The sun peaked in through the window. He forgot to close the curtains again. He blinks against the intrusion, rolls over on his side and looks around the room. Its eerily quiet. But that's the way it was all the time now. A pang of emptiness hit his gut. Was it hunger, or loneliness?

He tries to distract himself by getting up and stumbling towards the kitchen. This feeling in his gut is nothing a little breakfast can't mend. So he puts bread in the toaster and loads up the coffee pot, only to remember halfway through that he's the only one in the tower. So he instead puts a k-cup in the keurig. He sits on the stool at the island watching the steam emanate from the keurig. Thoughts threaten to enter his mind so he picks up the newspaper. Anything to silence the incessant noise that constantly thrums inside his head. He always hated silence. It left him alone with his own worst enemy. There was nothing as ruthless as sitting in the dark tower, hearing nothing but regret and frustration constantly being thrown around his head.

JARVIS thankfully breaks the deafening silence, "Sir, you may want to turn on channel 6 news. It concerns Captain Rogers."

Captain Rogers.

"It's not 'Captain' anymore, JARVIS, how many times do I have to tell you?" Tony answered, not looking up from his paper so as not to seem interested. Then again, no one was there to see the flicker of interest line his features.

"I apologize sir. But there is breaking news regarding Mr. Rogers on channel 6."

"Yes, you mentioned that."

Tony's mind started once again racing. It had been three weeks since Steve walked out of his life, choosing Barnes over himself. For three weeks, Tony had been alone with his thoughts, replaying that fateful day over and over again in his mind. Every action, every inaction. He relives that day a thousand times a minute and every time he comes up with the same conclusion: he had been wrong. Yes, Tony Stark had been wrong. And not only did he know he had been wrong, but he regretted it more than possibly anything he had ever done in his life. Even more than creating Ultron. It was his fault that the team was split apart and scattered across the globe, too afraid to contact each other in fear of being caught. Although, he had a nagging feeling that they were all together somewhere and weren't trying to contact Tony because they all hated his guts more than anything. Not that he would blame them, because he damn well deserved the hatred. But he couldn't deny that it hurt to admit that this was probably the reality of the situation.

But the person he hated to think about the most was Steve, yet Steve was the person he thought about the most. He hurt him more than anyone else. He betrayed his trust more succinctly and thoroughly than anyone else. Steve was always the person he looked up to the most, though he would never admit it to anyone. He was just a kid who woke up one day in a different century and went on with his life, being great and perfect just as he did in the 40s. He hated that Steve had withstood so much adversity in his life, so much hatred and jealousy from his enemies and he always rose above it, taking every hit along the way. He was the strongest man he ever knew. But the hardest thing to cope with was the fact that he caused Steve so much grief and pain by denying the innocence of his best friend from childhood. Tony knew Barnes was innocent. Or rather, he knew it objectively. On paper, he would be able to tell you that Barnes was completely innocent of the countless assassinations he committed over the years because Hydra infiltrated his mind. But when he saw the footage of him actually squeezing his mother's last breath from her lungs next to his dad's dead body, it was too much for him to handle. He felt nothing but impulsive anger and rage. He completely bowed down to his emotions. But when it was all over, when Steve left with Barnes, he sat on the cold floor in a lot of pain, but in even more mental pain. Again, the realization came to him that everything he did was wrong. Every fist he threw, every curse he spat at the two of them, he wanted to do, he needed to do, but his mind was screaming at him to stop. He knew it was all wrong but he couldn't bring himself to stop. The Truth has a funny way of coming out no matter what. And the Truth has been the only other resident in Stark Tower since this whole fiasco started three weeks ago, sitting with him in the darkness, always close, always visible, always clear.

He was going insane. He needed desperately to apologize, to beg, to plead, to implore Steve to forgive him. But he didn't know how. How could he simply apologize to Steve? Like, hey, sorry I almost killed you and your friend and forced you into hiding and helped the government track down, imprison and mistreat your friends, haha. He could think of nothing to say to Steve that would alleviate the pain and grief that has taken up permanent residence in his heart. He needed an opportunity to talk to him in person.

He did try and call him a few days back. Sure, he had no idea whatsoever what he was going to say when Steve picked up, but he didn't care. It had been a particularly bad night for Tony. He was drunk and sleep-deprived whilst he tried to dial Steve's number, his fingers shaking so hard he had to redial 3 times before he got it. The phone rang 4 times. Then he heard his voice. Steve's voice. As strong and clear as ever. "You've reached Steve Rogers. Leave a message and I'll get back to you."

Tony turned on the tv in his kitchen. The local news was practically buzzing with news of Steve's capture. Steve had been America's most wanted man for almost a month now. This was undoubtedly the biggest news story of the year.

"Geez," Tony said in a half laugh. He was reacting to the fact that there were about a hundred cops fully armed outside the building, helicopters circling, and the marines were being called in for backup. "They're terrified of him." who wouldn't be? Everyone saw what he could do in the Battle of New York, Sekovia, and even footage from World War II. Even Hitler was scared of this guy. He was amused, to say the least, at the amount of fear and trepidation that unfurled plainly on every interviewee. From what he could gather, Steve was detained in the building. And they were making preparations to move him out from the building into the armored car.

Tony watched for hours with wide-eyes. He needed to see Steve. To make sure he was ok, that he was alive and breathing. He often found himself clutching the counter too hard. "Alright, what's going on here." Nothing transpired for hours. How long could it take to move him down to the van.

He couldn't take it anymore. He had to get up and do something or he would go crazy. "JARVIS, I'm gonna take a shower, let me know if anything happens."

"Of course, sir."

Tony took a very long, very hot shower. He played music loud to distract him from the anticipation of seeing what was going to happen to Steve. He knew it wouldn't be good. The price he paid to protect Bucky was a high one. But if that wasn't the most Steve thing he's ever done, he didn't know what was.

"Sir, they are moving him." JARVIS announced cooly.

Tony ran to the closest tv in his living room.

There he was.

Steve.

Right there.

Tony stopped breathing for a second. Steve was wearing a black t-shirt and pants. His hair was longer and he was sporting a full out beard. Dang, Steve. Tony had never seen Steve look so…worn. Clearly this last month had been very taxing on him. There seemed to be extra lines of worry around his eyes. He was surrounded by 10 marines, not counting the couple dozen guns trained on him. His hands were cuffed in heavy handcuffs and his legs were chained heavily. His back slouched as he walked very slowly and carefully. When the camera zoomed in, Tony could see bruises and blood on his face and neck. Steve got to the back of the armored car and he was shoved in. Once he was out of sight, the car seemed to shake. Tony had a sick feeling that they had been beating him every time the camera wasn't following him. In fact, he knew that was the case. He'd had enough exposure to the US Government and the way they dealt with undesirables.

"JARVIS, turn off the tv."

"But sir, don't you want…"

"No," Tony barked.