The rain pattered against the shingles along the roof that covered you, and your ears were entuned to the soft drops that slid down the siding. The sky was dark, pitch black as night had moved in just as fast as the sun had disappeared, drowning the city in a blanket of darkness. And as the night settled in, so did the rain. Pouring heavily, flooding the ground in its tears, yet it fell with grace as it hit your house. It didn't call attention to itself, as did thunderstorms, this rain was silent as it poured from the dark clouds gathered above. 

Thin cotton sheets wrapped around your torso, as your arms rested bare over them. Feeling the breeze of the cool night air blow in from the window you left cracked. The raindrops ran after each other down the window pane, yet none of them made it past the screen into your dimly lit bedroom. It was quiet, as you rested with open eyes. Too quiet. As though something in your gut told you something was coming. 

A soft sigh escapes past your lips and rolling over onto your left side, your eyes fall upon the picture laying flat against your bedside dresser. It's edges fluttering faintly in the circulating air, until your fingers reached out towards it. Bringing it closer to you as you rolled to lay on your back once again. The small square photograph was barely seen in the darkness that engulfed the bedroom, but you didn't need the light to make out what memory laid in wait against it. For it was burned into your mind, the photograph simply a physical copy of a picture taken in your head months ago. 

Yet you still couldn't help yourself, as your thumb slowly began to brush softly over his face. As if you could feel the warmth his skin once provided through that of the glossy paper. But the sensation resided in your fingers, not the picture. And a part of you knew that you'd never get rid of the feeling, the one that still soared through the very tips of your fingers. The feeling you still felt tingling against your palms, as though you had just felt the sides of his perfectly chiseled jaw. As though your fingers had just grazed through his soft blonde hair, or traced the tips of your fingers against his lips. Every memory was still there, in your hands and in your body. Every sensation once felt was still lying dormant inside of you. 

A slight click that echoes softly in the small room catches your attention, and dropping the picture in your lap, you sit up suddenly. You watched as the curtains slowly fell back to the way they were as a shadowy figure stood silently in the corner, and you eyed the window that was now opened wider than you had remembered leaving it. Every thing about this moment should've filled you with uncertainty and fear... but something about the hidden figure gave you an odd sense of peace. 

"You always were my night owl."

His voice appeared far before his face did, but even so, there would never be a day when you didn't recognize that voice. It was calm, and even. Steady as it spoke softly in the dark. And there was a hint of longing mixed into his tone, his words seeming distant and slightly nostalgic.

Without hesitation, your legs swung out from beneath the covers without even consulting your brain. The movement swift and soon your bare feet met the cool touch of the hard flooring. Your legs felt like twigs as you stood with your arms wrapped around your trembling body, and you worried they'd snap in half right from under you. But your heart controlled your movements far more in this moment, than your conscious ever could. 

You wanted to say something, anything into the void that filled thick and heavy in the small space, but no words came to your lips. All you could do was stand on shaky legs, and stare into the darkness that wrapped itself around the shadow in front of you. 

"I worried I might end up waking you up," His voice called out softly again, and it was like someone turned on the most beautiful melody to have ever graced your ears. For it pulled at your heart strings like nothing you had ever heard before, and it pierced your eyes with tears. "but I should've known you wouldn't be asleep."

And it was then, that the shadowy figure stepped out into the only small beams of light, that floated in through the window from the moon. But even in the pale light, it was still enough to brighten his face and expose who he was. And although you already knew who it was, the sight of him here... still made your breath falter. 

So much about him had changed since the last time your eyes had fallen upon him, yet as you stood close in his presence, it was as though nothing about Steve Rogers was different. 

His hair was longer now, darker even as a darker shade of brown melted into his beautiful blonde locks. And facial hair, sharing the same new darker color, coated his jaw and much of his face now. Something you had never seen from him before, only ever remembering feeling the smooth skin of his face with no stubble hiding underneath. But it didn't make him any less unrealistically beautiful. 

He stood firm in a suit that looked not his own, one much darker than the one you had met him in. He himself, looked darker in a sense. You could almost see it, even in the shadows, all of the weight that he carried on his shoulders. And you could see in his face, the tension that threatened to crease his perfect skin. He had hardened since the last time you had seen him. And although the sight still sparked feelings inside of yourself you knew would never fade, it was still unsettling to see on him.

"You left."

You didn't even register you had found your first words to say, until a voice filled the air and it didn't belong to Steve. 

"I know."

He took another step forward, his footsteps heavy against the flooring that had grown warm beneath your frozen stance. 

"You disappeared without a word."

You watched his eyes flinch faintly at your words, and you could hardly breathe as words you couldn't stop continued to flow out from you.

"I know."

His tone only made the tears that welled in your eyes, overflow. For you could hear the hurt and regret in the two words he repeated to you.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

Steve took another step forward, and he didn't stop until the toe of his boot nearly brushed your own. He was so close that you could smell the rain that clung to his new uniform, the earthy scent that had mixed with his own on his skin. And you could smell the peppermint of his breath as it fanned warmly against your cheek, causing a shiver to run up your spine. 

"I'm sorry." He whispered, and looking up timidly, your eyes locked with his deep baby blues. 

"I never wanted to hurt you. And by leaving the way I did, I thought I was protecting you." 

Steve couldn't bare the idea of seeing you in one of those cells, being held captive for aiding a fugitive that was once an American hero. And he knew you wouldn't leave him willingly if he had told you the truth, so he made the decision himself. The hardest decision he'd ever have to make. 

"But I never stopped watching out for you," He confessed truthfully, and slowly his hands inched forward. You watched as your breathing seemed to halt at his movement, the way his hands moved cautiously towards your own. Until his fingertips began to graze against your own, and your breath returned as did the tingling sensation in your hands from his touch. 

"I kept my distance, but I couldn't turn away. I had to know you were alright, that you were as safe as you could possibly be."

His words, despite understanding why he did what he did and leaving things the way he had, stung. They stung like a million burn marks to your heart, and you could almost feel the muscle struggling to pump beneath the continued burning. 

"And then tonight," His head dropped and he shook it as if he was disgraced by his moment of weakness. "I had to see you. I know it's selfish and--"

Steve didn't get the chance to finish, for the one thing you had dreamed of doing if your ever saw him again, stole away his chance to speak. His lips were just as soft as you had remembered them to be, and his warmth seemed to soak straight into your shivering body, as he kissed you back as though it was something he had longed to do just as much as you had. 

The man on the outside had certainly gone through a make over, but the man inside was always set in stone. And that's why the hurt and anguish that you held in your heart, from all the months that passed since his abrupt absence, suddenly seemed to fade. Because you knew his reasons would always be pure. He would never choose a path that would hurt you purposefully, he did what he thought was best for you...even if the collateral damage was something he couldn't control. 

Pulling away from his lips, which was not an easy feat as everything inside yourself screamed for one last second, you felt as the air rushed into your lungs that burned. And looking up through your heavy and tear soaked lashes, you gazed into his eyes that left you dizzy. 

Your hands pressed against his face and every sensation that you had kept with you, erupted at the contact. And even as you cried against him, while looking deeply into his mesmerizing eyes of blue, you saw the truth before his longing gaze. 

The truth that he couldn't stay. That he would be gone by the rise of the morning sun, and despite the knowledge you knew you already held deep down, the confirmation in his eyes still threatened to destroy what was left of your mangled heart. 

"I love you." You whispered breathlessly, and you wondered if he would even hear the soft words. Or if they would float straight out the window before even meeting his ears. But the way his arms instantly curled their way around your petite body told you he heard them loud and clear.

"And I know when I wake in the morning, that this moment will feel like nothing more than a beautiful dream." You spoke into the rough fabric of his new uniform, but somehow your words were left clear, ringing in the silence that began to fill the bedroom.

Steve's arms loosened their grip, and you moved just an inch so you could look up at him again. And his eyes were steadily gazing downward, meeting your stare just as your eyes began to rise. 

"But would you promise me something?"

His eyes looked into your own with a deep scrutiny that you could feel in the very depths of your soul, and with the faintest of nods, you release a soft and slightly shaky breath. 

"Promise me that you won't forget me, when you leave again. That I won't fade into some distant memory as though what we had was nothing."

His lips pursed gently as he began to speak, "I could never fo--"

Pressing the soft pad of your fingertip against the smooth skin of his lips, you silence him gently. "Promise me."

And despite all the times before, Steve looked at you in that moment in a way that stole your breath away. His eyes fell upon you like a tidal wave, drowning you in his loving gaze and sweeping you beneath his strong and safe harbor. And you saw the words appear in his eyes before his lips even began to form the letters. 

"I promise."

And with those simple two words, Steve Rogers offered you a chance at closure as he slipped back out the open window. Disappearing into the cold and rainy night, soon returning to the magical lifelike memory you would always keep with you. And with him, as he stow away in the night, he took a piece of you with him. For he would always have a part of your heart, no matter where in the universe he was, because you were convinced that it never quite belonged to you in the first place. It had always been reserved for a certain special soldier you would meet along the way. 

A/N: This one kind of made my heart hurt as I wrote it, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. I let the writing go where it wanted to go with this one, and I'm happy with where it ended up. I hope you all enjoyed it!!💙