Phantom ▷ b. barnes [1] ✔️

xxxxiii. in the end

"Samantha?"

"I'm here," she blinked. Dead.

"What about the plane?" Peggy asked. "Steve, where are you?"

For a moment, they only heard static. Then his voice again, softer this time. "That's a little bit tougher to explain."

"Give me your coordinates," Peggy said. Her shoulders had gone rigid but Sam could see she was fighting to keep the panic from her voice. "I'll find you a safe landing site."

Her own throat tightened. Meg's words echoed through her ears. Don't get on the plane, Sammy. You won't survive the crash.

"There's not going to be a safe landing," Steve whispered. "But I can try and force it down."

You won't survive the crash.

"No--" Sam shook her head, pushing away from Dugan. He said something but she started away, stumbling over her own feet and falling heavily against the wall. She slipped down the the floor, trembling.

Not again, she couldn't go through this again. 

"I'll get Howard on the line," Peggy pleaded. "He'll know what to do."

 "There's not enough time. This thing's moving too fast and it's heading for New York--" For a moment, the transmission faded to static. Then his voice again. "I gotta put her in the water."

Sam squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the sound of his voice. She curled into a ball, shaking her head. Not again, not again.

"Please," Peggy's voice broke. She sounded so shattered, it made Sam want to disappear; if only she wouldn't hear her pleas anymore, hear Steve's defeat. She couldn't bear hearing another goodbye. "Don't do this. We have time. We can work it out."

"Right now I'm in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer a lot of people are gonna die. This is my choice." He was quiet for a second. "Peggy?"

"I'm here," she whispered.

"I'm gonna need a rain check on that dance."

Peggy dropped her head, silent for a moment. "A-alright." Her shaking voice was soft. "A week, next Saturday, at the Stork Club."

"You got it."

"Eight o'clock on the dot. Don't you dare be late. Understood?"

"You know," he said. "I still don't know how to dance."

"I'll show you how. Just... be there."

A sad laugh filtered through the speaker. "We'll have the band play somethin' slow. I'd hate to step on your--"

His voice cut out. Nothing but static came through the speakers, colder than death itself. Peggy made a strangled noise; something between a cry and a sob.

"Steve...? Steve?"

Sam closed her eyes. "He's gone."

Some part of her had known. The second Meg's words had come echoing back, some twisted part of her had known. But it didn't make it hurt any less.

Dugan said something, but she wasn't listening anymore. Sam wrapped her arms around her legs, pulling them in close, and sat there. She'd stopped trembling. She only sat now, eyes shut, head on her knees.

She could hear Peggy sobbing.

But from her own closed eyes, no tears fell.

He's gone.