[a super long chapter as a Valentine's present from me to all of you gorgeous people. The chapter is split nicely into two parts, so feel free to read at your own pace.]

DOUBTLESS
.

Sadie,

You asked me after Vienna if it would all be worth it. I didn't know the answer then.

Now, I do. It isn't worth it at all. And if I could go back and do things differently, I would. I'd find some way to fix things before they broke.

Still. Not long to go now, until one thing is fixed, at least. The most important thing.

All my love,
Steve.

There was no drawing this time, no sunsets or crows or trees.

Sadie pushed the longing of it all out of her head, pushed the hurt of it through her body instead of her mind, muscles and blood pumping in sync, sweat dripping down her brow. Her feet pounded loudly against the treadmill, the incline up to the highest she could tolerate- which was to say, the highest it could go.

She wished it would go higher, craved for the air in her lungs to burn more. The longing was still stronger than any of the heat.

"Alright, we're hitting twenty now," Sadie said, her eyes flitting to the laptop set down on the coffee table, where her sister kept her virtual company via FaceTime, running alongside her in her local gym.

"Only twenty?" Savannah panted, her breathing heavy down Sadie's Bluetooth earphones. "And we're supposed to be at this for half an hour?"

"I'd go for longer if I could," Sadie huffed- she didn't mention that she probably would, as soon as she hung up the call. "What I wouldn't give for a real gym like yours right now. Even just a barbell-"

"Why don't you just buy one?"

"I won't completely transform Adrianne's house while I'm a guest," Sadie said. "Besides, safety. I need someone to spot me. Used to be Steve. God, the weights he used to pile on when all I wanted to do was row-"

"Is that what a good-" sharp breaths. "-superhero date is?" Savannah teased, and Sadie didn't miss the beeping of the speed button as she slowed. "Lifting? So romantic."

"Actually, it is. We push each other," she said, upping the speed of her own treadmill where Savannah had slowed it. "Like I'm doing for you right now- c'mon eight more minutes, Sav, don't slow it down!"

"How fast are you going?" her sister asked, between breaths as she complied, increasing her speed. "It's like... it's like... you're not even phased!"

"You're right," Sadie frowned, pushing up the numbers even faster. "I shouldn't be able to talk so much. Seven minutes- we'll start slowing it down at four."

The two sisters continued running together, the sweat and burn a cleansing. Savannah was on the opposite side of the Atlantic, perhaps, but Sadie was glad for the company, even if it was through a computer screen.

She was used to company in her workouts- plenty of company at that. She guessed that was probably why she'd let herself go these last ten months.

But now, Sadie finally didn't feel so far from her old self, physically. Even if she did look rounder, plumper, she was healthier now.

Getting her head healthy- that would take a little more work than cardio or weight training, she thought. Sadie had started to feel her intelligence dwindling months ago, she needed cases to solve, medicine to practise, keep her mind from rotting.

Of course, Steve was on her mind forever, too. Especially after his melancholy letter. Even more especially after the hazy memory of her drunken call, of the sweetest words on his lips.

Love. He said he loved her. And yes, maybe it was because of the distance, or the drink or how she'd mortifyingly begged him to 'say it back.' But it was different, how Steve had told it to her, it didn't sound like an obligation.

She pushed herself harder on as she ran, maintaining her speed as her heart raced, though not entirely from the exercise.

"You know I do..."

Sadie had known he loved her. There was no way she couldn't have, after Paris. After that heartbreaking video when Steve was so panicked, after her birthday when he'd made all those promises and made good on them.

"We can make something out of this..."

And what a thing they'd made.

Yes, she'd known he loved her.  But she hadn't believed it. Sadie waited for the day he'd realise how wrong she was for him and leave her like so many of her other adorations had.

Until she heard Steve's voice that night. So calm when he said it, the late hour weighing heavy on them, their confessions no big event but rather obvious fact.

Their love was doubtless.

Finally, Sadie believed that Steve Rogers loved her, and it should've made her the happiest woman in New York City- no, the world.

Instead, with their circumstances, and their struggle, his love made her the saddest.

"Shell! You wanna snap out of it?" Savannah's voice was loud in Sadie's ears- she'd almost forgotten about their call, had forgotten she was even still running as her mind wandered. "I did three and a half miles, you believe it? It used to take me fifteen minutes to run one!"

"Well done, Sav," Sadie grinned, as her machine came to a stop. "I'm proud."

"How did you do?" Sav asked eagerly.

Sadie glanced at the distance on her own machine before it shut down. Seven point five. Personal best- she used to run about six in this time.

"I did about the same," she grinned, sitting down to stretch her legs. Savannah was already sat, having moved her phone to the floor with her, apparently.

"I've been meaning to ask," Savannah said, pulling her arms across her chest. "How are you getting on over there, Shell?"

"Just fine," Sadie replied, mirroring her sister's stretches. "I sort of wish I could enjoy the sun further than the garden- the Valentina's are at a beach day, I can't believe I'm stuck inside in July. All I can do is babysit, and exercise, and- and I know how lucky I am, but..."

Sadie stopped herself then. She didn't need to complain so much, especially when Savannah was dealing with so much graduate stress herself. That was another thing Sadie hated- that she'd missed her baby sister graduate.

Savannah, however, didn't seem at all concerned with the complaining as she pressed, "But what?"

"I won't complain," she sighed.

"Yes, you will," Sav said firmly. "But what?"

"Listen, I have great friends," Sadie shrugged, hoping she would let it go. "Not many people would do what they've done for me. I mean, I put myself here, they shouldn't have to pick up the pieces. But they do."

"It's not your fault, Shell."

Sadie only laughed at that. "You're a lawyer now-"

"-Trainee," Savannah corrected.

"Point is, you know how they dished out that sentence," she shrugged. "I think my problem with this whole thing is that I haven't decided a single damned thing. I couldn't decide where I stood on the Accords, nearly broke my relationship because of it. I couldn't decide whether to-"

Sadie hesitated, checking the screen to ensure the call was still encrypted- no listening ears to disturb them.

"Whether to leave with Steve or not," she finished. "I need to just grow a spine."

"But you stayed for Mom, didn't you?" Savannah said, carefully. "Seems like you got plenty spine to me."

"Yeah, well, I had to come home," Sadie said. "She would've died alone."

"You didn't know that would happen."

"I felt it," Sadie said. "Even you did. Something was wrong, we knew it was."

"But Mom's gone now," Savannah tried, gently. "And you can leave. So why do you stay?"

Sadie glanced down to the tag on her ankle, thought about how she'd discovered the ability to remove it months ago, and yet... she couldn't cross the threshold.

"I broke the law," she said, quietly.

"You think you deserve this?"

Sadie frowned. "It's not up to me to pardon myself. You should know that better than anyone, Sav. I don't get to do that."

"But Steve does? All your friends, too?" Savannah questioned, before pausing momentarily. "You've always been much harsher on yourself than anyone else in your life."

"That's not true," Sadie laughed, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable on her mat. She stretched her sides.

"It is. I'm the same. Mom was, too," Savannah said. "How she used to burn herself out with all those extra shifts, but she never asked Dad to work more?Me, ignoring everyone and studying instead of just getting on with facial reconstruction?"

Sadie tried not to visibly wince at the thought of the damage from the fire. "Well, I'm not like the two of you."

"You're exactly like the two of us," Savannah laughed. "Better, even. You were a doctor by twenty-one! You skipped, like, three grades at school!"

"First of all, you're exaggerating," Sadie argued. "Second of all, where's the crime in being smart? What's the unexplored trauma in an A grade, huh?"

"You weren't a genius from the start-"

"Gee, thanks, Sav."

"No, I remember how you used to push yourself," her sister continued. "How we both did. You gotta admit, it wasn't normal behaviour for kids."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I had goals," she replied. "I knew I wanted to be a physician, but I didn't want to wait until my early thirties to be an independent one. I wanted to have time. So, here I am. Years ahead of schedule, even with this set back. What's so wrong with it?"

"I won't speak for you," Savannah said. "But I know if I could go back, I would tell myself to relax a little. You wouldn't do the same?"

"No," Sadie said, simply. "If I hadn't gone to school so early, I wouldn't have gone to Afghanistan, and if I hadn't gone to Afghanistan, I wouldn't have discovered my abilities. And sure, a lot of pain came with that at first, it still does come with that but... it's led me to so many things."

"Alright, fair enough," Savannah said, throwing up her hands, but Sadie's mind was still reeling.

"Besides, if I hadn't discovered my abilities," Sadie continued, unable to stop herself. "I wouldn't have been involved with SHIELD, and I wouldn't have met Steve, or the Avengers. I wouldn't have created G.E.M.I.N.I, which is saving hundreds of thousands of lives across the country, as we speak. I wouldn't be half the woman that I am. And- and I wouldn't have met Steve!"

"You said that twice," Savannah commented, casually, and Sadie didn't miss the smirk on her face.

"What?" Sadie asked, confused.

"You said it twice, that you wouldn't have met Steve," she elaborated, and Sadie frowned, trying to think if she had. Had she?

"Well," Sadie sighed. "He's probably the most important person in my life- I mean, apart from you of course-"

"Hey, you don't need to say that, it's okay," Savannah smiled, softly.

"And Mom," Sadie continued, ignoring her. "Mom was important. More than anyone else, honestly. I can say that, right?"

"You can," Savannah said, sadly. "She was most important to me, too."

"But, still. She's gone, now," she sighed, the colossal sadness of loss flowing over her. She felt it physically- in her shoulders, and her stomach, and her head. The weight of grief. "Wish I could've helped her more."

"You did your best," Savannah said. "I mean, I wasn't even there."

"Because you couldn't be," Sadie said, quickly. "You couldn't be there, or you would've been."

"And you couldn't help her any more than you did, or you would have," Sav said. "See? Harsher on yourself than anyone else."

Sadie put her head in her hands then, and that's when she noticed the tears. She wiped them away with her workout towel, and didn't miss the shine in her sister's eyes, either.

"I'm no psychiatrist but... I think you need to be more forgiving of yourself," Savannah said, slowly. "And a good first step to that, would be to go to him."

"I can't," Sadie chuckled.

"Uh, you can," Sav said, obviously. "You can get that tag off, I know you can. You can call him up right now."

"Technically I can't," she said, thinking of the deleted number she'd forgotten already. Still, there was always Natasha... "Besides, I'm on house arrest. And I love my god kids and my friends and I can't just leave them. It'd hurt them."

"Would they hurt as much as you're hurting?" Savannah asked. "Would they feel as alone as you do, right now? Would they understand?"

"What, you graduate and suddenly you're all wise?" Sadie teased, but hearing it was like a punch to the gut, and Savannah's face told her she saw through it.

Would they understand?

Sadie knew, if Adrianne was sitting in this conversation, that she would. That Jamie would, and Sophia would, and Jacob would. And she knew that her mother would understand, if she tried to put the grief behind her, if she moved forward.

No, Shan wouldn't just understand- she would want her to move forward, insist on it. She even said so, right on her death bed!

"I think I've been making excuses," Sadie said, eventually, a clarity washing over her.

"Took you long enough," Savannah sighed. "Excuses for what?"

"To stop myself from being happy," she admitted. "To remain unhappy. Because that was kinda all I knew, with the war, and the fire, and Benjamin. And then, with Steve things were just so good. So... maybe subconsciously, I had to make it hard for myself. So I could feel like I deserve it?"

"Girl, are you crazy?" Savannah practically screeched down the phone, picking it up from its resting position. "Of course you do! Love isn't a luxury. There's nothing wrong with chasing it!"

"Even with Mom gone?"

"Even with Mom gone," Savannah confirmed.

"You're only saying that cause you've got that new beau," Sadie teased- anything to take the attention off herself. "I still need to meet him!"

"No, you don't, it's not serious," her sister huffed. "Look, you can choose to listen to me, or you can ignore me and stay miserable all summer. You're going to be in trouble anyway, right? Even if you wait out your sentence, then go- you still won't turn up for parole, right? Unless you wait out your sentence and literally never see Steve again."

"Not an option," Sadie said, quickly, her skin crawling at the thought.

"I thought so," Savannah said. "Either way, you're going to break the law again. Might as well rip off the plaster?"

"You're really encouraging this?" Sadie asked, bewildered. "Cambridge Law graduate Savannah Marie Moore is encouraging that I cut my house arrest?"

"Hey, it's your call," her sister grinned. "I'm just telling you how it is. You want legal advice? There's no scenario where you don't end up on a crazy parole scheme, or a fugitive again. Both scenarios are messy. So, is it really worth it?"

Sadie thought back to Steve's letter, then. How regretful it was, how sad she'd found it.

"It isn't worth it at all," Sadie found herself saying, and Savannah cheered, clapping through the screen.

"So, you going?"

"I'm going," Sadie decided, a mixture of fear and excitement in her stomach. "I love you, Sav."

"I love you too, Shell," Savannah grinned. "Now I'm going to shower, you should do the same if you're gonna go get your man!"

"Shut up," Sadie laughed, as her sister waved.

"Stay safe!" Savannah shouted. "And keep in touch if you can!"

"I'll try," she replied, and Savannah blew a kiss to the screen before hanging up.

Immediately, Sadie shut the laptop down- she wouldn't be taking it with her. Her mind was a blur as she retrieved her burner phone, her hands shaking as she dialled Natasha's number.

The phone rang for so long that Sadie worried she'd miss the call, until Natasha's nonchalant voice answered the phone.

"Yup?"

Was that all Sadie got? She supposed she couldn't expect much more after their clash in Berlin, and how Sadie had beelined straight for her in Leipzig.

"Where's Steve, is he okay?" Sadie asked, her heart hammering.

"He's fine, he's showering. And you're interrupting my meal," Natasha sounds like she's eating something crunchy. "You okay? You're not dying?"

"No, I'm just... I'm sick of this house arrest gig," Sadie said. "Can you meet me?"

"Depends," Nat answered. "Can you get to Nevada before we move again?"

"I can get on a plane tonight," she answered. "Although JFK is gonna be a mission."

"Fly from Newark," Nat responded. "You have to blend in. Call the number I text you- they'll get you a passport and ID within twelve hours, just give them a new name. You need help with the ankle tag?"

Sadie let her hand glow briefly, the first time in a long time. "I got that covered."

"Hey, this is cute," Natasha said, her voice teasing, but she couldn't tell if it was sarcasm. "Flight's five hours, you might make it for his birthday."

"That's a plan now, you've made it a plan," Sadie said, excitedly, not caring if she sounded stupid. "Now text me that number, please. And don't tell Steve I called."

"If there's anyone that can keep a secret, it's me," Natasha said, her tone a little... off.

"Hey," Sadie said quickly. "Sorry I beat on you in Berlin. I was pissed."

"First of all," Natasha said, with a laugh. "You did not beat on me-"

"-I kinda did!"

"Anything you can do is stuff I taught you. Secondly, I've already forgotten about it," Natasha said. "Now call that number. Tell them Natalia sent you, and she's cashing in a favour. Give them your real name and the name you want on the passport. Then tell them you need it delivered, and give them an address. Don't go to the shop, no matter what they say."

"Thank you," Sadie said, gratefully.

"Call me when you arrive in Vegas."

"Vegas?" Sadie asked, in surprise. "Isn't that the least subtle place you could be?"

"Sam's suggestion. You'd be surprised, though," Nat answered. "Everyone is too busy counting their cash to notice anything, so... Call me when you get here."

The phone beeped before Sadie could thank her again, and Natasha's voice was replaced by the sound of the Valentina family arriving home from the beach with excited chatter.

And Sadie had never felt so much hope in her life.

~

What would it take for Sam to understand that Steve was not a party person? And what would it take for them to get out of Vegas, this sea of financial and moral chaos?

Still, Steve's friend had insisted they go out the night before his birthday, and Natasha has insisted she stay back at the motel- lapping up all that rest and relaxation Steve craved the most.

And now, instead of starting his day, Steve was getting back as the sun came up. He was exhausted- not physically- he hadn't danced like Sam had, instead staying way on the sidelines in the dark seating area, waiting.

Steve would have left on his own, but part of being fugitives was sticking together. And so he tolerated hours of music he hated, and women who didn't understand personal space until Steve had to actually had tell them no, I won't dance, and I won't buy you any drinks, the bar is that way.

It wasn't in his nature to be rude, but he had to lay down a line. There was only one woman Steve would be so attentive to and she was in New York, not Vegas.

Steve dragged his feet down the motel hall, leaving Sam behind as the soldier disappeared to sleep off his active night. Sleep sounded good right now, but the last thing Steve wanted was to mess up his schedule.

Perhaps a short nap. An hour or two couldn't hurt, could it? Clearly, he needed it too, as it took him several goes to get his keycard to work on the door, but as soon as he did, Steve immediately shut the door behind him.

He leaned against the white wood, closing his eyes for a moment, and honestly he could've stayed right there and been quite happy. At least until he heard a familiar silken voice behind him.

"Hey, you."

Steve's heart stopped straight in his chest and it was muscle memory to smile as he looked at Sadie. She was right in front of him, posed dramatically with one hand under her chin and the other outstretched as she smiled a cheesy grin.

And she looked... just glorious. Perched on the windowsill, wearing a cotton button up shirt he recognised as his, the hem of it resting at mid thigh. Light spilled in behind her catching on something shiny- with a laugh, Steve realised she wore a red gift bow in her voluminous hair and held a blue one in her hands.

"Oh my God," he said stupidly, dropping his bags to the ground. "Oh my God, you're beautiful."

Sadie laughed lightly, walking over to him and sticking the blue bow into his hair while Steve just stood there like an idiot, stunned and smiling as his heart slowly started again.

"I'm the greatest present you ever received, aren't I?" she asked, cheekily.

"Absolutely," he said, instinctively wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close until their bodies were pressed together. "You look great."

Sadie made a face. "I packed on a few pounds."

"I don't care," Steve said, honestly. "You look amazing and you're so- I love you."

"I love you too," Sadie smiled, tracing shapes on his chest.

"You remember then?" he teased and she cringed, shutting her eyes.

"A little," she chuckled. "It's embarrassing."

"It's endearing," Steve corrected. "But you have to tell me everything I've missed. Like that fact that you're early- what happened? I had a whole plan to come get you-"

Sadie only smiled, and cut him off by pressing her lips against his, kissing him deeply, and he forgot all his words as he melted into her. It was so surreal, being able to hold her, and kiss her this way, and it was so different to the kiss they'd shared at their goodbye longer than a year ago.

This held a certain heat, his stomach filled with butterflies as he revelled in the feel of her. Her warmth against him, her hands draped on the nape of his neck, the way her body relaxed and he held her up. He felt her hands make their way into his hair as she parted from their kiss, tousling it gently.

"I like the new look, by the way," Sadie said, her fingers dragging down past his temple, tracing his bearded jaw.

"It's good for anonymity," he told her.

"Apart from when it's not," she smiled, in reference to his chance encounter on the night train- he'd told her all about it in his letters.

"Apart from when it's not," Steve repeated. "If I'd have known I was seeing you, I would've cleaned up a little."

"I'm glad you didn't. I like it this way, keep it this way," Sadie said, her voice a low and sensual murmur that made him want to kiss her again. So he did.

Steve didn't worry about his wandering hands, especially since Sadie's response was to press against him, and guide his grip down her curved body. Then, a sharp tug of his hair that made him let out an embarrassing groan.

He was used to nothing but softness from those hands of hers. With her glowing light, the combination of her gentle power and the harsh act- it stirred a heat deep inside him. That was when he knew he'd have to stop, before he got ahead of himself.

"Sadie," Steve said, dragging his hands to a safer zone, as she pressed quick, feverish kisses against his lips. Even the gaps between those were almost too much to bear- he understood it now, what she'd written in that letter he'd read over and over.

When I see you again, don't let me kiss you, because I don't know if I'll stop.

"Sadie, sugar," he said again, pressing a finger to her lips. She even kissed that, a quick peck that made him smile. "Let's slow down. We have time."

"Okay," Sadie said, instead just wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace. "I was just thinking we could, um... work up an appetite? Before breakfast?"

"Oh," Steve said, that familiar burn rising- he hadn't felt that in a while.

"Yeah, but," she raised an eyebrow. "You seem to wanna slow down."

"Oh, I don't mind," he said, a little too eagerly and not as smooth as he would've liked. "Really, I'm not... super insistent on that."

"You said it, it's done," Sadie shrugged, and Steve could have kicked himself. "We have time."

The blue light from her hands had travelled right up her forearms now, past her elbow. He could feel it through his skin, see it through his eyelids when he blinked.

"Sorry," she admitted, bashfully, although he had no clue what she was sorry for.

That was when Sadie stepped away, her hands and forearms still bright with light, and began to shake them off. It took Steve several moments to realise she was trying to shake out the glow.

"Are you okay?" he asked with concern.

"I'm fine," Sadie grinned, wiping her palms against her thighs- they still glowed bright. "They haven't done this in a while. Mimicry's been... relatively dormant for the past year. Used it once or twice- nothing like I used to."

"Oh," Steve said. "And now..."

"It's your fault," Sadie grinned, apparently giving up on trying to calm the glow. "Only time it's ever involuntary."

"I always thought you did it on purpose," Steve smirked, strangely satisfied by this discovery.

"Do you like it?" she asked, stepping forward to trace his face as his eyes fell shut, letting the familiar warmth wash over him.

"It isn't... horrible," Steve admitted, trying hard not to latch himself onto her again.

Sadie chuckled in response, low and close to him. "I missed you a lot."

He'd missed her too. It had been hell writing those letters to her, knowing he wouldn't hear back, and even though he knew Sadie wiped his number, he always checked his burner- just in case.

But still, despite the pain of it, Steve wrote anyway, he wouldn't break a promise to her. Especially knowing that if the letters brought comfort, it would've been much needed.

"Sadie, I'm-" he struggled to find the words. He knew the pain of it, losing a mother, he knew she'd still be feeling it even as she stood before him. Like he still sometimes felt the loss of his own. "I'm sorry about your mom. She was... a wonderful woman."

"Thank you," Sadie said, ever brave. But he didn't want her to feel that she had to be, not with him. Still, he could see in her eyes that she wanted to change the topic, so he did.

"Will you be going back to work?" Steve asked.

"Well, that's the thing," she said, a nervous grimace on her face. "Don't kill me, okay?"

"Sadie, what did you do?"

"I may or may not have two months left of my sentence-"

"Sadie!"

"-so I can't go back to New York."

"Two months?" Steve couldn't be too angry with her, but still- a bounty on her head, too? After everything? "What changed?"

"Listen, Steve I know you want to know absolutely everything but our coffee's getting cold."

She strode across the room, and that was the first time Steve was fully aware of his changed surroundings. The small motel room, with the windows wide open, the double bed with fresh satin sheets, the television he was glad was off, and a full breakfast spread waiting on the table, decorated with rose petals and one of the red flowers in a vase.

Steve just knew, as he followed her over, that this was not a service that came with the room. "So this is why Sam dragged me out..."

"Happy birthday, baby," Sadie smiled, picking up two flasks of piping coffee and holding them out to him.

"Thanks," he said, placing a kiss on her cheek. "Don't sing the birthday song."

"I will not sing the birthday song," she agreed, rolling her eyes. "I was never going to sing the birthday song. I hate it. The birthday song never goes well. And I'm a horrible singer."

"You're not bad," he said. She was already leaning into him and it drove him crazy, even as she rolled her eyes at his half compliment. Steve glanced down at the coffee. "Which one's mine?"

"Either," Sadie grinned. "I know you like a double espresso in the mornings, but you also like a good macchiato too, so I got you both, and you can pick!"

"Wow, thanks," Steve said again, and he felt like it was all he was saying, genuinely moved by her attention to detail. "You really gave this a lot of thought."

"Well, I've had time on my hands," Sadie joked, but for him, it was a stark reminder. While he'd been free on the road, she'd spent months on house arrest. "Now, pick one."

Steve knew that Sadie liked a macchiato too, so he opted for the espresso instead. She gave him a look that told him she knew exactly why he'd chosen as he had.

Steve took a sip of the rich espresso, pointedly letting out a satisfied sigh as she opened her mouth to argue with his choice to leave her the macchiato, simply because it was what she liked.

"Let's eat," he said, pulling out a seat for her to sit in, and she surrendered, and he joined her.

The table wasn't so big- a small rectangle with two wooden chairs. But still, Steve felt so far away from her, and he was sat down for a grand total of five seconds before he stood up again, pulling his chair abruptly to her side as he sat down again.

Sadie raised an eyebrow at him, taking a bite out of a brioche bun as he sat there, his fingers tapping against the table cloth.

"You aren't going to eat, then?" she asked him shifting in her seat so her knees were pulled up against her chest. He caught a glimpse of his favourite red lace beneath her shirt.

"Yeah, sure ," Steve replied, although he was really unconcerned with breakfast as he looked at her. He didn't want to stop looking at her. And she was too far away. He moved his chair closer.

"Boy," Sadie said, leaning away from him with a frown. "If you don't stop being a creep and eat your damn- I hate you!"

Steve couldn't stop himself from pulling her into his lap as she laughed, slapping him playfully. But Sadie put her feet up as he held her close, so he assumed she wasn't too mad.

"Isn't that more comfortable?" he said, kissing her hair.

She didn't answer, instead just biting her lip as she leaned against him. "How are you gonna eat?"

"Feed me."

"Man-child," Sadie scoffed, but offered a bite of her bread anyway.

They sat that way for a while, together in near silence, eating, sharing meals. Steve fed himself once the novelty wore off and practicality became more important, but Sadie stayed in his lap, her back against his front, her head on his shoulder.

"You know, there was this time when I was a kid," Sadie said, eventually, her voice quiet. "I was probably about Sophia's age. And Sav was real small. Our mom took us out to this, like, French indie place for breakfast."

"Sounds nice," Steve commented, waiting for wherever this story would take them.

"It was," she chuckled. "That was the first time I came home with all A's on my report card. 'Course, it kinda became routine, but I guess my mom wasn't expecting it. That was when I first started studying hard. I remember being so upset with myself because I didn't have a single A plus."

"Anyway, I ordered a pancake stack. Four whole pancakes with Nutella and strawberries and maple syrup! The dream!" She laughed. "Momma said I deserved it. Then she saw the price on the menu, and she said 'Shell, you can order the stack. But you gotta give one to your sister, and save one for your dad.' She didn't even take a pancake for herself. God, we were so broke."

Steve lifted a hand to turn her chin, and her eyes were so sad as she looked at him.

"You've come a long way," he said gently. "I don't just mean money-wise."

"Have I?"

"She was proud of you," Steve assured her. "I'm proud of you."

Sadie nodded sadly at that. "Will you take me to bed?" she asked, quietly.

Steve lifted her up without another word then, placing soft kisses along her neck as they went, her arms wrapped tight around his torso, as she whispered sweet nothings.

She leaned into him as he set her down, letting out a soft sigh as he kissed the spot where her smooth jaw and neck connected. When he parted from her, the skin where he'd been was left a reddish tinge- his favourite thing to do, and he missed doing it.

"Does it look good?" Sadie asked, referring to the bruise with a cheeky smile and he couldn't help but smile as he hovered over her.

It did look good on her though, as did everything. Even the sunlight looked good as it danced atop her bronze cheeks, the light from the window bathing them in warmth. Her dark brown eyes, capable of holding an entire night sky, the ringlets of her raven hair piled so flatteringly- it all looked good.

But it wasn't important. Better than all of that was the light Steve saw inside her, the goodness and care she held in her heart.

In that moment, Steve decided he'd have a life with Isadora Moore. He didn't know what sort of life he could give her, but he was too selfish, and too adoring to give her up again.

"I love you," Steve said, desperately. "I'm never leaving you again."

"You didn't leave me," she said, quietly. "I said I wouldn't go."

"I should've found some other way," he sighed. "To be close to you."

Sadie pulled him to her then, hugging him tightly, her head buried in the nape of his neck as he returned her embrace. She held him like a vice and could feel a serenity washing over him as she released all his tension and they lay there.

"You're close to me now," she reminded him, and did he know it with the heat of her. "That's all that matters. Nothing else, nothing at all."

He wished he could speak, wished he could say something to encompass it all, but his mind came up blank.

"I love you more than anything," Steve found himself saying. "I'm never leaving you again."

"I love you, too," Sadie sighed, her breath warm against her neck as she snuggled closer to him, and their previous heat made way for a quiet peace. "We're never leaving each other. We're making something out of this."

. . .

. .

.

woo! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! I have no Valentine myself, hence why I'm living vicariously through Stadie right now but I'm honestly not fussed ahaha!

I hope this chapter was satisfying for you all- God bless Savannah and her honesty, I swear. Sadie was originally supposed to figure it out in a therapy session but it felt so, well, clinical, so we got some sisterly love instead!!

I'm so excited that the house arrest is over- we're so close to Infinity War now, just a few missions in between to get Sadie back into the swing of things! Can't wait to write action again at long last. Timeline is slightly altered for all this, but it works. Things are coming together!

Also guys I literally sat on my laptop and broke it- idk how quick the repair is, it's supposed to take 5 days but we'll see. Luckily I had Stadie's reunion written already so it wasn't so hard to update from my phone, but bear with me if there's no update next week (there probably will be, but just in case).

Let me know what you think!
-Amber.