Steve pulled the phone away from his ear after Maria had suddenly ended the call on him. He looked down at the caller ID, a picture of her on the screen. She had pulled a fake smile just so Steve could take a picture of her and assign it to her number.
It was a couple of months back, when Steve had given her his jacket one night, to keep her warm from the cold night of New York. He remembered it like it was only yesterday. How his hands had paused on her shoulders, how her hair smelt like the meadows as the wind blew the sent his way. How she had looked so perfect as the moonlight shone down on her.
He locked his phone and sighed, relaxing into the back of the sofa in his apartment, Sharon fast asleep in the bedroom.
He had been with her secretly for three weeks and things were going well, really well in fact. Too well. But Steve couldn't help think about how there was something missing between them. That connection you should have with someone when in a relationship. It wasn't there between them. It wasn't her fault that Steve didn't feel it. Things were fine, for now anyway. But he knew it wouldn't last.
The next morning, the smell of bacon wafting in through the opened door woke him up. He stumbled tiredly into the kitchen to see Sharon cooking breakfast. He smiled at her when she looked up at him causing her to smile back.
"I know you didn't want to tell anyone this soon, but it felt right," Sharon said and Steve nodded with a hum. "What's a matter?" Sharon asked.
"What? Oh erm... Nothing," Steve said, shaking his head slightly. "Just tired." Sharon then laughed lightly.
"Has anyone told you you're a rubbish liar Steve," Sharon said before she stopped cooking to turn to face him.
Maria had, that night on the balcony at avengers towers. She laughed at him as he had smirked at her comment.
"You sure you don't want to talk about whatever is a matter?" She asked and Steve shook his head, shaking the memories of Maria away.
"There's nothing to talk about," Steve smiled. "This smells delicious by the way," Steve said, quickly changing the subject.
"Good, I got up early to specially make it for you," Sharon told him with a smile before kissing him gently on the lips. "I've got to go to work," she told him before pulling away and moving to the bedroom to collect her things.
Steve sighed, running a hand through his thick blonde hair. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face.
He was in such a mess.
The next morning came too soon, Maria pulled her eyes open to the harshness that was the sun. It shone in from the windows where Maria had forgotten to shut the curtains last night. Specs of dust danced in the sunlight, enjoying the warmth the sun provided.
However Maria didn't enjoy it, the morning having brought a hangover with it. She didn't realise how much she had drunk until she turned her head to look at the three quarters empty wine bottle, the sun reflecting off it's smooth surface.
She then took a deep breath before pulling herself up to sit on the edge of the sofa, pushing down the feeling of sick that threaten to come up. She picked up her phone up from the coffee table and checked the time.
"Shit," Maria said and then flinched having said it a little too loud for her hangover.
She was up and out in fifteen minutes, drugged up on hangover tablets and coffee, pulling along a banging headache.
She got to the Avengers Facility in upstate New York half an hour later, her assistant jumping to stand as she came walking over.
"I was wondering where you had gotten to," Harrison said, a pleasant smile appearing on his lips. "I had to get you a new coffee every fifteen minutes. I was going to send a search party," he said, holding out the strong coffee to her. She hummed a thanks as he followed her into her office.
"You got a call from Pepper wanting to arrange lunch. Another from Stark asking you about the FG248 files. Plus you have a meeting with congress at two and a meeting with Fury at five. Oh and Wanda wanted to know about something to do with the Tahiti program?" which Maria groaned at. She sat down at her desk, spinning slightly on the chair.
"Cancel the meeting with congress, arrange for next Tuesday at ten, god knows how long it's going to take. Tell Stark I'm on it, I just need a couple more days to figure a few things out. Tell Pepper I'm sorry but I can't make lunch maybe tomorrow and tell Fury I'll be there. I'll call Wanda now," Maria said and Harrison nodded, jotting a few things down on his tablet.
"Crazy night?" He asked, keeping his eyes fixed on the tablet but raising an brown eyebrow.
"Something like that," Maria said, giving him the queue to leave and he did.
She picked up the coffee, the warmth of it heating up her hands as she cupped it. She took a sip before relaxing back into her chair.
She pressed a button on her desk to black out the windows, the light too harsh on her eyes.
She took a deep breath, through the nose and out through the mouth. It calmed her, allowing her to push through the rest of the day without thinking, without pause.
The knock at the door startled her, making her look up from her work.
"Maria, it's seven o'clock," Nat told her and she glanced up at the clock on the wall. So it was.
"You skipped lunch didn't you," Nat rather stated than asked.
"Why do you ask if you know the answer?" Maria questioned, looking back down at the work.
Nat rolled her eyes before walking towards Maria and grabbing her tablet.
"What are you doing?" Maria asked her.
"I'm forcing you to stop working," Nat said.
"Come out with the group on Saturday, get you out of your apartment and away from work," the red head said.
"I'd rather not," Maria said. She wanted to ordered takeout on Saturday and watch the cheesiest chick flick she could find. The last thing she wanted to do was go out, even if it was going to be good for her.
"It wasn't an offer," Natasha warned her and Maria gave her a look.
"And that won't work on me either. It may work on everyone else but not me. I'll be at your's at eight o'clock on Saturday and don't be late," Natasha warned before leaving and Maria rubbed her forehead.
The hangover headache having gone but now a stress headache had slowly made it's way to her.
"Harrison," Maria called out knowing he wouldn't have gone home yet since Maria hadn't.
"Get Johnson to bring my car around," she told him once he had popped his head into her office.
"Right away Hill," he said before disappearing behind the door. She packed away her things before walking out of the facility and into her car to drive home.
So it's been a while since I've been on here. Sorry for the late update, I'm terrible at time keeping at the moment...
Anyway, thank you for the reviews, please tell me what you thought about this chapter.