I wrote this because I need a break from studies.

Title from Shakespeare poem.

She never told her love,

But let concealment, like a worm i'th' bud,

Feed on her damask cheek. She pined in thought,

And with a green and yellow melancholy

She sat like Patience on a monument,

Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed?

(Twelfth Night, 2.4)

1. Her strength

From the moment he met Maria Hill he knew she was a strong woman. She was physically strong due to the basic training she underwent as a junior agent (and until now she worked out for like 4 hours every day) and she was emotionally strong enough to become the Deputy Director of SHIELD.

But there was something that he didn't know.

He held her hands in his. 'The EMTs are on their way. You'll be fine.'

'I know,' she smiled weakly. She was losing a lot of blood.

'Are you okay?'

'I'm fine,' she closed her eyes for a second. 'It's nothing. I can handle this.'

She didn't have special serum like Natasha and him did, and she wasn't under any anaesthetic drug (he doubted she would use that).

It was that moment he realised she had suffered more than anyone could imagine until physical pain became nothing at all to her.

2. Her scars

When she was in the ward he saw her scar.

It was not obvious actually, but when he let go of her hand ('I didn't want her to get cold,' he argued when Natasha teased him afterwards. 'It's cold.') he saw the scar.

He was certain that it was done by a cut on the wrist.

'I don't really want to talk about this,' she whispered. 'But my mother- She's the only reason why there's no second scar.'

Brief, almost gone unnoticed- but he saw a flash of sadness in those silver blue eyes.

He cursed himself for bringing up the question in the first place.

3. Her feelings

With your smile you light up something deep inside me. Something I had thought long dead.

With your touch you heal me. Parts of me that I didn't realise were broken.

With your love you make me into a different person. You make me feel loved, and complete.

Steve,

I wish I'd said something before it was too late.

I wish you could hear me now.

Looking at the date he realised she wrote this after DC. After she thought he was dead.

He turned and looked at her. She was lying on the bed, frail and delicate.

And it hurt him so much when he realised it was all because of him.

+1. Her love.

She caught him unguarded when she held his hands.

'I love you, Steve. I really do.'

He didn't tell her how many hours she had been out.

He didn't tell her that he had read her personal diary and found the exact words in it, but he was still happy to hear her saying it out.

In fact listening to her voice itself was enough to make him happy.

She had been writing to him, indirectly. And he thought he could understand why she hid the diary away from him. The woman he loved was always reserved and careful around people. It was the only way she knew to avoid pain and hurt.

But he figured she would find out he had invaded her privacy very soon, since that was the only way he could find out the name she gave their child while she was in coma.

Giselle Sarah Natasha Rogers.

He thought it was the most beautiful name for their little girl.

He placed the tiny, pastel blue bundle in her arms, taking her hand gently and watched her face glow up like the Christmas tree he set up for their first Christmas together as the newborn stared into her mother's face with curiousity.

(And he tried to ignore the tears in his eyes.)

Please let me know what you think. :)