Meant to Be

“Hey, can you tell me where I am?” Chick asked the newest nurse. Her voice was hoarse and weak. She hadn’t had much opportunity to use it since she’d woken up that morning. She gripped onto the blanket and shifted her body so that she could sit up higher in the bed.

The room was comfortable. The blankets were thick, the pillows were fluffy, and the lights above her were a warm yellow. It was uncharacteristic of any hospital she’d ever been in before. Honestly, she was afraid of the bill she was going to receive.

“You’re in the hospital, Ms. Abbott,” he said with a smile, looking up from the chart he’d picked up at the end of her bed. He checked his watch and the monitors surrounding Chick and jotted down the numbers he read.

“Yes, I know that much, thank you.” Chick’s voice wavered with frustration amid the strained, polite tone she took. “I need more information. Which hospital? Has anyone contacted my father? How long was I out after surgery?” She took in a deep breath, feeling slightly dizzy with the exertion of raising her voice.

She’d been informed when she woke up that she had been in surgery to drain a brain bleed that she’d sustained from her fall. They had placed a shunt that stuck out at the side of her head, on her temple. They told her she wasn’t allowed to touch it, but she kept poking and prodding it when the nurses weren’t around. It felt gross and made her feel like a sideshow.

“Ms. Abbott, he’ll be right in to talk to you. He’s just come back from the city.” The nurse put the chart back on the rack at the edge of her bed, flashing her another charming smile.

“Who’s he?” He turned and headed back out the automatic doors.

“I’ll be back to check on you later,” he added before the doors shut behind him. Chick stared at the back of his head with a gaping mouth and glaring eyes, in disbelief.

“Come on,” she breathed out. She listened to the steadily beeping machines and turned to the side to find the button for her morphine. She knocked it up two more notches and sighed with relief. She set her head back against the pillows, relishing the tingle that spread through her body, replacing any pain she felt. She closed her eyes blissfully, forgetting about the tube in her head, about her missing leg, about her obliterated apartment.

“Charlotte?”

Chick was vaguely aware of someone saying her name. The voice was rough and she had no desire to speak back to it. She pictured her boss as the source. Mr. Murdoch was gruff and corse, and whenever he spoke to her, it sounded like he was about to accuse her of something. She had a feeling it was because she used to be a cop and Murdoch was once a S.H.I.E.L.D agent. They were two sides of a coin, whose purpose was justice, but both sides went about it in different ways. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D tended to look down at the police, and vice versa. But, Chick was always quick to remember that S.H.I.E.L.D was dead, and she was no longer an officer.

“Charlotte?” The voice repeated, a little louder and less like a question.

Chick let out a breathy sigh, shifting in bed.

“Call me Chick,” she said quietly. She swallowed hard to try and help her dry, sore throat.

“No, that’s stupid. I’m not gonna call you that.” Chick smiled. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard that.

“It’s my name, dumbass.” She finally opened her eyes and lifted her head, still glowing from the morphine. “Oops,” she said, finally seeing who she had been talking to. “Stark,” she slurred. “What’s up?” She closed her eyes and laid her head back again.

“Okay,” he said to himself with a huff. She heard his footsteps coming towards her. She heard him click the button a few times, which made Chick shoot her eyes open quickly.

“No, no, no, wait,” she said, grabbing for the button.

“Ah!” he shouted, taking it away. He pulled up a chair and sat beside her. Chick groaned as the tingle dissipated.

“Come on.” She threw her head back childishly. “Give a girl a break, I’ve been through a trauma.”

“Focus,” he said, snapping at her three times. She glared at him as her body began to ache. She winced and felt her anger grow.

“What are you even doing here?” He threw his hands up.

“Alright, well, first off, you are in my hospital. You’re welcome, by the way. You know, for saving your life and giving you the best care you can find this side of the Atlantic. You’re welcome. And, second, I just thought it’d be nice to meet a fan,” he said humbly. Chick laughed dryly.

“A fan?” He shifted to search his pockets, pulling out his phone.

“Yeah, I mean, you are a part of the IEA department right?” He tapped his phone and lifted it up, hitting it forwards in the air. A 3D picture appeared in front of the phone of her with Mr. Murdoch at a press conference from the previous month. “That’s you, right?” Chick lifted her eyebrows, pursing her lips. She felt the tube shift and she quickly lowered her brows again.

“What makes you think you’re a part of the Enhanced Individuals club, hm?” Chick smiled smugly.

“Let’s go back to the fact that I saved your life and forget you said that, hm?” Chick shook her head.

“Mr. Murdoch has told me plenty about you, Mr. Stark. I feel as though we’ve already met.”

“Alright, well Murdoch didn’t exactly bring out the best in me.”

“And, why would you want to meet me, anyway?”

“All my fans are important.”

“I’m certainly not the most influential individual in the UN.”

“Well, that’s neither here nor there.”

“And, did you really save me if you’re the reason why the copter crashed into my building in the first place?”

“Well that’s not the attitude I expected from a diplomat.”

“So, quit screwing with me. Just tell me what you want.”

Tony shrugged, taking his phone back and tapping a couple more times. He raised it again and hit the air once more.

“Wanna join the club?”

Chick stared at the new images above his phone with a straight face, gulping and opening her mouth with nothing to say.

-----------------

Steve stared at the text on his phone for the hundredth time. Tony had finally reached out to him, after years of waiting.

Did this mean that he had forgiven him? That he had forgiven Bucky?

’HYDRA resurfacing. Bring your Soldier.’

Steve had been trying to make sense of the text since he received it the night before. He wanted to talk it over with Bucky before he left, which meant either way that he was going to have to wake him up.

T’Challa’s scientists were preparing to bring Bucky out of his cryofreeze. He had been asleep for two years, and T’Challa and Steve had not made any progress in helping Bucky with his memories. When Bucky woke up, he would still have all the information that HYDRA had planted in him, and that made him dangerous.

But, he was still Bucky. Steve’s brother. And, he honestly couldn’t wait to see him again, dangerous or not.

Steve was in the side room of the hospital wing in T’Challa’s palace, waiting for the word that Bucky was awake. He closed his flip phone and stuffed it back into his pocket. He stood up from his chair and walked to the window that spanned the length of the wall. He looked out into the jungle, the giant black panther statues glaring back at him with snarling fangs bared. He crossed his arms, still thinking about the text.

Could it be a trap? Could they have gotten to Tony? What wasn’t he telling him?

“Captain,” T’Challa said gently, interrupting Steve’s thoughts. Steve turned to him, his heart picking up with excitement. “He is awake.”

“Can I see him?” Steve took a few steps away from the window, towards T’Challa who stood in the doorway. The two had become close since Steve came to live in Wakanda. He had been learning new fighting styles, new lore, new networks of criminals and heroes. T’Challa’s lessons were invaluable and Steve owed him a lot.

“I think that would make him happy,” he said with a smile. Steve’s mind was no longer on the text. He followed T’Challa down the hall towards Bucky’s room. He was ready to see his best friend.