed. Chick noted the same fabric restraints they had used on her after her surgery. More nurses and security guards filed into the room.

“Rogers!” she shouted again. She pulled her arm away from a nurse and pushed two others away. They flew backwards into the machines. Chick jumped out of bed, kicking a security guard into the wall and cracking it with his force. She was blind to her actions.

Chick sprinted full speed away from the nurses, guards, and her bed, chasing after Steve. She could hardly hear her uneven footsteps ringing in the empty hallways- the slap of her bare left foot, and the thud of the padded metal right foot. She ran faster than she ever had before. The wind she created blew her tangled hair around her head and stung her dry eyes.

In her blurry vision, Chick saw the figure of Steve Rogers ahead of her. He stood at the end of the hall, shoulders squared to her, hunched in preparation for her attack. She barely caught the look of surprise on his face before she jumped at him, tackling him into the wall behind him. They broke through the wall together, falling to the floor of an empty operating room. Chick let out cries of anger as she threw punches at Steve’s face and chest. Her fists moved quickly and it took Steve a moment to acclimate to her strength.

Steve caught both of her fists, tightening his grip around her smaller hands.

“Chick, I just wanted to help you,” he said, staring up at her twisted face. Blood oozed from a wound on her forehead, nearly falling in her left eye.

Chick tried to overpower him and force his hands towards his body, breathing heavily and letting out strained groans.

“You were just trying to help four years ago, too.” She brought her right leg up, pulling her torso back and kicking up at his chin. He grunted in pain. She took advantage of his pain and kneeled over him. She threw several more punches at his face, then kneed his stomach, leaving Steve breathless.

“Chick,” he moaned.

“Everything about you is poisonous!” she shouted at him, her voice wavering with emotion. She stood up, straddling his waist. She lifted her right leg and was ready to stomp her foot into his face. Before she could, she was tackled from behind. She and her attacker flew into the far end of the operating room and she let out a scream of frustration.

“Charlotte, relax,” she heard someone say. Her arms her held tightly in place against her body by the man behind her. Her body and her head were being pushed against the wall. She looked down as far as she could and saw familiar red metal around her.

“No! No! Stay away from me, Stark! Let go!” She fought back against him, struggling in Tony’s arms.

“Not until you chill out.” His voice was distorted through the mask.

“Let me go!” Chick screamed. Her voice was choppy and emotional. Tears poured from her eyes, but she couldn’t feel a thing. “I wanna go!” she cried, beginning to shiver again. She leaned her head against the wall, letting the tension fall from her muscles.

“It’s okay,” Tony said calmly. “It’s okay.” She felt her knees buckle and her right leg became a dead weight. Steve grunted as he pushed himself up off the ground.

“Steve?”

Chick’s body tensed up at the sound of a new voice. She drew in a sharp breath.

“Stark,” Chick whispered, breathing out his name gently. “Tony, please,” she pleaded. She wanted him to turn her around so she could see him. So she could look him in the eye.

“No, Charlotte,” Tony whispered back.

“Buck, everything’s fine, go back to your room,” Steve answered frantically. Chick struggled in Tony’s grasp, wanting to turn and see him- just glance at his face. “Come on,” Steve continued, grabbing Bucky’s shoulder and turning him away from the wreckage.

Bucky watched Iron Man in the corner of the room. He assumed that he and Steve had gotten in another fight. But, as Steve pulled him away from the scene, he could have sworn that he saw someone between Tony and the wall and a flash of silver underneath the red.

Chick shut her eyes tightly, whimpering miserably- speechless.