When You Were Never Mine: Part 2

Please Stop

Much to Tony's relief, time marched on without incident, and with no sign of Steve or Bucky trying to insinuate themselves back into your life. He continued to excuse your friend's absence away with explanations of an extended mission and you had no reason to doubt his word. Tony knew full well that his minutes with you could be numbered if you were to figure out what he had done, his only hope being that you would realize why and that it was because he desperately wanted to keep you safe. He hinged his entire life on that shred of hope, hanging from it by the tips of his fingers and praying that he wouldn't lose his hold.

But nothing lasts forever.

"Wow, my stomach is growling, can you hear that?"

"Sweetheart, I think the entire block heard that," Tony chuckled. "There's a great pasta place about two blocks from here, what do ya think? I'm pretty sure they're open late."

"I think that sounds perfect. I've had a longing for pasta lately like you wouldn't believe."

"Then why didn't you just say so? We're in New York. There's pasta everywhere."

You gave your husband a half-hearted shrug and continued to walk at his side towards your new destination. After a long day of waiting for him through endless meetings at Stark HQ, the two of you were finally getting some time alone; it had become a rarity lately between his work there and the commitments that the two of you held with the Avengers. It was more difficult lately without Steve, but as usual, the team knew how to pull together and make it work. It was just exhausting, but even this walk so late at night was worth staying up for.

"So, honey, I have a question," you began again after about a block worth of silence, "have you gotten any word on Steve lately? It feels like he's been gone forever."

"Um...yeah...he checks in here and there," he coughed nervously. "Last I heard was a couple days ago."

"Don't you think he should be getting back to the team? Whatever mission he's on, he's obviously not making a lot of progress if he's not done after all this time. If he's away too long, those fancy skills of his are gonna get all rusted up."

"Then maybe we just need an oil can ready for when he gets home?"

"Wow, Tony," you huffed with a nudge of your shoulder into him, "you're such a good friend. Maybe that's why he's been gone for seventeen weeks now. You've joked him into hiding just to get a break."

He nervously chewed at his lip while he came up with an answer that you would accept, realizing that with each mention of the Captain he became more and more unsure of himself and the plan that he had carried out this long already. Every time he looked into your eyes, he feared that you would look back and see him for a liar; the one person who should never hurt you, doing exactly what he was trying to protect you from. "Right..." he muttered under his breath, but his attitude changed quickly to disappointment as a new realization struck. "Uh, hon? I think the restaurant closed a few hours ago. Looks pretty dark in there."

"Really? What time is it? We haven't been walking for that long, have we?"

"I didn't think so."

You grabbed your phone to check the time, taking a deep breath with a shake of your head at the clear disorientation that you were both falling under. It had been so long since you had this kind of time alone that you had lost all track of it. "That makes sense, it's nearly five a.m. We're gonna see daybreak here any second now."

Tony's mind came to a sharp halt, and his eyes widened as if he had seen his greatest terror right before him. When he turned to look at you, his skin was as pale as you had ever seen it, and a trace of sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead. He couldn't believe that it had taken him this long to catch on, and that this was it; this was the moment he couldn't survive happening. "What did you just say?"