Lost in the Mirror (Avengers Fan Fiction)

[ 4 ]

"Delaney! Delaney, sweetheart. You've got to wake up!" Steve shook her shoulders roughly in an attempt to wake the intern up.

Her eyes flew open and she grabbed Steve's hands on her shoulders.

"It's just me, Delaney." He spoke softly, his own heart beating rapidly as he watched her. She was terrified. Her eyes were wide, her lips parted, and her hands gripped his wrists tighter than he expected. "You're safe, sweetheart. I promise."

"Steve?" She breathed out, her eyebrows crinkling together as she looking around the room. "What are you....?" She trailed off when she saw a pillow that was smoking. "Oh no."

Her hand moved to hold Steve's hand and she squeezed it.

"I-I didn't-Did I hurt anyone?"

"No, Delaney. An alarm just started to go off and I came in with Barton."

"Barton...." She looked towards the door to see Clint standing in the doorway of her room.

"Hey, kid." He gave her a soft smile.

"You should go make sure everyone else stays away." Steve spoke over his shoulder to Clint. "I've got this."

"Holler if you need me."

The door closed behind the Hawkeye but Delaney couldn't keep her eyes off of where he had been.

"What happened, Delaney?" Steve asked her.

"I-I, um, I don't-I don't know." She shook her head, rubbing her eyes and pushing her hair back out of her face. "It was just a bad dream. I've had it for a while."

Steve watched her with concerned blue eyes, his brows furrowed together like he wasn't sure she was telling the truth.

"Delaney, you had dreams before but you never caught anything on fire like you did just now."

"I didn't mean to, Steve." She whispered, putting her hands down so she could look him in the eyes. "I swear, you know I'd never do anything to hurt anyone."

"Tell me about this dream you've been having." Steve moved closer to her, sitting on the edge of her bed by her feet.

Delaney moved to sit on the bed next to him criss-cross. She took Steve's hand and held it as she spoke, playing with his fingers and examining them.

"I don't know if you know but after I woke up in the hospital in 2005, Agent Coulson suggested that I go to a psychiatrist. I went to see her routinely for a couple years until I didn't feel that I needed her anymore. After Phil died in 2012, I decided I needed to go back to see my psychiatrist. Long story short, I've been seeing her consistently for the past three years, since HYDRA came out of S.H.I.E.L.D." Delaney shifted in her spot and swallowed the lump in her throat. "I always tell her about my dreams and she encourages me to write them down. We were going through my notebook a few months ago and realized I've been having the same dream for the past few years. It doesn't have a pattern but it has the same.... It has consistencies. Recently, the dream has been coming more and more and.... It makes me sick when I wake up, to the point where I want to throw up and I can't go back to sleep."

"What is the dream about?"

Delaney shook her head and rubbed her eyes again.

"Look in the drawer-I have to—," She stood up suddenly and made a beeline for the bathroom.

Steve stood up to see if he could help her, however she all but slammed the door shut behind herself. He glanced around the room, looking for the drawer that she could have been talking about. He decided to wait for her. He didn't want to snoop through her things.