Personal Soldier

Chapter 5

"Says the guy who's been in all of three Marvel movies, and you were barely in one of them. Delilah shouldn't have been put in any. Who agrees with me?"

A thud reverberated and Delilah abruptly stood. She glanced at Sebastian as her chest began heaving and she ran from the stage.

Anthony covered his mic and said, "Go help her. I got this."

Sebastian nodded and made his way backstage to find Delilah.

When he found her, she was seated on the floor, curled up, knees to her chest.

He sat in front of her and said quietly, "Don't listen to them, Del. You're a great actress. He's just jealous."

Delilah glanced up, blinking away her tears. "They say such hurtful things. Don't they think before they speak? We're people too. I don't need this. Not today."

"I know, printesa. Sometimes people don't think, and I wish they did. Are you gonna be okay?"

Delilah nodded. "Yeah. Go finish the panel."

"Del, are you sure? I don't want to leave you-"

"I'm positive, Seb. Go. It's almost over anyway. I'll work on finding a flight to Harrisburg. Should I get one for you too?"

"Please. You shouldn't be alone, even if you'll be home with family."

Sebastian kissed her forehead and stood. He made his way back on stage and the audience cheered.

Anthony glanced at Sebastian to ask if Delilah was okay and he nodded.

Sebastian held his microphone to his mouth and said, "Making comments like that about people is a shitty thing to do. If anyone makes a comment like that about my wife again, we're gonna have a serious conversation. Delilah is one of the best things to happen to me and if you can't respect that, keep your mouth shut."

"They're a great couple and I, for one, liked the idea of Bucky and Gail," Anthony said. "Delilah did a great job and I hope she'll have the opportunity to be in more movies."

A girl walked up to the mic and asked, "Is Delilah willing to come out here? I have something I want to say to her."

Delilah, who'd overheard, walked back onstage with crossed arms and an icy expression.

The girl smiled and said, "I first saw you in your show about ballet and I fell in love with it. You actually inspired me to start dancing. I know first-hand how hard anxiety can be and you and Sebastian are an inspiration to me to keep on pushing through. I just wanted to say thank you. And to give you this." She held up a painted picture of Bucky and Gail. "Seeing you two sort of portraying your love story brought me so much joy. You two are one of my favorite couples and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for your characters. I really hope your characters get married because that would be adorable."

The girl walked to the stage and handed Delilah the picture.

Delilah knelt down and took the picture.

As she did so, the girl said, "There's always going to be people who don't like a character you play. It all depends on how you choose to see it. Are you going to run and hide or are you going to defend your role?"

"Thank you," Delilah replied quietly. "For this and the reassurance. And great choice of outfit. I see you've, if I'm right, gotten inspiration from Gail."

The girl nodded and smiled as she walked back to her seat.

Delilah stood and walked back to Sebastian and Anthony before saying, "Let that be a lesson to you all. We're all human and it's not okay to say hurtful things about someone else. Think about what you say before you say it."

Anthony scanned the crowd for the boy, found him, and said, "You just unleashed the Winter Soldier. You're lucky he's not wearing his metal arm."

"Ooh I'm so scared!" the boy retorted.

"You should be, because one of the few things that brings out the Winter Soldier in real life is when someone goes after Delilah."

"Delilah! Delilah! Delilah!" most of the crowd chanted.

Delilah's face flushed and she moved closer to Sebastian who wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

As soon as the panel ended, Delilah rushed backstage and began crying.

Sebastian noticed Delilah had disappeared and went to find her. He heard soft sniffles from a room and walked up to her. "Del?"

Delilah met his eyes, trying to blink away the tears. Sebastian dried her tears with his thumbs and pulled her into his arms before saying softly, "It's okay to cry."

That seemed to be all she needed, because the tears she was holding in began falling.

Sebastian's arms tightened around Delilah as she sniffled quietly.

He kissed her head before saying, "I'm here, Del."

"I know," Delilah replied. "And thank you."