Into the Snow || A Captain America Love Story

59

Steve

Tori sleeps with her head on my chest, not moving except when she breathes. We talked until the early hours of the morning about personal things and work. We went off topic a lot when we chatted about the fires, which usually ended up with us rolling laughing about something like llamas.
I still lay awake, not being able to sleep. The memories of brainwashing and the fire haunt my brain, which lead to things like when I crashed the plane on the ice. I think about the child that almost had his life taken by the fire earlier that day. I hear Tori's shriek when the ceiling fell around her while she was returning the boy to safety.
I think about how she didn't hesitate to run out of the building, even with an injured leg. She didn't care about herself at all in those moments, only the boy.
I remember taking the child to his mother and seeing that Tori wasn't capable to walk. That child was her responsibility at that moment, and she wasn't going to not do her part. I wonder what went through her mind at that moment in time, and why she didn't tell me that she was severely injured.
I start to compare her screams: the one when the ceiling collapsed and when she was being injected with the serum that caused her to have life saving powers. The one with the serum was weaker, but filled with pain. The other was with pure terror.
When she was injected, it was just her. When the ceiling collapsed, she was with me and the child. The most recent one scared her the most, when she was taking care of another life.
I hold Tori closer to me, resting my head on hers. I smile, thinking of how she cares about a boy that she doesn't know more than herself.
I feel Tori inch closer to me and she starts to shiver. I reach for the blankets and pull them up. She still shakes in her sleep. I look down at her. Her eyes are squeezed shut and her breaths are uneven.
"Tori?" I whisper.
She inches closer to me and makes herself as small as possible.
"Tori?" I ask again, lightly shaking her shoulder.
"S-S-Steve," Tori mumbles in her sleep.
"Victoria," I say. "Please, wake up."
"Steven!" Tori screams, bolting upright from my chest.
"Tori," I tremble.
She whips her head to face me, a tear running down her cheek. Her eyes are filled with fear and are a bit bloodshot.
"S-S-Steve," she cries.
Tori wraps her arms around me and sobs into my shirt. I take her in my arms and whisper comforting things to her.
"It's okay," I coo. "It was just a dream."
"Steve," Tori sobs. "Y-Y-You died."
"I-I'm right here, I didn't die."
I stroke her hair as her tears flow. I take one of her hands in mine, gently running my thumb across her soft skin.
"It's okay," I tell her.
Tori looks up at me, her eyes even more bloodshot and wet streaks going down her cheeks. She closes the gap between us, resting her hands on the back of my neck. I run my fingers through her hair as I savor her taste. She pulls away to catch her breath, staring deeply into my eyes. Her brown orbs glint white in the dark room. I stare back into her beautiful eyes, not wanting to look away.
     I pull her closer to me, our lips colliding once more. She kisses back, but more than she ever has before. I kiss back in the same way, putting my hand on her hip. Her fingertips peek into my hair, slowly going up. We pull away at the same time for air.
     "You little renegade," Tori breathes.
     "And I'm the only one?" I smirk.
     "No," she grins. "But I just have one foot over the boundary. You're miles away from it, darling."
     "And is that a good or a bad thing?"
     "Good,"