Is Love Forever? [1]

More Nightmares

They drove back to Scott's house. Hope stayed silent the whole way there. Scott could see that she was upset, so he didn't pry. He knew she would open up to him about it when she was ready. When they got back to the house, she went straight upstairs and got ready for bed. Scott did the same. He still thought it was best not to ask, but she hadn't said anything since leaving Hank's house. He was getting concerned about her. Finally, when they were both in bed, she broke. He could hear her crying softly, and that's when he knew there was something wrong. "Hope, what's wrong?" He asked, turning to face her, his face filled with concern. She didn't answer. "Are you okay?" He asked. The fact that she still wasn't responding scared him. "No, Scott, I'm not okay!" She cried, shaking, still not facing him. He pulled her closer to him, hugging her tightly, her back against his chest. "I'm sorry, it's not your fault. I know tonight was supposed to be special, and I just had to go and ruin it." She whispered. "You didn't ruin anything. And this night was and still is special. You said yes, didn't you? To me, that qualifies as a pretty special night." He said comfortingly. "I-I should have gone in with you. Leaving you to face him alone was a mistake." He said, shaking his head. "Don't say that. He would have just reacted worse if you were there. Like I said, we don't have to worry about him anymore." She said, turning to him. "I know you were outside. I know you heard everything. Imagine how he would have reacted if he knew you were there with me." She said. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea that he would be so angry. Especially at you. I thought that he would only be mad at me, but I guess I was wrong... I would have come in to back you up, but I had a feeling that it would just make things worse." He admitted. "I just can't believe he brought that up. He knew how much it affected me, and he still....." She didn't finish her sentence as tears started to well up in her eyes. He knew what she was referring to. He was about to say something when he noticed that her breathing was heavier and much faster. She was having a panic attack. "Hey, look at me. Look at me, okay? I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere, I promise. We're both safe now." He assured her, trying to calm her down. After doing some research, Tony had found out that Hope's attacks were just really severe panic attacks. And that if a normal panic attack got bad enough, it would result in a much more fatal attack. Scott knew he had to calm her down, or things would get much worse. "I'm here. There's nothing to worry about." He said, forcing himself to smile even though he was panicking himself. Her breathing slowed and evened out as she snuggled closer to him, his heartbeat being the only thing she could focus on to slow her breathing. "See, you're okay." He said, kissing her forehead lightly. "Thank you..." She said, before drifting off to sleep. He watched her for a few minutes, just to confirm to himself that she was going to be okay. But he still couldn't believe that Hank had stooped so low. He made Hope remember the time when Scott had left her, when her mom died, when everything around her was changing, and not for the better. Scott wouldn't have been surprised if that was where her anxiety started. How could her own father do that to her? He looked at her one last time before closing his eyes and falling asleep. His dream started out nice enough. He and Hope were married, they were both Avengers, and in this dream, he could see that Hope was pregnant. They were going to have a family together. Then things took a turn for the worst. Everything went black, and then a single spotlight appeared. The light revealed Hope lying on the floor, battered and bruised. He tried to go to her, but he was stuck in place. Then a shadowy figure materialized in front of her. They took out a gun and held it to her head. "Scott! Please, help me! Please!" She cried, tears streaming down her horror-stricken face. He tried to move, but no prevail. He tried to call out to her, but his voice wouldn't work. Then, the figure pulled the trigger. "No!" He yelled, sitting straight up in bed. Hope sat up next to him, fear and worry etched into her face. "Scott, are you okay?" She asked. He didn't answer, he just looked at her, dazed. "Scott? Scott, answer! You're scaring me." She said, shaking his shoulders. Seeing her face so full of fear snapped him out of it. The last thing he wanted was for her to be afraid. Especially when it came to him. "I'm fine." He lied. "No, you're not. I've never seen you like that before." She said, her concern evident. "Talk to me, please." They both laid back, and after a minute he finally said, "It was just a dream." "Scott, you're talking to someone who has had severe, traumatic, and not to mention, life-threatening dreams. I know I nightmare when I see one. What was this one about?" She asked. "How did you know?" He asked. "I'm kind of a nightmare expert now, especially after this past month." She replied, her head on his chest. "Exactly why you don't need any more nightmare fuel. Besides, it wasn't that bad." He lied again. "You do know you talk in your sleep, right?" She said. "What did I say?" He groaned. He couldn't believe that she had heard him. But what did she hear, and how much did she hear? "Nothing at first. You actually seemed to be enjoying your dream. But about a minute later, you tensed up. You started to mumble, "Don't shoot." You kept saying it louder and louder until you woke up." She said. She hated seeing him like that and not being able to do anything about it. She had tried to wake him up, but he was in too deep a sleep. It had really scared her. He sighed. "Well, I guess that pretty much summed it up." He said. "Please, just tell me what happened." She begged, looking up at him. "I guess I have to, considering I did read your journal to find out more about your nightmares." He said. "Okay, so, what happened?" She asked again. "Well, you were right, the dream did start out nice. We were married, we were both officially Avengers, and we were starting our own family. But then something happened. I saw a room that was completely dark except for one spotlight. The spotlight revealed you on the floor, cut, bruised, and bleeding. I tried to go to you, but I was frozen in place. Someone appeared in front of you and held a gun to your head. You asked me to help you, but I couldn't move. They- they pulled the trigger. And then I woke up." He finished. His voice broke slightly when he remembered her terrified face. "Oh, Scott... I'm so sorry. It wasn't real. It was just a dream." She said, repeating the same thing Natasha had said about her nightmare hours before her dream became a reality. Wait... In her dream, she had seen Scott "dead" under a pile of wreckage, which happened. She also saw her and Scott fighting together, which they did. They fought against Thanos together. And the last thing she saw was...her and her dad arguing. Everything from her dream had come true. How was that possible? "I don't know, it just seemed so real, just like....." He trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished. "Just like what?" She asked. "Nothing. You don't need to worry about it." He said. "Scott, what was it just like? This is important." She said. He sighed. He really did not want to do this. "About two weeks ago, you came downstairs and asked me what that crashing sound was. I told you I dropped something, which was true, but I didn't tell you why I dropped it. While I was making breakfast, I had a dream, but it wasn't really a dream. More like a vision I guess... But I saw myself on the battlefield, holding your body in my arms. I wondered what it meant, but then..." He shuddered at the memory of Hope's dying face. It doesn't matter how she was brought back, it didn't change the fact that she had died in his arms. "Why didn't you tell me about this?" She asked. "I didn't want to worry you. But this dream felt so real that I'm afraid that it might come true again." He said. Watching her die had been devastating. He didn't know what he would have done if she stayed dead. Well, that's not true. If Hope had really died, he would have killed Thanos himself! But that was all over now. He had to think about the present. And if he was being honest with himself, the present was pretty good. Hope had said yes to his proposal, and he knew that they would be happy together. And nothing could change that. 

                                                                              Author's Note

I tried to lean more into the sadder part of the book in this chapter and the next one might have some sad bits as well. So, get used to it! This relationship has A LOT of drama, which we Scope shippers live for.