She ran the next two blocks with tears streaking down her face, until she realised she didn't know her way around this neighbourhood now everything was bombed and different. She sat on a set of steps and put her head in her hands, telling herself to stop being over-dramatic. It would've probably been fine if he hadn't tried to lie about it and she hadn't hit him, but they'd both acted badly and it probably wasn't going to get fixed now.

"You're a fast runner," She looked up to see Steve frowning down at her. She was probably sweaty and horrifying, and he looked like he hadn't even broke a dried her eyes and looked back down at her hands. "I'm serious. I've never seen a broad run like that in my life,"

"Did you chase me?" She asked, rubbing the bridge of her nose. He sat down next to her.

"I thought you might want some company," He told her, shrugging.

"No thanks, you can leave," She responded, deadpan.

"Look, I know what-"

"What? What do you know? That I'm an idiot? That I should never have trusted a guy with a reputation like his? That I never should have thought that I could know a guy for less than a day and think that he loves me?"

"I was going to say I knew what it looked like, but..." He widened his eyes and looked at her. "Bucky's a good guy and-"

"You don't get to say that to me, Captain Rogers," She shook her head at him.

"Okay," He held his hands up defensively and shifted so he was looking at her. "You're really beautiful, and Bucky loves you,"

"Evidently I'm not as beautiful as Miss Carter," She stared straight ahead. "Go figure,"

"You're mean tempered, but I guess he gets over that," Steve said, clasping his hands in front of him. Her head snapped around to glare at him so quickly she nearly got whiplash. As her narrowed eyes found his, she saw him laugh. "I'm kidding, you're allowed to be annoyed. He never should've done what he done. I'm annoyed at him too,"

"Why? You were all for him finding a friend in there," Tori fixed her hair as best as she could without a mirror, knowing that the run would've made it crazy. It also gave her an excuse to keep her arms close to her without giving away that she was horrifically cold.

"Oh, so that's why you're annoyed at me. Got it," Steve nodded and slid his jacket off his shoulders. "I like Agent Carter. I really, really like her. And for the first time in forever she was looking at me. Not Bucky. A girl was actually looking at me," Steve went to drape the jacket over Tori's shoulders and she shook her head.

"I'm fine, really. And I can't imagine there were any girls not looking at you,"

"I can feel you shivering, you'll get TB out here," He chastised, slipping it over her shoulders and pulling it tight in front of her. "So when Bucky got annoyed about it, I told him what he always told me. Maybe she's got a friend. Hell, he even said that about you," He nudged her shoulder with his and she winced again. "Sorry, sorry. God, sorry," He rubbed her shoulder through the jacket, grimacing at her. She waved his hand away lightly, smiling softly at him.

"It's fine, I'm fine," She paused. "Well, that makes a little more sense. You're forgiven,"

"I can explain what Bucky was doing too, but you're not going to like it," He leaned back and put his arm behind her, giving her something to rest against.

"Oh, pray tell,"

"He was trying to show me that she liked me back, by getting rejected," He shrugged and Tori snorted.

"I'm sure,"

"I'm serious, Tor. He's been, uh, trying to teach me how to flirt,"

"He's not very good at it, believe me. He asked if I was a working girl the first night I met him," Tori smiled at the thought before setting her face to angry again.

"I never used to be... like this," Steve motioned at himself. "I was the littlest guy in New York. Seriously. And Bucky was my best friend. I was always the little guy, the plus one, the tag along on all Bucky's dates. It gave him a good excuse to date two girls at the one time, but that's all I was. An excuse. Now I've met a girl I really like and I can barely talk to her, but Bucky can. So he did,"

"Even if that's the case," Tori leaned against him slightly, pulling at the jacket around her shoulders. "Why did he lie?"

"What did he lie about?"

"Oh I didn't really look at her,"

"Well, he didn't," Steve shrugged. "Honest Tor, he loves you. And I've never seen him love anyone,"

"He loves you," Tori smiled at Steve and Steve pulled her hair lightly.

"Not nearly as much as he loves you. You're the first thing he told me about when I found him in Italy,"

"Oh yeah, what did he say?"

"He told me he was getting married," Steve stood up and held his hands out to her. She took them and he hauled her to her feet with ease.

"Ha. He'll be waiting a very long time now," Tori grinned.

"So you're going to forgive him?" Steve asked, staring down at her. "You don't have to, I'm just saying. The jerk has his reasons,"

"I'm not sure what side you're on..." Tori raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you want me to forgive him or..."

"I'm not getting involved," Steve looked up, above her head.

"Seriously? You chase me through the streets like a crazy person and you're not getting involved?"

"You're a smart broad, you'll figure this out on your own. Now let's get you home, which way?" Steve held out his arm and she took it gratefully.

"I uh... I don't know," She sighed. "That's why I sat there, I was lost,"

"You're lost?"

"Well, yeah. Everything looks different now it's in pieces," Tori argued while Steve laughed at her. "It's not funny! I'm really lost,"

"Okay, where do you stay?" He held up a hand to stop himself laughing.

"55 Crona Walk,"

"Okay, I know Crona Walk. You're safe,"

"I'm with Captain A-freaking-merica. I better be safe,"

"Wait, so you were inside the building when it was bombed? Bucky told me you were at work,"

"Well, yeah. That's what I told him," Tori admitted quietly. "You should've seen his face, Steve. If I'd said I was in there when it came down he'd never leave me by myself ever again,"

"Would you want to be by yourself?" Steve asked her. "It's a scary world, you need someone by your side,"

"Something tells me that you're going to take him from me again soon, anyway. I'll need to get used to being alone," Tori sighed while Steve went rigid.

"I... I wouldn't ask him to leave yo-"

"You wouldn't need to," Tori shook her head. "I don't want to make you feel bad. Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. Oh! I know where we are now," She pointed to the building on the right. "That's where I stay!" She told him gleefully, while Steve grinned down at her. They got to the stairs and Tori shrugged off his jacket.

"How about you keep it till you're inside and warmed up?" Steve suggested, pulling it back over her shoulders. Just as she was about to say goodnight, a loud siren filled the air and she flinched. "Air raid?" He looked up at the sky and Tori went into autopilot.

"We need to get inside," Tori grabbed Steve's arm and started hauling him into her building. After the year that she'd had she'd became so afraid of the air raid siren, every time she heard it fight or flight kicked in and she'd haul ass to the closest safe place. No where was safe, realistically, but she'd never admit that out loud. They sprinted up the stairs to her first floor apartment and fell through her door at an alarming place. She pulled her blackout blinds closed and shut off all her lamps, lighting little candles all around instead.

"You're good at this," Steve told her quietly. She shrugged, rubbing her face softly.

"You've got your wars out there and we've got ours here,"

"I didn't realise how bad it got,"

"It'll get worse. It always gets worse," She mumbled.

"Maybe. But it'll get better again," Steve paused. "How long should I wait before I leave?"

"Are you kidding? You're here for the night soldier," Tori told him, smiling. "I'm not letting you go out in that,"

"I think I could-"

"No," She told him, sternly. "If anything happened, James would never forgive me and I'd never forgive myself,"

"I think James would-"

"Has James not told you anything that's happened to me? Sit down. You're going nowhere," She snapped at him, glaring.

"Huh," Steve shrugged and sat down on her couch. "Okay,"

"You take orders really well for a Captain," Tori took his jacket off and hung it up on the coat stand.

"This is a good picture," Steve told her, and she turned to see he'd picked up the only picture she still had of herself. "I hadn't seen this one yet,"

"What do you mean this one?" She walked to him and folded her arms. He blushed.

"I've not seen all of them, there's a few Bucky doesn't let me see but I've seen a lot of them and..." He trailed off and sighed. "Don't hit me,"

"I'm not gonna hit you, you'd break my hand," She slumped down on the couch next to him, yawning.

"I don't know, you knocked out Buck pretty easily,"

"I've had practice," She lay her head back and closed her eyes. "When I wake back up, will it all have been an awful dream?"

"Probably not," Steve told her honestly. She sighed dramatically and rolled her head to the side so she could look at him.

"Thanks Captain Cynicism,"

"Am I just supposed to sleep here?"

"Am I just supposed to let you walk home in the midst of a freaking air raid?"

"Fair,"

"Go to sleep, Rogers,"

"Your boyfriend might kill me,"

"Not if I kill him first,"