February 1st 1945, Brooklyn, New York.

It felt strange being home, Steve thought as he opened the door to their apartment. He and Beth had been given three days leave to attend Bucky's funeral back in New York. They both knew it to be a lie, fully aware Bucky's body had never been found despite a fortnight of relentless searching led by Beth and himself, but Bucky's parents had been adamant there would be a funeral for their son. Neither of the Barnes's blames the Rogers siblings, even though they both blames themselves and stayed at the far back through the ceremony. Beth stood like a stone through the service, her hand clamped so tightly round Steve's, it was beginning to hurt him, but she couldn't cry. Not knowing the coffin was empty and Bucky's body was lying at the bottom of a ravine somewhere. Once the coffin was lowered into the ground, the siblings shared a look and turned to leave, only to be stopped by a familiar voice calling their names. Steve felt Beth stiffen next to him and squeezed her hand reassuringly as they turned back to see Bucky's parents and younger sister making their way over to them. The moment Amelia Barnes laid eyes on the pair, she swept forward and embraced them, eyes shining with tears. As she released Beth, she reached up to cup the young woman's face with her hands.

"Bucky sent me a letter the day before he died, telling me he was going to ask you to marry him. Did he?"

The memory threatened to shatter her once more, but Beth forced herself to answer, knowing the woman needed to know to start her healing.

"He did, and I said yes. All I ever wanted was to marry your son." She responded, her voice cracking from the emotion.

Amelia gave a shaky smile, her lips wobbling as she pulled Beth in for another embrace, clinging to the younger woman like she was the last link she had left to her son.

"As far as I'm concerned, you and Steve have been part of our family since the moment you met him and I would have been so proud to have you as a daughter. We're always here for you if you need us."

Beth nodded, unable to trust her voice to speak. Understanding, Amelia kissed her cheek and moved back to eighteen-year-old Becky, Bucky's baby sister, who was silently crying. Beth wanted to hold her and tell her it would be okay, but in all honesty, she just couldn't force her feet to move. As the two females walked back to the congregation, Bucky's father Reginald stepped forward and shook Steve's hand.

"As much as it's under horrid circumstances, it's damned good to see you both."

Steve inclined his head at the relief in the older man's face, his unspoken pleasure that he hadn't lost the pair of them as well as his son clear. He waited until his wife and daughter were out of earshot before his gaze hardened.

"What happened exactly? All they told us was that it was an unfortunate accident, but I've been there before. Nothing is 'unfortunate' in wartime. I need to know."

Steve was momentarily stunned by the request and found himself unable to form the words to tell him about Bucky's final moments. Seeing the torn expression on her brother's face, Beth was the one to speak, surprising both men.

"Bucky and I joined a small team led by Steve to take down a group called HYDRA, who started off working for Hitler before their leader decided he wants the world for himself. For months, we successfully took down a number of their bases and we finally found intel that led us to his right hand man. Bucky, myself, Steve and another of our team mates moved to apprehend him, but he was expecting us. One of his soldiers used a weapon he created to try and kill us. Bucky used Steve's shield to protect us, but the force of the blast punched a hole in the train and sent Bucky through it. Steve tried to get to him but the bar he was holding broke off a millisecond before Steve could grab him. There was nothing any of us could have done and Steve almost got himself killed trying to save him."

Her gaze switched to Steve and in it, he saw both the acceptance and forgiveness he'd been praying for a number of weeks to get. His eyes watered at the intensity of her next words and he coughed, hiding them from Reginald.

"He did everything he could. Everything."

She turned back to Reginald to see he was shaking, his fists clenched as tears slid down his face. Her voice became gentler and she placed a hand on his arm.

"The very last thing Bucky said and did saved my life. I tried to follow Steve out to help, but he made me stay back. I think he knew he was going to fall and if I was with Steve, he knew I would have jumped after him. He died a hero."

It was as if she'd turned the key and opened the box of words he needed to hear most. In a heartbeat, she found herself crushed against him, his arms locked tightly round her. She rested her head on his shoulder, wishing with every fibre of her being that they were embracing under difference circumstances.

"Thank you." He whispered, his voice quivering.

She knew there were no more words and held him a moment longer. When he released her, he held his hand out to Steve, pulling him in for a brief hug when the younger man took it. Beth heard him thank Steve too, before he started walking away from them.

"Mr Barnes!" Beth called after him.

He paused and looked back at her, a sad smile on his face.

"You're virtually my daughter. Call me Reginald."

"Reginald." She corrected, standing in front of him.

With trembling hands, she grasped the ring on her finger and pulled it off and held it out to him.

"Bucky said this was your mother's ring. I thought you would want it back for Becky."

He gazed down at the young woman, seeing how much she'd changed since leaving New York. He had always liked her, but as much as he loved his son, he'd been worried that Beth was a bit too soft-hearted and would end up getting hurt. Now, he could see her for the woman Bucky had clearly known she was capable of being and he realised she and Bucky were truly made for one another. It was evident in the way she stood, as if she was barely holding on to the line between control and hysteria. Though the ring was being offered to him, he just knew that if he accepted it, it would snap the line, and it was that knowledge that had him reaching out only to close her hand over the ring and gently push it back to her.

"I gave that ring to my son so he could give it to the woman he loved. He chose you, so it's now yours. Use it to remember him and to remember that you have a family in us and not to be a stranger, okay?"

She nodded, swallowing thickly as he finally left to hold his family. Steve's hand fell on her shoulder and she leaned into him as she slipped the ring back on her finger.

"Come on. We have to be back at the airport in an hour."

…

Another two months passed and Beth was numb. She continued her surgical training, but it felt as though she was a plane on autopilot, never quite taking in the facts given to her. she'd sat and passed her surgical exams, making her a fully-fledged surgeon, but she couldn't bring herself to celebrate the way she would have before Bucky died. She knew everyone was worried, but they had all chosen to leave her alone, especially after Steve fell victim to her right hook and ended up with a black eye for trying to push her. She was no longer an active member of the team, pulling herself from the front line before she did something stupid and make any errors.

As winter turned to spring, news came from Steve that they'd managed to take down another of HYDRA's bases and she heard through the rumour mill that they were gearing ever closer to the headquarters and with it, the final fight. She was thinking about the team when Peggy came running in to her room, face red.

"Beth, there's been an incident. It's Edward…it's not good."

Beth rose from her chair, something stirring in her for the first time in months as she ran behind the agent to the medical room. She paused in the doorway and as her eyes landed on her friend, the floodgates opened, every emotion she'd locked away rushing through her, sending her to her knees. She gasped, reaching a hand up to her heart as sorrow, panic, anger, fear, all of it, slammed into her over and over again until she felt as though she was drowning with no way of escape. She barely felt the hand that slapped her face, but the impact registered with her brain, allowing her to focus on the chocolate coloured eyes in front of her.

"Thank you." She choked out, realising her face was wet.

Peggy reached out a hand to pull her off the floor and Beth wiped at her face, the indifferent expression sliding back into place as she walked over to the table. She barely registered the team standing around the room, her gaze solely on Edward. He was already anaesthetised and three nurses were at the table waiting for her. she wasted no time preparing, simply throwing on a pair of gloves and assessing the damage as another nurse placed a scrub cap on her head and tied an apron round her.

"What happened?" she asked, seeing the surgeon's arm had been amputated at the elbow and a cloth currently covered his abdomen, already soaked with blood.

"There was a new weapon on the field. It looked like a giant dish with razor sharp edges. Edward was treating another soldier when one was thrown at him. It took his arm then hit his stomach." Falsworth reported.

Beth grit her teeth and lifted the cloth, her head spinning at the gruesome sight greeting her. She'd seen bad injuries, but this was by far the worst she'd ever seen. Not for the first time since she'd started training, she felt bile rise in her throat, but she managed to swallow it down. Whatever that weapon was, it had all but sliced him in half. A noise on her right had her turning to see Morita barely holding himself up, his face ashen. On closer inspection, only two other people in the room seemed capable of holding down the contents of their stomach and one of the nurses was swaying on the spot. Beth closed her eyes for a nanosecond to steel herself.

"Okay, I have no objections to anybody leaving if you can't handle this. If you can handle it, then I will appreciate the help."

She removed the remainder of the cloth, exposing the worst part of the injury. Even she gagged as the bowel wall split from the movement, but she quickly pressed against it to stop the bleeding. She wasn't surprised to see Steve and Dum Dum both exit the room, with Jones close behind. Morita slumped to the floor, finally passing out and the nurse beside her bent over, gagging before excusing herself, leaving Beth with only one nurse, Jones, Falsworth and Peggy in the room. Falsworth stepped closer, but when he saw it up close, his face turned green and he apologised as he all but ran from the room. Peggy stepped up to the table, gloves on and sent Beth an encouraging smile.

"Babies." She joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Hey, I'm still here aren't I?" Jones protested as he also took a place next to Beth.

"Yes you are. Welcome to the women's brigade." Peggy shot back.

Beth snorted as she fixed the tear in the bowel wall, though there wasn't really any true humour there. The nurse beside her did her best to wipe away the blood, but there was simply too much.

"I need to find where the blood's coming from, but his insides are just a mess."

The room remained silent as she worked to fix her mentor and friend. When his heart stopped beating the first time, she simply used the defibrillator to bring him back and continued trying to fix him. By the third time, she had resorted to clenching her fist and slamming it down on his chest. An hour later, when he flat-lined for the sixth time, she was openly sobbing as she compressed his chest.

"Don't do this to me Edward, please!" she begged, knowing already that it was too late, he was gone.

When a pair of arms wrapped round her to pull her away from him, she began screaming, kicking and thrashing to get back to him.

"No! I can save him!" she cried.

"No, you can't! He's gone!" Steve yelled back, his grip relentless.

She didn't listen, the final thread snapping as she reached up and punched him in the face, leaving a large, bloody mark. He only held tighter as she screamed herself hoarse, finally collapsing against him in exhaustion almost an hour later. Her shouts became broken sobs and he cradled her as she slowly sank to the floor, her tears soaking his shirt as he rocked her.

"He's gone." She choked out, and Steve realised she wasn't just talking about Edward.

"He's gone." He repeated, his voice gentle.

The sobs ceased, but her shoulders shook for a long time after, Beth finally giving in to the grief she'd repressed for so long. All Steve could do was sit there and hold her, uncaring that they were both covered in blood and tears. As long as it took her, he would be there.