A/N: #demfeelings

Kudos if you spot the Doctor Who's reference. No one really dies but its still sad and I highly recommend reading this while listening to 'All I want' but Kodaline.

This story has been moved to "It is you(I have loved)"

"Don't forget to water Weiner," Skye said the moment he answered.

"Hi Sweetheart is what I think you missed out," he deadpanned.

"Hi babe, don't forget-"

He hears a low hum at the background. Solid, low pitched engines. A big plane and that usually meant big mission. He doesn't like it when she goes on missions without him but he can't go into the field with her. He's too recognizable and her missions requires her to not be noticed.

"Yes, I've watered Weiner. Don't worry." She's oddly very attached to her cactus, he makes a note to ask her about her attachment to it. "Be careful, call me after your mission is over."

"Sir, yes sir! Love you!"

"Steve! Suit up! Some radioactive jellyfish is destroying a town in Australia," Tony calls over the intercom.

He pats for his phone while on the plane and groans. "Left my phone on the counter. Skye's gonna get mad if she calls in later and I don't pick up."

Sam laughs. "Did you remember to water Weiner?"

Tony snorts at his question. It's a famous inside joke, everyone knows her abnormal attachment to her cactus. "If you forget to water Weiner and it dies-" The duo mime an exploding motion.

"Actually I think there's a reason for it," Bruce says, cleaning his glasses. "She got the cactus from Sam and met Steve through him. The cactus probably reminds her of the first time she met you."

Steve smiled. He still remembers the first time he saw her, her smile that was so bright, it felt like his world had been a monotony of grey before he met her.

Six missed calls.

Skye was going to be so pissed. He thumbed across the security pad and scrolled through the missed call list.

Six missed calls from Coulson.

Captain Rogers, please call me as soon as possible - Coulson.

He calls and calls, but the phone does not connect. "Jarvis, can you connect me to Coulson?" But all he gets is the same result. He traces the words on his hipbone as though to reassure himself.

Tony slides in beside, tablet in hand. "I can't get their last location either-" He grumbles.

"I'm sure they'll be fine. It's Skye after all." Sam comforts.

"And she's with the Calvary and Mockingbird." Barton adds.

They're right. It'll be fine, right?

Steve is eating an apple pie in the kitchen with the team, when he senses a jolt of overwhelming fear crashing through his bond. Then a spiking pain where his soulmark is. The pain knocks him silly for a brief instant, he instinctively clutches his soulmark, almost tearing his trousers off in his panic to console himself that everything is alright.

"Steve?"

He doesn't hear them calling. His mark is greyed out and the hollowness for where the bond used to be tells him all he needs. He struggles for control, the grief in his chest clawing to crawl out. The sound of his heart beating traitorously swamps his ears, muting his senses.

"Skye… she's she's-" his voice falters, hands seeking for support as his legs threaten to fold beneath him. He palms his forehead, drawing harsh ragged breaths into his burning lungs, releasing the breath he didn't know he was holding. "She's gone-" Blinking away the hot tears, he looks up. He hates the sympathy in their faces. "I - I need… I need to water Weiner. She asked me too. She'll get mad if I don't."

"Steve-" Tony begins.

He isn't in the mood to talk. He just wants to be alone.

Steve hurries back to the apartment that they share. Already it feels colder and emptier than it was three days ago. It seems so silly that just three days ago she was calling to remind him to water Weiner. She always does that just before she goes off-grid. Then she always calls and asks if he remembered. He always remembers but she always asks anyway.

The memory of meeting him. A spot of colour in the shades of grey.

He crashes onto the sofa.

The sofa that they picked out together. It's blue, sky blue. It doesn't match everything else but it didn't matter. She says it reminds her of his uniform and the colour reminds him of her.

They spend hours on this sofa. She loves helping him catch up with pop culture, he loves watching her hover in the can't hold a tune but loves to hum anyway when she cooks.

Steve stares blankly at the kitchen.

He won't hear that tuneless hum again or eat her cooking. He won't be able to feel her warmth as they spoon at night.

Then he grips his head and cries.

"Get up."

Steve wakes up to a female voice. "Skye?"

"No. Get up." She slaps him hard and he shoots up, smacking her head.

"Natasha?"

"We're going." She throws his jacket at him.

He just slumps over the sofa with a loud sigh. "I'm not going." He doesn't want to go to her funeral. He doesn't want to watch her be buried.

"She's not dead."

Steve stands suddenly and pushes his hands through his hair. He knows his mark is still grey, it sounds impossible, it seems impossible but if Skye could be alive, it wouldn't matter anyway. "Explain."

"Yes that's the thing. We're going to get explained. Now. Let's go. Barton's got the quintjet ready."

It is night when they arrive.

"Oh good! You're here," Simmons says cheerfully, a bright smile from ear to ear. "She's just finished her quarantine, so you two can rest in her room. I'll- just get her sheets changed."

Steve isn't paying attention to her or his teammates. He only has eyes for the girl behind the glass. She is crying into the shoulder of another man.

"Skye?"

Startled, she looks up. "Steve?" her voice is so soft that Steve barely picks it up. This is not the girl he remembers. Skye is proud, Skye is hopelessly snarky that she goes toe to toe with Tony and sometimes - a lot of times, he thinks that Tony might be her father.

He steps into the cell, brushing past the engineer. "Baby?" He cradles her, holds her so tight that she has difficulty breathing. "I thought-" A muscle ticked in his jaw. "I thought you died. I thought I lost you." He leans his chin against her hair, breathing in the smell he thought he'd never smell again. He hated how scared, how defeated she looked.

"Tell me something. Skye. Tell me anything."

She buried her face into his leather jacket, letting out a shuddering breath. "Something's wrong with me-"

He could feel her body shaking. "I- I don't think I'm human anymore-"

"Shhhh. It's okay. I got you. I got you." He pressed a kissed into her hair. "I'm always running to you. Always." He held her close, stilling her trembling body, promising never to let her go again.