Annabelle Rogers - James 'Bucky' Barnes

Chapter Twelve

Waking up in sweats from a nightmare Annabelle looked over at the clock to realise she had only been asleep for a couple of hours. Nightmares never appeared when James was next to her but now they have become a nightly occurrence.

Creeping down the hall she paused out the front of one of the spare rooms. The one James has now claimed as his own. She wanted nothing more then to curl up next to him.

Shaking away the thought she headed down into the kitchen. Pouring herself some cereal and a glass of fresh orange juice she headed into the lounge. Turing on the T.V. and curling up on the couch. Beauty and the beast started playing as she took a big mouthful of soggy cereal.

After a few minutes of blankly staring at the T.V thinking about her nightmare she felt a blanket being placed over her shoulders.

Looking up she noticed James standing there with a tired smile, wearing a black t-shirt and tracksuit pants. He leaned over placing a kiss on her head before walking around the couch and sitting down.

"Nightmare?" he asked.

Annabelle nodded, looking back at the T.V.

"Your mum again?" James gestured towards the movie playing.

As much as Annabelle disliked her childhood nickname the movie  some how reminds her of her mum, finding comfort in it when she had her nightmares.

Her nightmares usually grew around her mother and her death. Annabelle was only five when she found her mum overdosed on the bathroom floor. It was a foggy and distant memory that liked to replay every night.

The nightmares have changed over the years. The latest one being her mum screaming on the floor covered in blood telling little Annabelle to run. She would run through the tree covered forest as she hears her mum scream out in pain. That is usually when she jolts herself awake.

All of her countless therapists put it down to guilt for not being able to save her mum and as she gets older and adapts to the real world her nightmares grow darker. She could never shake how real it always felt.

"Wanna talk about it?"

She shook her head, pealing her eyes from the T.V to look up at him. "Why are you awake?"

James looked down into his lap.

"Nightmares?"

He nodded.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked.

He shook his head giving her a smile, a smile to say thank you for asking. He never talked about his nightmares but he liked that she would always ask.

Sitting there together in silence watching the rest of the movie, Annabelle fell asleep perched on the edge of the cushion. James reached over slowly placing the blanket over her body trying not to wake her. She shot up at his touch not wanting to fall asleep again.

"Its okay doll, go back to sleep"

"I - i don't want to have another nightmare" she confessed. "I need coffee"

Springing up from the couch heading straight for the kitchen before a cold mental hand grasped her wrist pulling her back.

"you can't run off a couple of hours of sleep and coffee A.B! you need some rest"

Letting out a sigh of defeat Annabelle knew he was right, she just wanted to avoid living that nightmare for the second time tonight.

Knowing her hesitations James scooped her up in his arms. Carrying the over tired small body into the hallway, shuffling towards his bedroom.