Stay With Me

22. In Dreams

Avengers Compound, New York. August 4th, 2018

Steve shoots up, breathing so hard he can barely catch it, sweat pools across his brow, dripping down his chest and back. The sheets under him are soaked through. The rooms tilts as nausea rises in his throat. He looks around frantically, trying to get his barrings.

The room is dimly lit, a pale blue light peaks through the shades across the room. Juliette's fragile outline lays next to him. Her chest rising and falling as she steadily breaths. Steve lifts a shaking hand to her nose and sighs feeling the air leave her body.

"Are you alright Captain?" Dr. Cho asks as she enters the room. Steve gives her a look she can't quite decipher as she moves towards Juliette. "FRIDAY informed us you were in distress. Your heart rate alert was sent to Mr. Stark. Are you alright?"

Steve lays back against the pillow, he exhales hard through his nose to try and steady his nerves before answering. He eyes Juliette for a moment. Seeing the color has returned and her body has shifted, turned towards him. She looks like she's simply taking a nap. Not refusing to wake up for days.

"I'll be better when she wakes up."

Cho nods. "I've been thinking about that quite a lot actually. There's an experiment I'd like to try, with your help of course."

"I'll help in any way I can." Steve instantly agrees, not caring what part he has to play, he'll do anything to get Juliette to wake up.

Cho sits in the chair Steve occupied for days before the bed was brought in for him, she crosses her legs at the ankles and folds her hands in her lap. "I would like to adhere censers to Juliette, and track her brain activity."

"But you said her brain activity was within normal ranges."

"It is. But I want to see how she reacts when you talk to her directly."

Steve shakes his head. "But I've been doing that. It's not working."

"When you talk to her, what do you talk about?"

"I ask her to wake up, and stay with me. I promise her that I'm not going to leave her or I tell her stories about our time together before everything bad happened."

"You're talking to her about you past together and the present?"

"Yes. What else am I going to talk to her about?"

"The answer is simple. Your future together. You've been reminding her about the trauma she experienced or how wonderful your life together was before it. It's possible she's choosing to stay asleep because in dreams, you're hers. There is no trauma. Only you."

Steve scoffs. "So you want me to tell her lies?"

"No. Not lies, your hopes and dreams for the two of you. As detailed as possible. Give her something tangible to look forward to, something to hope for herself. Right now she probably associates you with what happened. We need to reprogram her thinking so that when she thinks of you, it's not tainted with all the negative. This is just a theory but I think it'll work. If nothing else, maybe she'll wake up."

Steve agrees and throws on a t-shirt, he needs a shower. "How long will it take for you to set her up?" Maybe he can get a shower in before Cho wants to try the experiment. Besides it'll give him time to figure out what to say. There's so many parts of their future he wants to tell her, so many things he wants for them. He needs a minute or two so he can get his desires in order.

"About 15 to 20 minutes. The censors might take a little to sync together."

"Can I shower?"

Cho nods without looking at him as she fiddles with the tablet in her hand. "It will probably help, she's used to your scent. Shaving might also be a good idea."