"Hey English…" Peggy could feel her shoulder be pressed on. They were laying together in the wonderful bed in Howards penthouse. "Hey English, breakfast's ready…"

Peggy still didn't open her eyes, "You're too wonderful Darling.."

"English… wake up…"

"I am up." Peggy couldn't get her eyes to open, "Just… tired…"

"You gotta wake up…."

Peggy tried to follow this demand. She wanted to get up. Get up and eat Angie's wonderful breakfast, be driven to work by Jarvis, and think about how lucky she was to be able to be happy again. But damn the bed was comfortable…. and she couldn't move… She felt her leg pinned against two something's… Not Angie, she wasn't heavy enough… The comfort of the morning gave way into pain. Pure undescribable agony. She could faintly feel something cold and sharp running across her leg…

"English, yah gotta wake up.. I remember…"

She remembered what? The element of the dream became noticeable to Peggy. This wasn't real. But what was it? Why couldn't she wake up.

"They'll find us.."

Who was 'they'? Why was she in so much pain. "I love you," She tried to shout but the words couldn't get through. She couldn't move. "Mi Bella,"

"Steve will find us." Angie insisted.

Now that wasn't a good sign. Steve was dead. Long dead, he crashed in the ice during the war. If Steve was going to come and find them, that meant one thing. They were dead. "I miei due amori.." Peggy mumbled. Her two loves; Angie and Steve.

Bucky ran into the room after the floor grenade went off. He just needed to find Steve, of course Steve would be the one to be hurt. Probably do something stupid like jump on a grenade. He sorted through the rubble and found Steve. Unconscious, bleeding and a little broken… more like a lot broken. Bucky picked Steve up careful not to make anything work, "I found Steve, no sign of Peggy."

"I'm coming, get Cap out of there." Natasha instructed.

Bucky followed the orders pulling Steve up over his shoulders he kicked the Shield up so they wouldn't lose it. He passed Natasha running to where Peggy and Angie would have been. "We'll find her.." Bucky promised as he ran up the stairs and out of the building. "HELP!" He shouted to the Agents evacuated out of the building. Hunter helped him lower Steve onto the ground. "Steve wake up!" he slapped Steve's cheek a few times.

He sputtered for a moment and went to grab his stomach but was met with what felt like 6 broken ribs, and whatever other bones decided to not live up to their super soldier reputation. "Five minutes…" He looked around, "Where's Peg?"

"We don't know- Five minutes?"

"Bomb." He could feel his head start to rush and his eyes want to close. Not before Peggy was safe.

"Nat get out of there." May ordered.

Bucky's head shot up, "Peggy is still in there."

Natasha looked up from digging in the rubble. She saw the countdown. 2:30… 2:29… "I don't have time!"

Bucky swore and stood up and grabbed the shield and sprinted back into the building. Rules be damned.

Thirty seconds later he saw Natasha trying to lift a sheet of concrete up off the ground, "They're under here!" She grunted. Bucky ran over and lifted it with his left arm, once it was high enough Natasha wedged the shield under the concrete. "Her leg." A second voice that wasn't Peggy's spoke up in the rubble. "It's… wedged."

Natasha took a deep breath and removed her belt, just incase she had to do something drastic. She crawled under the concrete, "Keep it from falling Buck." She tried to push the rocks out of the way, but they were being held there by the weight of the entire collapse.

"Less than Two minutes remaining."

Natasha growled and stole the knife still holstered to Peggy's leg, "I'm sorry Peggy, you'll thank me eventually. And just then Natasha did something drastic.

Steve had gracefully passed out at some point during the massive explosion. "Captain Rogers-" tried to get him to wake up. He didn't really want to, he just wanted to sleep. "Captain Rogers!" He slowly remembered where he was, and then he remembered that Peggy could very well be buried in the ruins of the warehouse. That got him up. His eyes opened and he immediately tried getting up. Then he remembered he had been shot two times in the stomach. "Slow down-"

"Where's Peggy? Buck went in-"

"I'm here." Bucky walked over, "Natasha and I got them out."

"Where's Peggy." Steve insisted.

The medic looked around, "She's being looked at right now, you're both going to the closest hospital. Your bullet wounds aren't critical, but you need to get to a hospital."

Steve turned his head and saw Peggy be lifted up into an ambulance, "How long have I been out?"

"A bit.." Bucky pushed someone away who attempted to look at the deep scratches on his face, "I'm fine…"

The doors to Peggy's ambulance closed, "Someone needs to go with her!" Steve insisted. He didn't want her to be alone. "Let me go with her-"

"She's too critical for you to travel with her-" The medic tried to reason with Steve, but there really was no such thing once Steve got an idea in his head.

Steve pushed himself up off the ground and managed to stand and despite the list of injuries he sprinted to the back of the ambulance. He opened the doors back up, "Let me go-" He looked at the medics on either side of Peggy one was putting an oxygen mask on her, the other was putting a second tourniquet on above Natasha's belt that was wrapped a few times around just below the knee. He looked down Peggy's leg, to where her foot should have been. His grip on the door started to falter and he slid to the ground. Bucky was right behind him and caught him. "She's-"

Bucky held him tight, "I know, but she's going to pull through Steve. She's too damn stubborn to die." The line didn't help like he thought it would.

Natasha ran up and closed the doors for the ambulance so it could drive off. Without a word she bent down and helped get Steve in the back of the second ambulance. Peggy and Steve were the only one hit harder than cuts and bruises, besides Angie but she was going straight into SHIELD custody. No one knew what to do. "You go with him." Natasha said to Bucky outside the ambulance. "I'll get everyone else on The bus and meet you there later."

Bucky nodded. As Natasha walked away he grabbed her arm, "Don't let anyone trust Angie."

"Wasn't planning on it." Natasha assured.

Satisfied with the answer he climbed in the back and took off to the hospital with Steve and the the medics working on him.

"You can't just keep playing the "Trouble Man" Soundtrack over and over again Sam." Steve protested, "All music helps not just Marvin Gaye."

Sam scoffed, "It woke you up." He sat down on the window seat in the hospital room. They made the flight back over to New York a few days after the mission. Thanks to the serum he was practically all healed a week later. Peggy, not so much. They were just supposed to wait for her to wake up now, which didn't suit too well with just about everyone on the team. "I'm telling you man, 'Trouble Man' fixes all your problems."

"Play some of her music." Steve insisted.

"That old stuff.. No.." He was scrolling through his phone and chuckled, "Here, how's this." An old recording of the 'Captain America' radio program started.

Steve chuckled, "It'll get her up, and you punched in the jaw." He looked back at Peggy, begging for her to just wake up.

Sam stood up and handed the phone over to Steve, "I'm going to go get some food. Need anything?"

"Yeah." Steve nodded, "Just get me whatever sandwich looks the most boring."

"Old man." Sam pushed the curtain open and walked past the nurses station. Steve could still hear him in the room, "Hello ladies…" He flirted every time he walked by. After shaking his head he changed the song to something Peggy would like a bit more. A song she always used to sing under her breath when she was working during the war. She never liked to say she was good at singing, but like everything she ever did she was a natural.

Steve saw Peggy's phone light up for a second before dying back down. He didn't want to pry into her business but given the circumstances he figured it was okay. Although he was stopped when he reached a screen asking for a 4 digit code. He thought through what it could be before entering it. Birthday?" he deliberated before typing it in. 1919. It vibrated and erased the attempt. Steve went back to thinking about what Peggy would have it be. Something she'd have to remember in order to get into her phone- which she was on all the time… He chuckled and then tried again 2015. The phone liked the answer and opened up. The alert was coming from the Twitter app. He opened it up and saw the mess of information to sort through. It was no secret that Peggy had been hurt. No one really knew to what extent she had been, but it was everywhere when anyone turned the news on TV and Twitter was no exception. He was feeling risky, and felt like making more news. He managed to open up a new tweet and painstakingly tried to type out his message. "Thank you everyone for the good wishes -SR." His first tweet. Peggy would have been proud.

Tony walked in holding a carrying tray of drinks, "Where'd Sam go?"

Steve looked over his shoulder, "Food."

"Here? Ew." He walked over to where Sam was sitting and sat down himself, "She should really put her somewhere nicer, there's a hospital a few blocks north of the tower that-"

"We're fine here." Steve stopped Tony from his own method of coping, the tries-to-fix-everything-in-sight-even-the-stuff-that-is-fine-the-way-it-is strategy. "I like the food, it reminds me of food back in the day."

"Yeah, you're not selling it well." Tony checked his watch and rubbed his eyes.

Steve watched him, "How long has it been since you slept?"

"A few days." He shrugged, "I'm pretty close to finishing a prosthetic."

"I'd tell you to go sleep, but I know it'd be pointless." Steve put Peggy's phone back on the table.

Tony nodded, "Don't waste your breath.." They were quiet for a few minutes just listening to the music and watching Peggy sleep. She looked better now that they took the oxygen mask away. "What are we listening to?" Tony finally asked.

"Oh." Steve looked at Sam's phone that still had the music playing, "Vera Lynn. She used to be Peggy's favorite. One time we were passing by one of the places on her USO tour route." Steve chuckled, "And I swear I've never seen Peggy that star struck. Usually I'm the bashful one, but Peggy could barely get two words out in front of her."

Tony listened politely and refrained from pointing out how the music was not something he liked, "Has Bucky said anything about Angie yet?"

"No… He and Natasha are trying to get her to calm down. She remembers sometimes, and then other times she's like she was. She wasn't hurt really, no worse than I was. Peggy stopped most of the damage.." Steve's voice petered off. He just wanted Peggy back. He leaned forward and took Peggy's hand trying to keep it from being too cold. "Come on Peg…" he whispered, "Wake up…"

"Try playing reverie." Tony teased.

Steve opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off. "Shut up Howard." Peggy muttered.

They both looked back over at Peggy who had her eyes open. "Peg!" stood up.

She tried moving, "Good lord.." her voice was hoarse, and she couldn't really process where she was or exactly when she was. She looked at Steve, "I'm dead.."

He laughed, "No.. you're not, what do you remember?"

Slowly everything came back to her. "I remember now-" she started coughing, "Sorry.. the music made me think I wasn't here… I don't know." Peggy moved her hand to push her hair to the side.

"How do you feel?" Steve sat back down but kept ahold of her hand. He figured now was a good time to stop the music.

"Numb." She gave up on trying to move, "How bad am I hurt.." Steve didn't know what he was supposed to say, there was no good way to really break the news to someone, only that it wasn't as bad as it could be. "Steve just tell me."

Tony stood up, "I'll go get a nurse or something."

"You've been out for a while… Well… not as long as the last time."

"Well there's some good news." She sighed, "Did I miss Christmas?"

Steve laughed, "No. You still have a few weeks to do your shopping."

Her next question was cut off by a woman in a Dr.s coat walking in, "Ms. Carter, It's good to see you up. I'm Doctor Lyle"

"I believe it is.." Peggy even saw it on the Dr's face. Something was wrong with her. Of course it would be her luck to have cancer or something. "Now are you going to tell me what I fiance wont?"

The doctor walked to the other side of the bed, "So you were in an explosion and were trapped under some large debri for a small amount of time. There was a complication-" The Doctor was speaking methodically like she had practiced this speech a few times, "Two members of your team managed to get you out but your leg was trapped in the collapse. To get you out they had to made an emergency amputation a bit more than six inches from the bottom of your knee cap."

Peggy took a few breaths. Everything is fine. Everything is fine. She started to cry anyway.

Steve took her hand in both of his, "It's going to be alright, Peg."

"I know." She breathed, and used the sleeve of her hospital gown to dry her eyes "I'm just… crying because I feel like it's justified."

"The doctors in the Chicago hospital handled everything perfectly, there's practically no risk of infection and all things considered with things like this, below the knee is best case scenario."

Peggy nodded, "I know." She sniffed, "I've seen my fair share."

"We're in New York now." Steve handed her a box of tissues.

The doctor walked around the bed and did a quick check of Peggy's health, "The rest of you is doing well. A few more days of rest and then Physical therapy will start. I don't see any reason why there wouldn't be smooth transition for you."

"Keeping me in this bed for a few more days is going to be the challenge doctor."

"Just take it easy, and keep resting or I'll kick your friends out." She threatened before walking out of the room.

"Yes Doctor." Peggy looked back at Steve, "I'm guessing you'll be leaving now?" She said with a deadpan but was 100 percent joking.

Steve scoffed, "Yeah, I'm actually just waiting here to ask for the ring back." He leaned up and kissed her forehead. "You're taking this better than I thought.."

"My life isn't over." She assured him, "Sousa lost almost his entire leg and he was a wonderful Agent. Saying my life is over is an excuse."

He shook his head, "God, I love you."

"I love you too." She brushed her hand against his cheek, "Plus I've seen Bucky's arm."

"The technology is a bit more than we are used to." He couldn't believe she was up, "I don't know what I would have done… if you didn't…" He rested his head on the side of her bed.

"But I did." Peggy stopped him before he could get too upset, "Your time to be sad is put on hold for now." she ran a hand through his hair. But she could feel the needle in the top of her hand which made her hesitant to move it too much.

He looked up at her, "I'll try."

The half the lights in the hospital room had been turned off to give it a dim glow. Peggy was sitting up in her bed, still hooked up to a machine giving her a light super soldier painkiller. It did the job without making her drowsy at all. Tony, Bucky, Sam and Maria were sitting around the bed. In the center they had wheeled the tray table to act as a good enough poker table. Peggy held her cards close and eyed the people around her. It wasn't hard to tell Sam was bluffing. Lying was not in genetic code. Peggy could barely read Tony's face but luck had not been on his side. Maria and Bucky however were actual competition for Peggy. Even during the War Bucky was good enough to take the pot over from Peggy's purse and Maria was a force to be reckoned with. Tony, Sam were out of the game until Maria cursed and followed their lead, "You two are too good."

"I'm just thankful Natasha isn't here." Peggy said without looking away from Bucky. They were staring at each other like two tigers ready to attack.

Bucky hardly moved, "You're trying to get something out of me.."

"I don't need to try." Peggy glared.

He looked down at his cards then raised his bet by 5 dollars.

Peggy matched it, then raised it by 2.

Bucky matched it without flinching then threw down a 10.

"You're bluffing." She pointed out.

"Okay." He was completely unreadable.

There was silence then Bucky threw in another 5.

"You're trying to intimidate me." Peggy sighed, "It won't work…. you know you have a rubbish hand, just fold." she tossed in her last 20.

"Just because my hand is metal doesn't mean it's rubbish." He deflected.

Peggy couldn't help but chuckle, "I'm not going anywhere Bucky. I physically cannot leave this bed." He was quiet then Peggy cursed, "Damn you Bucky." She folded.

Bucky laughed and showed his hand. Random cards that would have lost him the game, "Thanks for the allowance Peggy."

"I'm never playing poker with you again." She sat back in her bed.

Maria stood up and stretched, "Don't play poker with May. She'll clean you out. I think I'm going to go now. I have a whole organization to run."

"Don't brag." Peggy frowned, "Please bring me something to do. Paperwork or anything."

"I'll think about it." She laughed.

Bucky organized the money that was now his. To be honest he was going to use the money to buy Peggy something, but he'd rather just relish in the fact that he beat Peggy at poker, "I think I'm going to turn in for the night, go relieve Natasha of Angie duty."

"How is that going?" Peggy hated that she couldn't be there.

He got up from his chair and put his coat on, "She's doing… okay. I just…" Bucky looked at the door, "I just don't know, Something about her seems fishy. Like she's just waiting to do something." He shrugged, "Like I said.. I don't know."

"Just do your best. There's nothing I can do that would be any better than what you can do."

The nurse walked into the room, "Sorry, I have to kick some of you out now."

"Yeah yeah." Sam stood up, "We're leaving. Visiting hours are over."

Tony turned around, "I'll leave once Steve gets back-"

The nurse seemed satisfied with that.

"You don't have to." Peggy insisted, "I don't need to be babysat."

"I'm not babysitting you." Tony sighed, "I don't babysit. Let's get that straight."

She laughed, "But the Barton Children would love weekend at Tony's."

"No." Tony couldn't even imagine it, "Just. No."

Peggy arranged the cards back in their stack, "Please tell me you're not planning anything too sophisticated for my prosthetic." They actually hadn't talked about it yet. Tony knew there was a potential that he would be insensitive however he brought it up. But strangely enough Peggy took the situation well.

"It's very sophisticated, but it doesn't have the bells and whistles my usual toys have." He went to the tablet and pulled up his work so far. "Right now the goal is to make it as smooth as possible for walking downhill and on uneven surfaces. Balancing.." He shrugged and handed the tablet over. She barely knew where to look on the thing. Each detail of the foot seemed impeccable. "But you'll be happy to know, you can still wear heels."

She chuckled, "It's a small whim but I'm very appreciative. Thank you for doing this for me Tony."

"The Physical therapists that I've talked to think you should use the regular model to start." He sounded disappointed, "Just because it's taking longer than expected to get together since I'm not going to hardwire it into your leg."

Peggy felt a chill run up her spine. That sounded terrible. "Thank you for that." She handed the tablet back. "If Howard knew what you were doing-"

"Yeah." Tony scoffed, "Murder bots. I'm a real blessing to the earth."

"Tony, I'm serious." She insisted, "All he wanted to do in his lifetime was help people. I know that after I left, he became a different person. But the Howard I knew set out to try and erase some of the things he wasn't proud of from the war. I don't think he ever coped with being involved with the Manhattan Project, or losing Steve." Peggy sighed and went back to her topic, "He would have been proud of you for what you attempted with that whole Ultron fiasco. The result was not beneficial as you found out… but your intention was pure."

Tony, for the first time when listening to the subject of his father actually listened. "You know, I don't think anyone has told me that yet." He said quietly, "About Ultron I mean.. I just want to forget about the whole thing to be honest."

"Forgetting your past does nothing beneficial to your future Tony. Let me assure you of that."

"Did you practice that line?"

"No I just thought of it." If she relaxed and closed her eyes, sometimes she could forget that it wasn't Howard next to her. Not that she'd ever tell him that; baby steps. "You should go home, I'm sure Pepper misses you."

"I'm sure she does. I miss her." Tony looked at his watch, "I'll give you some alone time before Steve comes back."

"Tell Pepper I say hello." She requested and reached for the remote, "Will you turn the TV on before you go?"

Tony chuckled and shook his head, "Another phrase for the Old people book" "I should indulge you by letting you get away with not knowing how to do stuff."

"I know how to do it… I just don't want to." She said simply.

Tony behaved and turned the TV on and handed her the remote, "I'm not teaching you how to work that thing." He grabbed his coat and walked to the door.

"Night Howard." She smirked.

He turned and glared, "You're lucky I'm so nice."