The nightmares come and go. Some nights, he's silent as a ghost when he has them and no one knows, but others are like this. It's been like this since he came home. Really, since he saw his first body. It hadn't been a friend and that was almost worse, because he'd recognized the man, but not enough. He'd been like some ghost to Steve. A man he couldn't save because he hadn't let himself try. After that, he'd thrown himself into everything until his tour had ended.

Steve's always taken on responsibility for everything around him. He can't help it and the army hadn't done much to take that away. Even in here, he knows he'll look after his new friends for as long as they'll have him. It might not be some dangerous no man's land, but there are still dangerous people in here. He hadn't liked the way Alex had looked at Bucky, for one thing, and he's been keeping an eye out for Alex as a result. Dumb as it might be to get wrapped up in someone else's business, Bucky had been kind right off the bat. He's easy to get along with and not because Steve just doesn't have to think about it.

"No." The word is muttered in his sleep. He's managed to kick off the blanket halfway, but his legs are tangled in it and he's struggling against the binding of it. It's that motion that's shaking the bed frame. "I'm sorry."