The Song Of The Broken

1.)

I wiped the tears from my face as I looked up at him. Pain shot through my chest as I stared. His words still wrung in my head as he paced the length of the room.

“Aren’t you going to say something?” He asked me, tensely.

I shook my head, “No. I’m not. At least not to try to make you stay. If that’s really how you feel, then there’s no way to change it. I’ll be fine. You can go and start a new life with whomever you want.” I told him.

He frowned. “Are you not going to fight for me? For us?” He asked, in disbelief.

I sighed, “If you have to make a choice between me and her. Choose her.” I replied.

He frowned, “I still love you. That will never change.” He told me.

“No, you don’t. Because if you did. You wouldn’t be making a choice. There is no competition. If I'm not your first choice then that means you never loved me like I loved you…. And that means there's nothing left for us here.” I finally said as I stood up.

“I do.” He quietly said. “Bethany… come back!” He called after me.

I made my way down the hall, holding myself together as I did. Willing and pushed back my feelings as I finally walked into the room. Reaching up to pull down my suitcases.

Without much thought I grabbed all of my clothes, folding them before I neatly stacked each clothing article inside the three suitcases—clothes, shoes, and bathroom necessities.

Once I was packed I slowly made my way over to the bedside table and grabbed the pictures of our family and friends, the one of our wedding day, and the photo album, shoving them into a tote before I made my way out of the room.

“You can’t-- You can’t just leave me like this.” He tearfully said.

“I’m not. I’m simply doing what you didn’t have the strength to do.” I calmly replied.

It took me two trips to grab everything before I slowly slid into the driver’s seat.

Without a chance to give myself a chance to second guess my decision, I backed out and made my way to Stark Tower.

***
Five Years Later:
***

It had taken all of my strength to not go back.

I divorced him, and gave him back his freedom, even if it was killing me. I moved on, even though it killed me to do so.

My brother Tony decided that some time away from home would be good for me, so a plan between him, Fury, and Pepper was born, and I ended up in Europe, on missions that kept me physically and mentally distracted.

The mission was dealing with a large group stealing suspicious amounts of ammonia, benzyl chloride, and an unknown substance.

This led me on a wild goose chase for years until a month ago, when my team and I finally set a trap for them, and sprung it.

Between my team and I, we managed to take all of the group down and into custody with little to no resistance from the group.

After debriefing Fury, and Rogers of on the mission, I finally went home to my apartment.

****

I had only been home for a few minutes when my eyes fell on an golden envelope that was laying on the ground by the door.

The crimson colored envelope caused me to frown, but the frown turned into a small smile as I read its contents.

It read: