"Okay, so how about the 14th?" Steve asked, rapidly thumbing through the calendar on his phone with a furrowed brow and a look of anxiety that he wasn't getting this done as quickly as he had promised you. His leg bounced nervously and the fingers of his other hand drummed on the table top as he waited for news on you.

"Steve, that's only three weeks away."

"Your point?"

Natasha shook her head and laughed at his ignorance, "do you really think that she'll be in any shape to walk down an aisle in three weeks? And, she's still using her cane. She wants to walk on her own, you know that."

"So, then not the 14th?"

"You're impossible," she groaned, standing to refill her coffee cup, "I don't know how she does it."

"Look at me, Romanoff," he smirked, standing to turn in front of her, "this is a lot to resist."

She rolled her eyes and faked a small gag, walking away without another word and leaving Steve laughing as he returned to finding a date for your wedding before you came out of surgery. His thumb again swiped over the screen, reading a full calendar filled to the brim with official business and everything that was infinitely less important than your upcoming nuptials. He didn't see anything that couldn't be moved and he silently challenged anyone to tell him otherwise.

"Hey, Cap. Any word?" Clint asked, cautiously taking a seat across from him. "They've been in there a long time."

Steve looked up from his phone at his teammate and set it down slowly, leaning back in his chair with a visible uncomfortableness that still persisted even this long after everything that had happened between you. He saw Clint with Natasha now; he saw it with his own eyes. But he also saw Clint with you when you asked him to let you donate for Tony. There was something lingering behind his eyes that Steve didn't like, and he wouldn't make the mistake of ignoring it any time soon.

"Uh, no, nothing yet. The doc said it's pretty complex so they'd be in there a while."

Clint nodded and looked around the room, unsure if he was happy that the waiting area was empty other than for them, or if he was nervous that he was completely alone with your super soldier fiancé. It was the first time they were alone since he had moved out of the training facility and back into the tower. "Steve, can we talk for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure," Steve sighed, taking his phone in his hand and beginning to study the calendar again. He knew where this was going, and he was just a reluctant passenger in the conversation.

"That day in the gym-"

"Is in the past," he deflected.

"It was a mistake."

"Really?" Steve suddenly challenged, now tossing his phone on the table with a loud bang against the glass, "because it sure didn't look like one from where I was standing. You knew full well what you were doing, Clint. You knew that we were engaged at the time. You knew that you were crossing a line but you went ahead anyway. I'm not sure if that makes you brave or an idiot."

"Oh, I'm an idiot, there's no doubt," he agreed readily. "But I was an idiot who thought he was in love. I was an idiot that bypassed thinking and went right for irrationality. But, believe it or not, Tony was the one to set me straight."

Steve blinked in surprise, remembering that Tony had done the same for him that day. "He must have come to my room after talking to you," he mumbled. "I bet he talked to her too. I guess I owe him more than I thought." He rested his elbows against the table, leaning forward to rest his head on his clasped hands, "now I see why she had to be the one to do this. I get it. He's always there for her. He's her one, unwavering constant in everything that's happened."

"You're right," Clint nodded, coming to the same realization. "When we were in Korea, he was like a completely different person when it came to (Y/N). He's the one who helped to set the whole thing up, and let me tell you, he was beside himself when she was in pain. He looked like it hurt him just as much as what she was going through. Oh, and don't even get me started on how he looked at me when he thought I was making a move on her. Tony is definitely on your side, Cap."

"Or maybe he's just on hers."

~~~

Pain.

Why was there pain again? Hadn't you had enough? Why is there always pain?

Just as you woke, a warm sensation ran up the length of your arm and into your chest, spreading throughout your body and bringing a quick relief from the stabbing pain in your abdomen.

Okay, no more pain. More sleep.

It was a cycle that felt as if it had gone on for days, but in reality was merely an hour after your surgery had been completed. You were moved to a recovery room next door to Tony, neither of you awake enough to acknowledge the other, barely conscious enough to remember what you had just been through.

"(Y/N)?" Steve whispered, holding your hand and stroking your cheek. "Babe, I'm here. Can you try to wake up for me?"

"No," you groaned, fully content in your narcotic induced haze and the heavy relaxation that it brought to your body. "I'm so tired."

"I know, honey. But they need you to open your eyes before they can move you to your room."

"Is Tony okay?"

Steve leaned forward and kissed your cheek, resting his forehead against you, "he's alive because of you, (Y/N). He's still in pretty rough shape, but they said he'll make it. I'm so proud of you."

You felt relieved that he would pull through and you wanted to see him, but it would be a while before that could happen. Despite the argument that your body was trying to win, you forced your eyes open to look at Steve with a heavy sigh of relief at the sight of him. "Hey, you," you murmured in a raspy voice.

"Hey, you. What do ya say we get you to your room? There are a few people up there who've been pretty worried about you."

"Yeah," you nodded, "but can I see him first? I heard someone say that he's in the room next to me. Even if we only roll past. I just want to see that he's okay."

"I can do one better," Steve smiled, standing to grab the curtain behind him, pulling it back to bring Tony's room into view so you could see your friend. He was fully asleep, still using a machine to help him breathe, but he looked comfortable. "They said his breathing tube will probably come out in a few hours. When he wakes up, you can maybe talk to him."

You felt tears in your eyes, too tired to try to fight them. When the full crying began, Steve looked confused, hurrying to sit at your side again. "What's that from? Does something hurt?"

"No, I'm just relieved. They aren't sad tears, I promise." He waited quietly at your side, and when the tears began to subside you let out a long yawn and grimaced at the pain from taking the deep breath. With another shot of pain medication and Steve holding your hand tightly, you kept your eyes on Tony as you were wheeled past him, not looking away until he was far out of sight.

~~~

"Hey man, you're cheating," Sam growled, yanking the playing cards from Bucky's hand and throwing them down on the table. "I'm not playing if that's how it's gonna go."

"I'm not cheating! You just suck at this game!"

"Oh," Sam exclaimed sarcastically, holding his chest, "hit me where it hurts, Barnes! My card playing skills!"

"Okay, in that case, you can't aim worth a shit either!"

"Now that's just rude," Sam mumbled under his breath as he gathered up the cards, "I don't want to play anymore."

"It would seem to me that a better competition would be in a skill where you are more evenly matched," Thor offered. "Perhaps more in a hand-to-hand combat-"

"No, we're in a hospital, we're not doing hand-to-hand anything," Bruce said quietly, standing at the window that overlooked the traffic outside. His hands were nervously playing with his glasses, moving them back and forth between shaky fingers. "We just need to wait until they get up here. We just need to wait."

"(Y/N) is on her way up, guys," Nat said as she peeked her head into the waiting room, "it sounds like Tony should be a couple of hours yet. Cap will get us when we can see her." She looked towards the window, seeing Bruce relax at the news that the two of you were so far doing well. She made her way towards him and put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. "Maybe you should go in first?"

"No...no, that's okay, I'll just hang back."

"No, you'll go in there and see that she's okay with your own eyes," she insisted. "And you'll see that this is going to pass. Then, when Tony comes up, you'll do it again. You need to see them, Bruce. After what you saw happen to him, and what he must have looked like, it's the only way you'll believe it, and the only way to fight those images that I can see playing through your mind, before they drive you crazy."

He kept replying that moment over and over again, seeing the last second before impact; just as he transformed to try to save his friend. He had gone over and over it in his mind, blaming himself for not being faster; if he had only seen it coming he could have stopped it before the events that had brought you all here. Bruce wondered if the time would ever come when he would stop seeing it all. The doctor smiled weakly and nodded, realizing that Natasha was right.

"Yeah, it's definitely a short drive to crazy, and I think I took the expressway."

~~~

After the first round of visitors had come and gone, promising to return after you had a chance to rest, Steve gently crawled into the bed next to you, trying to convince you that he wouldn't fit despite your insistence that he would. The only way you felt that you could sleep now was to have him next to you, so he gave in and made it work. Just as you had won the battle and he was lying at your side, Tony was wheeled past you and was moved into the bed on the other side of the room.

"Wait, he'll be in here too?"

"It took some pulling of a few strings, Pepper throwing around the Stark name, and a promise of an Avenger visit to pediatrics, but yeah, he's your new roommate. I figured you would want him close by. Is that okay?"

"Thank you," you sighed quietly, watching them get him settled. "He doesn't look too bad, considering."

"He'll probably be asleep for a while, so you need to sleep too," Steve whispered, curling himself around you but being careful to not bump anything that would cause you pain. "Is this good here?"

"I swear if I hear any strange noises from over there, I'm checking out of this hotel," Tony groaned quietly.

Forgetting your limitations for just a moment, you sat up abruptly to look at him, but were dropped back onto your bed by the wave of fresh pain. "Okay, bad idea," you mumbled, holding your incision while Steve called for your nurse. "Hey, Tony. How was your nap?"

"Terrible. I think someone stole my liver."

"Well I heard it was in pretty rough shape so I'm sure they didn't get much for it. You're just lucky I had extra lying around." A few minutes of silence passed, allowing for your nurse to come and go; you were now feeling ready to sleep as the medications began to take effect, and with Steve wrapped around you despite the tight fit in the one-person bed.

"(Y/N)? I owe you."

"No you don't, Tony. I think we're even now, so no one else is allowed to try to die." You opened one eye and glanced over to Steve, pointing a warning at him, "that includes you, Rogers."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied with a yawn, snuggling in close to you as you both drifted off to sleep. Bruce stepped into the room a few minutes later and paused at the door with a weary grin, finding himself enjoying the rhythmic sounds of his three snoring friends as much as any kind of music that he had ever heard.