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I don’t have to crash. I could give Peggy my coordinates and get safely out of here. Maybe…maybe get that dance she owes me. I’m talking to her now, though I hardly know what I’m saying. Keeping calm, mostly. Just to say goodbye.
This is it, then. My last stop. Bucky’s already gotten off. I don’t want to keep him waiting.
The radio shuts down and a sense of peace passes over me in a wash. The plane’s descending sharper now, and I can see the ice ahead of me. I should be scared. It’s not that I want to die, that’s not it at all. I just can’t keep Buck waiting forever.
I lift my hands off the controls as the ice grows closer. I take a shaky breath, exhaling slowly. I can feel the cold seeping through the glass, biting at my cheeks. It’ll get its chance. I lean back in the seat, shifting slightly.
“I’ll be right there, Buck,” I say softly, unable to keep the smile off my face.
In another life I could have loved Peggy. Maybe I would have. But not when my heart fell with James Barnes off the side of the train. I don’t want to die. But if this sacrifice means I’ll see him again, then it’s worth it.
“Love you, jerk,” I say aloud, the ice rushing up to meet me. I can almost hear his response in my head: Love you too, punk.
I close my eyes.