Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty One

Tony

Reuben looked as pale as a ghost, and the blue in her eyes had faded to a pale, unrecognizable blue, with almost any look of life sucked out.

        “What the hell is wrong with my daughter?” I say in a concerned, yet angry voice to Thor. He’s an Asgardian, and that’s where the tesseract should have been. He was the only one here who knew the most about the tesseract.

        “Language.” Steve said. I gave him a weirded out look.

        “She has connected with both tesseract. I feared this would happen….”

“You feared what would happen?”

“Since she is host to both tesseract, they are battling each other for control.”

“Inside my daughter's body!?”

“Yes. The Tesseracts are not to be brought together, let alone inside the same host.”

“Well, what can we do about it?”

“I do not know. This has never happened, and we had hoped it never would, because we had the tesseract in safe keep. Until Loki took it. I must go back to Asgard to discuss this with Odin.”

“How long do you think her body can handle this?”

“Reuben is stronger than most humans, but she can’t take it forever. I don’t know how long she has, but I recommend you stay by her side, or someone keep her company. I doubt that she will want to be alone.”

“Of course we wouldn’t leave her alone.” Said Natasha.

“I’ll stay with her. We were talking when this happened, and I’m not sure she was finished.” Said James.

“Okay, well I’m going to call the doctor and have him come in. I want to be sure she is okay for now and gets her what she needs.” I announced, and told everyone they can go and let Reuben rest except for James. Those two have become surprisingly close in such little time. I mean Reuben even killed him, and he's still trying to be her friend. James is nineteen years old, almost the same age as Reuben. I guess it’s logical that they have things in common, but I feel like there’s more than friendship. I had figured having Rue live with me would have made her happy, but I think that living with me and all the consequences that had come with it have just caused her pain and suffering. I don’t know how I could ever fix this for Reuben. It breaks my heart, because I was trying to do the right thing, but as usual, someone got hurt.

James

        I don’t know what happened, but I know Reuben, and I know she has done nothing to deserve this. She practically raised her brother, and she’s a firefighter, going out and saving people's lives daily. It seems as if her life has been slowly disintegrating, beginning with her Mother. I feel like there’s something there, that isn’t quite right, like there’s a missing piece to that story. Maybe, it would do justice if I found out what really happened to her mom. I texted Mom and asked her if she could bring me my laptop so I could do research, and she reluctantly agreed. When she came into the room, I shot up like a bullet and hugged her tight, and told her how I glad I was to have her as a Mother, and that I loved her. She hugged me back and of course, said she loved me back. I walked to the chair that I had positioned fairly close to Reuben, and sat cross legged, with my laptop resting in my lap. I went onto S.H.I.E.L.D.s database and put in Reuben’s name, since I didn’t know her mother’s name. Everything to know about Reuben was one there, but I respected her privacy and went to her Birth Certificate. Rachel Christine Bailey. Well, she was really an Avery. Maybe they should fix that. Wow. Rachel was only thirty two, and she died at the hands of a seemingly not so dangerous villain. I guess there’s nothing we can do to avenge her, Reuben’s already done that. I went to Rachel’s records, and found something so suspicious, I didn’t even think Reuben should know about it. Just then, I noticed Reuben was moving around, so I closed my laptop and set it on the small bedside table.

Reuben

        When I finally came to, I didn’t have a lot of energy. I felt like someone was there, and turned my head to see James.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” He asked me.

“Does it really matter?” I ask him.

“Well…. yeah, it matters to me….”

“I feel regretful, and I feel like I deserve this….”

“Nobody could do anything to deserve this.”

“Unless they kill someone….”

“YOU didn’t kill anyone, because I’m right here, having a conversation with you.”

“Are you a figment of my imagination? I feel like you are…” James then proceeded to grab my hand, and kiss me on the lips.

“Does that feel like a figment of your imagination?” He asked.

“Kind of.” I say grinning at him.

“Do want anything? Water, food?”

“I need my laptop. I need to talk to Jackson. What time is it?”

“It’s ten fifteen and you need to sleep.”

“What I need to do is call Matt and tell him  might not be into work.”

“I can do that, you just need sleep. You need to get some rest.”

“Well so don’t you…”

“I’m fine.”

“No you’re not. I’m sorry I scared you like that….”

“Just try not to do it again.” He said, grinning.

“Come on, get on the bed and go to sleep.” I heard myself suddenly blurt out.

“You’re sure?”

“James, you’re my best friend, I’m sure.” He got out of the chair, took off his hoodie, and sat on the bed so gently, like I was a fragile piece of glass. He swung his legs onto the bed and I scooched over, and put my head of his chest, with my arm on his belly. He put his right arm around me, and put his left hand on top of my hand.

“This feels right, maybe this is why I haven’t been able to sleep well. I’ve been missing you for a pillow.” I say jokingly. Was it a joke, though? James let out a giggle, and  felt him looking down at me. I looked up at him, and stuck my tongue out at him.

“Haha, you’re cute.” He said, sticking his tongue back out at me.

“Don’t tell me what I already know.” Giving him a big smile. I put my head back onto his chest, listening to his heartbeat. It was a normal beat, and I felt him relax, with his breath deepening. His muscles finally relaxed, but he kept his arms around me, as if it was something he’s always wanted to do. At least some things are getting back to normal, minus the fact that I’m dying slowly. If you think about it, it’s actually quite ironic. The thing that has kept me alive, and helped me save other people, is also killing me at the same time. I felt my eyes glaze over, and I just closed my eyes. I wonder what it would be like if Dad had fought for me. That’s it, no more crying. No more tears, because I am done. I felt myself slowly fading into my own realm of sleep, and I just let go of reality.

Tony

        The reality of my daughter dying has finally hit me, and here I am, drinking a bottle of scotch. Shows how much of a good father I am, huh? This is my fault. I should’ve fought for her, and raised her so she knew how to control her powers. I bet that her Mother would still be alive, happy with her husband and son, and Reuben wouldn’t be on that bed dying. We would also not be in this hole of lies that I dug myself into.

James

        I woke up to Reuben curled up in a ball beside me, basically hugging me. She was in a fairly deep sleep, so I decided to sit in the chair. I was just afraid that if I moved that she’d wake up…. I looked up to the clock; huh, one thirty. Maybe she would stay asleep, as long as I didn't move too quickly. I gently lifted my arm off her shoulder and managed to shimmy my way out from underneath her, without waking her. There’s a success, Haha. I looked at her monitors, and it showed that she was stable, so that brought some relief, because I actually began to think she was dead. Just then, one of the doctors walked into the room to check on Reuben. I took this opportunity to quickly walk to my room and change into more comfortable clothes. I put on a pair of sweatpants and my class T-shirt from high school that said Rogers on the back. I hadn’t seen this shirt in a while, and it brought back a lot of high school memories. Right as I walked out of my room, I ran into my dad.

“James, what are you doing here? I thought you were Reuben.”

“It’s okay Dad, there’s a doctor in there checking to see how she’s doing.”

“What? There isn’t a doctor here until later in the morning.”

“Are you sure?” Then it hit me. That ‘doctor’ wasn’t really a doctor.

“Then who’s with Reuben?” I said aloud to myself. I sprinted down the long corridors with Dad close behind, and ran into what used to be an organized room. Reuben was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, and there was no sign of the ‘doctor’. Instantly, my eyes glazed over with tears, as I knelt down and felt for a pulse. There was a pulse, but it was very weak. I picked up Reuben and ran to the elevator.

“James, where are you going?”

“The hospital. We can’t help her here, because we have no idea what the hell we’re doing. Reuben saved me, so I’m going to save her.”

“You’re going to need someone to drive” Dad said as he stepped into the elevator. I hadn’t realized that dad was still in street clothes until just now.

“Dad, have you even slept?”

“I got some rest, but I was about to go for a quick walk.” He said as the elevator ding came on. Dad ran over to the car and opened the back door and I gently put Reuben down, and walked over and got in the other side. I couldn’t even tell the extent of her injuries, because there was too much blood to tell where any cuts or incisions were.

“James, you need to call the hospital and tell them we’re on our way to the emergency room.” I took my phone out of my pocket and turned it on, and it was then that I realized how much blood there really was. I could hardly see my screen because of how much blood was on my hands, but I managed to dial 9-1-1 and inform them that we were on our way to the hospital.

“Pull into the emergency room entrance for the ambulances, they’re waiting for us there.”

“We’re five minutes away, how is she doing?”

“She’s still breathing, but she’s lost a lot of blood and she’s really pale. Even paler than before. She’s also really cold, and… and her lips and beginning to turn blue.” We took a sharp turn into the emergency bay, where four or five people were waiting out there with a gurney. Dad could even put the car in park before I had reuben out of the car and on the gurney. The were already wheeling her in with me close by them when they started shouting orders. They were saying things like ‘multiple stab wounds to the abdomen’ which i wasn’t all that worried about, but then they said ‘Two G.S.W.s to the chest.’ That’s when I began to lose myself. I just continuously paced back and forth, and put my hands on top of my head. This was my fault, I never should have left Reuben alone with that person. This was my job and I failed, just like i do with everything else. I should have just left her alone, and let Tony or someone else stay with her. This was my fault, and not only was Reuben at risk of dying before, but now she probably has three times that chance. That risk factor was because of how much of an incompetent imbecile i was. I hadn’t realized Dad came in and was trying to get my attention until he stopped my pacing by grabbing my shoulders and looking me dead in the eye.

“This was not your fault. Any of us would have thought they were a doctor, and you thought you were doing the right thing by taking the opportunity to stretch your legs while Reuben was still in someone's supervision. You were being responsible.”

“Yeah, and that responsibility cost Reuben her chance of living through this.” I say as a tear runs down my cheek. Dad’s eyes were filled with sympathy, and for the first time, I watched as my father left his sternness in the dust, and comfort his son. He pulled me into a hug, and that’s when i let go. I was just silently sobbing into my father's shoulder. God I wonder what reuben would say if she saw my like this. She’d probably call me an idiot.