Requested by WandaVizh, Steve wakes up from a coma and has a hard time knowing what's real vs not real...the request was not excactly like this but I got the inspiration from it.

Natasha had been worried sick for hours.

Their mission had gone completely sideways. What was supposed to be a quick simple mission had turned into a day long fight between Natasha and Steve and an entire army of Hydra soldiers.

They were almost finished too. They had nearly taken out all of the operatives except for a few who had stayed in the back of the pack, shooting from afar.

Everything had gone well until one of those bullets had buried itself in Steve's chest.

Natasha had been fighting another agent and when she turned around, he was standing still with his mouth slightly ajar, a distant look in his eyes.

"Shit," Natasha muttered, shooting another agent before rushing to his side and catching him as he began to fall.

"Steve? Stay with me Steve. Come on." She begged, calling for a medic over her com system and hoping that the strike team would cover her while she tried to keep Steve alive.

Steve coughed and his breathing became shallow.

"Steve. Please talk to me," Natasha pleaded, putting her hand over his wound and trying to stop the bleeding.

"Nat," He mumbled, reaching up to touch her cheek gently.

Natasha shook her head, "Don't. Save your breath. I'm gonna get you out of here. Just stay with me Steve."

Steve's breathing became heavier and he shook his head, "Nat, I'm not getting out of this one. I just need you to know that I love you."

"Stop, I'm not gonna let you die Steve," she said, looking around for help. She shook her head and pressed her finger to her coms again, "I need a medic right now!" She yelled.

"Natasha please," Steve begged, grabbing her hand.

She shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes, "I'm not gonna lose you Steve."

Steve frowned and coughed again, "That might be out of your control Nat."

Natasha yelled again for a medic, "I need a goddamn medic!" She screamed, letting out a choked sob.

"Natasha, look at me," Steve said, gently pulling her chin so she was looking at him, "I love you."

Tears streamed down Natasha's face as she realized that no one was coming to help her, "I love you too Steve. Please stay with me. I'll get you out of here."

Steve gave Natasha a weak smile as he pressed a light kiss to her hand.

Natasha grabbed his arm and used all her strength to hoist him up onto her shoulders before running towards their jet.

"I'm bringing Captain Rogers to the ship. If there isn't a medic standing by when I get there, I'll have all your asses fired." She threatened, dodging the bullets being fired at them as she ran.

Somehow, she arrived at the jet without dropping Steve or falling.

She laid him down on the medical table and was relieved to see he was still alive. A few medics surrounded him and tried to push Natasha away but she stayed firmly by his side, grasping onto his hand tightly.

Steve locked eye contact with her and squeezed her hand lightly as they tore open his shirt and began trying to remove the bullet.

During the ride back to the compound, Steve flat lined twice. They were able to get him back each time but his injury was definitely going to be severe and no one was sure he would make it out alive.

Five hours later, he was in a coma.

None of the doctors could promise he would be alright but at least he was alive, for now.

Natasha had been sitting besides his bed for hours now.

Just waiting for him to stir so she could scold him for almost dying and then properly show him how much she loved him.

It had been three days when he woke up. Natasha had nearly fallen asleep besides him and probably would have if she hadn't noticed the sharp intake of breath coming from his still body.

Her eyes shot open and she grabbed Steve's hand again, holding it tightly, "Steve?" She whispered quietly.

Steve's eyes shot open and he shot up in his bed, "Natasha?"

Natasha nodded and placed her hands on his shoulder, trying to relax him, "Steve calm down, it's just me. It's just you and me."

Steve relaxed a little and looked around the room looking confused, "What happened?"

"You scared the shit out of me by getting yourself shot. You lost a lot of blood and nearly died," Natasha said, frowning.

Steve frowned, "What about the mission?"

Natasha shook her head, "The strike team handled it."

Before Steve could respond, a doctor walked it with a clipboard, "Captain Rogers, glad to see you awake."

Steve's face paled and he yanked the IV out of his arm and stood in front of Natasha, holding up his fist as though he was ready to fight.

"Steve?" Natasha asked, furrowing her eyebrows with concern, "What is it?"

Steve's eyes darted around the room, "The soldiers. Do you not see them?"

Natasha frowned and looked around the room. It was empty aside from them and the doctor who looked terrified, "Steve there's no one in here besides you, me and the doctor."

Steve frowned, "What do you mean Nat? They're all around us."

Natasha grabbed Steve's hand and gave it a light squeeze before gently pulling his face to look at her, "Steve, it's just us."

Steve looked around again and frowned, "I swear-"

"It's okay, there's no soldiers." Natasha inturrupted.

The doctor opened his mouth to speak but Natasha shook her head at him, motioning for him to leave.

A look of realization passed in Steve's eyes and he shook his head, "Shit."

"You okay?" Natasha asked.

"Did I hit my head or something? Why did I see something that wasn't there Nat?" Steve asked, looking up at Natasha with wide eyes.

Natasha sat down besides him and shook her head, "I don't know. I wish I did but my best guess is that you're just dehydrated. Maybe a little loopy from the medicine too."

"Great," Steve muttered sarcastically.

They got the doctor to come in and discovered that Steve was having visions because of the blood loss and a concussion he had received earlier in the fight.

After the first one, he had several more and had to rely on Natasha to tell him what was real.

Even once he was released from the hospital, he still struggled to tell the difference between a hallucination and reality.

One night at around two am, he had woken up after another nightmare and went downstairs to get some water.

While doing so, he had another hallucination that Bucky had lost control and was the winter soldier again.

He had dropped the glass cup he was holding and back up until he ran into the table, knocking over a chair.

"Steve!" Natasha yelled, coming out of the stairway quickly and rushing over to him, "What's going on? You alright?"

Steve closed his eyes and shook his head, "Is this real?"

Natasha frowned, "Yes. I'm here Steve."

"How do I know?" He asked, his eyes holding more fear then she had ever seen him have.

Taking his hand in her, she interlocked their fingers and gave his hand a light squeeze.

"From my experience with getting visions and hallucinations, you can't feel something that's not real," She said, resting her other hand on his cheek.

Steve sighed and relaxed into her touch, "Nat this is driving me insane. I can't tell the difference between reality and these damn hallucinations anymore. I'm a nut case."

Natasha shook her head, "You're not a nut case Steve. You were injured. They'll pass. Believe me, I've had them too. You just have to find something that you know is real and use that as a comparison point."

"Like what?"

Natasha shrugged, "Anything, an object, a person, a memory. Just so that if you think something might be real, you can look at the other thing and see if one stands out as different."

Steve frowned, "Right now the only thing I'm sure is real is you."

Natasha offered him a weak smile, "Then use me. What do you see here besides us?"

Steve looked back to where he saw Bucky and frowned when he still saw him, "Bucky, but as the winter soldier."

Natasha nodded, "Now look at me, is there anything that I do that he doesn't?"

Steve studied both her and Bucky for a moment before finding something, "He doesn't blink."

Natasha smiled, "There you go. People have to blink, so you can tell he isn't real. The mind normally misses things like that because they are such small details."

Steve sighed and nodded his head, "Thank you Nat. I've never felt so helpless before."

Natasha nodded, "No need to thank me. You'll get through this. We both will. Right after you got shot, you told me you loved me. Is that still true?"

Steve nodded, "It always will be."

"Then I'll never leave your side Steve. Your problems are mine, because I love you too and I hate seeing you like this," Natasha admitted.

Steve scanned Natasha's face, trying to make sure that she was still real. Natasha noticed this and leaned her forehead against his, "This is real Steve, I promise."

Steve nodded and closed his eyes as Natasha leaned into him, kissing him softly.

Steve sighed into the kiss and wrapped his arms around Natasha's waist, pulling her close to him.

When they pulled apart, Natasha couldn't help the small grin on her lips. Steve smiled and rested his forehead on hers, "If that wasn't real I'm gonna be really disappointed," He joked.

Natasha laughed and kissed him again, "Good thing it was."

Hey guys, I hope you all enjoyed this one. It's pretty long and a little depressing so please comment all your thoughts😁

Like always, please leave a comment and vote if you enjoyed!