Lamborghini | Tony Stark

TWO - ICE COLD

It was raining hard in New York City when Sasha finally stopped typing. She'd been sat at her desk since just shy of eight o'clock that morning, looking outside for what felt like the first time eleven hours later.

There was comfort in the rain for Sasha, a grey dreariness that soothed her more than blinding sunshine ever could. The way the bright lights and neon signs juxtaposed the black skies and blizzards of raindrops that hammered against the windows of her office made the echoes inside her head that little bit quieter.

Sitting high above most of New York on the 47th floor of the tower block she worked in, Sasha wasn't shocked to see most of her colleagues' desks empty when she she grabbed a coffee from the break room down the hallway before returning to her office.

Most of the lights were out apart from a handful of her co-workers who were still busy working behind the frosted glass of their individual offices, warm yellow glows coming from within. She left her door open as she packed up her things for the day, sipping from the paper cup while stacking away case files.

She paused for a moment, staring down at the emerald green glow coming from the sign outside the bar across the street. O'Shea's had been the place Sasha and Phil met most nights of the week after they'd finished work, both of them looking forward to sharing stories about their day over an ice cold beer.

The Coulson family were native to Boston, however both siblings made the move to New York City after the death of their parents, each deciding that pouring their mournful energy into their careers in a new place was their best shot at coping. There were far healthier ways at dealing with the death of parents but Phil and Sasha had always been the more closed-off type, dealing with things by carrying on with life like nothing had happened.

When Phil passed, Sasha was left with no choice but to do the same thing. She had no family or real friends in New York and although that had never been a problem for her before, some days she felt like being able to talk to someone about Phil might've helped ease the strain on her heart.

"Miss Coulson? These came for you just now."

The receptionist from downstairs knocked once on the open glass door to Sasha's office, smiling meekly as she held a large bouquet of white flowers.

Sasha sighed, having grown sick of receiving flowers over the course of the four months since Phil's passing.

"Thank you, just set them down here."

The young woman nodded and placed the flowers down on the edge of the desk, smiling before turning on her heels and walking back out of the office, disappearing down the hallway.

The bouquet was beautiful, a collection of white roses and Japanese lilies tied with a pale pink silk ribbon wrapped inside clear film. Though as pretty as they might've been, the scent of fresh flowers still reminded her of nothing but the cemetery and sickening grief.

Grabbing the card, Sasha spun round on her chair to look out of the floor to ceiling windows than ran around the perimeter of the entire building, watching the rain fall as she ripped open the envelope.

'I'm not the best with words but Phil was a good man and an even better friend. I know he'd be proud to have a sister with such good taste in cars.
- Tony'

There was a mobile number scrawled at the bottom of the card beneath his name and after a few moments of brief deliberation, Sasha grabbed her phone and dialled it, chewing on her lip as she held the phone to her ear.

"Hey Coulson, get your flowers?"

Sasha broke into a small smile when Tony picked up the call, his slightly cheerful tone being the most optimistic thing she'd heard all day after working in an office full of stressed out lawyers and attorneys.