It had been a week since she gave the silver-haired Avenger her number and she had yet to hear from him. He hadn't been back to the diner either. Perhaps he wasn't interested in her offer. She didn't blame him for being wary. Why would you call a total stranger and tell them your deepest worries? Although, therapists were strangers until they weren't. The blonde sighed and rolled over onto her side, ignoring the meow that sounded from the foot of her bed.

This is what she hated the most about working overnights; being unable to sleep after a shift. Blair forced her eyes closed. She needed to get some sort of sleep, even if it was shallow and dreamless. But she couldn't. The harder she tried, the harder it became. Again the blonde sighed, rolling, once again, onto her back. Blair flung her arm over her eyes and whined. Not only did her eyes hurt, they burned. Once again, a meow sounded but was accompanied by the feeling of the cat walking up the woman's torso. She couldn't help but smile when the black cat began to nuzzle against her raised arm, purring. With her free hand, Blair began to stroke the animals back. He always knew when she was upset or anxious. Feeling the cat knead and then lay on her chest, the young woman began to calm down, her breathing becoming slow and steady. Her mind becoming blank.


He had been up for hours, his sisters scream playing non stop in his ears. Pietro sat on the edge of his bed, his head in his hands and his eyes closed against a migraine that was never-ending. He knew he looked a right mess, but he didn't care. There was nothing that could ease the chaos within so it was a burden that he would live with. The silver-haired male pushed on his temples, trying to ease his pain, but it didn't help.

He tossed his head back and looked around his dark room, the only source of light peeking through his blackout curtains. Pietro squinted against the offending stream of sun and rushed to cover it. Sighing he stood by the window in complete and utter darkness. It made him feel calm. Like things were alright, if only for a split second. The pitch black was comforting yet unsettling. It made him want the white noise of the void. It also terrified him, made him think that perhaps he belonged in the void instead of beside his sister.

Without thinking, the enhanced male made a beeline for his bedroom door. He needed to see her, to hold her and bandish any thought of death's void of his mind. He needed Wanda. He stopped suddenly, nearly crashing into the door. He couldn't burden her with this. She was too fragile to talk to her about his death...or his want to be back there, floating in the black void.

Once again, Pietro sat on the edge of his bed, his head in his hands. He squeezed his eyes against the sound of Wanda screaming, the sound of her heart and soul being torn in half. Why couldn't he forget? Why did he have to be the 1%? He just wanted it to stop, to feel like himself again. But there was nothing he could do. Or could he? The enhanced male looked down at a discarded hoodie on the ground in front of him, a yellow lined piece of paper falling out of the pocket. Picking it up, he smoothed out its crumpled edges, pressing the number into the keypad of his smartphone. His thumb hovered over the green phone icon before he sighed and tapped it, placing the device to his ear. Each ring felt like a lifetime and he debated ending the call until it finally connected.

"Ugh...Hello?" The voice on the other end answered, distant and scratchy. Pietro swallowed, this had been a mistake. What the heck was he going to say? Again the voice asked, "Hello?"

"Ah...Blair?" He managed to squeak out before clearing his throat. "It's Pietro, the guy from last week, with the 'A' on his shirt." He continued running his hand through his messy hair.

"...Oh." She was silent for a moment, the only sound that could be heard was the rustling of bedding and the mewling of a cat. "What time is it?" She cursed. "Is everything okay?"

Pietro looked at the digital clock sitting on the table beside him and cursed himself. He must have woken the young woman up. "Sorry to have woken you." The enhanced male apologized, "I should not have called so early, I'll be going now…" He started to pull the phone from his ear.

"It's okay, really. It wasn't a very good dream anyway." Pietro closed his eyes. He could picture the blonde, her short hair messy and her cheeks flushed from the sudden call. "You didn't answer my question."

He chuckled. "You caught me. Again." He wanted to tell her that everything was fine now, that just hearing her ask if he was fine made it so. But he couldn't. "It has...been better." Pietro sighed as he lay back in his bed, eyes still closed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Blair asked before yawning suddenly. "I'm all ears."

Could he trust this woman with his secrets? All of his secrets including the ones that he refused to acknowledge? "You are tired and should sleep…" He started before she cut him off.

"Look, Pietro, you called me for a reason. We don't have to talk about it, yet. We can just talk if you want." The blonde spoke bluntly.

It was refreshing how blunt she was. There was no bullshitting around her and he liked it. She was honest with him and it was something he needed when he couldn't be honest with himself. "I want to," Pietro mumbled. He held his breath, waiting for her to say something and when she sighed a 'good', he exhaled. "Tell me something about yourself."

He could hear the smirk in her voice when she spoke, "Well, as you may have heard already, I have a cat, a very noisy, clingy cat. He's a royal pain in the arse, but I couldn't imagine my life without him. Charlie, Char for short, is ridiculously lazy, and if he could, he would cuddle with me all day." She paused to chuckle and the enhanced male felt his heart flutter. "He's the only thing that helps get me through the day. Knowing that I've got this little creature at home that depends on me helps me push through the rough times." Blair said, her tone changing from cheerful to sullen.

Pietro opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling, eyes adjusted to the pitch black of his room. Maybe he could trust her. At least, with a few secrets. "I...I have these dreams. Nightmares really, that I would not wish on my worst of enemies." He started, his chest feeling tight. "Most nights I wake up in a panic. The...dreams, they follow me into consciousness and they're all that I can think about." Pietro's stomach dropped when the line went silent. He was terrified that he had scared her off, that what he had said had been too much for her. That she wouldn't be able to handle anything else he told her.

"...Thank-you for telling me, Pietro." Finally, Blair spoke, her voice low and soft. "It must have been difficult, confiding in someone you've just met." He nearly groaned in relieve. She hadn't left. He hadn't scared her off. "Can I let you in on a secret? They're just dreams. No matter how real they may seem, they may feel, they're not."

The silver-haired male closed his eyes once again. If only she knew that they were 100% real. That they weren't just dreams, they were memories. He couldn't tell her that, not when she was trying so hard to help. "Do you think they'll ever stop?"

"Yes. In time, when you've healed from whatever trauma you may have been through." Oh, how he wanted that to be true. He craved nothing more than for Blair to be right. Since he had been back, he wanted them to stop. To dream something other than his death.

He sighed, "I sure hope so." He placed his free hand on his chest, feeling his heart beat a steady rhythm.

"Pietro," Again her voice was low and gentle, "everything will be okay. Trust me."

The enhanced male felt his heartbeat quicken at her words. Could he really trust the young woman? How would Blair fix him when he couldn't even fix himself? There was something about the young woman that made him feel as if he could honestly open up to her, but he wasn't sure what it was. Maybe it was because she was an outsider. Ignorant of what had really happened in Sokovia. She was an ordinary person. She was normal and that's all he hoped and wished to be. Normal. Well, as normal as an enhanced individual could be. "Is it alright if I continue to call?" He asked moving the hand on his chest to rest behind his head. He heard her breath hitch and he smiled when she breathed a 'yes'.