Paige is a single mom, part time accounting student, and almost full time bartender. One night she bartends for a charity event and meets Bucky Barnes, one of the Avengers. Finding him interesting and different from other men she has dated she inv...
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It was different from any other dream Bucky had ever had. There were no weapons at first, nothing to do with HYDRA or any of his victims. He was out in the desert by himself on a scorching hot day. Every direction that he turned to showed him the same landscape, flat, almost featureless except for low stunted bushes, with everything in various shades in brown. Even the clouded over blue sky seemed muted in appearance. In the distance were low dunes of sand and past them bleak mountains. He was completely and utterly alone. In the distance Bucky noticed a ripple forming in the air, as if something was disturbing the layer of the heated atmosphere hovering above the surface of the barren landscape. As the ripple effect came closer he realized it was someone walking towards him, a woman. As she came closer it appeared she was leading a child. Both of them were coming straight to him and were finally close enough for him to see it was Paige and Noah. He raised his hand to greet them and tried to lift his feet to go towards them but his feet wouldn't move. When he looked down his feet were encased in concrete blocks that extended deep into the ground. Paige and Noah stopped their progress towards him but were close enough for him to see their faces. Noah was calling to him desperately but no sound reached Bucky. Paige looked distressed as it seemed that she couldn't come any closer, despite all of her attempts. Neither could Bucky go towards them, as he couldn't even feel his feet as the concrete was now extending up towards his body. He became aware of a presence at his side, leaning close to his ear and whispering.
"Why do you even try, Bucky?" said the female voice, dripping with malice. "You're incapable of having a real relationship. You should be doing what you're best at."
As he kept his head facing forward, fearing who was whispering to him he noticed Paige had started to cry as had Noah. Then she picked her son up and turned around, walking away from him. Noah reached his hand out towards him, a beseeching look on his face, as they started back the way they came. Extending his arm to stop them Bucky noticed he had a gun in his hand, aimed at Paige's back.
"Do it," said the voice. "Pull the trigger. End it."
In agony he tried to see who was speaking at the same time as he lowered the gun. Then a shot rang out and Paige fell, bringing anguished cries from Bucky. The gun wasn't in his hand anymore, but it was in the hand of a person next to him, a thin stream of vapour swirling gently out of the muzzle. Then the person stepped into his field of view and Sharon Carter put the gun back into his hand.
"Next time I tell you to end it, you end it," she said, cruelly.
With a start Bucky sat upright, his breathing laboured and a slight sheen of sweat covering his face and chest. Next to him Paige stirred and she opened her eyes, placing her soft hand on his arm.
"Are you alright?" she asked softly. "Did you have a nightmare?"
Laying back he put his right hand on his forehead, wiping the sweat away. "Bad dream," he whispered. "Go back to sleep."
