The Christmas decorations in Sasha's apartment were taken down on January 6th, though she hadn't been round to Tony's place since New Years Eve to know whether it was still decked out top to bottom in tinsel and mistletoe.

It was the end of January when Sasha realised she hadn't spent the night with Tony since the evening of Christmas Day. The two of them had consecutively celebrated her birthday, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day together, though work commitments dragged Sasha away from Tony as soon as the festivities were over.

She went back into work feeling a lot happier than she had done before the holidays, fulfilled from a wholesome and loving few weeks with Tony. Sasha felt like Tony had showed her a different side to life than she'd ever seen before, that not everything had to be so dark and gloomy.

Tony had hosted a New Years Eve party at his place and again, the two of them had managed to make everyone turn a blind eye to their relationship.

Although it was hard for Sasha to ignore the hot glances and touches of his hand on the small of her back throughout the evening, they both stayed strong, acting no more friendly towards one another than they always had done.

She had intended on staying the night with Tony, though when she announced that she was leaving, and by leaving she meant taking the elevator upstairs to bed, it was Steve that jumped to his feet and offered to walk her home.

There wasn't really a way for Sasha to say no, and so with a pit of sadness in her stomach, she had to start her New Year without even so much as a kiss in bed with Tony since one at midnight hadn't been an option.

As frustrating as it was for Sasha to have to go home alone, the walk back through New York in the early hours of that morning with Steve had turned out to be quite pleasant. They both laughed and joked, talked about old times and enjoyed being in one another's company, alone.

Sasha had always liked Steve, and although things between them weren't written in the stars the way they both thought it might be, it didn't change the fact that they had a close bond and similar personalities that made the chemistry between them undeniable, even if platonic soulmates were all they were meant to be.

Ultimately, Sasha fell asleep that night with a smile on her face. Despite being in bed alone beneath cold sheets, she felt warm inside, happy with her life for the first true time since her brother had passed.

That being said, things had started to feel darker again when Sasha spent more days in the office and nights alone at home, barely having time to call Tony on her way home from work most evenings.

New cases were drowning Sasha and although this time she was able to keep her head above water and maintain a liveable work to life balance, it still didn't free up enough time for her to be with Tony as much as she wanted to be.

On top of that, the days Sasha did have free on weekends seemed to never coincide with Tony's spare hours. The Avengers had been working tirelessly on getting to the bottom of the two attacks on New York City, desperately trying to find out information to help prevent another devastation in the city, or anywhere else in the world.

Tony was sometimes in New York and sometimes on the other side of the globe, meaning that even if Sasha did call, it wasn't always daytime where Tony was.

She missed him, and he missed her. Tony felt the strain on his relationship with Sasha after just one week of them not spending at least one night together. He missed hearing her voice and the way she'd kiss his shoulders in the middle of the night. Tony didn't sleep at the best of times but found it even harder to drift off when he was alone, the only thing sending him to sleep recently being pure exhaustion from work.

He wasn't sure if Sasha had noticed how hard things were getting, since it seemed like she had always been used to being alone. In a lot of ways, he had too, though Tony knew that Sasha was holding herself back in their relationship for fear of loss, and so perhaps withdrawing from one another hadn't affected her the same way it had him.

It was a Friday night when Tony was finally back in New York. He'd been gone fore two weeks and had only spoken to Sasha twice in those fourteen days with time zones adding just one more force keeping them apart.

Tired yet excited at the possibility of finally being able to see his girlfriend, Tony grabbed himself a beer from the fridge before dialling Sasha's number, holding the phone to his ear.

"Coulson."

"Hey, Sash, it's me, I'm back. How are you?"

"Tony, oh my gosh!"

He paused and listened to a rummaging in the background that sounded like files being stacked and desk drawers slamming shut.

"I'm good, are you? Tell me you're not hurt?"

Tony had tried to tell Sasha that not every trip he went on was a risk to his life, but he also understood her panic whenever he even so much as left the house. It warmed his heart to know she cared, nevertheless.

"No, baby, I'm not hurt," he said with a small laugh, "You wanna do something tonight? Go out for dinner or get a takeout?"

Sasha sighed loudly, staring down at her desk and glowing laptop screen with tired eyes, "I'd love to, I really would, but God knows how long I'll be at work for. I might not get out till ten-thirty and I've been here since seven. I bet you're exhausted, Tony, you should rest."

Tony pursed his lips, half expecting the answer she'd given him despite hoping with all his might that she'd say something different.

"Well," he cleared his throat, "I could swing by your place and cook something for when you get home? I just want to see you, that's all. I've missed you, I do miss you."

The line went quiet for a moment. Sasha desperately missed Tony too, and hearing his voice properly for the first time in so long only made the emotions she'd been feeling while he'd been away more intense. Of course she wanted to see him, but her head was pounding with pain and her eyes were strained from working all day, her throat dry and her limbs achy, all signs pointed towards her needing to do nothing but get into bed and sleep.

"I miss you too, Tony. I'm sorry, I just really need to sleep tonight. Are you busy tomorrow? We can catch up then."

Feeling like he'd been shot through the heart, Tony took a swig of his beer to swallow the lump in his throat. He knew that Sasha wasn't declining his advances because she didn't want to see him, since he knew just how drained her job made her, but it didn't make getting a no hurt any less.

"Sure, yeah. Get some rest, I'll, uh, I'll call you tomorrow."

"Alright, Tony. See you."

"Goodnight."

Sasha cursed under her breath when the call ended, hating the fact that she'd just upset the one person she never wanted to feel even so much as an ounce of pain.

The truth was, Sasha had gotten used to being alone. Although she loved being with Tony, their forced time apart hadn't taken too much of a toll on her, simply reverting her back to how her life was before they'd met.

Of course, she didn't feel half as happy or see the world as brightly alone as she did when she was with Tony, but she'd gotten so used to the idea of being alone forever that the reality hadn't come as a huge shock to her.

It was ten o'clock when Sasha finally left the office and walked home. She debated calling Tony to keep her company on her journey but ultimately decided against it, hoping he was sound asleep catching up on rest like she knew he needed.

The air was bitterly cold that particular evening and although the sky was cloudless and black, wind whistled and whipped around the skyscrapers that lined the streets, howling around corners and rattling windows, prickling Sasha's skin as she waited to cross the street.

"I'm sorry," a voice next to her on the sidewalk said, grabbing her attention, "It's Sasha, isn't it?"

Looking up to her right, Sasha narrowed her eyes for a second before her memory matched a name to a face, recalling that it was in fact her neighbour stood beside her.

"Yeah, and Sean, right? Sorry, long day."

He looked up at the green signal on crossing before they both set off walking, his dark curls blowing across his forehead as he adjusted a black scarf around his neck.

"Tell me about it. You wouldn't, uh, fancy grabbing a quick night cap would you? There's a bar right next to our building."

Admittedly, the frosty evening air had sparked Sasha's mind and body back into life, making her feel much more awake than she had done sat in the warmth of her office all day.

Sleep was still calling to her and her eyes were heavy, though the innocent smile on Sean's face beneath the glow from the windows of tower blocks either side of the street made her feel like it was impolite to say no.

She pulled out her phone, hoping to perhaps see a text or missed call from Tony as a sign for her not to go for a drink with her neighbour, however, her lock screen was filled with nothing but work emails.

With a heavy sigh, Sasha shrugged her shoulders, "Sure, why not?"

an;;
just a lil update for you!! Not a huge fan of this chapter but it's more a little filler than anything, I hope you enjoyed nevertheless! I'll be updating again soon :)
p.s thank you for 13k what on Earth???? I'm so amazed!!!