After she was done moving out of her apartment, Martha remained in Washington D.C. a few extra days while she finished up some business. With nowhere else to go, she had temporarily moved into Steve's place much to their shared delight. Her final night in town was spent in Steve's arms and now that the sun was up, he wasn't sure he was ready to let her go.
Steve had put on a brave face for Martha's sake, but the prospect of not seeing her was weighing heavily on him. He watched the steady rise and fall of her chest while she slept with his sketchbook in hand, quickly capturing her likeness while he still had the chance.
Just like the first time he drew her, that morning the sun gave her skin a heavenly glow. Around her neck, a silver chain glittered in the sunlight. Attached to the necklace there was small silver star shaped pendant with two tiny blue stones in the middle to represent Spica. That was the perfect metaphor for their relationship he realized. Like the two stars of a binary system, they were undeniably drawn together. And Steve had to have faith that this separation was only a mild inconvenience. They would be together again.
The idea for the gift had inadvertently come from Natasha. Steve took notice of the arrow necklace she was wearing and it didn't take a genius to understand its meaning. "So that's your type," he commented the first time she wore it.
Natasha gave him a rueful smile. "Don't read so far into things," she retorted. "It's just a reminder." She instinctively reached up to fiddle with her necklace and her face took on an uncharacteristically wistful expression. "Sometimes you just need something tangible for when things get rough." As soon as the words left her mouth, she immediately dropped her hand to her side and adopted her usual air of indifference.
Steve didn't think Martha would forget him anytime soon, but the thought of her having something with her at all times put his mind to ease. For him, he had his sketches. Whenever times got rough, he could just look at his drawings and the memories would get him through until they could finally be together again.
Once Martha was awake, they squeezed in one last tender moment alone before showering, grabbing a quick breakfast, and taking a cab to the private airstrip were a UNIT aircraft was waiting. Normally Martha would have travelled commercially since it was a non-emergency situation, but she confessed that she wanted to milk as much time as she could out of their last few hours together. So she secured passage aboard a flight with an important UNIT official that just so happened to be travelling back to Manhattan the same day.
Steve admittedly preferred being able to escort her to the tarmac as opposed to saying their goodbyes at an airport security checkpoint, but since there were on borrowed time they kept things short. "Call me when you land."
Martha hugged him tightly and pressed a kiss along his jawline near his earlobe. "As you wish, Cap," she said softly.
Steve clung to her and kissed the crown of her head. "I love you too," he replied and after one final kiss on the lips, she was gone.
Steve's apartment suddenly felt empty without Martha's warmth and after one quiet night of sulking he was thankfully distracted by work. Over the next few weeks, Martha's UNIT assignments and his work with both the Avengers and the S.T.R.I.K.E. team meant their schedules were irregular, but they vowed to make time for one another. He returned home and took a much needed shower before falling into bed with his cellphone pressed to his ear. The phone rang at least seven times before Martha finally picked up.
"Hello?" she said, clearly half asleep.
"Did I wake you up?"
"No…" Martha answered in the middle of a failed attempt to stifle a yawn.
"You're a terrible liar," Steve teased.
"Fine. Okay, yes you did, but I only just dozed off. I was trying to wait up so I could hear your voice one last time before bed."
"You didn't have to do that."
"I know, but I wanted to," Martha insisted. "I miss you."
"I miss you too," Steve replied softly as he ran a hand over her empty side of the bed.
Martha let out a quiet mewl that Steve immediately recognized as the sound she made whenever she stretched after first waking up. "So what are you waiting for? Tell me all about your day. I wanna hear everything."
"There wasn't much to it," Steve confessed. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is still filtering through the information from our last mission." He sighed heavily at the thought of his conversations with both Fury and Natasha following the hijacking of the Lemurian Star. "None of that's important right now though."
"So what did you do?"
"I took my morning jog and then I put in a few hours at the gym. After that I went for a ride on my bike."
"Sounds thrilling," Martha teased.
Steve chuckled softly. "I guess Natasha was right about me being a creature of habit."
"Some people find comfort in routines," Martha reasoned. "So what about tomorrow?"
"I might go see Peggy tomorrow. It's been awhile."
"I think that will do you both some good."
"Hopefully she's have a good day."
"Mmmhmm," Martha agreed with another stifled yawn. "What else do you have planned?"
"I don't know. I've been thinking about meeting up with the guy I told you about from the Mall, Sam Wilson. Do you remember me mentioning him?"
"Sam? He's your jogging buddy, right?"
"Yea, he works as a counselor down at the VA."
"Are you feeling out of sorts, love?" she asked seriously. The concern was evidence in her tone and she suddenly sounded more alert than when the call began.
"I'm fine."
"Now who's a terrible liar," Martha challenged. "Do I need to catch a train back to D.C. see for myself?"
"No. It's nothing serious," Steve insisted with a heavy sigh. "I'm just…" He paused to collect his thoughts. "I'm just trying to make sense of few nonsensical things. Don't worry. I'll figure it out."
"Alright," Martha conceded. "But if you decide you need me there, all you have to do is ask."
Steve smiled at her words. "That goes double for you."
"I know."
"So how was your day?"
"Fairly uneventful. My sister rang a little while ago. She has some holiday time coming up so she's thinking of coming to visit me."
"Will I get to meet her?"
"Maybe," Martha said with a coy laugh. "I've mentioned you to her before, but she doesn't exactly know who you are. None of my family does, but once Tish finds out it'll only be a matter of time before my mum and dad know as well."
"Is that such a bad thing?"
"Of course not," Martha insisted. "I just need think of the best way to explain to my mum that the nice, sweet bloke named Steve from Brooklyn that I'm seeing just so happens to be a ninety-five year old super soldier that has a habit of doing dangerous things like jumping out of planes without parachutes and riding motorcycles without a helmet."
Steve laughed and rolled onto his side. "Tough sell?"
"Perhaps on paper. I mean I have been accused of having a type," Martha joked. "But as soon as she spends a minute with you, she'll love you as much as I do."
"I love you too, Martha."
Martha sighed. "I wish you were here, Cap. I sleep better with you next to me."
"Yea." Steve nodded. "So do I."
Their conversation withered down to short sentences until the point where it eventually just faded into a comfortable silence. Steve closed his eyes and listened to her breathing, pretending for a moment that she was laying right there next to him instead of somewhere more than 200 miles away.
When it became obvious that she was drifting off to sleep again, Steve finally spoke again. "You should get some sleep."
"Hmm? Are you sure?" she asked drowsily.
"Yea. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
Martha yawned again, but didn't bother to mask it this time. "Alright, love. Sweet dreams."
"You too."
Steve ended the call, dropped his phone on the nightstand and swapped it for his sketchbook before settling beneath the covers. He flipped to the page of his last drawing of Martha sleeping and leaned it against the pillow on the opposite side of the bed.
"Something tangible," he muttered to himself, staring at her image until he finally drifted off to sleep.