38 Fury
Over the next few days, several things happened.
First, Sharon and Steve discovered morse code between the wall they shared in between apartments.
H-e-l-l-o, Sharon rapped and Steve repeated the same sequence back to her, his knuckles against the wall.
U-o-k, Steve rapped and after some hesitation, Sharon sent back a yes.
U, Sharon said and Steve smiled sadly.
O-k, he tapped.
It was nearly impossible to have honest conversations like this, but it made Steve smile and more often than not, when he heard the knocking, he knew he wasn't entirely alone and it felt special and secret, something just between them.
The next thing happened days later, across the wall and beyond the morse, where Steve found himself feeling at least a little bit better. Now that he had come to terms with the fact that Peggy had lived a life and she had moved past Steve and would probably want him to do the same, he could feel a little better with the fact that she was gone. Sam was over then, taking his shift as Steve contemplated this, and Steve mentioned it to him over a lunch they were sharing.
"That's good," Sam said in between bites of frozen pizza. "You're gonna get through this, no problem."
"I still miss her," Steve said and Sam swallowed and sighed.
"One day," he said. "You'll be happy. That's just life. Realizing you can move on is a part of it."
"Okay," Steve said and looked down at his plate and thought numbly over and over and over again, one day, you'll be happy.
And these things were very important, but by far the most important event to come out of this week was the last one, when Fury called. Bucky, who had been sitting on Steve's couch and closing his eyes, sat up a little and listened in as Steve picked up the phone.
"Captain Rogers, as you know, your leave is up and the Avengers are again in need of your assistance," Fury said. Steve swallowed.
"Do we have a situation?" Steve asked, unsure if he was ready to see action again, but knowing he couldn't say no. He could see Bucky tense up out of the corner of his eye.
"There's a team of RAID members downtown with explosives," Fury said. "Barton and Romanoff are already on the scene and we need you to join them."
"I'll be there," Steve said and as he hung up, Bucky was already hovering close behind him, his shoulders back and a concerned look on his face.
"What's going on?" He asked. "That was Fury." Steve was hurrying already, Bucky trailing behind, and he didn't have time for his uniform, so he threw on a jacket from his closet and grabbed his shield from by his bed.
"RAID downtown," Steve explained quickly.
"Who?" Bucky said.
"Terrorists," Steve said, already almost out the door, heading down the hallway, leaving Bucky. "I'll be back soon."
"Are you gonna take your fricking helmet?" A befuddled Bucky yelled after him and Steve turned around as he sped down the hallway to catch the blue helmet Bucky threw to him and then turned a corner, leaving Bucky at Steve's apartment, still confused and more than a little miffed. Bucky pressed his mouth together in frustration. "You should have grabbed a coat, it's below freezing out there!" He yelled with no response. Bucky glanced back behind him from the apartment to the direction Steve had disappeared down and clenched his fists. "Damn it," he growled and kicked the ground, because this was the most important thing to happen and Bucky could feel it. "Here we go."