Wildest Dreams

Ch. 2

 Steve woke up to the smell of strong chemical cleaners. Ugh. Hospital smell. It brought back memories of times he used to be in the hospital in his sickly youth. He hated hospitals. Slowly his other senses started to bombard him as they usually do. Not that he wasn't used to it. He just could hear so much, feel so much. But he tuned into just his close surroundings, and there was the tune of a soulful music he can't say he's ever heard before. Opening his eyes he looks to his right and sees Sam sitting in a chair at his bedside. "On your left."

Sam brings his eyes out of his current musings and looks his way and smiles, "Really man? It's like that?"

Steve chuckles, feeling it in his ribs. "Yeah. It's like that."

Before they could continue their conversation, she burst in through the door. Her hand flew up to her heart and clutched in there in both relief and what seemed like to control her breathing. "You're..." she tried to catch her breath, it was evident she had been running. A small exhale and she began again as she lowered her hand, "You're okay." Steve could tell she had been deathly worried, and he tried to calm her worries down. "I'm fine Y/N, you know I'll always be fine."

She nodded and then picked up a chair and set it next to Sam. "Hi. I'm sorry for the rude entrance there. I'm Y/N." She extended her hand to Sam, which he took in turn and smiled.

"Nice to meet you Y/N, and you're Steve's... girlfriend?" He asked as if he was stepping on eggshells, looking in a sideline glance at Steve for help. Steve chuckled, feeling it a slight bit less in his ribs. "No. No. She's one of my best friends."

Y/N's eyes went wide at Steve's correction, then she cleared her throat and spoke up again. "Yeah. We met not too long ago and became great friends."

Steve sat up a bit more in bed. "Y/N. It's alright, we can trust Sam. He's a good one." Sam looked lost and confused, his eyes flitting back and forth between Steve and Y/N. "She's my best friend. Back from the 1940's."

Sam's eyes grew as wide as saucers and stared at her a bit before turning back to Steve. "You wanna tell me how the hell we got another dinosaur in here?!" Y/N smacked Sam lightly on the shoulder as she took a seat next to him. "Mind your manners."

Sam looked like a scolded child and turned back to Steve again. "I'm sorry. Okay. How do we have three geriatric cases from your time, looking not a day older than 30, running around in the present day?"

Steve grimaced at Sam's words and tried to avoid her eyes when she softly spoke, "Three?"

"Y/N... there's something I need to tell you."

-.-

1946 – Howard Stark's NYC Apartment/Lab

"Howard." She begged, practically pleaded in just one word.

"No."

"Please Howard. Please. I – I can't take it anymore." She circled him in his desk. Fatigue was extremely clear on his face. At his silence she slams her hands against the table, the loud noise stopping Howard in his ministrations. "Please. Howard. Peggy told me she got rid of the blood. But I know you. I know you wouldn't be so calm unless you had something. If you have a serum. Give it to me. I can't take this anymore. Sitting in the sidelines. Watching everyone I know die or get hurt. I'm not Peggy. I've never been am agent. But I can learn, I can help."

Howard sighed and looked my way. "You do help Sunshine."

"Don't call me that." You snapped back. Your eyes down-cast and suddenly filling with tears. He called you sunshine.

Howard sighed and put a soft hand on your shoulder. "I – I'm sorry Y/N... I forgot. Look hun, you've always helped where you could. But what you're asking me is too much. I'm not gonna use you as a science experiment."

You looked up at him, the tears brimming in your eyes making your vision blurry. "I need to do something worthwhile. Like them. Otherwise I fear I'm going to waste away for the rest of my life Howard." Before he could counter you followed up, "I can't keep living without him. When he died, I stayed strong for Steve. But now – now Steve's gone, and I just – I want to follow them." You grabbed Howard and had him look at you in the eye as tears streamed down your face. "Give me a reason to live Howard. Please."

You could see the battle in his eyes before you saw the acceptance. "Fine. But if Peggy finds out, you're taking all the blame."

A small smile broke through my tears. "Sure thing Howard."

-.-

"Howard! What the bloody hell are you doing?!!" Peggy's reprimanding voice rang through, above the noise of the machine currently running.

"Oh Peggy! Um.. nothing to see here!!" Howard tried to lead Peggy away, but then the screams stopped them both in their tracks. Then the constant horns from the machinery beeping away.

"Bloody hell Stark. Stop it! Is that – no – is that Y/N?" She tried to push past him, but he had already left her to watch the screens and buttons.

"Peggy when I tell you... flip that switch right there off!" Howard sounded frantic, his voice trying to sound above the screams in the room. Peggy quickly ran to the switch wasting no time. After a few seconds, Howard screams "NOW!"

In a mad rush once the power is cut, Howard races to Y/N and retrieves her from the machine. She's now deadly quiet, but shaking violently. "Howard! Do something!" Peggy screams as she approaches, trying to get any vital signs from Y/N. "We're going to lose her Howard! Figure something out!"

He raced back to the machine, placing Y/N inside and closing it up. Quickly running around, flipping switches, disconnecting and connecting wires and tubes. Running back to the console he flips the switch once more and breaks down sliding down the console. Peggy, confused and upset runs to him and shakes him. "Howard – what did you do? What's going on?"

"I – She -" Howard took a breath, composed himself then looked at Peggy while he spoke. "She wanted to make a difference. Wanted to try the serum. But I think I was wrong, I must've done something wrong. I – I don't know what happened. So I did the only thing I could think of to save her, gave me some time."

"Time?"

Howard stood back up and faced the machine Y/N was now still as stone in. "I brought down the temperature of the pod to -196 degrees Celsius. It – It should preserve her body tissue and place her in a state of suspended animation. Until such a time – such a time where I can figure out what I did wrong and make sure we don't lose her."

Peggy looked upon her friend frozen in time and then back to Howard. "You've sentenced her to a fate worse than death. To lose time like that."

"I'll figure it out." Howard countered. "I'll save her."

-.-

She had the wildest dreams. Bucky was alive, so was Steve. The three of them went on to live happy, normal lives. Growing old and remaining in each others lives till their dying days.

And then one day the dreams ended, and she woke up to a completely different world.