My thighs on the heated leather seats were a welcome feeling. I suddenly became flush at the thought of sitting so close to Bucky, our shoulders just barely touching in the small backseat. We sat in silence, the only sound was our surroundings whizzing past us, Sam going a considerable speed over the limit to get us to safety. I glanced at Bucky who was turned to keep his attention behind us, his eyes darting across the road. "Thank you." My words came out quietly, his eyes turning to look at me. I diverted my attention to the rearview mirror to acknowledge Sam. "Both of you." Sam peered at me for a second and nodded his head in appreciation.
I looked back at Bucky whose attention was still on me. "What's happening to me?" I asked, louder this time, my voice cracking as warm tears filled my eyes. This is not the time I wanted to break down but my body wouldn't let me hold it back anymore. Bucky turned his body forward and I could see his jaw clenching while he thought of how to start this conversation. "I know it's not what you want to hear, but we don't have a lot of information about what's been going on." Sam chimed in. I took a deep breath to keep what composure I still had. "You're the first one we've been able to get away from Ross. We were hoping you would be able to fill in the gaps." He continued, my head snapping up to look at him in the rearview mirror again.
"The first one?" I didn't understand what he meant. "People have been popping up all over the map. Months after The Blip, and none of them are from our reality." Bucky explained. I rubbed the tears away from my eyes and took in another deep breath. "Oh my god. This is really the Marvel universe?" I asked in disbelief, both of them looking thrown off. "Marvel universe?" Sam inquired as I let out a laugh. "You're all from comic books and movies and tv shows where I come from. The Avengers, Dr. Strange, Thanos..." I interpreted, running my hands through my hair and tugging at it, trying to sense if this was all actually happening. "You're not real people in my universe. You're played by actors." Sam began laughing and shaking his head. "Actors? Really?" He swung his head around to look at me, amusement written all over his face.
"Are we any good?" He asked, Bucky sighing in annoyance. "Not the point right now." He pointed out. Sam turned his attention back to the road, chuckling under his breath. "You're actually two of my favorites in the entire series." I mentioned in a hushed tone. Sam broke out laughing, his whole body shaking from it. Bucky shook his head and nudged the back of the driver's seat. "What?! It's hilarious! She probably knows more about us than we know about ourselves!" Sam continued as Bucky gave another sigh. "I apologize for him." He sounded embarrassed but there was an undertone of enjoyment towards the thought. I cracked a smile, barely catching myself staring at Bucky, adoring seeing his reactions in real life.
"I've only ever seen bits and pieces of your lives..." I trailed off, remembering all that they had been though. All of it was real now. I remember how I felt when they lost friends. I could only imagine how they felt.
I brought myself back from my thoughts. "My name is Charlie. Well, Charlotte, but please don't call me that." I introduced myself, holding my hand out to him. His mouth upturned in to a small smile to match mine. "Nice to meet you, Lottie. I'm Bucky." His right hand reached out to mine and grasped it, the feeling of electricity rippling through my body at the sweet nickname he'd just called me. The feeling of his warm skin was exhilarating and I didn't want to let go. Sam cleared his throat from the front seat and waved back at me. "You probably already know me, chopped liver." He trailed off quietly as I pulled my hand away from Bucky's, my face heating up.
There was another lull of silence before Bucky piped up. "It's going to be a long ride. You should get some sleep. We can figure everything out when we get somewhere safe." The thought of sleep was delightful but I was afraid I would wind up in another reality the next time I woke up. "I don't know if that's such a good idea..." I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as I spoke. "You don't have any reason to be afraid. Get some rest." Sam reassured me. I glanced at Bucky once more before apprehensively turning on my side to face the window and snuggling in to the seat, flashes from the street lights soothing me. My eyes closed and I inhaled the smell of the woody cologne coming from Bucky's jacket, still wrapped tightly around my shoulders. It wasn't long before I slipped in to another dream just as weird as before.
"You can always call on me when you're in need of help..." A strange voice came from the darkness that surrounded me, one spot far off in the distance illuminated by an ominous neon blue light. It was pulsing, almost like a heartbeat. "That's what this relationship is about..." The voice continued, this time it sounded a little closer. "It's a perfect balance..." The voice was suddenly only in my left ear. "You help me..." Then in my right ear. "And I help you..." The voice was intoxicating. It sent shivers through my body and had an interesting effect on the most sensitive parts of my body. I felt fear trying to consume me, even more so since I couldn't find my voice to speak back at all, but something was keeping it at bay.
The blue light hovered in its place for a moment before it moved closer to me at a rapid pace and completely engulfed me. I felt the breath leave my lungs as I was entangled in what looked like a blaze of electric blue fire. My first instinct was to scream in pain but the feeling never came. It was warm and inviting and was a similar safe feeling as to when I saw Bucky for the first time. It was odd, because this didn't feel like a dream. I knew I was asleep yet I felt like I had to total control over everything that was going on. Well, at least control of my mind.
"Don't try to think too hard about it, darling..." I felt as if a hand reached up and placed itself under my chin. "When you agreed to help me I, in turn, agreed to offer my services to you. Things will become clearer as time goes on, my heart. Just know that you belong to me..." The hand slowly began sliding down my chin and wrapped itself around my neck. The grip began to tighten and I felt lightheaded. I wanted to call out but no sound would leave my throat. "I'll see you again..." Was the last thing I heard before waking up, startled, still in the back seat of the car.