She stared at him as he spoke jokingly back to her. It was really him, flesh and blood before her. Once before she'd not believed her eyes when he was in front of her. A thin, frail man with the heart of a lion had changed dramatically. When he stepped out of Stark's machine she couldn't believe her eyes then and had to reach a fleeting hand to him to reassure herself that he was indeed solid and real. It was have been easy to think he'd been killed or suffered in the project, but he had been real, she'd felt his skin under her fingers.

She raised her hand hesitantly and reached forward, fingertips lightly ghosted over his cheek and jaw. She could have expected him to vanish in a puff of smoke. But he was again real, Steve continued to prove himself beyond any expectation.

"You are real." She laughed, it was awkward and a stifled little thing, but she was at a loss for words. "Steve." She moved, her arms folding around him, her ear pressed to his chest finding comfort in the strength of his heartbeat.