Distressed // Steve Rogers

28 - Three Little Words

She woke in a cold sweat, the sheets clinging to her legs, shivering as she sat upright, gasping for breath. Echoes of his voice hung in the air and called out to her, taunting her. Matthieu's body had been found. Steve had stayed to make sure it was him. Steve was sure of it. And yet, laying there in the dead of night she had heard him whispering to her, calling out to her, telling her she was his and her veins were filled with ice.

Distress hung from her, like a cloak that she could not remove, and even now, even in the safety of the compound walls, she could feel it brushing against her.

To her right Steve slept soundly. His lips were parted as he breathed deeply and even in his sleep his forehead was creased with worry. Talia sat and watched him breathing, letting her worries flow from her as she drank in the soft curve of his lips, the slope of his eyelashes, the strong line of his jaw. She leant over slowly, careful not to wake him and placed a soft kiss against his temple before slipping from beneath the sheets and out into the chill of the dark corridor, grabbing her phone as she left.

Pulling the shirt she wore tighter around her she tiptoed through the empty halls and opened up her phone to quickly type a message for Steve, worried he would panic if he woke without her again. She paused in the dim light that shone through the glass wall of the open plan living area, unsure of herself, staring at the words she had typed so easily.

"Why are you not resting Talia?"

Despite the softness of his voice, and the calm manner in which he approached her, Vision startled Talia and she jumped, almost dropping her phone as her hand flew up to her face and she span away from him.

"Jesus," she huffed as her heart hammered in her chest, "I didn't see you Vis."

"I'm sorry Talia." He stopped moving and waited for her to calm. "I didn't mean to startle you."

Vision looked over her. Her hair was in disarray, with tufts of red curls sticking out from the messy bun knotted on the top of her head, and her eyes were glistening in the dim moonlight. She pulled in shallow breaths as she shifted her weight to accommodate the pain in her side. Her bare legs were spattered with bruises and Vision felt a sadness wash over him as he realised he had never seen Talia without pain and injury.

"You need rest my dear," he sighed as he moved to her side and attempted to guide her back to her room.

"I did rest, and now I am awake and I would like to see Bucky." She looked up at him with honest eyes; eyes that told him something she couldn't say. Eyes that screamed of fear, not for herself, but for the super soldier in a hospital bed just two floors below them. "Do you want to join me?"

Vision smiled at her and changed his course, guiding her through the room and over to the kitchen counter instead.

"I think," he smiled as he watched her re-reading the message she had typed out moments ago, biting her lip as she tapped her nails against the back of her phone, "I'm going to stay here and perfect this recipe. I'm hoping to cook for Wanda tomorrow. And Talia?"

She looked up at him with a soft smile.

"Send the message. Whatever it is you are afraid to say; say it."

Talia laughed, pushing herself away from the kitchen counter with a soft sigh. She pressed send as the elevator doors closed.

*

There was a golden glow from the bedside lamp Bucky had left on and Talia quietly crept over to the chair beside his bed, grateful for the light so that she wouldn't disturb him. She felt the relief spark within her like shocks of electricity in her veins as she watched him sleep.