Raptor

Chapter 15

Pietro was sitting in an uncomfortable chair in the medical room three weeks after Ultron's defeat. Wanda checked in on him on a regular basis but he waved off her concern, after all, he wasn't the one whose life was hanging in the balance. Granted, he knew it should've been him instead, if she hadn't been there. He even felt slightly guilty that he hadn't gone back to help her sooner... he'd thought, along with Rogers and Barton, that she'd hold her own for a bit. Nonetheless, Raptor had been given medical treatment as soon as they'd gotten onto the helicarrier, his bullet wounds had also been taken care of as well but it was nothing compared to all the surgeries Raptor had needed before they'd even reached the new Avenger's base. Pietro actually suspected that some of the surgeries had just been for scientific purposes to gain knowledge about her abilities. He had questioned Fury on it but the one-eyed man merely deflected the question before walking off. The only good thing to happen since Ultron's demise was the fact Stark had left.

He stared to doze off again when a rustling sound made him blink awake and glance at Raptor's unconscious form. "Raptor?"

Of course there wasn't an answer; he hadn't expected one. He leaned his head back against the cool white wall and closed his eyes only to hear more movement from beside him.

"Raptor, is that you?" Pietro sat up again with a frown; he was tired, could he just be hearing things?

No, a second later Raptor blinked awake and shifted to face the wall so her back was to him before closing her eyes again. He shot to his feet, wincing as the nearly healed wound in his side protested, before running to the door to find Wanda. She had already sensed his excitement however, and he met her at the end of the hallway along with Vision.

"Is she awake?" Wanda asked, though she was able to guess the obvious answer by the lively spark in her brother's eyes.

"Yes, come on, follow me!" He forced himself not to use his powers as they quickly walked back to the medical room.

When they got back to Raptor's room his smile disappeared. Raptor wasn't inside, he double-checked, not believing it before walking back out into the hallway with confusion on his face.

"I don't understand." He looked at the other two who were standing by the doorway.

"I'm sure she's around here somewhere." Wanda assured him with a small grin.

He nodded before turning and walking down to the opposite end of the hall, half way down he was unexpectedly tackled to the ground. Pietro gave a shout of surprise before seeing Raptor grinning down at him with mischievous amber eyes. She stood back to allow him to get up before limping closer to him again.

"Someone woke up happy." Pietro wrapped her gently in his arms. "May I ask why?"

"Could it be the fact I'm not dying or being tormented by pain at the moment?" Raptor purred back, feeling abnormally non-aggressive.

"Or is it because I'm here?" He whispered into her ear with a smirk.

He winced as she playfully elbowed him before getting her back by tripping her and catching her before she hit the ground. Noticing her flinch of pain forced him to stop his 'attack'. Pietro helped her start back to the medical room once he saw how much energy she'd spent to ambush him and mentally scolded himself for possibly making her healing time longer.

"Pietro, where are we?" Raptor finally asked as they got back to the others who were watching with amused expressions.

"S.H.I.E.L.D." He led her past his sister and Vision and into the room. "You missed a lot."

She lay back down on her bed with a curious glint in her eyes. "Like what?"

"Stark left, Thor and Barton went home, and Banner is MIA." Vision spoke up as he floated an inch above the ground. "We have acquired some new members who are eager to meet you when you've recovered though."

"Great." Raptor half closed her eyes as she sighed.

Wanda cleared her throat. "We'll go tell them and leave you to rest."

Pietro waited until they left to look back at Raptor. "Why didn't you stop when I warned you to?"

"You're the one who told me not to listen to anyone if I didn't like the order." She saw the look on his face and grabbed his wrist to pull him closer. "Besides, an alpha protects her family and friends. I couldn't watch you die."

He glared at her lightly but couldn't think of anything else to say except one thing. "So you decided to make me watch you die?"

Raptor sat up and motioned for him to sit beside her. "It wasn't like I planned for Ultron to try killing me... you could say I didn't see it coming. But I'm going to be fine now."

Pietro relaxed, she did have a point. He felt her lean into him a few moments later and when he looked down at her he found her sleeping once more. At least now he had an excuse for not leaving her side other than worry. Now that Raptor had woken up to show her recovery, he was finally feeling drowsiness settle onto him from weeks spent sitting at her side. He gave her a light kiss on the temple before leaning his head back against the headboard and dozing off. For now everything seemed like it would be okay, and he planned on enjoying every moment of it while it lasted.

Unfortunately this is where Raptor ends... The good news is there's a sequel up called Winter.

Raptor's alternate ending with Ultron can be found at My Marvel fanfic One-shots.