The sharp buzz of the intercom snapped Sasha out of a mindless daydream, drawing her to her feet as she headed through her new home towards the front door, holding down a button on the keypad with her fingertip.

"Good afternoon, Miss Coulson. I have a Mr Tony Stark here for you, ID checks have been completed."

"Thanks Henry, you can send him up."

"Not a problem, he'll be with you momentarily."

Sasha sighed and lingered around the front door, pacing back and forth with her nails between her teeth, a habit she'd picked up over the past six months without even realising it.

After heading home from O'Shea's the previous evening, Sasha got a phone call from Tony. They hadn't spoken at all that day, Sasha's mind being far too scrambled to send so much as a text, though she felt a lot clearer after her therapy session with Robbie.

Tony had called just to check in, leaving Sasha to reassure him that everything was fine and she had just been busy, and that there was no other reason for her lack of communication that day. Although her answer had been a lie, the sigh of relief she heard Tony exhale told her she'd made the right decision about holding off on telling the truth until they were face to face.

Both of them had a Sunday that was free of any prior engagements, leaving Sasha with no excuse to push back having the conversation with Tony that she'd been dreading. She'd woken up far earlier than usual with the weight of the day on her mind, and had been unable to stomach any food due to the ravenous anxiety swirling around in the pit of her stomach.

The knock at the door felt like it arrived far too quickly for Sasha's liking. She held back for a few moments before swallowing the lump in her throat and unlocking the door, pulling it open with a gentle smile tugging on her lips.

Tony was stood in the hallway with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, a black t-shirt hid the arc reactor while a navy nylon biker jacket covered his torso, left lazily unzipped with a pair of blue lensed glasses tucked into the front pocket.

"Entire floor to yourself, ID checks downstairs, what is this, Fort Knox?"

He grinned and placed a hand on Sasha's waist, pressing his lips to her cheek before walking past her inside her home, his eyes being drawn to the high ceilings before he instinctively walked towards the large windows, an endless sea of green from the Billionaires Row view of Central Park seemingly catching his eye.

Sasha closed the door behind him, flicking just one of the three locks closed. She admired him for a moment, smiling to herself as she saw the way the windows framed him and the golden sunlight poured over him like honey, staging him like the King she knew he was.

"Can never be too safe." She said.

Tony turned to glance over his shoulder at her, noticing the way her eyes fell to the ground after she spoke. He just nodded once, a sensation comparable to a knife twisting in his gut overwhelming him for a handful of seconds.

"Coffee? Tea?"

Sasha had wandered across to her kitchen, smiling at him from across the island. Her new residence was far more homely than her previous apartments, a warmth radiated from brighter fixtures and fittings, white walls and large windows overlooking natural surroundings instead of high rise buildings seemingly in touching distance from each other.

"Coffee would be great, thanks."

She nodded and turned her back on Tony, tensing up for a moment as her mind drew a blank on her actions, making her freeze on the spot.

Tony narrowed his eyes, craning his neck as he looked back from the windows across the large room at Sasha, "You alright?"

"Yeah," Sasha just nodded, not turning around as she started to open and close cupboards until she found what she was looking for, "New place, can never remember where I unpacked anything."

There was an uneasy laugh that escaped Sasha's lips, though Tony knew she was lying. He hadn't spent enough time with Sasha of late to know how her condition was, and quite frankly he was afraid to ask, not wanting to upset her. Quite evidently, though, she was still suffering the same way she had been before their split.

Sasha eventually joined Tony on the sofa, setting down two cups of coffee on white marble coaster a top a sleek black coffee table. He smiled at her in thanks, watching the way she made herself comfortable by pulling her legs around the side of her body and resting a knitted throw across her lap, the same way she always had done.

Tony thought she looked beautiful. Her skin was bare and cheekbones hollow, thick dark lashes made her eyes seem the glow in the dawn of golden hour, her hair slicked back into a long pony tail and her lips pouted in their natural pink, a youthful shimmer across her temples and a spark in her smile that made him crumble inside, wishing he could do nothing but stare at her forever.

"Nice place you got here, I like it more than the others. Brighter, cosier, smells like those expensive candle stores you like. Only downside is you can't see my place."

Sasha looked at him through her lashes as she sipped her coffee, "I have the whole floor, you can see your place from one of the guest bedrooms."

She would've preferred death over admitting it, but the first thing Sasha looked for when she viewed her apartment was whether she could see the Stark Tower from the windows. She was unsure why she was so drawn to being able to see Tony's name lit up above the rest of the city, but once she walked through into the guest bedroom and saw the familiar glow, she knew she'd found her home. Sasha had accepted that she found comfort in being able to see a part of Tony if he wasn't around, even if it was just the tower.

"Bruce told me last night that you just needed some time, a little bit of space, that kind of thing. I'm worried that he was wrong, I have an awful feeling that there's something bothering you, Coulson."

Tony's words broke a peaceful silence, drawing her eyes away from his serious expression and down to her coffee. She hadn't expected Tony to bring up her quietness from yesterday, having spent all morning preparing herself to instigate the topic of conversation herself, though she soon remembered that if anybody could see right through her, it was him.

"I uh," Sasha sighed, shaking her head with her eyes narrowed towards the floor, "I just have a lot on my mind, that's all."

"Alright so tell me, maybe I can help."

There was a kindness in Tony's eyes that made Sasha's heart feel like melted gold pouring through her veins. She couldn't bare to see the sight replaced by a pain thundering through them, regret and anger at the past, at things he couldn't change.

Sasha didn't want to tell Tony what was on her mind, but after speaking to Robbie and having some sense and practically kicked into her, she knew there wasn't really a whole lot of alternatives on the table.

Swallowing her pride and any conflicting thoughts down with a mouthful of coffee, Sasha set down her mug on the table before folding her hands in her lap, her fingers anxiously twisting the ring she always wore on her right hand, a composure slowly making its way into her eyes as Tony sat and watched in anticipation.

"This might be a lot, so buckle in," Sasha said with a braced laugh, making Tony smile the smallest amount.

"I'm buckled."

"Since the accident, accidents, I've struggled with a lot of things. I have a lot of issues, of-of trauma, I guess, that seems to impact me day to day. My sleeping pattern is basically non-existent, I have recurring nightmares, I had to move into Fort Knox just to feel safe, I get someone to walk me to and from my car when I go to work and come home. I have so much going on in my head that my memory takes a backseat and clearly suffers from all of it, I'm getting worse when I thought I was getting better. I get frustrated with things and upset, I want to call you and have you come make it all better but I don't want you to blame yourself which I know that you do, I hate talking about it but I have to talk about it because otherwise me and you, us, we'll suffer. I have no structure in my life and I never know what's happening, I've been so back and forth recently and my head feels so loud all the time, I can't find silence at all, unless...unless I'm with you. Then the world seems quiet. Things aren't the same as they were before and I'm worried that you'll expect them to be, especially after the other night."

Afraid to look up but too anxious at the silence, Sasha forced herself to look away from the floor and up at Tony. He was staring at her with watery eyes and a frown that reflected her own. The hurt was obvious and the regret was too, the way he swallowed so harshly making it clear he was fighting back a surge of tears that had already threatened his eyes.

Tony had had a suspicion that Sasha had fallen off the track, at least by her standards, though he'd never realised just how much she was struggling. It made him feel like a bad partner, a bad friend above all else to not have recognised what she was going through and to not have stepped in to help. There was no going back, though, no changing the past. Tony knew that now, and had accepted that all he could do was try and make the future, their future, better.

"Alright," he said, nodding once with a clenched jaw, "So we need routine. We need structure, support, familiarity, safety, yes?"

"I-I guess so, I-"

"So let's do it," Tony shuffled closer to Sasha, reaching out and picking up one of her hands with his own, squeezing it tightly, "We can move slowly, I know that's what you want. How about we start with date nights on Wednesdays and Saturdays? And I'll come meet you every day after work to walk you to your car. If you wanna hang out, we'll hang out, if you wanna have some time to yourself, that's fine."

"Tony," Sasha whispered, her eyes doe-like as she gazed up at him, her other hand wrapping around his, "You don't have to do all of that, I just had to tell you what was on my mind, I needed to-"

"You need to feel safe and secure, Sash. I'm gonna give you that, whatever it takes. So tomorrow morning I will be waiting on that street corner where you park your car and I'll walk you to your office, understand?"

Sasha squeezed her eyes shut, feeling a surge of emotion pulsating through her soul at the loving force of his words and the warmth she felt from his hands holding hers.

She didn't want emotion or pity, and Tony knew that. He gave her a solution, an answer, a fix to her problems without the empathy that others would've drowned her in. Tony always seemed to know what it was that Sasha needed the most and despite there being nothing more in the world he wanted to do that tell her for hours on end just how sorry he was for everything that had happened, he knew that wouldn't make her feel any better.

Regardless of trying her best to refrain from crying in front of Tony, having someone tell her that they were going to help her influenced a reaction she couldn't hold back.

"Hey, you're alright, come here sweetheart."

Sasha didn't bother to try and compose herself, the only thing on her mind in that moment was wanting to feel the warmth and safety of being wrapped in Tony's arms.

He pulled her into his lap, leaning back into the corner of the sofa with their legs sprawled out across the leather, bodies intertwined with Sasha's head resting against his beating chest, a damp trickle of tears soaking through his t-shirt.

Tony scattered kisses through her hair, holding her tightly against him. Her vulnerable side was one he hated to see, yet also cherished being opened to, enjoying the feeling of being wanted and needed the way Sasha wanted and needed him in that moment.

Her hands wrapped around his torso, hugging him like he was all she needed which in a way, he was. Sasha had once thought that the only person she needed was herself, though the past year had taught her that perhaps two souls were better than one, and that the flame she needed to burn alongside was Tony.

"Look at me Sasha. Honey, look at me," Tony coaxed, lifting her face gently with his hand, his dark eyes looking down at her with a melting smile that made Sasha feel at home.

She rest one hand on the side of his face, running her fingertips across his stubble and tracing the smile on his lips, an intoxicatingly addictive feeling burning within her heart at the way she felt in that moment, completely bewitched by the superhero and completely safe with him, too.

"I love you."

Tony hadn't said those three words to her since their argument in Central Park, though they were a welcome sound to Sasha's ears, feeling like what she could only imagine being embraced into Heaven would be like.

The phrase said so much in so little. Reassurance, confession, support, commitment, faith, a lifetime of emotions said out loud in just three words, though it was all Sasha wanted to hear.

Sasha's eyes cleared of tears as she looked up at Tony, her head resting on his shoulder as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. Her skin smelled like vanilla and her hands felt soft against his face, a calmness captivating both of them as they lay in the midst of sunset across Central Park, the view below them being the place that had brought them back together.

With a strong beating in her chest and a healthy feeling of resurgence in her veins, Sasha knew she was safe to move forward, to accept her flaws, scars and all. Because no matter what, she knew now that she would never be alone, not as long as Tony Stark walked the Earth.

"And I love you, Tony."

"Damn right you do," Tony just grinned, grabbing his lover's face in between his thumb and forefinger, not waiting any longer to place a perfect kiss on her lips.