Is Love Forever? [1]

Nightmares

Scott sat on the bed next to Hope as she closed her eyes and fell asleep. She looked so peaceful. Like he knew she had before he'd turned her life upside down. He imagined that she hadn't had a good sleep in a while. 

He couldn't help but smile. She was safe, and that was all that mattered. After a minute, he got up and walked back to the computer. He was going to finish the video. He needed to find out what happened to her to make her so shaken up. 

He made sure the volume was low enough that it wouldn't wake her up. He pressed play and watched as Hank dusted away. Hope was still running towards the van. Even though he couldn't see her face, Scott could hear her crying softly. She ran up to the control board and picked up the radio. "Scott, it's me. I don't have time to explain. You have to listen to me." She said through the radio. "Hope?" "Listen, I don't have much time. My dad is gone. I'll bring you out." She said and started to pull the lever on the console. 

Her GPS started to beep, and Scott knew she was being called back to the present. "No, no, no..." She sounded like she was panicking. The machine powered up, and she picked up the radio again. "Scott, do exactly what I say. When you get out, I won't be here. I'll still be at the hospital. Go there as fast as you can. I won't remember anything from right now, okay." 

"I trust you." His past self said. Her GPS started to beep even more rapidly. "I love you, Scott. Never forget that." 

Seconds later, she was back in the quantum realm, but this time it was different. The first time she had gone through the quantum realm, it looked beautiful. This time the lights were severe and red. The first time they had been a very soft olive green color. 

He remembered the research he had done with Hope before they had started dating. They had a theory, that the color of the quantum realm looks different to each person. And for the quantum realm to have so many intense colors meant that Hope had been upset by something that had happened. He could hear one thing through all of the chaotic noise of the quantum realm, Hope crying. 

Then she was back on the platform. She looked from Natasha to Bruce to Tony, but as soon as she saw him, she went into severe shock. She started to fall, and then Scott saw himself next to her and Tony removing the GPS. Then the video ended. 

Scott couldn't believe what he had just seen. It was all his fault. He should have never let her go instead of him. It was too much for her. He needed to talk to Tony. He walked out of the room, but not before deleting the video. Hope wouldn't want anyone else to see it. 

He found Tony in the hallway. "Did you watch the video?" He asked him. "Yes, I did, and I think I know what triggered the shock," Scott replied. "What?" 

Scott didn't want to tell him everything, so he said, "She went back to the day Thanos snapped, and then she saw her dad dust away."

"Did she wake up yet?" 

"Yes, she did, but I told her to get some sleep." He nodded. 

"Okay, that's fine, but when she wakes up again, tell her she can go home if she wants to. We aren't doing anything else today." 

"Why? What happened?" Scott asked. He knew Tony wanted to do the test run and the infinity stone research on the same day. "When we downloaded the program to my computer, it caused glitches for all the other GPSs, and now I need to fix them." He explained. "Uh Tony, we have a problem..." Bruce said from the other end of the hallway. Tony groaned. "What now!?" He muttered. 

Scott took the opportunity and left. He walked back into the room and thought he heard Hope's voice. He walked over to her bed, but she was still asleep. "Scott, stop!" She yelled. She was talking in her sleep. And she was clearly having a nightmare. He tried to wake her up, but it didn't work. She was in a really deep sleep. 

"Don't leave me! Stop Scott, please! Don't leave me... Don't go..." She pleaded. Scott tried to wake her up again, and after a few seconds, he succeeded. When she woke up she jolted up and stared at him, almost scared. 

"Hope, it's okay. It's me." He said, trying to comfort her. "Are you okay?"  

She never had nightmares, or at least never one that bad, so naturally, he was concerned. Her breathing was heavy, and her facial expressions showed pure panic. She looked at Scott with a look of absolute relief. He put his arms around her, and she put her head on his chest. 

"Hope, you know I'd never leave you, right?" "I know." She nodded. But she didn't sound certain. "If I'd known how it would've affected you, I never would have let you go."  

"I thought I could change it, Scott, I thought I could fix it..." She said softly. "Fix what?" 

"Thanos killing my dad, you getting lost in the quantum realm, the two years we both missed out on together." She said sadly. "I know..."  

He explained that he had seen everything that had happened through a camera hidden in her GPS. 

"I wonder what life is going to be like for us in that universe," Hope said wistfully. "Well, we wouldn't have spent two years apart, and we could get everyone back sooner." He reasoned. "But everything happens for a reason." 

He couldn't say that he didn't want the life they already had. Their experiences had built their relationship. "Tony said we could go home as soon as you felt up to it," Scott informed her. "Great, because I don't care if I have to fly out of here. I don't want to be in this "hospital" room another damn minute." She hated the hospital environment. 

"You got it." He smiled. The old Hope was shining through. 

                                                                      Author's Note  

If you are wondering why Hope saw the quantum realm as the color olive green, it's because that's the color of Scott's eyes. Didn't know if you picked up on that yet, so I figured I'd just tell you.