As always, thank you all for the support!

March 3rd 1945, SRR Headquarters, London, England

Ever since Edward's death and Beth's breakdown, she'd shut herself away. If she left her room for longer than five minutes a day, they were lucky. They tried everything to break her from her depression, but it was like the lights were on with nobody home. Steve was worried sick, terrified she would do something to hurt herself in some way. It was like she simply existed. Her body functioned as normal, but her mind was locked away, leaving her unable to function properly. Beth was aware that she was sinking deeper and deeper, but she couldn't find it in her to care anymore. She made sure she ate and slept enough to keep everyone happy, but other than that, she simply spent her days sitting on her bed, staring out of the window. In all honesty, she wished she was dead, but she knew she would never act on it because of her loyalty to Steve. As much as she hurt, she would never do that to him, not to Steve.

It wasn't that the others wanted to give up on her, but after each person had tried talking to her only to either fail or have her throw something at them, they'd had to accept defeat and hope that she'd be able to claw herself back. Even Steve had to give up after weeks of blank stares from her.

The turning point came from the most unlikely source. One minute, Beth was lying on her bed in the dark, the next, her door slammed open and she found herself being dragged off the mattress onto the floor. At first, she didn't respond, but when a pair of lips touched her own, a light inside her began flickering and she struggled against the grip. As the person became more persistent, the light became stronger, until, when his hand reached down her waist, it flared to life, and with it, so did Beth. She let out a guttural cry, her hand clawing at his face. He let go with a yell and she used his distraction to knee him between the legs, scrambling off the floor as he dropped, groaning. She rushed to turn on the light and face her attacker, only for her jaw to drop as she laid eyes on a watery eyed Howard Stark.

"That was one hell of a wake up." He greeted, his voice a couple of notes higher than usual.

Beth's eyes narrowed and she strode over to him, pushing him back to the floor roughly as he stood.

"You dirty, foul, rotten snake!" she hissed, bearing down on him.

He raised his hands in surrender, beginning to think his plan had a major flaw; just how volatile she could be. From what he'd been told and had witnessed, he'd decided to try shocking her out of her comatose state. Clearly, he'd greatly underestimated her reaction.

"Woah, woah, woah! Okay, I know how it looks, but let me explain!"

"You just attacked me! what else IS there to explain, Howard?" she yelled

He ran a hand through his hair, pulling himself to his feet once he was certain she wasn't about to try and kill him.

"It was the only thing I could think of to snap you out of it. If there's one thing I know you wouldn't do, it's betray Bucky by letting someone take advantage of you."

The wind gushed out of her and she sank onto her bed. Howard cautiously moved closer to her and laid a hand on her shoulder. For a moment, she sat there silently and realised that he was right. The moment he kissed her, her love for Bucky had pulled her out of the box she'd shut herself in. She felt something in her soften and before he was aware she had moved, she had her arms wrapped round Howard's shoulders.

"Thank you."

His arms slid round her back and he returned the embrace. As they parted, he grinned at her.

"By the way, I've met someone, one of the ladies you listed in the book you made me actually. Please don't tell her I kissed you."

A strange feeling fluttered in her chest that she realised was amusement. It was strange to feel it after so long of numbness, so strange that she forgot to smile. Instead, she simply nodded.

"Deal. As long as you don't tell anyone I attacked you."

He pointed to the fresh scratches across his face.

"That might be difficult. However, I will do my best to avoid any questions regarding these."

He flashed her another grin and waved over his shoulder as he exited the room. Beth found herself walking over to the window to throw open the curtains, sunlight hitting her skin that was paler than she'd ever seen it. frowning, she opened the window and took a deep breath. she felt lighter than she'd done in so long, as if the cobwebs had been cleared.

She caught sight of the sun glinting off something in the corner of her eye and turned to see her engagement ring sitting on her dresser, where she'd abandoned it the day after returning from Bucky's 'funeral'. Guilt washed over her and she reached for it, the cool metal a welcome feeling as she placed it on the finger where it belonged. She blinked back tears as the guilt embedded itself further, the small voice in her head speaking up to remind her that Bucky was dead, had died to protect her, and how was she repaying him? By shutting herself away, making nothing of the life he'd given her and worse of all, had given up on the one thing she was good at and loved as much as Bucky; saving lives. All that time she'd hidden in this room; how many people had died as a result of her neglecting her duties as a doctor? All because she'd let her grief consume her. She looked down at her dresser, seeing her notebooks in a pile, gathering dust along with a photo of Bucky and the stuffed toy dog he'd given her for her 21st birthday, both also thick with dust. She brushed the layer away and gazed sadly at the items.

"I'm so sorry," she apologised, speaking to the two men. "I lost myself for a while, but I promise I'm back and it'll never happen again. I hope you can forgive me."

Silence was her answer, but she knew both of them would have forgiven her in a heartbeat, probably because they'd be too relieved to see her come back to do anything but. She sighed and reached out for the notebook on top of the pile, wincing at the state of her writing. Shrugging, she picked up the entire pile and dropped them on the bed. She had a lot of catching up to do, and she figured she could start by refreshing her medical knowledge. After that, she was long overdue a training session.

When colonel Phillips spotted her in the gym in the early hours of the following morning attacking a punching bag with a steely determination, he couldn't hold back the smile that stretched across his face.

"Welcome back, Agent Rogers."

As he left, he didn't notice Beth's lips quirk up for the first time in months, his words going straight to her heart.

"Good to be back, sir." She mumbled, her final kick knocking the bag from its chain with a satisfying thud.