Requested by Oppresso, Steve comes home from a mission and tries to hide his wounds from Natasha but ends up collapsing.

Natasha had been waiting nearly three weeks for Steve to return from his mission.

She had tried to get Fury to let her go with him for extra backup but he had refused, saying that it would be too risky.

Natasha had stormed out of his office and considered going anyways.

Three weeks was a long time to be gone on a mission. Especially without a partner.

She had no doubt that Steve could handle himself, he was the best fighter she knew and if all went as planned, he would probably get home early.

But unfortunately, things did not go to plan.

At the end of the mission, Steve had attempted to take down a small hydra base alone and had been stabbed and beat up pretty badly.

Wanting to get home to Natasha, he had done a half-ass job of wrapping the stab wound and told the medics that he was fine.

They wanted to go home too, so they didn't question him as he jumped out of the quinjet and towards he and Natasha's floor.

When he opened the door, Natasha had been at his side in seconds, running her fingers along his bruises and greeting him with a long kiss.

"What took so long?" She asked, sitting besides him on their couch.

Steve sighed, "Hydra was involved so we had to make a detour on the way back and take down a small base."

Natasha frowned, "Hydra has started dealing weapons?"

"I guess so," Steve said, sighing again. It had been a long few weeks.

"Are you alright? You look a little pale," Natasha said, frowning as she cupped his face in her hands, scanning his face for answers to her concern.

Steve nodded, "I'm fine, probably just tired. I'll be good as new tomorrow though."

Natasha gave him a small smile, "Good. I've missed you."

Steve smiled despite the growing pain in his abdomen and the fact that his vision was growing more and more blurry, "I missed you too."

Standing up, Natasha held her hand out to Steve, "You look exhausted, let's go to bed, we can talk tomorrow okay?"

Steve nodded and stood up, nearly falling over as he did so. Natasha grabbed his arm to steady him and frowned again, "You sure you're okay Steve?"

He nodded and began walking towards their bedroom until his vision failed him and everything went black.

Natasha's eyes widened with concern as she caught Steve and lowered him into the ground.

"Steve?!" She yelled, shaking his shoulders as her eyes raked his body to see if she could figure out what happened.

She gasped when she saw the growing blood stain on his suit that hadn't been there when he walked in.

Natasha tore off his suit and saw the loose gauze that had been applied there.

She cursed and rushed into their kitchen to grab the first aid kit.

"God damn it Steve," She mumbled, cleaning the obvious stab wound and throwing the bloody bandages to the side.

Natasha began stitching the wound and trying to stop the blood flow.

Steve's eyes fluttered open and Natasha frowned at him, still trying to stich him up.

"Just tired huh?" She mumbled, keeping her eyes on the task at hand.

Steve groaned in pain whispering out a half sincere, "Sorry."

Natasha rolled her eyes and rebandaged Steve's abdomen, this time properly and tight enough to where there wasn't a risk of him bleeding out.

Standing up, Natasha grabbed the now bloody supplies she had been using and threw them away before walking back to Steve and helping him up.

"Come on," She said quietly, helping him to their bed

Steve fell onto his side of the bed, and gave Natasha an apologetic frown as she pulled the covers over him and then walked into their bathroom, not even looking at him.

He heard the sink turn on and waited silently for her to come back.

He thought he could hear her talking to someone but he wasn't sure.

When the door opened again, the blood had been washed from Natasha's hands and she had braided her hair.

Laying down besides Steve, she stared at the ceiling above them, not moving into Steve's arms like she did most nights.

"Natasha..." Steve said weakly, reaching over to hold her hand.

She didn't pull away but she also didn't squeeze his hand back as she normally did, "I called Tony. He said you should be fine with some rest but we are going to get you checked on tomorrow morning."

Steve sighed, "I'm sorry."

Natasha finally turned her head to look at Steve, "Why didn't you tell me?  Or better yet, why didn't you get stitched up before coming home?"

Steve frowned, he felt like a total asshole. The worry and pain in her voice made his heart clench and what was worse was that he didn't have a good answer to her questions.

"I don't know...I guess I just wanted to see you sooner. And I didn't want you to worry. I guess I didn't realize how bad it was," Steve said quietly.

Natasha sighed, "You could've died. What if we went to bed and you passed out after I feel asleep? You could've bled out. You nearly did."

Steve nodded slightly, he hadn't thought about that, "I'm so sorry Nat. I was being stupid."

Nodding Natasha finally turned on her side towards Steve, "Yeah you were. If you died I would have never forgiven you."

Steve sighed, "I just really missed you."

Natasha's eyes softened but she still stayed on her side of the bed, "I missed you too. But I would miss you more if you died. So next time please do me a favor and don't come home with an open stab wound."

Steve laughed a little but regretted instantly when his side stung with pain, "Understood."

Natasha shook her head at him and finally moved towards him, squeezing his hand and curling into him as he wrapped one arm around her.

"I love you," She mumbled, resting her head on his chest, being careful not to aggravate his injury further.

Steve kissed her forehead and smiled, "I love you too."

She sighed and closed her eyes, her breaths becoming deeper with every second until Steve was sure she was asleep.

He smiled down at her. In all honesty, he hadn't been lying to her earlier...as long as he was with her, he really was fine.

Even if he was bleeding out.

Hey guys! Back to normal chapters now! Which of course means some angsty and depressing stuff...but I will do my best to make most of them end happy😂

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