Steve let his head sag onto her shoulder, his forehead resting there, when she started talking coherently. He didn't believe it was really over, but the worst seemed to have passed. He hoped. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder, and then one to her jaw. He needed that loving touch, probably as much as she did right now, an affirmation that she was still there with him, still willing to try.

Trying to lighten the mood, without upsetting her, Steve smiled, half-hearted at best, but there, and hopefully coming through his voice. "Of course I'm not going anywhere. It's my apartment, and I've got a great discount," he joked. Pressing another kiss to her neck, he continued more seriously, "If, at some point in the future, God forbid," he felt like he should be crossing himself even thinking this, "we decide this isn't working ─ we'll go our separate ways. But it's gonna be a rational decision, for both of us. I'm never gonna let you walk away when you're scared. Okay?"

Captain America, it was a well-known Fact, didn't understand the concept of fear. Steve Rogers did, of course, but where others ran, it only made him fight harder to hold on to what he had. "We're in this together. We make those kinds of decisions together, too, okay?"