Don't Lose Sight of Me

12

It was five in the morning when I started.

Right. Left. Right. Left. Under. Right. Left. Kick.

I don't know what time it was when I was interrupted. It had been awhile since I had worked with a punching bag. It felt good to get back at it, and drill some old sets.

"We need to head back," Steve interrupted coming into the barn. I glanced at him and then back to the bag.

"Why?" I breathed out not bothering to stop.

"Natasha called, we think we tracked the infinity stone." I took a step back lowering my fists. I stopped the punching bag from swinging.

"Do I need to go back?" I huffed before taking a drink of water. I hardly felt in the mood to be surrounded by everyone.

"Well I thought you might want to. I don't know how long this mission will be and we might need some help planning it." My gut was that Steve just wanted to keep an eye on me for as long as possible.

"Okay," I agreed wiping off the sweat from my forehead. I didn't really care to have him hovering over my shoulder, but I figured it was a losing fight. Steve approached me as I grabbed a towel to wipe my face. As I swiveled, Steve put a hand on my waist stopping me. He took my hands in his, and carefully unwrapped them.

"I thought you agreed to be safe to this." He commented looking at my bruised knuckles.

"I safely wrapped them." I claimed smirking. I twisted out of Steve's hold and twisted his arm back.

"Now what did we say about using our words." Steve teased in a fake condescending tone. He pulled his arm out of my grasp, and swung at me. I ducked trying to trip him. Steve grabbed me and picked me up spinning me around. I laughed as he acted like he was going to slam me on the floor like those fake wrestlers.

"Come on, take a break." He urged me hugging me from behind. "And most importantly take a shower."

I slapped his arm. "You ass," I laughed. He released me, and together we walked back to the house.

"When do we have to leave?"

"As soon as you're ready."

I stopped on the back porch and studied the Earth around us. The sun was up, but it was hardly high in the sky. The grass was trying to be green, but spring had barely begun. It was cold outside, I guess, but I didn't mind. The weather was perfect to me. The air was fresh, and everything felt so new, so alive, and so beautiful.

Glancing over at Steve, I asked him, "Do you like it here?"

"Yeah," he answered almost reluctantly. I tried not to visibly frown. I wanted this to feel like home for him like it did for me.

"You don't like it?"

"No, I do. I promise I do. It's so peaceful and quiet. And it feels like a fairy tale, but it feels like something I don't quite deserve yet. There's still a war out there, I can't quite come home yet. It feels like those two week mandatory vacations the army would make us take to go home and visit family. And you'd just have to sit in a restaurant knowing your friends were out on the front and you'd hope that when you returned they'd all still be there. You know?"

"No, I get it. I do. Sometimes our dreams turn into nightmares because we can't quite wake up from them."

"You are no nightmare." Steve said looking down at me with a half serious face. He kissed my temple.