"Steve.." Peggy says, grasping the uncasted hand in hers, "are you—" she pauses, and Natasha can see the hesitation in asking the question, "how do you feel?"

Steve blinks at them and then turns his head slightly to the IV stand by his bed, "not much."

Pretty drugged then, which makes sense, his eyes are a bit glazed, although he seems to be straining to keep focus.

No one knows what to say at the moment. Natasha can see the questions burning in everyone's minds, but each one able to hold the barrage back from spilling over on the exhausted looking form in front of them. Peggy's fingers ghost over Steve's cheek, the dark circles still prominent and deep on his face.

Steve looks at each of them, "how long?"

There's a beat of silence. "It's Christmas." Bucky finally says, "Merry Christmas, Steve."

Disbelief crosses Steve's face, "no—" he starts, and his heart rate climbs, the monitor beeping, "what—" his voice cuts off as his chest heaves, panic crossing his face and Peggy leans forward.

"Slow down, it's okay." She tries to remain calm, to sound calm but her voice has an edge to it too, "It's alright, everything's alright—"

"Christmas—" Steve chokes out, as he hunches forward, then he gasps and stretches back, his heartrate now sending louder beeps and the group can hear the nurses coming.

"Steve—" Clint starts, "deep breaths, come on—"

Tony's no help, he's backing up, his face paling and his own breathing getting raspy.

"Tony—" Natahsa warns, "don't. Or get out if you need to—" She says it calmly, not trying to undermine his feelings either, but two people having an attack—

She turns back to Steve and feels confusion. "Does he need his inhaler?" She asks.

But Steve's breathing while elevated doesn't seem to be the issue.

He's having a panic attack. His injured fingers stick out from the cast and are trembling as he clutches at his hospital gown.

The nurses burst in and take over, sending them all outside where they watch helplessly from the window.

—-

"What happened!" Sam says, practically jogging into the waiting room where all the kids sit quietly.

"He woke up." Bucky says quietly. "Then he—" They don't know how to say it. They hadn't really discussed it since being ushered to the waiting room.

"He what—" Sam snaps.

"He panicked when we told him it was Christmas Day. But then he tore his stitches and then he was in pain and then they sedated him." Clint finishes.

Sam sinks to a chair and holds his head in his hands.

"But he was awake." Peggy says. The first words they've heard from her since Steve's room. "He was awake, and he was as coherent as those drugs would allow, and he's going to be fine."

When no one responds she looks up and out the window, her gift for him twirling in her hands. "He's going to be fine."

—

Christmas Day is fading into night when Steve wakes again.

The nurse comes to collect them. "He's awake." She says with a smile, "and he's calmer."

They follow sanitization protocol again and walk into the room quietly. Steve is sitting up a bit and looks guilty. "Sorry." He says quietly.

Peggy sits on the edge of his bed and the rest pull up chairs or anything they can find to sit on. "Do you feel better?" She eyes the IV.

He nods, "my head's a bit clearer. Sorry for freaking out."

"You're entitled." Peggy whispers, "it's a lot to take in."

Steve looks at all of them, "you guys haven't been here the whole time have you?"

"We've been rotating." Bucky lies. "Sam should be back soon."

Steve shakes his head, "no, tell him to spend the day at the house, it's Christmas."

"He'll want to see you—"

But Steve's eyes get a bit panicked, "no, I'm fine. I promise. I'll see him tomorrow, okay?" There's an awkward pause before Steve forces a smile, "so, you guys should go home too. It's Christmas, I'll still be here tomorrow. I promise."

Tony steps forward, and looks annoyed, which is better than the anxiety he's been displaying earlier, "look around this room Steve." He points to Bucky, Natasha, Clint, and Peggy, then himself, "you think you can pull the wool over all of our eyes? What gives? Why are you trying to get rid of us? We just got you back."

Steve glares at Tony but then grins, "come on, Tony, you've got your parents and family stuff to do. And Natasha, Yelena and the others will miss you. Bucky, you've got that roommate here right?" He smiles easily, "and Becca will be mad if you're not home for christmas, didn't you say you got her that new hair thingy she wanted?" He turns to Peggy and his face gets tight as he forces a smile, "Pegs, your parents have been missing you so much. You should go spend time with them. You've been wasting your Christmas break here—" She's about to protest when another voice speaks up.

"What about me?"

Steve's eyes go to Clint. Whose face is flat and an eyebrow raised in annoyance, "who you got for me to ditch you for? My dad and Melissa are out of town. The Starks are no more my family than they are yours. So I get to stay?"

"Clint—"

"No." Steve looks back in surprise at the vehemence in Clint's tone. "No. Whatever the hell you're trying to do, or you think you're trying to do, stop it."

"I'm not—"

"Not what." Peggy asks, jumping in, "not pushing us away? Because that's what it damn well feels like."

Steve sighs and leans back, closing his eyes, "I'm not."

"Okay. Then we're staying."

And they don't expect the crack in Steve's voice as he says "fine."

Bucky leans forward, "Steve, what happened in there?"

"Can I not—" Steve whispers out, "can I not talk about it right now?"

"Okay." Peggy says looking at Steve and squeezing his free hand, "okay. That's fine, is there anything else you need?"

And Steve looks up and there's a spark of his old self as he raises an eyebrow, "well since you guys have been doing rotations and have therefore been doing other stuff so far during christmas break, tell me what you've all been up to?" And the collective pause makes Steve roll his eyes, "see, that's what I'm talking about. Everytime I'm in the hospital, which is all the time, you guys put your lives on hold! I'm sick of it. Go home, leave me be, I'll be here, just go."

Clint surprises everyone by standing and walking to the window that looks out to the side of another building. "Steve." Steve doesn't verbally respond, just looks towards Clint at the window. "What do you remember?"

Steve furrows his brow, "about what?"

"After you got shot."

Bucky watches as Steve's eyes unfocus, "I—" he starts, "I don't know. Not much."

Clint turns back, nailing Steve with his glare, "Well I remember. I remember finding you on the ground, with half your blood trailed behind you—" Steve goes sheet white, eyes locked on Clint. "And I remember you telling me that you were clocking out. You were giving up Steve. You promised you wouldn't give up!"

Even though they've all heard the story from Clint's perspective, they all wince at the accusation.

But then Steve leans forward, grasping at his side and grimacing before looking Clint dead in the eyes, "how did you get into the building?"

Clint pauses, "why?"

Steve closes his eyes. "Was it on the second story?"

A longer breadth of time passes, Clint's eyes on Steve, who is now leaning back and his eyes are closing. "Yeah. Why?"

And Steve lifts his head, opening his eyes and looking at Clint with a resigned expression. "Nothing. It doesn't matter." He reaches over and tries to shift the blankets, his hands trembling as he tries. Peggy moves, shifting the blankets for him and waiting until he nods. "Thanks." He says quietly. "So." He shifts the subject, "is the teacher okay? Did she make it out fine?"

But Clint pushes forward, getting close to Steve's face, "what do you mean by it doesn't matter. Tell me why you asked."

Steve's eyes shift away from Clint. "The teacher?" He asks again, "is she okay?"

"She's fine." Clint snaps. "Thanks to you, she's fine. Now tell me." Steve shifts and doesn't respond to his urging. "Steve. Tell me why you asked."

"Clint, It's not—"

"You tell me right now, Steve! I mean it! You tell me right fucking now."

Steve glares at him, "I don't have to tell you anything!" And it's sharp and pointed and it hits all of them hard.

"Steve—" Natasha tries.

"Please, can I just not talk about this right now!" Steve grouses, throwing up his uninjured hand. "I know I just got shot. Thank you for the information. But can we talk about literally anything else?!" He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to remain calm, "what do the kids at the house know?"

"The older ones know the truth. Peter and younger think you're sick."

Steve nods, "okay. That's fine. Did they get to have a normal Christmas?"

"Yeah." Tony pipes in. "Sam made sure they did."

"Good." Steve sighs, then winces as he shifts, "they say when I can get out of here?"

"We don't know yet."

This he takes with another sigh and nothing else. Just resignation.

"You have presents out there." Peggy tries, keeping her eyes on Steve's face, "and lots of people have stopped by with their well wishes."

Steve's face softens a touch, "that's really nice of them all."

The nurses come in a bit after while they're just talking about their school semester and administer some more pain meds and change his IVs.

Steve's eyes start to droop and the nurse informs them that he should get some rest.

They've all filed out of the room except for Peggy and Bucky who are shuffling around his bed.

"You need to go now, dears." The nurse says kindly, switching the lights off to give Steve some darkness to rest. Peggy nods and she turns to go, but Bucky sits on the chair closest to Steve's head, "Steve?"

He blinks, opening his eyes, "yeah, Buck?"

"Why'd you ask where Clint entered the building from?"

Steve sighs, yawning and shifting down further onto the bed as the pain meds take over. "Doesn't matter." He says, then he yawns again, "he probably would have shot me anyways."

Bucky's wide surprised eyes flick up to Peggy, whose mouth is gaped open as Steve falls into unconsciousness. The implication of his words hanging heavily in the air.

—-

Bucky walks with Peggy back through the hallways to the waiting room.

"So, if Steve asked where he came from, but knew it was the second floor… Then that means Steve, and therefore the shooter, heard him enter."

"Clint said that he caught the guy in the hallway. Running away."

Peggy curses and spins on Bucky, pointing a finger at him, "that means that the noise Clint made caused the shooter to pull the trigger." She curses again and shakes her head, "we cannot tell Clint that."

"No way." Bucky agrees. "Never."

She sighs as they make their way, getting closer to the group, "It's not like it's his fault. The shooter is obviously mentally unstable and Steve just said he probably would have shot him anyways."

Bucky nods as they step to the chairs where the rest are waiting, "yeah." He looks at Clint whose eyes are unfocused, and Bucky grimaces. They may not tell Clint, but that doesn't mean he won't figure it out.

—-

Howard makes an appearance and once Steve is awake they head back to his room.

—

Steve watches as they file in, Howard now among them.

And his mind flashes to the kids' guns. The retro looking logo stamped into the sides of the rifle and pistol in the kid's hands. Stark Industries.

And the words spill out of his slightly addled brain before he can think about the consequences of saying them.

"I didn't know you made guns."

And maybe the lack of response should clue him into the fact that the room has gone silent, but he's still coming out through the fog of medicine. He yawns, cutting off the first part of his sentence "—ught you were a scientist." When no one responds again, he blinks and looks around, "what?"

—-

Tony feels his chest constrict.

I didn't know you made guns

He turns to his dad who is frozen just inside the door, staring at Steve like he's a ghost.

And Tony's brain puts the pieces together. Everyone's looking at Howard, confusion on most and understanding on Clint's.

What were the odds?

Tony steps to his dad and puts a hand on his shoulder, "Dad?" His dad's eyes stay trained on Steve. "Dad, he's okay." And somehow it shifts to Tony comforting his dad instead of the other way around, "it's fine. Steve's fine, see?" He gestures to the still groggy and drugged up kid in the bed. "He's fine." He tries to pull his dad forward but he's not budging. "Dad." Tony urges, "snap out of it."

Guilt ridden eyes snap to Tony's, "he shot him with SI guns?"

Tony winces and whispers back, "I don't know," even though he knows the whole room can hear.

His dad looks sick, then he looks to Steve and steps forward. But Steve sees the sudden movement and flinches back. Tony feels the air leave the room at the motion and suddenly his dad is backing out of the room. "I'll come back later." He gets out, before turning on his heel and disappearing.

The group slowly turns back to Steve who is still blinking slowly and eyeing them, "what?" He asks slowly, as if he was just coming in halfway to a conversation and missed what was said last.

—

30 minutes later Steve's finally coherent enough to hold a conversation and then he looks up at Tony, "where'd your dad go?"

Tony grimaces, "uh, he said he'd be back."

Steve looks pensive for a moment before nodding and pushing the food around on his plate.

"You need to eat, Steve." Peggy says softly, "you need strength."

Steve takes another quiet bite. "What about you guys?"

"We'll eat later." Bucky says easily, "non-hospital food isn't allowed in the room."

Steve's brow furrows, "it's not? Why?"

"They're worried about outside contaminants." Natasha says with a smile, "that's why we're all dressed like we're about to head into surgery."

Steve smiles, probably the first genuine smile they've seen since he first woke up, and then, "I guess I was wondering that in the back of my mind." He looks up at Tony, "Is this the hospital Dr. Strange works at?"

Tony thinks, "uh… I don't know. Why, you want a second opinion?"

Steve laughs softly, "no, I just thought about him the other day."

Bucky reaches up and taps gently on Steve's ear with the hearing aid. "When were you gonna tell us?"

Steve scrunches his nose, "I was gonna tell you this break, I swear."

"So… Sam knows?"

A sheepish expression crosses Steve's face, "uh—"

They all collectively roll their eyes, "what are we going to do with you?" Natasha sighs.

The eye roll Steve gives back to them makes them relax as he huffs out a laugh, "I was caught off guard when it happened." He taps at his ear, "I was hoping it was just plugged from my last cold or something, but it never got better, then it faded to practically nothing, but there must be something still working because the aid works."

Tony nods, "where are your glasses?"

Steve looks around, "oh—" he squints at the bedside table, "I had them—" he shrugs, "dunno, maybe they got left somewhere."

And they continue, just talking about normal things for the next while. Even though they're desperate to know the story, they all wait, just talking and pretending like Steve isn't in a hospital bed on Christmas.

—

The police come back on December 27th.

Clint watches as the large man with the mustache and the scary guy with the eyepatch check in at the nurses station.

Tony's up and out of his seat, disappearing down the hallway to Steve's room.

"Where's he going?" Bucky asks, looking up from his phone.

Natasha shrugs and leans back in her chair, her feet resting on Bucky's lap.

Clint feels his phone buzz and he looks down. Tony.

"Uh." He starts, showing the screen to the other two before answering it. "Hello?"

"Don't hang up." Tony's voice says in a whisper.

Clint hears a knock and then a door opening. "Hello, are you Steve Rogers?"

He hears Steve clear his throat, "yeah, that's me."

"Could we speak to you briefly about what happened?"

Clint can hear the resignation in Steve's voice, "Oh. Uh, yeah, I guess."

"If you'll excuse us." One of the police officers say.

Clint hears Tony's voice again, but further away, "Pegs, lets go."

"But—"

"But nothing. Be back soon, Steve!"

Clint looks up, to see Bucky and Natasha staring at him, waiting for an explanation that he doesn't have.

But soon Peggy and Tony are back, Peggy looking miffed at being manhandled. "What is this?" Clint asks, raising his phone. Tony plucks it out of his hands and hits the speaker button and the mute button.

"Don't have any bugs on me. So I had to improvise and leave my phone in the room."

They don't understand until they hear the voice come through the phone.

"—ant Fury of the NYPD. And this is Officer Dugan. We spoke on the phone."

It takes a second but then Steve responds, "I remember."

"We'd like to ask you about the details of that day."

"For what?"

Natasha rolls her eyes, but they all gather around, dragging chairs in a circle to hear what's happening. Clint has to admit that Tony thinks fast and acts faster.

"Our investigation is ongoing. But Emil isn't making too much sense in custody, and we're still missing a lot of pieces."

"Oh."

"Would you be willing to answer a few questions?"

And then Steve asks something that makes all of them grin,

"Do I need my lawyer?"

Clint hears the other policeman laugh, "You're not under investigation." The man laughs again, "but I like your style. You're welcome to have someone here present with you as you speak if it would make you more comfortable."

There's a long pause, and Clint can almost feel the hope that Steve may take them up on their offer, but instead they hear a deep breath and "no, it's fine."

"Okay, let's begin." Fury says in a calm voice, "tell us why you didn't leave when the announcements were made to evacuate?"

"I didn't hear them." Steve starts to explain, "I took out my hearing aid, and I'm deaf in my other ear. When I was taking my test, the other students were being loud, so I took it out."

"So you didn't stay on purpose?"

Steve huffs, "What? No."

"When did you realize something was wrong?"

"When the teacher didn't come back."

"So what did you do then?"

There's a long pause. Longer than normal and they all look up in worry, wondering why Steve is hesitating.

"I, uh…" Steve starts, "I walked out of the classroom and accidentally walked into the hallway with Emil and Mrs. Sammons."

There's a weighted pause, "You just… exited the classroom and there they were?"

Steve's voice is clipped, "yep."

"Hmm…" Fury responds, "is that so…"

Steve doesn't respond and it's a long period of silence.

"I'm confused." The other policeman, Dugan, says calmly.

"Me too." Fury says.

Steve stays quiet and they start feeling anxiety ratchet up at the turn this conversation is taking.

"Why lie, Steve?"

Steve's voice is strained, "what do you mean?"

"You know the school hallways are video recorded right?"

Tony's eyes flick up and widen. "Don't." Natasha snaps. "Not now. We can look at them later."

Tony sags but nods and returns his attention to the phone.

Steve's voice is small, "oh…" Then his voice gets annoyed, "why ask me questions then if you know it all."

"It's video recorded. Not audio recorded."

"Oh." The sound of Steve leaning back onto the bed and sighing heavily.

"So let's start again." Fury says, "What happened when you exited the classroom?"

"Who gets to know the details of this?" Steve asks suddenly, "who is going to know what I tell you?"

There's a pause where the group can almost feel the curious looks from the policemen, "only the police precinct will have the report. And the judge if it goes to court."

"I don't want to go to court." Steve snaps.

Another curious pause, "you'd only go to court if you pressed charges or were called to the witness stand."

"I don't want to press charges." Steve responds quickly, "and I don't want to be a witness, but—" he makes a throat clearing sound and then his voice gets firm, "that guy, Emil, he needs help. I know what he did was wrong, but he's not sane. He needs serious mental help."

Tony's eyes are closed, and his teeth are clenched tight, "Is Steve… defending his shooter?"

"We know, Steve." Dugan responds, "we can tell. But the school is pressing charges. So that will all be figured out later. Let's get back to the beginning. What happened when you exited the classroom?"

"I don't want any of this getting to my family." Steve says sharply, "I don't care if they ask, please don't tell them."

"Why not?"

"Because they'll be mad and I made promises I didn't keep."

They meet eyes and dread fills their stomachs. What is Steve talking about?"

"Okay…" Fury agrees slowly, "let's say for now, as long as there's no extenuating circumstances, they only need to know what you tell them."

Steve's voice relaxes, "Okay." There's another pause but then Steve starts talking, sounding calm and detached, "when she didn't come back, I put my hearing aid back in and went out to the hallway. But the lights were off. So, I was kind of confused about that. I felt like something was off, but I didn't know what. Then I was walking towards the office, hoping to find the teacher, when I heard the first shots."

"Is that where we found your dropped test?"

"No," They can sense Steve shaking his head, "no, I dropped it a few hallways down."

"When you heard the first gunshots, what did you do?"

"Well," Steve says softly, "the first time I heard it, I don't know if I registered what it was, but then I got closer and heard them talking, and then when I heard the next two shots, I finally realized what was happening."

"And instead of running away from that, you…" there's a pause, they're waiting for Steve to speak.

And when he does he sounds annoyed, "would you have run away?"

"No, but we're trained policemen—"

"And I'm just a kid from Brooklyn, huh?" Steve snarls, "what the hell does it matter? I'm not going to run away when people need help."

"That's very brave."

Steve groans and makes a sound of pain in his throat, "It's not brave. It's the right thing to do, and I got no right to do anything less."

"And this is what your friends and family will be angry about?" Dugan asks. Clint looks up to see the tight way everyone is holding their faces, Steve had purposely walked towards the situation. Of course he had. It's Steve. What had they expected?

"Yeah," Steve huffs, "I promised them I'd stop finding myself in trouble. But I what was I supposed to do, huh? Abandon her? Leave her all alone with that guy? No way."

"So, what then?"

"Then I followed the noise to the hallway. And I never had seen the kid before, but I remembered hearing about him causing issues with that teacher last school year."

"Why did the kid shoot at you in the hallway?"

Bucky looks up, and confusion is on the rest of the faces.

"He got mad because he told me to take off but I refused, so he let off a shot by my head. But I could tell he wasn't trying to hit me, just scare me, so I just started talking to him, about one of my friends who's a good shot. Tried to get him distracted and calm down."

Bucky looks up to Clint whose eyes are closed. They all know Clint's the best shot out of all of them for anything.

"Did calming him down work?"

"Kinda, I mean, I pretended to be on his side. He was unhinged, thinking the teacher had called up the whole US military and told them all to not recruit this guy." Steve exhales through his nose, "he was so sure she was the one keeping him from getting enlisted or whatever it's called. That's when I really knew he was unstable. But I pretended to agree so he felt like I was on his side, I was hoping to get him away from her."

"That's when you shake hands." Dugan asks.

"Yeah," Steve responds, "finally got his name and was about to try to get him to walk away when the phone rang. He got real agitated at that, even when I explained it was probably you guys calling for demands. I didn't know, I only guessed." Steve doesn't pause, "when I asked what he wanted, he said he wanted her dead, but I tried to tell him that that would give them more ammo to use against him and he wouldn't want that. And somehow that seemed to make sense to him because he at least agreed to walk to the office and talk to you guys before shooting her."

"That's when you called 911?"

"Uh-hmm, didn't know how else to get you guys, forgot about redial. He got made when I was checking the teacher to see if she was injured."

"Tell us why he released her."

There's a long pause, "I mean…" Steve sighs heavily, "I knew it was a risky idea. But I had to try something. So I switched tactics. He was obviously mentally unstable and I figured I could confuse him into letting her go. And it worked."

"But how exactly did you confuse him?"

Bucky knows they know at least part of it, but it's clear they want Steve to tell them.

"His guns had the Stark Industries logo on them." Tony's sucking in sharp breath, "And well…" Steve's voice gets amused, "honestly it felt like I was supposed to be there. Who else in the whole school has a direct line to Howard Stark?" His voice is shifting to rueful, almost cynical, "it's like a cosmic joke."

"What is?"

"Nothing." Steve says quickly, "never mind. I told Emil that his game was up, that I'd figured out that he knew about my connection to Howard. That I knew I was his target all along." Tony's eyes are closed, and Natasha is resting a hand on his shoulder, Peggy stands, hands clenched on her legs.

"That little shit!" Clint is gasping out, "how could he!"

They want to talk more but Steve's still going, "—I knew if I could convince him that I was the actual person he wanted, then I could get her to safety."

"That was very risky indeed." Fury is saying calmly, but there's an edge to his voice, "what happened then?"

"Well, then I realized my phone was still locked in my teacher's desk from taking that test, so I had to call Tony to get the number, which actually worked out a lot better than planned because once he recognized Tony's voice, which he did, I was able to get him to believe I was going to call Howard, but I convinced him that he had to let her go first."

"That's when you called us, letting us know she was coming out?"

"Yeah."

"So then why didn't he let you call Howard?"

They hear Steve shifting a bit on the bed, and he yawns, "sorry," he apologizes, "No, uh, it wasn't that he didn't let me, but once I knew she was safe, I, uh…" Steve pauses and there's a deep sigh, "I just refused to call him."

"What—" Bucky breathes out at the same time as Dugan asks, "why?"

And Steve huffs out a laugh, "You don't know Howard Stark, but that guy he—" Steve's throat gets tight, "I know he would have done anything I asked to keep me safe and I just couldn't let that happen. I didn't want him involved. Richest guy alive at the mercy of some unstable guy all because of me? Hell no. Nothing's worth that."

"Not even your life?"

And the humorless laugh that comes out of Steve chills them to the bone, "Sir, I'm dying in like 4 years. It's for sure not worth that." Then they can hear him start to backpedal, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that that way, I just… I mean… It's not like I wanted to die or get shot or anything, but…" Bucky's breathings erratic as he hears Steve's next words, "If anyone should die, it should be me, I'm limited on time anyways, what's losing a few years compared to that teacher who has her whole life? And a family, a kid even, right?"

Peggy's fingers are clutching at her skull and the rest of the group is dead silent, as are the policemen on the other side of the phone.

Steve clears his throat, "don't…" he clears his throat again, "please— you gotta understand, I felt like there was no other way to get her out of there, and if tricking him into coming after me meant saving her, then it was worth a try." A pause, "And look, it worked, right?" He adds weakly.

"What happened after you refused to call Howard?"

"Well, I just tried reasoning with him, which I know, pointless and all, but he was having some sort of mental fight in his brain, so I just kept trying, then my watch rings, which I didn't even know it did and that creates a whole new problem because he somehow thinks I've been contacting people without his knowledge—"

"Who was calling?"

"Dunno." Steve admits, "but I assume it was Howard."

"How do you know Howard Stark, Steve? Seems like an unusual relationship."

Steve scoffs, "you're going to pretend you don't know? You work for the police. You either know, and are fishing for information, or you're shitty policemen."

Clint lets out a choked gasp, "holy—"

"Tell 'em, Steve." Tony hisses, listening in.

Dugan laughs, "smart kid."

Steve just huffs and falls quiet.

"So—" Fury starts, unphased by Steve's outburst, "what happened when your watch rang?"

"Kid lost his mind, ripped at it, breaking my wrist—" they can hear him lifting his casted hand, "then once it was on the floor he shot it to pieces."

"And that's when we called for the last time."

"Yep."

"And then?"

"Then his brain rerouted. He kinda sorta figured out that I'd tricked him, I think, and so he flipped out and accused me of lying, which was true, I did lie to him, and then he's shooting the phone because I lied and he's shoving me against the wall and screaming in my face." There's a long pause, "I mean, he really started to panic then, he was so worried about being caught. But he still hadn't pulled the trigger. I think that maybe…" Steve sighs, "I don't know, maybe I could have done something else to calm him down, talk him down some more but then we h—"

Bucky's hand collides with Peggy's as they both reach for Clint's phone frantically. They accidentally shove it from the table and the group goes scrambling as it hits the ground.

"What the hell!" Tony yelps, grabbing it off the floor. He glares at the both of them as he wipes it on his jeans. The sounds coming from it are muffled.

Bucky looks at Peggy's wide eyes as Tony sets the phone back on the table. Everyone's looking at them in confusion, but Steve's still talking, "—it's hazy after that. I think I was in shock or whatever it's called."

"You were crawling out of the office.."

Steve sounds surprised, "I was?"

"Yes, that's where your friend Clint, the climber, found you."

"Oh." Steve says softly, "I don't really remember that part yet."

"Well, Steve, is there anything else, any other details you think we should know?"

"I don't think so."

"Well then, we at the NYPD would like to commend you on your bravery in such a stressful situation. Mrs. Sammons has been trying to reach you to visit and say thank you, would you be okay with us telling her how to find you?"

They can hear Steve's grimace, "can it wait till I'm out of the hospital?"

"Of course." Fury responds, "hopefully we won't need anything else. Get better soon."

They hear Fury walk out the door, but a voice clearing alerts them to the fact that Dugan is still in the room.

"Steve." He says, his voice a deep rumble.

"Uh, yeah?"

"I've seen my fair share of tough situations. Of bad luck and poor timing and just straight up evil…" the man pauses and they can almost feel the intensity of the man's presence, "I've watched the footage, and now I've heard your story and I feel compelled to tell you how impressed I am. The way you handled it under such duress and with absolutely no training or knowledge of hostage situations is astonishing to me."

"Oh—"

"If you ever decided you would want to serve in law enforcement or hell, as a hostage negotiator, well, it would be an honor to serve beside you. There's not many people who would do what you did. And I wanted to make sure you were told just how brave that really was."

"I didn't—"

Dugan laughs, "I know, Steve. I know. You didn't do it because it was the brave thing. You did it because it was the right thing, right?" Dugan lets out another deep chuckle, "man we could use a whole army of you you know that?"

Steve's voice is soft and a bit cracked, "thanks, I think."

"My wife," Dugan says with a lighthearted tone, "her name is Rose and she works here in this hospital. I'll make sure she knows you're here. She'll make sure you—"

A loud voice clearing its throat makes all of them jump. They look up to find Fury staring at them, an eyebrow raised.

Tony's hand swipes the phone out of sight and they all stare awkwardly at each other.

"Steve's family."

It's not stated as a question but they all nod anyway.

Fury looks at each one and then points to Tony, "You're the Stark boy," then Clint, "You're the climber and—" he points to him, "you two are the ones who located him in the dumpster, right?"

They gape and then Bucky finds his head nodding, "yes."

Fury moves to Natasha, "your name came up as well, I looked over the courtroom proceedings."

"Why?" Tony asks, eyes glaring at the man.

"Well, while Steve was unconscious, we had to do our due diligence. Emil has been making comments about Howard Stark and Steve, and when Steve's name brought up all those incidents, it did make us wary that the kid may have been after him. Which is why we wanted Steve to tell us the story from his own mouth. But as I'm assuming you all over heard, that was not the case."

"What's going to happen to him?" Peggy asks, "to Emil?"

Fury's eyes find hers, "and who are you?"

Peggy narrows her eyes, "I asked you what was going to happen to Emil?"

Fury raises an eyebrow and eyes them all with a detached amusement, "he'll be tried and probably sent to a detention center where he can hopefully receive psychiatric treatment as he serves his sentence. There's no pleading 'not guilty' in his case, but there could be an insanity plea if his lawyers go that direction. But I don't know for sure. Nothing's happened yet."

Dugan reappears and they sign out at the nurses station and leave.

Bucky feels the weight of what they just heard settle on all of them.

Peggy's up and at the nurses station. They watch as the nurse nods 'yes' and then Peggy's heading back to Steve's room. They pick up and follow after her.

—

Steve feels exhausted. Telling the whole story has taken it out of him. Peggy enters looking at him with sad eyes.

"What?" He asks, worried, "what happened?" She doesn't answer, just deftly slips into the space on the bed of his uninjured side, resting her head on his shoulder and grasping his arm between her palms. "Peggy?"

But then the door opens and the rest of them enter. All with various expressions on their faces.

"How did it go?" Tony asks, not quite meeting Stev's eyes, "talking with the police?"

Steve nods, "fine, it went fine. Glad it's over with."

Peggy's thumb is rubbing circles on his arm, "how long was it?" He asks.

"Maybe half an hour." Bucky says, "not too long."

"Why do you guys all look sad?" Steve asks, feeling confused at their subdued expression.

Then he watches as Tony walks to the side of his bed, and pulls out a phone that was hidden on the little computer stand the nurses use.

He holds the screen out to Steve where an ongoing call to Clint is going. Then Tony pulls out Clint's phone and clicks the 'end' call button.

It takes Steve only a few seconds to put it together. His chest constricts and then he glares at them, "you guys suck you know that!" He's angry, "what, I can't have a single second of privacy!? You—" Then his eyes snap to Clint, guilt blooming in his chest, "I promise it would have happened anyway."

Clint's brow furrows and Peggy's suddenly clutching at his arm, "Steve." She says softly, "we're sorry. We just can't help ourselves can we." She tugs him down to kiss his cheek then quietly whispers, "he didn't hear that part."

Oh.

Clint looks ready to ask another question but Steve doesn't let him, "so now what? You all going to yell at me? Scream that I should have run away or done something differently?" He feels his anger on the edge, waiting for all their overprotective sides to lash out at him.

But Bucky just walks over and sits on the side of his bed and rests a hand on Steve's calf. He's surprised to see red eyes when Bucky looks up at him. Bucky's voice is tight but soft, "that all must have been really scary, Steve."

A lump grows in his throat, heat rises from his chest and his eyes and nose burn with emotion.

Natasha settles in the chair next to him, her chin resting on the bed as she reaches out and rests a hand on the blanket over his thigh, "what you did was really brave, Steve."

Now he can see even less than normal, eyes watering up as he tries to blink it away.

Peggy's holding him tighter, careful to avoid his bandaged side. "I'm so proud of you, darling." She says softly, pressing another kiss to his cheek and then his shoulder.

And as the dam breaks, his chest cracking open with a choked sob and the tears falling from his eyes, all he feels are the hands that stay connected to him. That remind him that he's not alone and that he's safe now. He cries for just a bit, the fear of everything that had happened rolling through him and then out. The tension of the last few days overwhelming him, but then abating as Tony climbs onto the end of the bed, sitting cross legged and gently tapping out a soft rhythm on the blanket where Steve's feet are. He can feel Clint next to Natasha, their hands resting on his legs, a reassuring weight he's grateful for.

Peggy's fingers run through his hair and Bucky picks up a pen and draws absently on his cast. And in a few minutes he's done. Even more exhausted than before, but a good exhaustion. Empty and clear and ready to sleep.

He tries to keep his eyes open, but the comforting pattern of Peggy's fingers in his hair and the rhythm Tony's keeping, lulls him to sleep feeling safe.

—-