The Proposal

Good boys

Early the next morning

Waking up a little confused as to how exactly it was that she ended up on the floor wrapped up in Steve and Bucky’s arms, Artemis slowly blinks her heavy eyelids until they stay open. Although her view was limited to no more than Steve’s smooth throat and the white tank covering his pecks that he wore to bed, it wasn’t a bad view. Closing her eyes she inhales his delicious comforting scent. But even still, the nightmare she’d woken up to sometime in the middle of the night makes itself known regardless of how safe these men made her feel. A dark shiver runs through her which has a still sleeping Steve tucking her head more firmly under his chin which in turn has Bucky pressing more firmly against her as he tightens his hold around them both. 

For a moment the darkness recedes and she can breathe again without panicking. With the metal armed Sergeant pressed so tightly to her back and the Captain basically holding her hostage to his front she should feel claustrophobic. But all Artemis felt at the moment was turned on because two very hard and very long parts of their anatomy were up against her stomach and her lower back. And oh lord. In all of her wild imaginings Artemis could never truly picture or dare hope to find out what they were packing. For the record, it was a lot. Still, for all of that, the nightmare was a relentless bastard clawing its way to the forefront of her mind no matter how hard she tried to forget it. 

When Artemis had finally dropped off to sleep last night to the soft sounds of the men beside her breathing and the crickets chirping outside her open window letting in the warm night air she’d been content. That is until the sweet dreams the guys had wished for her had turned dark. One moment she was dreaming of swimming in the cool clear lake not too far from the cabin with Steve and Bucky as the hot summer sun shone down on them. Then the next they had vanished and it was night. Leaving her all alone with her name being called from several directions in the surrounding woods that had once been a playground to her younger self. Treading water Artemis had tried not to panic. But the unknown voices that started as whispers had steadily gotten closer, gotten louder, sending her heart into a pounding rhythm that threatened to stop altogether. 

Knowing that she needed to get out of the water to be able to defend herself, Artemis swam to shore, staying low just in case. As she dragged herself out of the water Artemis cautiously looked around as she had repeatedly whisper-shouted for Steve and Bucky hoping they were nearby while shivering in the suddenly chill night air. It was no use. They were gone and whoever was calling out to her wasn’t anyone she wanted to find her. Something instinctual deep down had told her these people had nothing good planned for her. It was then that the ominous and foreboding feeling steadily grew when Artemis found herself running barefoot dressed only in her underwear that she’d used as a bathing suit back towards safety. Running as fast as she could, it still felt like she was moving at a snail's pace through thick syrup as the looming shadows of her pursuers were getting closer and closer. Heart racing, legs trembling with the effort to move even just a little bit faster, Artemis choked on each sobbing breath. 

Even though the cabin was three miles away from the lake, it felt like only seconds until she was blessedly barricading herself inside only to have someone or something pounding on the door the second it closed behind her. Shaking it with every thunderous beat of their fists until Artemis heard an ominous crack of the solid wood telling her it wouldn’t be long before they were inside and her time was up. Artemis tried to use her powers to call up her bow or maybe a sword, but she was so scared she couldn't even call up a pocket knife. Then just before whoever it was crashed through she’d jerked awake to find Bucky smoothing back her hair murmuring soothing words to calm her. When she realized it was all just a dream Artemis had collapsed into his open arms. Sobbing absolutely terrified that whoever had been in her dreams was already out there in the woods surrounding the house somewhere ready to take her should she step foot out the front door.