The Fall - Book 1

140. My strong, brave, incredible Réa.

⚠️ TW: nightmare; mentions/implications of kidnapping/abduction; mentions/implications of torture; mentions/implications of SA ⚠️

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 — AVENGERS COMPOUND— BUCKY

I wake before my alarm; moving carefully so I don't wake Réa, I grab my phone and turn the alarm off. Réa murmurs softly in her sleep and snuggles closer to me; her sweet scent of spun sugar and raspberries surrounds me. I look at her face, and can't help the smile that forms on mine as I take in her serene expression.

As often—okay, always—happens, love and gratitude fill me, along with a sense of awe and just a bit of disbelief at the fact that I'm hers and she's mine. Back before I fell from the train, I used to think about the future: find a nice girl, fall in love, get married, have kids; the whole 'house with a picket fence' scenario...but even in my wildest musings, I never imagined someone like Réa.

'Because there isn't anyone like Réa,' I think.

I lie here, holding this amazing, selfless, kind, loving, gorgeous woman in my arms, and I think about last night.

We enter Réa's room, and she again asks me if I'm okay.

"Yeah. I'm okay. I'm just...overwhelmed."

She nods. "I'd imagine so."

I shake my head, still a bit shocked that a kid dressed up as me for Halloween.

"I...why would he want to be me? Why am I his favorite?" I ask.

Réa's quiet for a moment.

"'Out of the mouths of babes'," she says. "A lot of people think children aren't perceptive; that they don't see or can't understand things. In fact, it's quite the opposite: they see and understand more than most adults." She pauses. "Do you remember when I told you about the clairs?"

"Yeah," I reply with a nod.

"Well, children have them. They use them, until society tells them that they shouldn't. Imaginary friends are great examples of this: more times than not, the 'imaginary friend' isn't imaginary at all...it's usually a spirit or a guardian Angel, or sometimes another being...but always something that adults say 'shouldn't exist'. Even with proof that magick exists, and that there are beings other than humans in the universe, it's ignored and forgotten because 'it's not real'." She pauses again. "Sorry, I rambled. Anyway, the point I'm making is that children see things as they are, not as they want them to be or as they think they should be."

She places her right hand on my cheek.

"You know that all of the Avengers think of you as a good man. You know that I've always thought of you as a great man. And knowing that we think of you that way doesn't mean you always believe it, or believe it at all." She pauses again. "Now you have proof that someone else—someone guileless—sees you the way we do: for the great, kind, strong, amazing man you are."

Réa murmurs again, pulling me from the memory. Again, I look at her face, relieved to see a small, soft smile on her lips. I wonder what she's dreaming about; whatever it is, it's clearly something that makes her happy.

'She's so adorable,' I think.

I watch her sleep for a while longer, until the sky begins to lighten.

"Réa, sweetheart, wake up," I say softly as I gently stroke her cheek.

I could just let her sleep and leave her a note—I've done that before when I haven't been able to wake her—I just don't really like to do that if I can avoid it.