(So I was unsure if I wanted to upload it since it's kind of just a sweet fluffy couple story featuring Captain America and my OC Agent Grace Collins. I hope you like this feel good piece I wrote and that I didn't pull Steve out of character. I may write more based on these characters. I own nothing but my OC.)
...
"Grace?" His voice came out sounding a bit hoarse and sleep ridden as he rolled over on his side to watch as the love of his life carefully brushed her hair down in front of her vanity mirror, a long black hair clip clutched between her teeth.
"Hmm? What's up Steve?" Grace asked, peering at the Captain through the mirror as she took care not to drop her hair clip.
Unable to help the sigh that softly escaped his lips, Steve looked down at the sheets and fiddled with the corner of the comforter he was still covered in before responding.
"Do you have to go?" His question made Grace freeze with the brush halfway down her hair and Grace let out a choked sounding laugh, causing the hair pin to fall from her mouth.
"What?" Steve asked, confused as to why she was laughing at his question.
Grace shook her head. "I'm sorry! It's just I'm usually the one whining about you having to leave all the time for your missions and...I guess I never thought our places would ever be switched." She explained still giggling a bit as she bent to pick up her hair clip and resumed her work on her hair.
As it dawned on him, Steve began to laugh too and sat up higher on the bed until he was sitting up, the blanket falling at his waist.
"Sorry. It's just today is one of the rare times when I don't have to be on a mission of my own and I got to say I'm a little disappointed I can't spend the day being with my best girl." He said honestly as Grace finished pinning her hair back.
She turned from the mirror to face him. "I'm not going to be gone the whole day. Just until 4:00 after all the bad guys are dead and my partner is finished telling me I suck and need to train more." Grace joked earning a slight frown from her husband in response.
"You do not suck. Who tells you that?" Steve asked demandingly, his eyes usually full of warmth and compassion narrowing in indignance.
Grace laughed seeing him look so seriously ticked at the thought of someone even daring to talk her down.
"No one Darling. I was just kidding around." She quickly fastened a necklace around her neck and moved to stand right next to the bed where Steve still sat.
His expression hadn't changed. "Is it Sam? Or Clint?" He asked, knowing that both of the guys he mentioned sometimes gave Grace a hard time whenever they were off on missions together, but usually it was all in good humor and it never went too far.
Grace shook her head reassuringly at him.
"No Steve. I really was joking. I'm the best super agent next to Nat and Maria, remember?" She chuckled and sat down on the edge of the bed next to Steve who finally relaxed.
"You're darn right you are." He smirked, putting his hand on her back.
"Although if you asked Fury, I think he prefers your metal frisbee to my kinetic barriers any day." Grace shrugged then and Steve shook his head, ignoring the way she referenced his shield.
"That's not true." He cooed, pulling his strong, well muscled arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him almost making her fall onto the bed.
Letting out a shriek, Grace threw out her hands to catch herself before she could face plant on the bed laughing as her fingers found themselves bracing her against Steve's lap.
"Steve! What are you doing? I almost fell, you silly!" Grace laughed as Steve slightly stuck out his lower lip at her.
"I don't want you to leave yet." He confessed, whining a bit as he kept his arm laced around Grace's waist. "I want to hold you for a little longer."
Sighing at how cute and needy he looked, Grace leaned over and pressed a soft quick kiss to his forehead, tousling his bed hair with her fingers before straightening and grabbing his hand to try to pry him off of her.
"Who knew that Captain America could be so clingy?" She teased affectionately, not having much luck getting him to let go since he was physically much stronger than her.
A light dusting of pink colored Steve's cheeks then, but his eyes turned serious again at her jest.
"I am not clingy. I just want to spend as much time with you as I can since I can't have you for the whole day." He said seriously as if he were trying to convince an adversary to stand down.
"Uh huh. Sure Captain." Grace felt herself melt at how sincere he sounded, but she gently grabbed his hand and held it between her own much smaller ones, finally managing to get his arm off of her.
Steve gave her a protesting look. "Gracieeee..."
"I'll be back at four-thirty and then we can hang out all we want. I'll even pick up a deluxe pizza for us to share while we watch a movie or something. I've kind of been hankering for a pizza lately to tell you the truth." She beamed, pressing an affectionate kiss to his hand before moving to walk back to her dressing table where she left her handbag.
Sighing Steve carefully swung his legs to the floor and stood, walking quickly across the room until he was standing directly behind his wife.
Grace smiled when she felt him breathe a bit on her neck and turned to face him, securing her equipment pouch to her belt simultaneously.
"Have a great day then Grace and be careful. I'll have movies picked out from the stack I haven't seen yet for us to watch when you get back. Oh! And some music too." Steve said with a slightly apprehensive smile, planting his hands gently on her shoulders before pulling her in for a kiss.
Smiling back, Grace returned the kiss and snuck in another one before pulling away. "Sounds great, but it's just a short recon mission Stevie. Everything will be okay. Just make sure you pick a slow song. You know how I dance." She giggled, putting her hands at his sides and feeling how warm and strong he was through the t-shirt he was wearing.
Steve chuckled at her words. "You're a wonderful Dancer, Darling." He tried to pull her back closer to him, but this time Grace put her hand on his chest.
"If by wonderful you mean the clumsiest two left footer in the universe." She laughed and turned to slip away from him. "Bucky said it himself when he was trying to teach me for our wedding. I'll see you at four o clock, Captain."
Steve laughed and followed her, well familiar with the stories his best friend told him about his attempts to get Grace ready for the obligatory first dance.
"Yeah, but to be honest I think it was more awkward for him to try and teach me." Steve commented dryly, squirming a bit as he briefly recalled the lessons, which if he was being honest would not make him cringe as much as it did if Clint hadn't decided to stick his head into the training room at one point.
"Yeah, Buck told me what Clint did. I still need to get him back for that." Grace muttered, turning to smile at Steve as he continued to follow her down the stairs, not about to miss walking her to her car before resigning himself to the task of finding things to do until four o clock.
"I love you." He said as they reached the bottom of the stairs together. His words made Grace stop and turn to face him again.
"I love you too." She bent to pull on her shoes, trying not to break eye contact with her love as she did so.
Steve closed the distance between them nearly making Grace bump her head on his chest as she came back up to a full standing position.
"One last hug before you go?" Steve asked, holding out his arms as he asked. Unable to deny him, Grace moved willingly back into his arms into the embrace she loved and counted on for so many bad days.
"You are definitely a little clingy Cap, but I love that about you." Grace whispered into Steve's ear, kissing his lips one more time before pulling away and heading out the door.
Steve sighed shaking his head though he was unable to stop the smile that stretched his cheeks as he moved to get the front door for Grace.
"I am not clingy."
...
7:00 P.M.
"Hello?" Grace casually picked up her phone smiling since she saw her beloved's name flashing on the screen just before she hit receive, unprepared for the barrage of worried questions she was about get an earful of.
"Grace? Are you okay? Where are you? Are you hurt? Did the mission go badly? What's going o-?"
"Whoa whoa! Slow down Captain Precious!" Grace quickly cut Steve off using his nickname only she called him by and laughing a bit at how panicked he sounded though she didn't laugh too hard since she knew she was the exact same way with him when their positions were switched.
Noticing the smug look Maria gave her, Grace got up from the chair she had been sitting in waiting to get called into Fury's office and walked down the hall a bit to get some privacy.
"I'm okay. I'm at the Avengers Tower about to give the boss man my report with Maria. Sorry to worry you Love, but we got delayed coming back because of a nasty storm that suddenly kicked up out of nowhere while we were flying past Vancover. The mission went fine though I promise." She soothed, hoping to calm Steve down a bit as she could still hearing him breathing audibly from the other end of the line.
"Oh God Darling, you had me scared something had happened! Why didn't you at least answer your phone? I called at least twenty times to trying to get a hold of you when you didn't come home on time." Steve continued to worry, talking much quieter this time. Grace sighed a bit guiltily.
"I'm so sorry Steve. We must have lost connection during the storm and I was pretty tired after taking out so many hostiles. I actually crashed about thirty minutes into the flight. Speaking of which do I really snore?" Grace suddenly shifted the conversation, blushing a bit as she recalled the way Agent Dove one of the minor agents who had been assigned to her and Maria's squad made a sarcastic remark about it when she woke up.
"Uh..." Steve trailed off and Grace felt her heart sink at the wordless confirmation in his hesitation. "Oh Lord, I thought Dove was just being a prat. How do you stand sleeping next to me?" She wailed earning a hearty amused laugh from her husband in return.
"You don't snore loud, Gracie. Just...you know like a big purring kitten or something. It's cute." Steve insisted. Grace still shook her head, sliding down against a wall to sit on the floor to relieve her sore legs.
"Great."
"It is! Darling would I lie to you?" Steve asked and Grace snorted a soft laugh, shaking her head again even though she knew Steve couldn't see it.
"No. But I'm still mortified to learn that I'm a snorer. You're sure I'm not as loud as Tony?" She asked anyway knowing she sounded insecure.
"Oh not even close. He sounds like a herd of elephants Sweetheart. I'm not even kidding. It's seriously hard to tell whether it's him or the jet engine when he conks out after a mission." Steve laughed and this time Grace laughed with him.
"Okay I believe you then." She paused as a yawn shuddered through her lips, making her feel her exhaustion more than she did before.
"Still tired?" Steve asked, hearing the yawn. Grace nodded, letting her eyes fall half closed as she laid her head against the hard wall behind her.
"So tired and my whole body is killing me. I am so ready to get out of this building and back home to you, Stevie. I'm sorry I messed up our dance and movie night though. I was really looking forward to it." She apologized, her eyes flying open when someone burst out of the door on her left, slamming the door a little.
Looking up and seeing that it was Dr. Banner, likely working late on another top secret project, she smiled and waved at him, getting one in return before the scientist/avenger hurried off in the direction of the restrooms.
"I was too, but it's all right Darling. Don't worry about it. We can do all that another time. Do you want me to do anything before you get home? Dinner? A bath? First aid kit?" Steve responded making Grace smile at the thought of a nice hot bath to wash off the ache and grime of the mission before her stomach rumbled, reminding her she hadn't eaten since the sandwiches she and Maria had quickly devoured on the jet ride to their mission location.
"Dinner sounds amazing and so does the bath, but you don't need to do anything. I'm pretty sure you're worn out too from whatever you did today plus worrying about me." She joked lamely, stretching her legs out just as she noticed Maria trying to wave her over from the other end of the hall.
"You know now that I think about it, I wonder if our demi-god friend had anything to do that storm that we got tossed in." Grace added casually at the end, hearing an audible short chuckle on the other end of the line.
"Well next time I see him, I'll ask. And I don't mind getting some things set up for you. I actually picked up a box of pizza earlier to surprise you and I left at least half of it in the box. I'll go now and run a bath so it'll be ready when you get in." Steve offered, some noises following his words as he presumably got up from wherever he had been sitting and moved to get to the bathroom.
Grace's smile widened as she slowly got up from the floor and nodded to Maria to let know she was on her way back.
"Sounds amazing. I got to go now though. Fury calls." She responded, walking as quickly as she could to get back down the hall. Steve chuckled.
"All right. I'll see you soon. Love you." He said softly in a voice full of affection. Grace responded by blowing a kiss into the mouthpiece of her phone. "Love you more." She giggled, reaching Fury's office and putting her hand on the doorknob.
"Love you most." Steve countered and Grace rolled her eyes just before noticing the look Fury was giving her through the glass windows in his office.
"Fury's giving me the stink eye. I really got to go now." She chuckled and started to pull her phone away from her ear. "Bye then." Steve answered and Grace brought her finger down on the hang up button. "Bye."
...
8:00 P.M.
"Darling? Is that you?" Steve's voice echoed from across the house as Grace tiredly let herself in through the front door of their house, wincing when her right arm ached the second she tried to take her jacket off.
"Yeah, it's me!" She called back, subconsciously moving her hand to give her sore arm a soothing rub as she hung her coat on the coat rack, dropped her bag on a table and dragged her feet to the bedroom where she knew Steve was waiting.
"Grace!" Steve's soft yet ecstatic voice made Grace opened her eyes again just in time to get her face squished against her husband's strong broad chest as he wrapped her in a tight yet loving embrace.
Grace groaned when the strength of his embrace caused some of her sorest muscles to burn, prompting Steve to let go of her almost immediately.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you need the first aid kit?" He asked all at once, about to go back to the bedroom when Grace stopped him with a hand to his arm.
"I'm okay Sweetie. Just sore. The uniforms may be bullet proof, but they're certainly not bruise proof." She joked lamely, rubbing her eyes as she attempted to stretch out her arms and roll her shoulders gently.
Steve gave her a sympathetic look before gently snaking his arm around her waist. "No they're not."
"Plus having to throw out multiple kinetic barriers like I did today really draws your arms after awhile." Grace added, grimacing again as she tried to knead out the pinched muscles in her right arm.
"Well then I say you're fortunate to have an amazing husband who just finished drawing a hot bath for you. Come on! I'll go heat up your pizza while you soak and wash up." He said softly, smiling again as he gently guided his wife through the bedroom where he had left the door to the adjoining bathroom open.
Grace leaned gratefully against his shoulder for a second relishing the feel of his body against hers. "What did I do to deserve you as my own?" She asked softly, feeling herself relax more at the sight of her and Steve's bedroom.
Steve responded by dropping a soft kiss to her temple. "I ask myself that about you all the time." He chuckled through the sincerity in his voice.
Grace turned and kissed the base of his neck before pushing off and walking to the dresser to grab some clean undies and pajamas to change into after bathing.
"Oh! By the way...I don't know if this is a good time to spring this on you, but I'm leaving on a mission in two days. Fury located another hidden Hydra base and me, Tony, Rhodey, Natasha, and Sam are being sent to take it out. I shouldn't be gone for more than four or five days." Steve said carefully, gauging Grace for a response as she closed the dresser and turned back to face him.
"Oh. Where are you going this time?" Grace asked seemingly calmly, but Steve could tell she was worried by the look in her eyes.
"It's-."
"Classified. Right. Sorry." Grace cut him off shaking her head as she turned back around and made go into the bathroom. Just as she reached the doorway she turned back around.
"Is it an occupied base?" She asked and Steve shook his head. "Fury said it appears to be long since abandoned, but he doesn't want to take any chances. Don't worry. We've got this. Everything's under control." He said reassuringly.
Grace nodded her head. "I know, but...you can't blame me for being a little worried. After all your missions are always more dangerous than mine." She said, biting her lip.
Steve got her attention by gently cupping her chin in his hand. "Well I am Captain America, Love. It wouldn't do for me to say, take one of your level missions for instance. People would stop taking the Avengers seriously." He joked, earning a playful smack to the chest for his jab.
"Kidding! I'm kidding!" Steve laughed as Grace shook her head at him.
"Sure. I'm going to take my bath now before the water gets cold." Grace muttered, smirking the slightest bit as she removed herself from her husband and hurried into the bathroom.
Steve lingered where he stood for a second before turning to leave the bedroom. "I'll be here when you get out." He promised. Grace turned and smiled warmly at him.
...
"Ma'am?" Steve reappeared in the doorway of the bedroom, a plate containing two slices of warmed over deluxe pizza in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
"Your dinner is served." He said with a wry grin, enjoying the amused one his wife gave him in return as she looked up from detangling her still slightly damp hair in front of the mirror.
"Awesome! I am starved and that smells wonderful." She replied, sniffing the air a bit to catch a whiff of the pizza. Steve chuckled and set everything carefully on the bedside table before coming to stand behind Grace while she continued to work with her brush.
After standing there quietly for a moment, watching her brush out her hair, Steve calmly, but decisively grabbed onto her arm with one hand while reaching to take the brush from her with the other as he spoke.
"Come to bed with me now?" He asked softly, a slight pleading to his voice which made Grace's smile even bigger than it was already. Steve smiled back when he felt her relinquish her grip on the hairbrush.
"I'd love to. Let me grab my moisturizer first though okay?" She responded, turning to go back to her dressing table and picking up a bottle labeled "Sugar Lavender" before walking over to sit on the edge of her side of the bed.
She started to pop open the cap when Steve suddenly stopped her, his hand covering the top of her moisturizer.
"Uhhh...maybe I should do it for you this time Honey. You need to eat and I don't think you want to taste your lotion with your pizza." Steve said a bit sheepishly, making Grace blush a bit as she realized he was right.
"Oh right. Thanks." She let him take the lotion and bent to roll up the legs of her pajama pants before turning to pick up the first slice of pizza from beside her.
For awhile they sat there like that in soft companionable silence. Grace watching her husband with adoration in her eyes while chewing hungrily on her pizza and Steve concentrating as he gently rubbed the soft cool lotion all over his wife's legs, finishing with her feet.
Grace sighed a bit as she felt him lightly massaging the still slightly sore muscles on her calves. For someone who was strong enough to knock out ten men with one swing of his shield, Steve had a surprisingly gentle touch and after being served pizza following a tiring mission, Grace relished the feel of the massage he was giving her frowning a bit when she felt his hands pull away.
"Okay. I think you're good now. Did that feel good?" Steve asked looking up to meet Grace's gaze just as she pouted at him.
"Why'd you stop?" She asked, knowing she was whining a little as she dropped the remainder of her last slice of pizza back on the plate.
Steve raised an eyebrow at the expression on her face. "Because I'm done putting your lotion on Darling." He said as if it should be obvious.
"But your massage was making my legs hurt less. Please can you keep going for a little more?" Grace pleading, biting her lip in the way she knew Steve would not be able to resist.
Steve sighed though as if it were a pain to do as he was asked. "How can I ever say no to you?" He murmured, a smile flitting across his face as he gently placed his hands back on either side of Grace's right calf and got right to work kneading the tense muscles that were there.
Grace shut her eyes and exhaled deeply as the pinching feeling slowly ebbed away under Steve's handiwork. "So..." Steve spoke suddenly, wanting to make conversation as he gently rubbed near her ankle.
"Tell me about your mission today. How did it actually go?" He asked. Grace shrugged. "There's not much to tell. We got in, took out the hostiles that were there and extracted the package with little trouble. The only time it got a little hairy was when about five guys tried to ambush us near the exit, but it was nothing Maria and I couldn't handle really."
Steve raised an eyebrow at her at that. "Just five?" He asked with a slight teasing glint in his eyes. Grace rolled her eyes. "Yes and one of them actually managed to get past one of my barriers and land this on me." She pulled up her right sleeve as she spoke showing the large bruise that was on her shoulder.
Steve frowned slightly when he saw it and raised himself a bit to get a closer look at it. "That's a good sized bruise. What did he hit you with?" He asked, moving his gaze back to meet Grace's eyes.
Grace shrugged and let her sleeve drop back into place. "His boot. But I broke his ankle for it right before Maria shot him so it's all good now." She chuckled. Steve softly snorted a bit, but Grace saw the frown was still on his face as he quickly moved back down to continue rubbing her legs.
Frowning, she leaned forward and cup his cheek with her hand.
"Steven..." She cooed to get his attention. "Stop making that face Sweetie. It's just a bruise. I'm okay. I've had worse. You know that." She tried to be comforting, but Steve only shook his head.
"I know that and I know you're more than capable of taking care of yourself out there, but I can't help feeling bad when I see you hurt. I..." He trailed off and squeezed his hands a little tighter around her left leg.
Grace let her hand slip under his chin and gently yet firmly pushed up to get him to look up at her again. "Do you think I feel any better when you come back covered in blood or cradling a broken limb?" She asked softly with a sad smile on her face.
Steve sighed and started to shake his head. "I imagine it's even worse for you Darling. But you know me, 1940s gentleman. I have to make sure I'm doing my best to take care of my family." He smiled a bit and Grace smiled back.
"And I love you so much for that." She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. "But to be fair, I think we both knew what we were in for when we signed up for this job. The best I think we can do is be as careful as possible and never forget how much we love each other. What do you think, Sweetheart?" She asked with a smile that had Steve finally smiling back all the way to the top of his beautiful blue eyes.
"I think you are exactly right, Mrs. Rogers." He leaned up again, slipping away from Grace's touch to kiss her. Chuckling, Grace leaned forward to meet him halfway.
...
"All right. That should do it for tonight or would you like me to keep going?" Steve asked, quirking an eyebrow up as he stood, recapping the moisturizer between his hands.
Grace shook her head, sighing as the earlier soreness that was in her legs had completely gone away after the wonderful leg massage Steve gave her.
"No. I think I'm ready for bed now actually. Thank you Steve." She beamed down at her husband who beamed back at her, happy to have been able to help her relax after such a long day.
"Anytime." Steve turned, moisturizer bottle in hand and walked across the room to replace it where Grace always kept it behind her hairbrush.
Having done this he returned to the bed, this time climbing up to join Grace on his side of the large queen sized mattress just as she finished taking a final gulp of water.
When Steve saw her gathering the dishes to bring back to the kitchen, he stopped her with a hand on her back.
"Leave it. We can get it in the morning. Come lay down with me now." He requested, grabbing her wrist to prevent her from leaving the bed.
Sighing, Grace semi-reluctantly left the dishes on the bedside table and flicked off the light before turning to comply to her Lover's request, laying so that she was on her side facing Steve.
"Hi." She whispered, snuggling down under the covers as Steve reached one arm to pull them lightly over her shoulders.
"Hi." He responded, using the same hand to tuck a stray piece of hair behind Grace's ear. Suddenly Grace lifted her head up from the pillow a little.
"Turn around."
Steve blinked at the sudden command in her voice. "What?"
"Turn around." Grace repeated, rubbing her hand up and down his bicep as she spoke.
"Why?"
"Because I want to give you a back rub in return for that amazing leg massage. I know you must have gone in for some training today and I feel bad getting all the pampering." Grace retorted, giggling a bit as she paused her ministrations on his arm.
Steve laughed with her, but made no move to turn over. "That is sweet of you Darling, but unnecessary. I know you're wanting to sleep. You can give me a back rub some other time." He said only earning a head shake from his wife in return.
"No. Now. Turn over Steve, please?" Grace pleaded stifling a yawn in the next second. Breathing a sigh, Steve moved to do as he was asked, not bothering to readjust the comforter when it slipped a bit due to his movements.
Grace leaned forward immediately and gently pressed the palm of her hand against his shoulder blade, smiling when he admitted a soft sigh of pleasure in response.
"So, tell me about your day now. What did you do after I left?" She asked, moving her hand in slow circular motions as Steve hummed thoughtfully in response.
"Well...right after you pulled away I called up Sam and Bucky and we went running. After a couple of hours we stopped and went to that cafe you and I went to for our first date to get breakfast."
"Le Crescent?" Grace questioned softly, smiling as she recalled the date Steve mentioned.
"That's the one." Steve smiled as he felt Grace's hands move a little lower down his back. "Anyway after breakfast, Sam left to run another VA meeting and Bucky went back home to have another online session with Shuri and I headed to the tower-."
"-to get some training in." Grace picked up the sentence and finished it for him while kneading a particularly tense area just under Steve's left shoulder blade. "Yeah I can tell you got some training in today. How did this happen Sweetheart?" She asked, gently grazing her fingers over an abrasian just under the base of Steve's neck.
Steve flinched a bit when she touched it. "Ow. I was sparring with Natasha and she managed to nail me once with that darn scissor leg grapple." He shrugged it off as no big deal.
Grace raised an eyebrow at that. "Really?"
"Yes wha...What are you trying to say Darling?" Steve turned a bit to look at her incredulously. She shook her head back at him while laughing.
"Nothing Steve. I was just joking with you now turn around. I'm not done." She patted him with both hands. Shooting her a look, Steve turned back around a chuckle rumbling low in his throat as he shook his own head.
"You are lucky I love you Grace." He said a bit teasingly, but mostly sincerely. Grace nodded her head. "I know. If I were Sam I'd probably be running for my life right now." She said with a giggle, using the heel of her palm in a spot near the middle of her husband's back.
"Probably." Steve agreed, breathing out again as Grace slowly stopped massaging him and instead began to trace random patterns on his shoulder blades.
"Grace?" He asked after a moment, causing his wife to stop tracing. "Yeah Steve?"
Steve turned around so that he was facing Grace now and gently trailed his hand down the side of her face, letting his fingers lightly tangle in the strands of her hair as he did so.
"I love you. So much I can't begin to tell you." He said softly. Grace smiled at his words and reached a hand to cup the other side of his face.
"I love you too. So much that I always feel like a significant part of me leaves with you when you go on missions...and I feel the empty spot until you return." Grace laughed though she was unable to stop her smile from falling a bit as she thought about the new mission Steve would be leaving on in a couple of days.
Although she knew Steve was more than capable of taking care of himself out there and that worrying didn't help anything in anyway, she couldn't help the thoughts that always filled her mind when she knew her husband was about to leave on another dangerous mission again.
"Ugh!..Darn it." The Super Agent groaned, instantly raising a hand to wipe away the tear managed to slip despite her efforts to keep herself together.
"Hey..." Steve cooed, gently firming his grip on Grace's face before leaning in even closer to her. "It's okay Doll. I feel it too whenever you leave. It just means we really do care about what happens to each other, right?" He asked softly, laying so close that his forehead touched hers.
A smile spread across Grace's cheeks then and she grabbed onto his hand. "Always." She turned her head a bit and gently yet affectionately pressed her lips against Steve's, feeling him kiss her back just a second later.
After a moment, they broke apart and Grace snuggled into her husband's chest, shutting her eyes as the steady sound of his heartbeat lulled her into a sense of calm.
"Goodnight Gracie." Steve murmured into her ear, keeping his arms wrapped loosely around his wife's waist as he allowed sleep to slowly claim him as well.
Grace hummed lightly in her half-asleep state before letting out a soft yawn. "Night Stevie."
...