Darcy spent the next several hours relaxing.

She sat in the quiet for a few minutes, then decided to turn on some music.

It was a bit odd, at first, not having Steve nearby, sketching, reading or watching something on TV. She knew she'd get used to having her own space again, it would just take some time. She and Steve would still see each other, of course, they just wouldn't be living together like they had been for the past month.

It had felt weird, at first, laying in bed by herself. She'd expected to feel Steve's body pressed up against hers, and he hadn't been there. It had taken her over a half an hour to fall asleep, even though she'd been dead tired when she went to bed.

Steve had decided, after a lot of debating with himself, to go and visit with Peggy Carter. He'd known which nursing home she was staying in for a few months now, but hadn't had the courage to go and see her until they'd gotten back from Tony's house in the mountains.

Darcy had offered to go with him, even though internally, she'd felt uncertain and uncomfortable, sure that if she was there, she would only get in the way and make things more awkward for Steve.

Steve had quietly told her this was something he had to do on his own, and she'd felt guilty for it, but she'd been relieved.

Now, she was waiting for him to come back to the tower. She wasn't entirely sure what she could do to help him when he did get back, but she figured she would play it by ear and see what happened.

Darcy had decided to bake cookies, mainly because she wanted something sweet, but also because she thought Steve deserved them. He liked sweet things, and she did, too, so what was the harm in baking him cookies?

She was worried for Steve, she knew he was feeling anxious about seeing Peggy. He hadn't gone since he'd been found in the ice. She knew, at first, it had been too painful for him, then, he'd lost the serum and his life had spiraled out of control.

The cookies had cooled and been put away by the time Steve got back to her apartment. She'd asked him to stop by after he was back in the tower, just so she could see for herself that he was okay.

He was quiet, as Darcy had expected him to be, but he also looked thoughtful, and kept sending her glances when he thought she wasn't looking.

"So…" Darcy started to ask, then trailed off for a second, unsure of how to phrase her question. "How did it go?" She finally settled on.

Steve was still frowning. "We had a nice conversation." He muttered.

Darcy nodded encouragingly. "That's great, Steve."

Steve blew out a tired breath. "Darcy, I… I have to talk to you about — about what happened when we were in the mountains."

Darcy swallowed, but nodded. "Okay, we can do that."

"I know we should talk now, but… can we just… wait until tomorrow?" Steve asked. "It's been a long day."

"Whenever you're ready to talk about it, we can."

Steve relaxed a bit, but he was still somewhat tense.

"Want a cookie?" Darcy offered, standing from her couch. "I made chocolate chip."

Steve only nodded, a faint smile touching his lips before it was gone.

Darcy brought out the container of cookies, setting it between them.

"Thanks," Steve told her as he took a cookie.

"It was no problem." Darcy smiled. "I didn't have ingredients to make home maid cookies, so you get these."

"Home maid cookies are better, but these are better than nothing." Steve agreed.

Darcy took another cookie, unsure of what to say. Steve was clearly struggling with something, but if he didn't want to talk about it yet, all she could no was stay close to him while he worked through whatever it was.

She wanted to get the conversation over with, but she it would be difficult for them to talk about what was between them. She didn't know how to put it into words, what she felt for him.

Steve was still quiet. If he needed silence, Darcy could give him that, too.

She and Steve ate more cookies in silence. Eventually, Steve stood, and Darcy stood with him.

"Do you want the rest of these?" She asked, gesturing to the container, which still had several cookies left.

"Sure, thanks." Steve smiled, taking the container. His smile looked more sincere, and Darcy was thankful.

"We can meet up tomorrow after I'm done in the lab with Jane." Darcy suggested, and Steve nodded in agreement.

"Sounds like a plan."

When Darcy got to she and Jane's lab the next morning, she was surprised to see a familiar person standing in the middle of the room.

"Erik!" She exclaimed, rushing to the older man and throwing her arms around him in a hug. "I missed you!"

Erik was stiff in her hold for a few seconds, then he relaxed a little, returning the hug a bit awkwardly.

"Darcy, I missed you too." He replied, but his voice sounded distant, like he wasn't entirely engaged in their conversation.

Darcy didn't find this behavior odd at all, both Jane and Erik got this way at times. The science would just take center stage in their thoughts, and it was hard for them to get out of science mode and back into reality.

Something that was a bit odd, though, was that Erik kept twitching, like he wanted to do something with his hands but was stopping himself. He also kept glancing at the chalkboard that was on one of the walls, as if he expected there to be something written that wasn't there.

"Do you need any help?" She asked, frowning a bit.

She knew Clint had been a bit messed up from Loki, and had thought she'd known that Erik would be a bit — off — too. Knowing and seeing were two completely different things, though, and she was concerned for her friend.

She watched Erik as he and Jane talked. She understood a bit of the science involved in Jane's research, but she knew she was much better at transcribing Jane's notes than actually understanding them.

Erik was a lot more — twitchy wasn't the right word, not exactly. His hands kept drifting to the hem of his shirt, as if he wanted to do something, but was restraining himself. His eyes kept flicking away from Jane, toward the chalkboard, then to other equipment strewn around the room. He seemed like he couldn't focus on one thing in particular, his attention wondering frequently. Jane had had to repeat herself more than once during their conversation, which she hadn't had to do before, when they were in New Mexico, and later, when the three had gone traveling, looking for funds and leads for Jane's research.

Darcy wasn't sure what was wrong with him. Clint hadn't been this bad. Clint also was a trained agent, though. What had SHIELD even done for Erik?

"So, Erik," Darcy tried to catch his attention. "Where did Tony find you?"

Erik frowned in confusion. "What?"

"He said he'd look for you while I was — uh — with Steve." Darcy explained. "Where were you?"

Erik was still frowning and still looked confused. "I… don't remember." He finally mumbled.

Darcy frowned in response to Erik's reply. What was going on?

Darcy's mind was still on Erik as she made her way back to her apartment. She'd thought of asking Toy if he knew anything, but for some reason, she hadn't.

Was Erik having memory problems now? He'd still recognized her, hadn't seemed confused or like she was a stranger to him when she'd walked in that morning.

She wondered what she could do to help him.

When Steve arrived at her apartment a little while later, Darcy tried her best to push thoughts of Erik out of her mind. The conversation she and Steve were about to have would require as much of her concentration as she could give.

Steve was quiet. Darcy wondered if she should start the conversation instead of waiting for him to do it.

"So," She said, looking into his eyes. "Yesterday went well, I take it?"

Steve swallowed, but kept eye contact. "It did."

Darcy's lips curved up into an encouraging smile. "I'm happy you were able to see her."

Steve nodded. "I am, too."

They were silent for a minute before Steve spoke again. "It was… difficult, seeing her — so old." He sounded like it hurt him to admit.

"I bet." Darcy replied. "It must have been a shock. You knew, in your mind, that she was old, but seeing it put it into perspective for you, right?"

Steve nodded again in agreement.

"She… got married." He told her.

Darcy forced herself not to frown. She wanted to be understanding, and she thought she was doing a good job of it. She wasn't sure how to respond to Steve's admission. She reminded herself that it had only felt like months to him instead of the decades it had been in reality.

"That must have been hard to hear." She finally said. "It must have been awkward, too."

"Yeah."

She could see that Steve was floundering, struggling under the weight of something he wasn't sharing with her. She decided to wait it out. He would talk when he was ready.

"She…" He started, then trailed off for a few seconds to gather his thoughts. "She told me I have to move on."

There it was, the part he was having the most difficulty processing. Darcy knew that what she said next would be pivotal in helping him.

"That's wise advice." She said quietly. "You should let yourself fall in love with someone, Steve. Some relationships end badly, but some don't. You'll never know until you try with someone."

In a distant part of her mind, Darcy wondered when she'd gotten so wise. She'd had relationships, of course, in high school and college. None of them had been that great. Guys could be pushy, and if she hadn't learned to put her foot down in a relationship, guys would try to walk all over her.

Steve was quiet beside her, his eyes drifting to the blank TV screen on her living room wall.

"This body," he muttered. "It's… I can't imagine anyone wanting to — seeing past all of my issues."

Darcy wanted to wince. Of course it came back to that. From what she knew of his past, before the serum, women had been stuck-up bitches. They had treated Steve like he was some sort of pariah because of his height, weight and medical issues. People could still be like that, but Darcy wanted to believe that some people would see past all that, to the man underneath with the heart of gold.

She certainly did.

Steve was still looking at her, although his eyes had darted away when she'd told him Peggy had given him good advice.

Darcy decided to come out and just say it. She'd already put her heart on the line once with him, what was one more time, if it got her what she wanted?

Swallowing her nerves, she turned so her entire body was facing him. She wanted him to see that she was being totally honest when she spoke.

"Steve," She said his name to get his attention.

It looked like his thoughts had wandered away from their conversation, or he was thinking about something she'd said and tuning out the rest of the world. Steve's focus could be intense.

His eyes focused back on hers. There was a question in them that he wasn't voicing.

Darcy took a deep breath, another attempt to stay calm and keep her nerve.

"I have feelings for you." She'd wanted to ease into it, but her couth had gotten away from her. "Like, romantic feelings for you." She clarified, feeling like a stupid teenage girl.

Steve blinked, seeming to be surprised.

She knew she hadn't done a fantastic job of hiding her feelings from him, although she'd tried her best in the beginning.

She decided, since she'd already told him her feelings, telling him the whole truth could only help the situation.

"It started when we first started hanging out." She admitted. "It was, you know, just a dumb crush, at first. A crush on a guy who didn't just see me as walking boobs. Someone who's kind, thoughtful… cares what I think of things. Then, I got to know you better, and — it just got more intense."

Steve let out a breath, forcing himself to relax.

"I…" He trailed off, still in thought. "I can't say I haven't thought about it, Darcy. You're a beautiful woman who likes me as Steve, not Captain America. I felt — like I was being dishonest, somehow, and — I still had such a hard time — letting people from my past go. It wouldn't have been fare to you — or to myself — if I had… pursued anything other than friendship with you."

Darcy was still watching him, still processing what he'd said.

He'd had feelings for her for as long as she'd had feelings for him?

A part of her brain told her how ironic it was.

"Darcy," Steve pulled her out of her thoughts. "If you want to, we — we can — uh —" His face was flushing with embarrassment as he continued to fumble his words. "We can go out — on dates — you know, as a couple."

Darcy felt her own face heating up.

"That would be great, Steve. Really, I — I'm still processing the fact that you like me romantically."

Steve smiled in reply, nodding. "Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing."

"What do we do now?" Darcy asked. "Want to eat dinner I could make something, or you could help, or —"

"That sounds like a plan, Darcy." Steve cut her off, smiling.

"Great." Darcy sighed in relief. "That conversation was pretty emotionally draining, wasn't it?"

"It was." Steve agreed.

"We'll just make some extra food." Darcy offered.

Steve smiled again.

The two made dinner and sat next to each other, as they'd done so many times before. There was a new sort of closeness between them now, though.

Darcy could feel it. They were both still very physically affectionate, still brushed hands, arms, legs.

It was new, and exciting, and it made her stomach flip with excitement that Steve was now not only her friend, but her romantic partner, as well.