Retribution ★ Avengers

Please Don't Go

★ ★ ★

2 YEARS AND 6 MONTHS AFTER DECIMATION

DECEMBER 2023

★ ★ ★

Steve was awakened from his light slumber to the sound of Marlena's loud breaths in the room just down the hall from his own. The super-soldier wasted no time at all in leaving the uncomfortable bed he'd never quite grown used to sleeping in, pulled a white t-shirt over his head, and took off towards Marlena's room.

This did not occur every night, but it was nothing Steve wasn't prepared to deal with. Some nights were worse than others; Marlena often was able to snap herself out of her nightmares and return to sleep on her own, but some nights, there was nothing Steve could say or do that could bring her down from the intense feelings pulsing through her body following one of her lucid dreams.

Marlena was still asleep when he entered her room. She lay on her side, her hands desperately searching the sheets for something Steve figured was only present within the confines of her mind. He crossed the room quickly and took both of her wrists gently in his hands to prevent her from accidentally harming herself, and he took a seat on the bed beside her. The physical contact was enough to cause Marlena's eyes to open, and while she normally would show some sort of fear to being woken like this, she felt nothing but relief to see Steve's bright blue eyes watching over her. Within moments, her breathing calmed and she felt the beating of her heart slowing down. She was met with the familiar smell of his aftershave and instantly felt distanced from her terrible dream. It never failed to amaze her how his presence could help her through the perilous nightmares that continued to haunt her over time.

Once Steve could see that Marlena had managed to separate herself from the realistic nightmare that taunted her minutes before, he released his grip on her wrists. Instead, he used the back of his pointer finger to catch a lone tear that she'd managed to conjure up even in her state of sleep. Silence hung over the two, but it was a comfortable silence. Sometimes, Steve would come to Marlena's room long after she'd self-recovered from one of her bad dreams, yet she'd ask him to sit with her just a bit longer until she felt okay about being left alone again.

Even the old Marlena hated to feel so dependent on anyone else, but there was no point in hiding her need to have something, or someone, to hold onto after everything they'd experienced during their years of war and loss. Even superhumans needed a little human connection here and there, even if they weren't very good at vocalizing that need in ways the other person could understand. They just knew each other, and they knew when they didn't want to go through a memory or a moment alone.

"What did you see?" Steve dared to ask her, but she seemed quite stable now in comparison to some of her worst nights.

Marlena swallowed, her throat dry after feeling as if she were choking in her sleep before, "I saw the end."

His brows pulled together, a frown forming on his picturesque face, "The end of what?"

She held her breath, unsure if she wanted to tell him anything more.

"Marlena, please," Steve sighed, hoping with everything in him that she would just go on and be honest with him, "You can tell me."

"The end of us," she whispered breathlessly, her heart thumping.

Steve didn't understand, just as she feared he wouldn't. She searched his eyes for seconds upon seconds hoping that she wouldn't have to explain it any further, as it pained her to even recount the events that played out in her nightmare.