his shirt clung to his back as he punched the bag in front of him for the millionth time. Every time he closed his eyes, he would see her face. The tear-ridden face he caused. He knew she wouldn't be the one to communicate first. She was too stubborn for that. He needed to be the one to make the first move.
Rightfully so. It was mostly his fault.
Would she give him the light of day if he did?
That was the question plaguing his mind.
"You need to get out of this gym, Steve," Natasha declared, entering the training space. "It is not healthy being in one room for a week. Even for you. You also smell like gym socks left in the trunk of a car, sitting in the desert sun for a year. We can smell you all the way from the ground floor."
After days of observation, Natasha clearly picked up that something wasn't right with the man. Something was eating away at his brain. That was the only reason the super soldier would spend more than five hours at the gym in one sitting.
"Let's get some food. You need to calm down and relax."
"What do you think I'm doing?" he grunted, continuing to jab and hook against the punching bag. "Don't you have somewhere to be? Fury doesn't have a mission for you to run or whatever he tells you to do."
"You screwed up with Mady big time, didn't you?" she asked, leaning against the ropes of the boxing ring. "Spare me the details, but you need to fix it."
"How about you keep your nose out of my business."
"Don't take your anger out on me, Rogers."
"Mady wanted space, so I'm giving her some," he replied, his eyes never leaving the target. "Is that good enough of an answer for you?"
"You are a terrible liar. What did she really say?"
The bag went flying across the room.
"She said it would be best if we take a break."
Natasha was not expecting to hear that. A break? Them? Not possible. Mady and Steve were perfect for one another. What happened for her to say such a thing?
"What the hell did you do, Rogers?" Natasha shouted.
"I kind of lied to her," he sighed, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "She asked where our relationship was headed and I lied. I told her I didn't see it going anywhere, more or less. And before you try to bite my head off, I tried explaining myself because I obviously see a future for us. I just froze when she brought it up. She left. Walked right out of my apartment, and I haven't heard from her since."
"Why the hell would you say something so stupid?" Natasha rubbed her forehead. "That woman loves you to death. She would do anything for you, and you would do anything for her. Both of you are idiots."
"You don't think I don't know that?" Steve replied. "Mady means the world to me. I don't know where I would be without her."
"Mady's pissed at you. Sure, but I bet if you apologize and tell her exactly where you see your relationship going, you'll get her back," Natasha explained. "You put doubt into her mind. I know you have a great track record with women, but we do think about getting married, having kids, and all that stuff. I don't, but most do. When you said you didn't see that future with the two of you, her world probably came crashing down. You need to build it back up. Be romantic and tell her you love her. Whatever it is you do that makes her weak at the knees."
Would that be enough?
+++++
Mady turned the final corner of her five-mile run. She sprinted the final leg only to come to a halt when she saw Steve sitting on the stone steps in front of her apartment complex.
Great.
"What are you doing here, Steve?" she exhaled deeply, resting her hands on her knees. "Don't you have something important to do?"
"I asked Billy if you were in. He said you left your place a while ago and hadn't come back yet. Do you know what time it is, Mady? Who goes running around Washington D.C. at two o'clock in the morning? Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?"
"Calm down, Rogers. This isn't my first rodeo," she said. "Now I'm going to ask you again, why are you here?"
Say it. Say I was stupid for wanting to take a break.
"I think that's obvious," he got to his feet. "We need to talk."
Good start.
"I'm done talking to you," she made her way up the steps, but he grabbed her arm before she could enter the building. "Let me go."
Call my bluff, Steve. Please. I miss you so much.
"Not this time," he stated. "I shouldn't have let you go before, but for some stupid reason I did. We need to sort this out."
Mady sighed.
Thank you, Lord.
"Fine. We can talk upstairs."
Steve relaxed. She was hearing him out. That was a great sign.
Even if the ride up to her apartment was a little awkward.
"Can I get you anything?" Mady broke the silence, opening the front door, tossing her keys on the side table in the entryway.
"Water would be nice, thanks," Steve answered, taking everything in. He hadn't seen her apartment so clean before. It was....immaculate. The woman must have been a stress-cleaner.
"Sure," she pulled two water bottles from the fridge, sliding it across the island to him. "All right, I'm listening. Start talking."
"I'm sorry I lied to you," he started. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I do see a future for you and me. Our wedding, our children; I see it all. We never really talked about it before, so I wasn't sure where you stood on the matter. Because of that, I assumed you weren't ready for such a commitment. I should have known better. The way you interact with your family, your nieces and nephews; of course you want that. I do still worry about having all that and working with S.H.I.E.L.D."
"I'm sorry, too," Mady said. "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions and heard you out when you said you needed to explain."
"Apology accepted," Steve smiled. "Can we go back to the way things were before I was an idiot? This week has been hell."
"Yes, we can," Mady mirrored him, leaning across the island to peck him on the lips. "My week sucked, too. I don't know if you noticed, but I super cleaned this place. It was the only thing I could do to keep my mind off of things."
"I did notice," they both chuckled.
*****
Originally, I had this chapter being a bit longer, but nothing fit right. So a shorter chapter it is before we finally begin The Winter Soldier story arch. About time, right? Thank you all for sticking with it. The fun (more fun) begins in the next chapter!
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