Why me?

The Death

Jess turned seventeen in the October, and now she wasn't in school, she did her college course with me. She pretty much did an apprenticeship in self-defence and being an Avenger. All was going really well until the beginning of December. I got a phone call at around two am, and I knew it wasn't good; phone calls at that time never were.

"Jess? What are you doing up this late, we're training tomorrow?" I could hear her breathing heavily.

"It's Annie. She's sick. I don't know what to do. I'm sorry, I didn't know who else to call." She was nearly screaming now. Something wasn't right.

"OK, Jess, I'm on my way. Stay there. Have you called an ambulance yet?"

"It's on its way. ETA around fifteen minutes. They said to try and keep her calm and get someone else over here, so I wasn't alone. I tried my aunt, but she's working a night shift and doesn't like me much anyway." She was trying to stay calm; she always worked very methodically through things if something wasn't going to plan, trying to know every detail before she did anything.

"I'll be there in five. Jess, it's going to be OK." Though we both knew it was an empty promise.

I got to Jess's house in just over five minutes, and found the house with the door open and paramedics going in. "Jessica?" I called from the driveway, barely out of my car. She flew out of the house and over to me, crashing into me and throwing her arms around my waist, sobs wracking her body. "Hey, Jess, it's gonna be OK." I stroked her hair down and she calmed down a little.

She still had tears still running down her cheeks when she pulled away, but she could at least put together relatively articulate sentence now. "Ok, what happened. Slowly."

"Slowly. She collapsed in her bedroom. I wouldn't have heard her, but I was awake anyway. I ran through and found her having seizure on the floor. I called 911, they sent out an ambulance, then I called you." She said in a hurry, completely ignoring my 'slowly', even thought she'd repeated it.

They took Annie to the hospital, and she stayed in for three days, until the Thursday morning. Bucky and I had taken shifts overnight, staying awake, so if anything happened, we could go to Jess and make sure she was OK.

It was on Bucky's Shift, around four am on Thursday morning, when Jess called in floods of tears.

Bucky POV

"Steve? Can you come and get me? I'm sorry it's so early." She said between sobs.

"Jess, it's Bucky. What's going on? You never leave her side?" Then it hit me, she wasn't there anymore. "Jess I'm on my way, where are you?"

"In the bus shelter just outside the ER. I'm sorry Bucky, you don't have to come."

"Shut up Jess, I'm on my way, Steve will be with me. Stay where you are." She hung up. "STEVE!" I yelled. He crashed out of our room, shirtless and only in his boxers. "Get dressed, we're going to get Jess."

Steve POV

We went to collect Jess and brought her back to the compound. Bucky went back to bed once we were home, leaving me and Jess alone.

She didn't say anything when I gave her a mug of hot chocolate. She said nothing when I threw a blanket over her shaking shoulders. She said nothing when I pushed her down into pillows and took the mug off her when I noticed her falling asleep. The thing that worried me most was the fact she didn't even move when everyone came into the kitchen at eight am, not making any effort to stay quiet until I told them too. Nat came and sat with me.

I was sat on the couch facing her, she was still asleep, but I didn't want to leave. I couldn't even begin to comprehend what was going through her head, but I did know that with her track record of mental health issues, we couldn't afford to leave her alone for extended periods of time. "How come she's here, Cap?" Nat asked quietly, putting her head on my shoulder and yawning. "She never leaves Annie's side?"

"Annie passed away this morning, that's why Bucky and I had to go and get her at four am." I explained. I looked up as Bucky walked in. He stopped upon seeing Jess asleep on the couch and looked at her questioningly, evidently trying to get his tired brain to remember why Jess was here again. His eyes widened and he continued with his morning, mumbling to himself every now and then.

Jess moved in her sleep around an hour later and the blanked fell off her waking her up. She blinked a few times, then sat up. "How're you feeling Jess."

"Absolutely starving, why am I in the compound on the couch?" She said smiling a little, then her face fell, and she put her head in her hands, elbows resting on her knees. "That wasn't a dream, was it? She's really gone."