A/N: I apologize for the delay in this chapter! I had to move out of my apartment and wrap up a school year, so it got completely hectic. But I hope you enjoy it all the same!

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters are the property of Disney and Marvel.

Peggy Carter returned to work the very next day. She knew people were looking at her, that they were watching her, but she also knew that to be gone was worse. No one dared speak to the woman with fire hidden in an icy gaze. She dared them to speak to her. She challenged them to make any comment about herself. None of them rose to it.

The days passed in a haze of files and report. She was on desk duty and while it was frustrating, Peggy rationally had to agree that she was, in fact, emotionally compromised. Howard kept her abreast of Steve's recovery, or lack thereof. He was still asleep, still fairly cold. He breathed on his own these days. That was something.

At the same time, they couldn't be sure he would wake, or if he did, that he would be anything like the man who'd left them a year ago. He could easily be a vegetable.

It was up to Peggy to face these facts; she made herself. Steve's body was home. There was no guarantee that Steve Rogers would ever come back. She needed to know that.

But for all her purposefully cruel thoughts, her heart fluttered each time the phone rang, every time Howard called with an update. Perhaps today was the day…

It never was.

A month or so had passed since Peggy had shoved her compact under Steve's nose. She was beginning to come to terms with the new reality, that Steve was home but not there. Unfortunate as it was, Peggy Carter was adaptable and she'd adapted to the situation as quickly as possible. Still stuck behind a desk, still antsy as hell, but Peggy Carter was not one to back down from a fight and this was one of the toughest fights of her life. She knew the men gossiped about her, knew the other girls did too, but Peggy ignored it. It wasn't difficult to put her nose in the air and pretend not to hear, knowing that trying to deny them would only serve to fan the flames.

She'd always been able to lose herself in work; it had cost her several friendships throughout the years. But work was numbing, work made sure that she could not possibly dwell on the difficulty in her life.

So it was difficult to pull herself away, even when Howard called and demanded she get to the hospital immediately. The doctors were trying a new batch of steroids and they were fairly confident this time. But that was a song they'd sang before and Peggy wasn't sure she wanted to dance to it. Still, Howard sounded excited and so she decided to go anyway.

Within the halls of the medical facility, it was so much more difficult to keep her mind quiet. She didn't want to get her hopes up because she knew that there was no guarantee that anything could work. Even, if he did wake, he'd been in a coma for almost two years and there was no guarantee that he would be fine. But how Peggy wanted him to wake up, to give her that smile again.

And so Peggy Carter found herself standing in a room full of doctors, hoping against all hope that maybe this time would be the time that worked. It was silent in the room, save the sounds of the machines that monitored him and the quiet chatter of doctors. She'd never felt so completely out of place and useless. She wasn't his wife, she wasn't his family. Officially, she wasn't even there. That seemed to be a running theme in their relationship.

People bustled with needles and bottles of things, preparing. Howard vacillated wildly between speaking seriously with the doctors and flirting shamelessly with the nurses. Peggy stood next to Steve's bed, unsure of what to do. The only thing that seemed to make any sort of sense was to take his hand in her own so she did that and felt a little more solid, a little more real.

After what seemed like forever, everyone seemed to agree that it was time to attempt it. Peggy closed her eyes when the needle went in; she never did like inoculations.

Five minutes ticked by steadily, marked by the doctor's steady watch and careful notes. The room had stilled. The silence was stifling, claustrophobic. Peggy wanted to run, to get out. The hospital air was heavy in her lungs, hardly worth breathing. She squeezed Steve's hand and it made her feel just the slightest bit better.

And then…. And then….

The machine monitoring Steve's heart sprang from the slow, lazy beep that it had announced for a month now, increasing in frequency and loudness. Doctors started moving around the room, someone was shouting with joy.

And Peggy, the only person who remained still, saw his eyelids flutter. Her breath stopped coming all together and she felt as though her heart would leap out of his chest.

There were his eyes, his beautiful blue eyes! Peggy's cheeks were wet, but she didn't make a sound and she didn't reach up to wipe away the tears. She was too concentrated on him, on the miracle occurring in front of her.

"Captain?" a nurse asked. "Captain, welcome back!"

Miracle of miracles, his eyes showed some life.

"Captain, can you say anything?" a doctor asked after a moment. "Anything at all."

There was an agonizingly painful moment as his jaw remembered how to work. Peggy thought she might faint.

"Ouch."

A ragged sob escaped her throat, drawing his attention. His eyes fluttered towards her. "Peg."

She was clinging to his hand as though it were the only thing tethering her to this mortal coil. She pressed closer to the bed, not noticing how everyone else in the room looked away to give them some semblance of privacy. "Hello, Steve," she said. Talking was difficult when her entire body felt like it was buzzing, electric.

"Our date?"

Peggy Carter was certainly crying now. Her vision was blurred as she bent to kiss his forehead, leaving a smudge of her colour there, marking him. Later, she'd threaten anyone who dared to divulge this information.

"Oh, my darling," she hiccupped soggily. "Don't worry, you're just a bit late!"