Peggy awoke gently the next morning - a luxury she had not had since she worked for Stark Industries. She stretched and rolled over, feeling Steve's arms flex around her to allow her movement, and a smile crept over her face as she nestled back into his strong body.

She had been lulled awake by the soft sound of classical music, and it took her a few moments to realise that was JARVIS's way of getting her attention without necessarily waking Steve.

Hesitating just a moment, she slipped out of Steve's arms and found her tank top from the night before, pulling a robe on over the top.

"JARVIS," she said softly, once she had closed the bedroom door, "would you keep an eye on Steve please, let me know when he's waking up? Or greet him with the time and date, if you wouldn't mind."

"Certainly, Agent Carter. Sir is outside your door."

"Thank you, JARVIS," Peggy said, opening it.

"Oh, good, you're awake," Tony said by way of greeting.

"Good morning to you too," Peggy said, rubbing her eyes and stepping back to let him in. "The apartment's lovely, Tony; thank you."

"Well, you certainly seem to have broken it in," Tony said, his eyes lingering on her neck.

Peggy did not bother checking her reflection - she was fairly sure she knew what she'd fine. "I've walked in on enough of your morning afters, Tony - at least I'm dressed."

Tony Stark did not blush, but he did duck his head in mild embarrassment. "Fair enough. Thank you."

Peggy smiled, sitting down on the couch. "How are you this morning, sweetheart?"

"Fine," Tony said shortly, in a tone that she knew meant he was anything but. "Came to get yours and Cap's uniforms. Cap's especially - God knows what SHIELD was thinking; there was hardly any protection there - did you see the damage …"

"Tony," Peggy interrupted softly. "Keep your voice down please; he's still asleep and it's only the third time since he came back."

"Third?" Tony asked, frowning. "He's been awake a month."

Peggy pursed her lips. "Well, I can't see that SHIELD have provided any kind of psych treatments, and he was in an apartment where the heating was sketchy."

"Christ," Tony muttered, dragging a hand over his face. "What are they? Idiots?"

"At best," Peggy said with a shrug. "Incompetent at worst. But you're distracting me. You are not going to bury yourself in your work and pretend you didn't nearly die yesterday; it's going to blow up in your face."

Tony sighed, finally sinking onto the couch beside her. "I don't know if I can talk to you about it."

"Okay," Peggy agreed immediately, ignoring the tiny part of her that protested. "Then talk to Pepper. Or a doctor. Or … Hell, talk to Steve; he knows what it's like, flying to certain death."

Tony frowned, but with none of the anger that had been there before. "He hates me."

"He doesn't hate you, Tony," Peggy said gently. "SHIELD hadn't given him the full story. They'd painted you as some show-boating rich kid, which Steve has issues with. Plus you do look rather like your father, but act nothing like him. Plus, and Steve will deny this, your sense of humour is a little like Bucky's, but you look nothing like him. And you were trying to antagonise him."

Tony sighed again. "Yeah, I was."

"Why?" Peggy asked curiously.

Tony shrugged. "I don't know. I guess … he was always there, you know? Like some older brother I never met who I could never live up to."

"So you pushed before he could jump," Peggy finished wearily. "Tony …"

"Uniforms," Tony interrupted, bounding to his feet. "Work to do."

Peggy grimaced, but she knew that pushing him right now was not going to end well. "Promise you'll talk to someone?"

"I promise," Tony said. "Gimme."

Peggy rolled her eyes and retrieved the two uniforms from where Steve had folded them neatly over the back of one of the armchairs. "Do you want the shields too?"

Tony grinned. "Please and thank you."

Peggy piled everything into his arms; he kissed her cheek, and disappeared in the direction of the elevators.

Peggy ran a hand through her hair and stepped into the kitchen to make some tea. To her delight, someone (probably Pepper again) had made sure there was a proper tea set, with an old-fashioned teapot, as well as proper English tea (okay, that one was Tony; he always made sure that her favourite was in stock whether he was expecting her or not).

Peggy liked the perks of the future, but that didn't mean a touch of nostalgia every now and then didn't do her good.

She had just set the kettle down after filling the teapot when a pair of arms slipped around her waist.

"Good morning," Peggy greeted, glancing at the ceiling. "JARVIS talk you round?"

Steve nodded into her shoulder. "You were talking to Tony."

"I'm sorry, darling," Peggy said, patting his hand.

"No, it's alright," Steve said hastily. "That's just the reason he didn't tell you. He was very helpful."

"He always is," Peggy said, twisting in his arms to kiss him good morning. "Is that your way of telling me that you were eavesdropping, Captain?"

Steve reddened slightly. "Maybe a little. Not intentionally. Why'd he take the uniforms?"

Peggy sighed. "Well, it distracts him from yesterday for a start. Also, he'll never tell you to your face that he was wrong and sorry for what he said, but he can fix up your uniform to make it better than SHIELD could."

"And the shield?" Steve asked. "Howard used all the vibranium we had, didn't he?"

"He did," Peggy confirmed with a smile. "Mine wasn't vibranium to start with. Then Tony synthesised it."

"Of course he did," Steve said. He had a look on his face that Peggy recognised, and she waited patiently for him to say whatever he was thinking. "Was Tony … exaggerating?"

"About the big brother thing?" Peggy asked wryly. "No. If anything, he was probably understating. Howard … Howard was a good man, Steve, and a good friend, but he was a bloody awful father." She heaved a weary sigh, resting her forehead against his shoulder. "I didn't even realise how bad it was until it was too late."

Pepper hosted breakfast in the penthouse - thankfully not in the lounge where the floor was still dented from Loki's run-in with Hulk.

Somehow she had managed to find a chef who apparently didn't bat an eyelid at the sheer amount of food that was required.

Tony - unsurprisingly - was not present, but then Peggy hadn't expected him to be.

"I've taken him a plate," Pepper told her in greeting. "Dum-E has instructions to start feeding him if he hasn't cleared it within the hour."

Peggy chuckled. "That's why you're my favourite. Steve, this is Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries. Pepper, Steve Rogers."

Pepper shook his hand with a warm smile. "Welcome home, Captain. I apologise for Tony's ability to fit both of his feet in his mouth."

"Don't think that's your fault, ma'am," Steve said. "Did he tell you?"

"He didn't tell me anything," Pepper said. "I've just found that it helps to apologise first and get clarification later. He- He told me about Phil. Is it …?"

Peggy nodded, another pang of grief hitting her. "I'm afraid so."

Pepper closed her eyes for a second; when they opened again, they were shiny, but dry. "I'm so sorry."

Peggy nodded, hugging her. "Me too. Have you seen Natasha?"

"She's trying to talk Agent Barton into eating something," Pepper said, nodding towards the terrace. "Or possibly out of jumping, but she doesn't look upset enough for that."

Peggy winced, but gamely headed out to join them.

Clint was perched on the balcony fence, something that would make her worry if she didn't know it was his habit and he could easily balance on something half as wide.

"You're worrying people," she said regardless.

"That's what I've been telling him," Natasha said.

Clint sighed, but hopped down to lean against the fence instead. "Better?"

"Much better," Peggy said, taking her phone from Natasha. "Thanks."

"I set it to charge last night," Natasha said.

"Thanks, Nat." Peggy slipped the phone away. "Here's what's going to happen: you are going to get something to eat; I am going to debrief you both …"

"You'll take them into SHIELD so I don't have to go near them," Clint said in a dull voice. "Then Nat and I are disappearing for a few weeks; she won't tell me where."

Peggy hesitated, his tone concerning her. She caught Natasha's eye and the two confirmed without words that it had been a bad night.

"And I'm not hungry," Clint said flatly.

Peggy jerked her head back towards the door and Natasha nodded, heading back inside.

"How'd you sleep?" Peggy asked.

Clint snorted, dropping into one of the chairs. "Well, let's see - I spent half the night reliving trying to murder the love of my life, my scumbag brain decided to tell me I did murder her, and then I cried myself to sleep in her arms. And neither of you will let me pay for what I did."

Peggy touched his shoulder gently, relieved when he reacted, not by pushing her away, but turning to rest his forehead on her stomach. She wrapped her arms around him, stroking his hair maternally. "I'm sorry, darling. But you're going to be punishing yourself enough; you don't need to be dealing with the Council being idiots on top of that."

"But …"

"I know," Peggy said softly. "It's easier to let them lock you away than face up to the reality of what happened."

Clint sighed. "I hate it when you do that."

"I know," Peggy repeated, tilting his head up so he looked at her. "You were not at fault, Clint. But I also know that I can say that all day long and you won't believe it. It's something that you're going to have to deal with. For the record, I think getting out of New York for a bit will do you a world of good."

"I want to help," Clint said.

"You will," Peggy said. "Now are you ready for a debrief?"

"Maybe I could go for something to eat first," Clint admitted.

Peggy smiled, ducking to kiss his forehead. "Good boy."

Clint's arms snaked around her waist before she could step away. "I know you said it wasn't my fault, but … do you forgive me anyway?"

Peggy sighed. "Of course I forgive you."

He gave her a squeeze. "Thanks Mom."

The whispered words caused her heart to clench and a lump to form in her throat.

Even though his ASL name for her was 'Super-Mom', Clint very, very rarely called her that out loud.

Peggy loosened his grip a little and crouched down so she was eye level with him. "I know you don't believe this right now. But you were fighting it, Clint. And I am so proud of you." She pressed one more kiss to his temple, then straightened up, pulling him with her. "Go and get something to eat, and then we'll talk."

Thor and Loki's return to Asgard was almost anti-climactic, after the chaos of the invasion.

They disappeared in a flash of blue light, taking the Tesseract with them, leaving the rest of the Avengers Initiative and Dr Selvig staring at the empty patch of grass in Central Park.

There were a few curious onlookers, drawn presumably by Thor's ceremonial armour, Lady Liberty, and Tony Stark's mere presence (since Pepper had bribed him out of the workshop for the occasion), but they dispersed fairly quickly.

Maybe they didn't recognise Loki as the cause of their suffering, maybe they didn't care; Peggy certainly wasn't going to push the matter.

Selvig refused all offers of assistance and trotted off alone, but Bruce finally accepted Tony's offer to visit SI R&D, and Natasha happily handed over his duffel bag (retrieved by Peggy when she took in the paperwork) with a smile and an apology.

Peggy dished out hugs and elicited promises to call, Steve and Tony shook hands, and two cars drove away, leaving two super-soldiers alone with a bike.

"Where are Clint and Natasha off to?" Steve asked.

"Heaven only knows," Peggy answered. "Nat's taking them out of the city for a few weeks, but I'd rather have plausible deniability."

Steve nodded. "What about us?"

Peggy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Well," she said finally, "I need to change before we go anywhere. And before I change, I need to go to Trinity General."

"Trinity General?" Steve repeated. "I thought all of the wounded were at Angel of Mercy."

"They are," Peggy confirmed. "But there was a little girl that Hulk saved, and her leg was so badly crushed, they've moved her to Trinity General, because they've got better specialists. I checked this morning."

Sousa's grandson (another Daniel, she had discovered) had been more than happy to provide the information to her when she'd asked - apparently, he had anticipated the request and kept tabs on the young girl after she'd left his care.

Peggy had already requested that SHIELD file an official commendation.

"And we're going to visit her?" Steve asked.

"I am," Peggy said. "I promised Bruce I'd find out how she was. You are going to wait around the corner, because the longer you aren't associated with Lady Liberty, the longer you can enjoy anonymity."

"I do like anonymity," Steve agreed.

At some point during the battle, he had lost the cowl, so she was fairly sure his face was floating around on the internet by now, but she wasn't going to bring that up with him just yet.

And so Steve dropped her off round the corner, and she walked the rest of the way into the lobby of Trinity General Hospital.

The woman on reception stared at her in almost unflattering disbelief as she strolled up to the desk.

"Good morning. I wonder if you can help me."

The receptionist blinked, her gaze flickering towards the cell phone nearby as though calculating if she could get away with it.

Peggy sighed, but couldn't help the small smile that crossed her face. "Would taking a picture help you form words?" She asked, injecting enough amusement into her voice to ensure the woman wouldn't take it badly.

In any case, it seemed to shock the woman into movement. "Lady Liberty, I am so sorry - I was … I wasn't expecting you here today … well, at all really, but not today … after … thank you so much … all of you … we …"

Peggy sighed once more, ducking her head to read the woman's name tag. "Charlotte, please stop. I am not planning a full hospital visit just yet - I will, when I have completely recovered from yesterday, and that will be at Angel of Mercy. However, I had a personal hand in helping a little girl yesterday. I heard she had been transferred here and I was wondering if it would be possible to visit her and see for myself that she's okay."

"What's her name?" Charlotte asked, reaching for the telephone.

"Amelia Schatzweiger," Peggy answered.

Charlotte scrolled through the computer for a few moments, before dialling a number, presumably to paediatrics. "Hi Lauren, I have a visitor for Amelia Schatzweiger, would you ask her mother if that's alright? … Well, you wouldn't believe me if I told you … It's Lady Liberty … I swear on my mother's life … Yes, I'll hold." She looked up at Peggy. "She doesn't believe me, but she's going to double check with Amelia's mother."

Peggy nodded, leaning against the counter, and offering a smile to the young boy sitting in the waiting room with his parents, who were staring at her open-mouthed.

"Alright, thanks Lauren," Charlotte said, drawing Peggy's attention back to her as she hung up. "Mrs Schatzweiger says it's okay, but - uh - if you're a reporter, she'll shoot you."

Peggy chuckled. "I want to say no reporter would stoop this low, but I wouldn't want to stake my life on it. What floor?"

"Fifth," Charlotte said, pointing to the elevator. "Paediatrics."

"Thanks," Peggy said. And then, because the world hadn't ended, she let Charlotte take a picture with her.

Meagan Schatzweiger was almost the opposite to her daughter. Whereas Amelia was pale with blonde hair and big dark eyes, Meagan was tanned, black curls scraped back into a messy topknot. She looked exhausted, But even so, she looked ready for a fight when Peggy stepped into the room.

"Mrs Schatzweiger," she began, "I am so, so sorry …"

"Don't you dare apologise," Meagan snapped, a hint of accent to her voice. "Y'all went through hell yesterday, and you did everything you could to keep everyone safe, and now you gotta deal with morons saying you shoulda done this and you shoulda done that, when all they did was hide out and cry for their mommas." Her face softened and she wrapped Peggy in a tight hug. "You brought my baby home to me. And she's hurt, but she's alive, and when I lost her, I didn't think I could say that. So don't you apologise for that."

Peggy let out a shaky breath, closing her eyes against the tears that suddenly sprung to her eyes. Something must have changed in her posture, because Meagan's embrace suddenly seemed to change. "Oh, honey," she murmured. "Was there anyone to look after y'all?"

"Yeah, me," Peggy joked weakly, pulling away from her. "How is she?"

Meagan gave her a watery smile. "Well, she's a fighter. Her leg's broken pretty badly; the docs still aren't sure they'll be able to save it, but I have to hope."

"Of course," Peggy agreed softly, automatically turning towards the hospital bed when the sleeping girl stirred. "Is she in pain?"

"They have her on pretty strong meds," Meagan answered. "So I hope not." She moved towards her daughter. "Hi honey."

Amelia's eyes blinked open and settled on her mother. "Mommy … Is Daddy here yet?"

"No, baby, not yet," Meagan said. "But someone else is here to see you."

Peggy took her cue and stepped into Amelia's eye-line. "Hi Amelia."

Amelia's face lit up in a smile. "You came to see me! Did the green man come with you?"

Peggy couldn't help smiling back. "No, darling, he's not, I'm afraid. He's not always a green man, you see. Sometimes he's a normal man and the green man scares him a bit."

Meagan tutted sympathetically. "He doesn't believe he saved her, does he?"

Peggy sighed. "No, he doesn't. That's half the reason I'm here - I promised him I'd find out if she was alright. How do you feel, Amelia?"

The five-year-old looked thoughtful. "I can't feel my broken leg anymore. Is that good?"

Her mother swallowed hard. "I don't know, sweetheart. The doctor will be by soon; I'm sure he'll be able to tell us."

Peggy was almost certain it wasn't a good sign. "I don't want to offend you," she said softly, "but will you be okay with … medical bills and such?"

Meagan smiled tiredly. "I hope so. Her father's overseas at the moment, in Iraq; he's trying to get leave."

"Name and rank?" Peggy asked, pulling out her phone.

That she could do.

"Ewan, he's a sergeant," Meagan answered, sounding a little startled.

Peggy scrolled through her contacts until she found Maria and sent her a quick text with the man's details. "SHIELD will see if they can make things move a bit faster."

"Thank you," Meagan said sincerely.

Peggy smiled. "No problem. I'm not a doctor, but I can try and do that." She hesitated. "Also, when the Maria Stark Foundation says they will help anyone who needs it, they mean it."

"I know," Meagan said. "If there's anything that can be said for Tony Stark, he clears up after himself, even when he didn't make the mess."

Peggy tampered down the proud smile. "I'd better go before the doctor arrives, but could I ask you for one tiny favour? Could I take a picture with Amelia? I'd like to be able to prove to him that he can fix things and not just break them. I'll send you a copy of course."

"Of course," Meagan agreed. "Just … would it be possible for her to meet him at some point? Maybe not the … green man, but … I'd like the chance to thank him."

One quick selfie later, Peggy gave Amelia a careful hug, allowed Meagan to squeeze her tightly while she handed over their email address and phone number, and slipped out of the hospital room and into the bathroom down the hall.

A crowd of curious nurses, doctors, orderlies, and patients gathered outside, startling the few people that emerged with the intensity if their interest.

After ten minutes, Peggy shouldered the bag that now had her uniform folded neatly at the bottom of it, let her hair down, and walked out of the bathroom, before leaving the hospital without any more fuss.

Steve was waiting on his bike when she found him. "How is she?"

"Alive," Peggy said. "Whether she walks out of the hospital with two legs or one remains to be seen."

Steve's jaw set in a way she was familiar with, a way that warned her he was taking all blame for everything on to his shoulders.

"Steve …" Peggy began, but stopped. This was not the best place to have that conversation. "Come on," she said, straddling the bike behind him.

"Where are we going?" Steve asked, his hands covering hers as they rested on his stomach.

Peggy pressed a kiss against his cheek. "Home, Captain. We're going home."

That's the end of this one, folks. I did have Finding The Way written, and then I added bits in, and now I need to do a rewrite because the new bits changed things more than I expected, so the flow didn't work.

Also it's more Clint-focused than I expected it to be.