(Listen to I'm Already There By: Lonestar while you read this one. The emotion, the deep and angsty but absolutely beautiful lyrics lend themselves to this story line, and the melody builds with the feelings I've tried to express in this one shot.)

"You woke before I did again this morning, but I guess there's no real surprise there. You're always up with the sunrise. Though today, was the morning I really wanted to be awake before you, or at least with you, before you left. But I missed you."

The cellphone felt like a boulder weighing him down, as Steve Rogers held the electronic tightly in his hand. And it felt as though it was burning a hole through the very palm of his hand as he clutched it, the message that had been saved inside the small machine, weighing more than anything he had ever witnessed or could ever feel. And as the soft voice fluttered through the speakers out into the open air that surrounded him, it was startling how much power this tiny device held over him. For as Steve listened to the voice on the other end, he could feel all of his strength and all of his stability fading faster with each passing breath. 

"I guess, I just wanted the chance to tell you I love you, face to face before you left. And to tell you to be safe, and to do whatever you have to do out there, but that no matter what, you have to come home to us." A breathy laugh floated through the speaker and Steve's heart lurched at the sensation it had upon his aching heart. "I know you hear it every time you leave, that it's nothing new. I know you're probably tired of my constant worry, but I'll never stop worrying about you Steve Rogers. You may be the amazing Captain America, but that doesn't mean I won't worry whenever you're out there, somewhere, fighting for something. For someone. I'll always worry... when you love someone... worry's just part of the package."

Steve exhaled a heavy breath as he looked up from the phone resting in his hands, and out at the green land that extended out in front of him. The porch steps he rested upon, were shielded enough from the sun that shone through the minimal clouds in the baby blue sky, but there was something about the beauty of this place that sat uneasily in his stomach. It was a beauty he loved, one he had created for the family he built. A hand-crafted house nestled in the most breathtaking patch of land, away from the noise and away from the world that challenged him mission after mission. It was a sanctuary, and he created it for the family he loved. But now, as he sat outside the abandoned structure, with the sun shimmering brightly while the green fields sparkled in the light, the beauty seemed unfair. As though the world around him should be some tragic shade of grey, for it didn't seem right that the life he created for them, could still shine and sparkle without them here. That there could still be color and life, when they weren't here to be apart of it.

A lighthearted sigh passes through the air, "I didn't mean for any of that to be as depressing as it sounded, goodness, maybe it's a good thing I didn't catch you this morning to tell you this in person. I would've brought you down with me." Another spout of laughter that caused Steve's eyes to drop and shut tightly at the constricting in his chest. 

And as the heartwarming voice spoke up again, Steve swore he could feel the smile through the cellphone. "she loved your notes this morning. I really don't know when you find the time to write those and leave them around the house for her to find. But she loves them. The scavenger hunt to find them, the adventure she feels like she's having with her daddy even though he's not home, and the look on her face when she reads those little notes... Steve... I wish you could see the way her eyes light up."

Steve shakes his head as he flicks away a single tear that was beginning to burn a trail down his cheek, the sting still remaining underneath his flesh even as the acidic tear is erased. But he knows it won't be for long, he can feel them like a lump in the back of his throat. Choking him from the inside out with the pain inside himself.

"She loves you." Steve smiles through the tears. "I love you."

"I'll wrap this up before I have to hear about how long this voicemail was for you. But again, honey, be careful. I'll be here to clean up the cuts and ice the wounds, but be safe out there. Wherever you are. We'll be here waiting for you when you get back, we love you. So much."

As the line went dead, and silence felt like a noose around his neck, Steve's eyes snap open at the sound of a creak in the floorboards behind him. And as his head whips around, his tearful blue eyes fall upon a certain redhead who stands feet behind him with her hands clasped in front of her. Natasha Romanoff looks at him wearily, as though she isn't sure how close she should get to him in this instant. If she might somehow ruin something about this moment in time, but as Steve turns back around, he pats the seat beside him. Assuring her that it was alright. 

"I thought you didn't leave the compound." Steve inquired as he stared blankly down at his lap, as he felt her arm brush against his own as she sat down on the step beside him. 

"I don't," Natasha shrugs, and Steve looks over at her slightly. Not fully moving his head, but turning his gaze to the woman who looks out at the vast land in front of her. "not for just anyone."

And as those last few words pass through her lips, their eyes meet at the same time. A fiery green clashing with a softened blue. And as a sigh enters the air, Steve asks a single question.

"How long were you standing there?"

Nat smirks faintly, the edge of her lips tilting upward. "For however long you want me to have been standing there."

A low huff of air exhales past Steve's lips, as though a laugh not completely crafted hitting the atmosphere in front of them. And shaking his head with the faintest ghost of a smile, he looks back down at his hands that rest on his thighs that still grip to the cellphone like a lifeline. 

"Was that the last phone call you received from her...before...?" Natasha can't help her curiosity; Steve knows that and he doesn't blame her for her inquiry. In fact, he's surprised she hadn't said something as the message played in the open air, for he knows she heard every word. But she doesn't press hard onto the open wound, just enough to prompt him to share the truth with her perhaps. A friend...telling another friend...that she's there to listen to his pain.

"It's just," A mystified breath escapes Steve as he shakes his head before continuing his thought, the unfinished laugh faintly returning to the conversation. "she was so concerned about me coming home, she always was. Everything always came down to the single fact that I had to make it home to them. I strived towards it, I held it in my heart on every mission we took Nat... but I never once thought that I would have to worry about them not being there when I did make it back."

Natasha's warm hand rests against Steve's right arm, and he feels as she squeezes it lightly. "We lost so much that day Steve..."

"But I never thought I could lose them."

Steve looks over with glistening eyes lined with fresh tears, at Natasha who looks at him with a softened expression. Her lips pursed as he watched the soft breeze blow loose strands of her braid that lay over her shoulder. Her green eyes were filled with compassion and empathy and a lack of words to say in this moment, that could mean anything remotely healing to him. But she sat there with him as he wept over his vanished family. 

"They loved you," Nat whispered after a while, the silence that had settled over the two friends breaking as her voice entered the air. "more than I've seen someone love someone else in a very long time. And even though they aren't here with you physically... it doesn't mean that they aren't."

"They're always going to be with you Steve, because I don't think you'll ever let yourself live in a world where your wife's memory, your daughter's, isn't alive. They're with you in your heart and in the memories you have with them, and in that phone call. She loved you right up until her last breath, and that has to mean something..."

What Steve hadn't told Nat, was that as that last phone message played, he could feel them. The way she spoke, it was as though she was right behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and holding him close to her. When he could hear her smiling, he could see it. Brighter than the sunshine above him, the smile he fell in love with shone down upon him with a warmth that radiated straight to his core. And as she spoke of their daughter, he could feel the way her little hands would try to wrap around his much larger ones. Grasping to as many fingers as she could as they walked together. 

They were a vivid image forever in his mind and whispers speaking to him in the wind. They weren't there with him as they should be... but it didn't mean that they had to completely disappear. His family may have vanished once... but Steve promised himself that they would never vanish from him again.

A/N: The idea of Steve having one last voicemail from a loved one before fighting Thanos was one that intrigued me, and when I listened to this song, it just clicked. I hope you all enjoyed it! I would really love to hear what you thought about it! Also how beautiful but sad if that GIF of Steve?!💙