The door swung shut again. This time it was Sam and Steve that walked in with heads bowed in discussion. When they looked up, they froze in shock, seeing her there, half haggard to hell and back. And much to Sid's dismay they were, of course, dressed in business attire, trim cut slacks and perfectly tailored shirts, looking as dapper as ever. She swallowed heavily, her eyes instantly connecting with Steve's and trying her damnedest not to read into the way his eyes were framed by clenched brows, holding the smallest hope because of the way his lips fell open softly, like a breath too soft to notice was escaping. Her mouth dropped open too, but it was much less glorious as scattered words wanted to come tumbling out. As she started to blubber, the door opened again and Bucky strode past Sam and Steve, breaking the moment so sharply that Sid actually stumbled back a bit as he made his way to her with quick strides.

Her eyes were barely able to focus on him as they flickered back to a now blatantly concerned Steve. She flashed back to Bucky and he was so close so she blurted out with half a sob, "I'm so sorry I —,"

But the air was knocked out of her when Bucky's arms crushed around her, his fingertips splaying across her back in all directions, touching every possible inch he could and holding her tightly against him. He instantly lessened his grip when he sensed her cringe because of her recent injury. He held her delicately then, breathing her in for just a moment that felt like it would last a lifetime. Sid was felt like every nerve in her body was screaming at once, but not because of his strength, rather the soft muttering repeating in her ear, with gentleness and care, "I am so glad you're okay."

Sid's body finally reconnected with her mind and she tried to throw herself into him further despite her aching ribs smothering themselves against Bucky's firm chest as she choked back her tears, "It's gonna take me some time to get used to hearing you babbling on like that."

Bucky chuckled loudly and gave her one last squeeze before stepping back as Sam snuck in real quick to give her a big, hearty hug. "I gotta eat and y'all gotta talk. Don't make me go all therapist on you." He whispered it harshly in her ear, but it held a lot of affection.

Sid and Bucky chuckled as Steve came up last. He smile was wide, but something hit Sid like a truck when his eyes finally met hers. This was the canned smile, something artfully crafted to seem easy going and sincere. She had to admit it felt jarring having it directed at her after she'd been witness to so many of Steve's genuine grins, but she stuffed it down and accepted his stiff hug with only the slight inclination to cling to him and somehow force his body to hug her like he once had.

He pulled away, locking something in the reserve and looking conflicted as his words came out, "I missed you Sid."

Sid swallowed heavily. She wasn't sure she could actually formulate the words meant to describe just how achingly empty she had felt with their absence in her life. She didn't know if it was even okay for her to express it, or how to find a way that didn't make her seem like the hypocrite she was.

"I missed you too." It seemed so weak, but it would have to suffice until she could figure out how to talk to them about the feelings she had. She couldn't center right now, not after all they had just been through.

"I'm gonna get some grub and be back in about an hour. You guys need some time to talk. Please do it. I'm gonna bring back food and no one will get it if feelings aren't shared." Sam insisted vehemently.

"That's gotta be a violation of your license somehow." Bucky muttered as he scratched at the stubble on his jaw, adding a whole different dimension to the business attire that Sid had been successfully avoiding thinking about.

"Stubborn minds, stubborn measures." Sam wagged his finger at the three of them, all gathered like admonished school children in the completely inexplicable situation they'd gotten themselves into. He turned sharply and shouted over his shoulder as his jacket swung over the other, "I'm getting chinese. Text me." He sauntered his way out.

Steve, Bucky and Sid all scrunched together quite instinctively, in order to tally up how much goddamn food they'd need to order in order to feed themselves. They grouped together and started murmuring, planning out a meal for their small army, as if they'd done it a thousand times and would do it a thousand more despite the current hiccup. Once they figured out a menu, they texted Sam and walked back to Steve's apartment while he wired Sam some money out of genuine shame.

When they entered the space, largely untouched after the Ulton attack, they all halted, unsure of how to continue, all of them acknowledging how different it felt when the three of them were finally together again.

Sid shut her eyes tightly and held onto the beautiful silence. She wanted to remember feeling whole before she fucked it all up. Then she opened her eyes.

"Where do you guys wanna start? I think it's only fair you ask whatever questions you want and I answer them honestly." Sid felt the words rush out of her lips before she could stop them and her hands shot up to cover her mouth, ultimately unsuccessful in trapping anything but her panting breaths.

Bucky just snorted, "There it is."

Steve chuckled softly too, "So that's what it feels like to hit a wall head on."

Sid sputtered out a soft laugh but tried to contain herself and stay serious. They needed to face it and a session of talking was the only solution. She turned around to face them and spoke genuinely, "It's up to you guys. I can be a ghost until you're ready. I don't even have to be here if you don't want me to. This trip was utterly self serving. I had to make sure you were okay. I know its selfish, but I had to." She sighed softly, "Now that I know you're both okay, I can give you the space you need. I got a new phone and I can check in or you can call or I'll just…"

The words choked off, halted by her desperation. She would do whatever she could to get in their good graces again.

"Why?" Steve finally spoke, but his voice was cold.

Sid blinked hard and swallowed down her shame, "Because I was scared. What happened between the three of us was really confusing. I know the both of you have gone through so much worse and I'm sorry I was selfish, but I got torn up through all of this. I freaked out and —," She stopped herself from trying to absolve her sins through explanation, "I am so sorry." Her voice shook on the ending and she stamped that down too.

"Why Xavier's?" Bucky asked, his voice surprisingly soft.

"I decided me being a spineless jerk shouldn't go to waste. It was familiar during a confusing time and I knew they could help me figure some things out." Sid was able to speak clearly for the moment.

"Did you?" Steve shot back, his words were clipped, blunt, like if he said anything else he'd lose the upper hand in the conversation.

Sid tried not to grin at their interrogation. Despite the fact that Steve's body was rife with tension, his large arms, full of warmth and strength were still there. Despite the fury weighing down his brow, his features were still just as beautiful as she remembered, far too beautiful to be so full of pain. She basked in the simple enjoyment, knowing that he was there, that he was okay, and that Bucky and Steve at least had each other. She looked up at them both, holding her mouth in a grim line as to not show her pathetic glee, holding the simplicity of their presence as close to her heart as her favorite song, knowing guilt would come crashing back down soon enough, "I started to."

Steve gave her a curt nod and looked at Bucky who simply shrugged.

They both looked at Sid, but Steve was the one who spoke, "There's a lot to figure out."

Sid nodded, trying to keep the love in her heart from leaking out when seeing the look of some inner turmoil pulling at his eyes, "There is." She sighed softly and tried to smile at him, but his eyes dropped quickly with a small, bitter grin. Sid tried to not let her broken heart affect the rest of her. "How are you both? How are the memories?" She directed this question at both of them, but focused on Bucky when Steve wouldn't meet her eyes.

They both scoffed and Steve gestured for Bucky to start, obviously, "It's been a trip. There is a lot of pieces still missing, but I feel like the more I keep going forward, the more the rest of it expands."

"So it's healing now?" Sid asked hopefully.

"That's what all the scans show." Steve interjected proudly.

Bucky smiled up at him for a second, as if remembering some secret joke about being healthy. He smiled fully when he looked at Sid and she couldn't help but beam in response, "Yeah and that's thanks to you." He reached out and grabbed Sid's hands, but she tried to pull away.

"No, I just —,"

"Just nothing Sid," Steve replied, his voice cold but earnest as ever, "you get to own that."

She felt the heat in her cheeks rise and she gave Steve a cautiously relieved smile, "Okay." Her eyes trailed back to Bucky whose grin was infectious. The adjustment to Bucky that the memories made was interesting to Sid. She knew that it was really him, he looked the same, he sounded the same, but there was a light in his eyes she hadn't seen before. It hurt a little to see it, like a part of what they had may have been lost. Yet was being so kind to her when she didn't deserve it.

He made sure to meet her eyes as he spoke, "You do. Whatever you triggered started something up in my mind. I don't know who I am now, but I know I feel more whole than before. It's difficult, some days, falling into habits I don't recognize or ones that I do recognize now feeling alien… Everything is different."

Sid couldn't complain. His tone was heavy with it and she finally realized the spark in his eyes was hope. She smiled wide, "I'm sure that's a lot to adjust to."

Bucky actually laughed aloud, "That barely scratches the surface."

"But he's doing good." Steve nodded, "Took some convincing but he's working with a therapist Sam recommended."

Bucky interrupted vehemently, "Only because he has to go to his too."

Sid chuckled, delighted by the comfortable bantering that now seemed completely commonplace, "That's really great you guys." She watched the two of them smile at each other, teasing a little bit and laughing like the boys they once were, boys that a century of suffering turned into sober men finally finding peace. She couldn't think of anything more perfect.

"I also got arm upgrades." Bucky added as an afterthought and it snapped Sid right out of her sappy moment.

"Ooooh! Can I see?" Her eyes flashed brightly and she wrung her hands in front of her in excitement.

Bucky chuckled and started pulling off his jacket. Sid blinked away the insane rush of heat that crept up her chest, and her eyes flashed to Steve whose neck was starting to look a little pink.

Bucky whipped his shirt over his head and both Steve and Sid were oblivious to each other for a moment while they simultaneously got their heads out of the gutter. They were both steadfastly avoiding eye contact, worried the other had seen their mental indiscretions, at least until Bucky started rattling off the list of what was different. He sounded like a kid at Christmas and it was hard to keep up any lechery after that. It was an odd moment of innocence, allowing the Soldier the chance to bask in something that was now more his.

Sam eventually came in humming with bags of food in his hands. He paused at the sight of the three of them, Bucky straddling a chair with Steve behind and Sid in front, legs straddling one of Bucky's as she curved over the top of his bare shoulder as she inspected something on the back of his mechanical one.

"You know what, I don't even wanna know, I got my ear buds in and here's your food. You do you." Sam joked as he walked to the table and placed the food down. "Be good, kids." He waved over his shoulder before heading out the door, continuing to hum a funk-like beat that added a skip to his step.

Sid felt puzzled until she realized how close she was to Bucky, her eyes meeting his from mere inches away. She hated that her knees wobbled even for a second because his hands shot to her hips to steady her with Steve less than a foot away from the electric moment.

Sid played off her clumsiness as well as she could without words as she moved away from them both and muttered something about the food looking lonely. She went straight to the bags and started divvying up proportions, wanting to kick herself for falling back into old habits when they probably needed more time to adjust to her actions and her apologies. She rubbed at her face and already felt the sheen of grease on her hands. Feeling disgusted and elated at the same time, her stomach grumbled loudly as Steve and Bucky came from behind her and started grabbing at boxes with a chuckle at her expense. She cursed whoever was the God of Superhero hearing.

They sat down and dove into the food, chatting rather distantly about the last few weeks apart while catching each other up. There wasn't too much of emotional depth to the conversation, but they walked each other through the motions politely.

Sid updated them on her progress with Xavier and explained her current state. She had better control of her emotions while going to therapy, that she planned to continue, and with admittedly terrible strenuous practice, her power was more stable too. She showed them how she could summon a useful amount of fire on her own, but she still needed to have access to the other elements in order to manipulate them. Her other, more chaotic aspect of herself, was being processed with the assistance of Xavier. She planned to continue all of this and told them so. They seemed encouraging and she was grateful, but she didn't admit that she was terrified of whether or not she'd be welcomed back into the tower any time soon. She wanted to spend whatever time they wanted with her though, she was desperate for it.

Bucky and Steve walked Sid through Bucky's redemption arc. He had worked tirelessly, formulating plans, gathered and fact-checked information that lead them to the successful dismantling of Hydra. There was still so much to uncover within Hydra's reach, but Bucky had been instrumental, with the assistance of some vague allies, in lobbing off some remaining insidious tentacles.

Their discussion was warm and eventually business attire was shed until both men leaned back in their seats with ties loosened, sleeves rolled up, and grins on their faces, while Sid sprawled on the ground groaning slightly from the absurd amount of food she just packed in her gut.

"Remind me to thank Sam, that Chinese place is amazing and I'm honestly bitter I didn't know about it. I don't think I can move." Sid groaned.

Bucky chuckled softly, "So don't." There was a poignant silence while Sid tried not to read into it.

Steve cleared his throat, his tone regained some of its business-like insistence, "You should be close with everything that's going on anyway Sid."

Sid frowned heavily as she slowly sat up, "What else is going on? I only saw snippets on the news, Xavier was keeping me quarantined." The edge of her voice showed some anger, but she tried to rein in the frustrating feelings of anger and agreement for what Xavier wisely chose to do.

Bucky nodded thoughtfully, his voice bitingly sarcastic, "It seems my existence is a bit of a kick to a hornet's nest."

Steve frowned heavily as he gazed over at Bucky with resolute protectiveness, when he looked back at Sid to speak, it was his Captain voice that came out, "We don't really know yet. A lot of people are up in arms about the last Super Villain Tirade."

"A lot of people are also alive to be upset." Sid defended a little bit too zealously, her own surge of protectiveness, somewhat alien in her belly, riling up emotions she'd been fighting to keep contained.

Steve bit back his grin, but Bucky let his shine, "See? I knew we were missing something. We should let her do PR."

Sid sobered immediately, "That is literally the worst idea I have ever heard."

Bucky smiled softly but then his eyes became absent and his muscles went slack. He looked empty for a moment before he sighed, biting his lip in apprehension before speaking, "I killed Stark's parents." The words were flat and the weight behind them hit Sid like a slap in the face. She stared at Bucky but in his effort to not betray his emotions, his stone cold exterior was an obvious indicator of his feelings on the subject. "He's understandably upset."

"Oh." Sid muttered, feeling sheepish for saying anything at all.

"I had known about it, well it was implied by Zola back during the D.C. debacle, and I meant to bring it up eventually, but — well…" Steve let the sentence drop off, a testimony of the last few years of chaos seemed to be excuse enough to let anything slip in her mind. But then again, she'd never had parents to lose.

"And I don't recall a damn thing." Bucky spoke and his voice was hard. Bitter. "Not yet…" The words were haunted and pained. Sid reached out to him slowly, unsure. His hand was faster and confident when it grabbed hers and began brushing metal fingers against the flushed skin of her fingertips.

Steve cleared his throat sharply, "Someone found that information and deliberately tucked it away for a rainy day." Steve added with a tinge of anger, "It's a point of contention right now and we are unsure of what it means, but Stark is drowning himself in a new Avengers training facility."

"He's got something to prove to himself after all this, I'm guessing." Sid speculated sadly.

Steve nodded but Bucky replied, "We all do."