IT had been a long year. Oh, she had raged when she’d learned where she was (when she was), and that with the near century of progress, they could not return her to Natt. She hadn’t spoken to Steve or Tony Stark for weeks– Steve for the reminder of her home, Tony Stark for the sins of his father. She had remained silent, unforgiving in her grief. Losing her heart in the war had left her absent; losing her heart to the past had simply left her hollow. The moths had slowly brought back an echo of who she was, but not enough; never enough of who she was when she had been whole.
The rain helped to keep her aware of the reality of her situation, but only just. To be sure, she was barely hanging on . She was dazed and wide awake at the same time; falling and finally back on solid ground simultaneously. Becky could see the water rolling over Matt’s Cheeks; could see the way his hair was sticking to his forehead in details her painter’s eye would always remember, but in ways so real she couldn’t have dreamed. He was there, in exquisite relief. She felt like she was able to breathe again, but her lungs were burning from misuse from the last year.
She allowed herself to be pulled in toward him, holding his tags in her hand. She’d know these anywhere; could have traced the letters in her sleep. He had always kept them hidden from her; knew that the sight reminded her of harsher days, but they had been a part of him; a part she had loved just as she’d loved every part of him (just as he had loved every part of her broken heart). “You’re here,” she choked, eyes wide. Eyes fluttering closed as the low hum of his voice washed over her far more completely than the rain had soaked her. That song held so many memories. The feel of his shirt against her skin as they danced in an empty living room. Silk of a simply white dress at a small wedding. Groggy, cracked voice from sleep whispering in her ear in the morning. She hadn’t been able to listen to Sinatra for the last year.
Other things of his, she’d held onto like a lifeline. Hunted out the color of his eyes in the store and in the sky. Even had a stethoscope in the apartment before the chill of the metal reminded her of the first time they’d met. But that song had been painful in a way that hadn’t been a comfort. Hearing it again made her breathe out a ragged sigh of relied, grabbing him by his middle, falling backward. She was in the mud, but she couldn’t find a way to care as the soggy earth soaked through her clothes. She said nothing, made no more move. She simply held her husband at the site of his own grave, pulling back the pieces she had buried with him.