(no subject)

[wintern]

Even when she's out of SHIELD medical, they still insist she talk to someone. A therapist. Steph isn't all that impressed with the idea, but she has to admit that the lady they set her up with is nice. Doesn't treat Steph like she's made of glass or about to crack, just asks some questions easily about what she liked to do. By the end of her hour, she had a notebook with some recommendations of things she ought to try in it. One of them was having a look around for some art classes she could take, community things. It'd give her something she likes to do and help her make some connections in the current decade.

She's just found a class to sit in on, a nice mix of adults doing some still life studies, when there's a crash and the building just... falls apart. SHIELD still hasn't properly gone over her limits yet, figured out what she can lift and how fast she can run and for how long, all that sort of thing. She still doesn't know, but she's got an idea now that she's fast enough and strong enough to pull a few people out of the way of a section of the ceiling that collapses over them.

Steph isn't a hero, not really, but SHIELD - back when it was new and just getting onto its feet with Howard and Peggy at the helm - taught her a few things. And her medical knowledge might be about 60 years out of date, but she knows enough to figure that everyone's well enough to get out of the building under their own power, especially when she swings a desk at the window and makes them a new emergency exit.

A few more rooms are cleared out pretty much the same way, with the people who can move okay helping the ones who can't, when she comes across the giant robot that shook the building apart. And, well, she says a few words Sarah Rogers wouldn't have approved of. It's not something she'd want to take on, but it's still going crazy and the direction its headed is leading it right towards a classroom she knows is filled with terrified kids.

Hell, she's gotten into fights she couldn't win for worse reasons. It takes her only a few seconds to find something big enough that, when she throws it at the thing, it makes a dent and grabs its attention.

"I don't know if there's anyone in there or not, but you're causing some real problems here, and I can't allow that to keep happening."

Comments

[imfollowinghim]

"Third degree, I don't know how deep. She said she can't really feel anything, but she's breathing okay." Which hopefully means there isn't any organ damage or anything. He's not really eager to discover how much time it takes a super soldier to come back from something like that.

Steph's expression looks like it's gone a little distant, and he squeezes her arm gently, trying to get her to focus.

"You still with me, Steph?"

[wintern]

Her reply is a beat too late and accompanied by a weak laugh. "Yeah. Just. Adrenaline crash, I think."

And then there's a bottle of water being gently placed in her hands while the agent looks at her. "I'm not really equipped for this, but I'll get an EMT to look at her until we can get her to a SHIELD facility." He glances at Bucky. "Probably better if you both get out of the building."

[imfollowinghim]

"Yeah, good plan." He makes eye contact with the agent, and both wind up taking a side to help her up, steadying hands above her elbows to help get her back on her feet.

Bucky's pretty sure she's still going to insist she's totally cool to walk herself, but for the time being, he's grateful to have an ally in the 'stop Steph from faceplanting on the ground' front.

[wintern]

If he had felt the need to bet on that, he would have won. Because Steph lets out a huff of a breath that says she's had more than enough of being the invalid in any given situation to last a lifetime. "I can still walk."

[imfollowinghim]

"Yeah, well, you said you couldn't feel it, and you've got a hole in your back, so I think we're gonna take it easy," he says, and it's so much easier to joke about that than to let on how disturbed he is by that fact. He's seen Steph in rough shape before, obviously, but nothing like this, nothing like someone would actually get on the battlefield or something.

"You did some good work, Ms. Rogers," the agent chimes in, maybe a little awkwardly, but obviously meaning it. "A lot more people probably would have been hurt if you hadn't been here."

[wintern]

Oddly enough, the compliment does make her feel better. Of course she knew what she was doing, but she was mostly focused on getting people out and minimizing damage. It didn't really sink in that she was finally helping.

Of course, that's when one of her legs tries to just fall out from under her. She catches herself quickly, though, so dignity preserved? "Still fine!"

[imfollowinghim]

"I know you are," Bucky sighs, readjusting his hold just to make sure she's really not going to faceplant, and it's only half placating. She'll be okay. She has to be okay, because he would absolutely be lost at sea without having her to talk to or lean on or just be with, so in his mind, there's really no alternative.

[wintern]

"Guess I'm gonna get to know SHIELD's medical facilities a lot better." And isn't that something she hadn't wanted to do for at least a good long while. Steph glances at him and feels a sudden stab of guilt, because it's really not fair that she's supposed to be healthy now and here he is, half-carrying her to the doctors. Again.

She finds his hand and squeezes it. "We can still watch movies tonight?"

[imfollowinghim]

Bucky has never minded needing to be her human crutch, or wheelchair or ambulance. Well, he's minded, but not because of Steph. Rather, because it's just frustrating that she'd been held back for so long by stuff she had no control of, and even now that she's healthy, he still definitely doesn't mind.

He just wants her to be happy and safe and healthy, and if getting there means leaning on him, he's going to complain.

"If you think I'm letting you get out of the last Indiana Jones movie, you're dead wrong, Rogers."

[wintern]

Steph brightens up a little. "If you think I'm trying to skip out on it, you're a bigger knucklehead than I thought."