"It's hard to tell," he told Sam as he began filling up his plate with whatever caught his eye first. "How this place works - you never know where anyone is or who might be here unless you've gone looking for them yourself." That required the addendum born of Bucky's evasions over the past weeks and the frustration Steve had not been entirely able to shake off at feeling as if he were continually a step behind the other man. "And that's only when they want to be found."

Never mind the years between, Steve still filled his plate with an efficiency born of c-rations and the uncertainty that came with being out in the field more often than he had managed to be on a base or a city. "Natasha and I were here before. Two years ago, not long after New York." His eyes lifted to meet his friend's as he said, "In two months I never saw her once. I'd had no idea she was here."