Mercury // S. Rogers (Book Four) ✔

You Have Earthquake Powers?

Monaco, France
December, 2017
18 Months Later

Jolting awake from another nightmare, Freya looks around the room as she tries to catch her breath. The nightmares have increasingly been getting worse and it's taking a toll on her. Sleep is hard time come by now. She's now starting to see the deaths of more people she cares about. Watching helplessly while they turn to dust. Happy. Strange. Even Bucky. Because of her nightmares, Steve is also losing sleep. The thought of it makes her feel terrible. Knowing she's the reason why. Freya takes a deep breath to calm herself. The arm around her waist tightens and pulls her closer to the body behind her.

"You okay, Doll?" Steve's voice is still thick with sleep.

"Yeah. I'm fine," she sighs. He places a kiss on her shoulder and snuggles his face into her neck.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"No." She can feel him sigh at her shortness, but knowing the reason why.

"I'm always here if you want to. Don't worry about waking me up. All I care about is making sure you're okay."

Freya closes her eyes and fights off the tears threatening to form. She intertwines her hand with the one he has draped over her waist.

"Thank you, Spangles." She can feel him smile against her neck at the use of his nickname. She giggles and shivers. "Your beard is tickling me." He lets out a quiet laugh and rubs it against her neck more. "Steve! Knock it off!" She laughs as she tries to squirm away from him. Steve chuckles and pulls her back against him.

"Okay, okay. I'll stop." He snuggles against her and sighs in content. "What do you hear out there?"

Ever since they left Ireland and started jumping from hotel to hotel, Freya has been keeping her mind open. Using her telepathy to identify any threats that will expose them. It of course had driven her crazy at first. Being able to hear the thoughts of everyone around her. The other three tried to tell her not to do it, but she cares about their safety more. She was eventually able to filter out people and focus her powers in a more controlled way. Letting her mind wander, she can now easily go from person to person seamlessly. Reading their thoughts as she encounters them and then moving on without causing herself any discomfort. Freya takes pride in the fact that she's mastered this part of her power completely and that she can rely on it to keep them safe and ahead of any potential threats.

"Well, Sam is dreaming about flying. Again."

"And Nat?" Steve chuckles.

"She's awake. Pissed at Sam with how loud he snores," Freya laughs, knowing exactly how Natasha feels. "And apparently, the pillow she just threw at him didn't wake up him." She feels the rumble of Steve's laughter against her back. The sound of it music to her ears.

"What else, Doll?"

Freya grins at the question. This is something Steve always does with her when they can't sleep. He enjoys listening to her talk about what she can hear that he can't.

"Four floors down, there's a man watching the local news. Another guy that's down the hall is watching a sports channel. Someone just walked into the lobby from a walk. The overnight desk clerk is playing with his phone, bored out of his mind. Seems like everyone else is asleep at the moment. What time is it anyway?" She reaches over to her nightstand and looks at her phone that's charging. Seeing that the time is 4:17 am, she groans. "Ugh, too early. That's what time it is."

"Well, no reason to get up right now. Let me just enjoy the feeling of snuggling with my wife in bed right now," Steve hums sleepily. She chuckles and turns over to face him.