Blinded my Sight

April 03, 2015:

Cap goes to check on Peggy to make she's doing alright.

The Triskellion

Homebase of Shield

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Mood Music: [*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8AH3_5Jgtw Calexico -- Frank's Tavern]


Fade In…

It has been quite an eventful few hours for Peggy Carter and Edwin Jarvis. Checked out by medical teams, seeing what SHIELD has become in the years after they started it, the pair have remained in the Triskelion for now before arrangements can be made for them as well as surreptitiously ensure that they aren't…what was it that Booster said? Consumed?

It's hard to tell if Peggy looks completely out of place in the high tech medical bay with her 1940s clothes and hair, complete with heels. Perhaps, it's that it's strange how easily she looks like belongs here in the branch of espionage and defense that she started with Howard. The facts of what has happened to her and Jarvis and what it means for the both of them is still sinking in. This is the sort of thing that will take awhile.

But, for now, she merely studies it, taking in all the strange equipment she can't place and the area in a mixture of sadness and wonder.

There's a knock on the door, a higher pitch implying it was with a knuckle and the door opens slightly. "Peg?" It's a voice she's not heard for a year or for 70 or so depending how you count. "Can I come in?"

Assuming he's given the okay, Steve Rogers steps in quietly. He's wearing decidedly modern clothing—a long sleeved, tight fitting white shirt made from a cotton box weave and a pair of newer blue jeans.

"Hey," he says quietly. "Are you alright?"

There's no answer from Peggy after Steve knocks for quite a few moments. Her reply is a bit stuttered as her voice catches, "Y-es. Of course. Come in." It's not like her to be so timid, but seeing Steve standing in the open doorway is something that will take her quite awhile to get used to. Her breath hitches in her chest for a moment and she puts a hand there. Where before she wished to pace, now she's unsure of whether she can move without injuring herself.

"It…it really is you, isn't it?" With a void of time threatening Battery Park or monsters attacking or teleporting, time traveling men, she wasn't quite sure of Steve being there. It's not like her to hallucinate, but for all she knows this entire thing is just a coma dream. She wished to see him just one more time for so long, that having this wish granted is suddenly and strangely unreal to her.

Where before she was disoriented, now her steps forward are measured, deliberate. If this is some sort of mirage, she'll find out now. A hand reaches forward to be placed gently on his cheek. "You're here. You're alive."

"Yeah, Peg," Steve says with a bit of a chuckle. "It's me." He looks into her eyes as she touches his face. "When the plane went down, I was preserved by the ice. The serum kept me alive. SHIELD, the organization you created, they found me. Melted me out." He exhales deeply, not sure of what to say. He has seen her, many many times the person he used to now was only there in spurts. He hadn't even bothered to wish to see the Peggy he knew again, because he knew it to be impossible. "How long has it been for you?" Which is to say, how long after I crashed was it until now.

"We searched," Peggy replies, still trying to work through this all. "For years, Howard spent countless hours triangulating…" And here he is. As for how long it has been, she takes a short step backward, the hand slowly lowering. "It was 1948 where—when I was." She knows exact days, months years, but all she says is, "Howard and I were just starting SHIELD."

There's a long silence, as she's unsure of what to say, either. "Melted you out." The turn of phrase is so strange. She can only imagine Steve trapped under the ice for years. At least three. "How long has it been for you?" The way that he looked at her with such surprise either means she did not live a long life or that it has not been very long since he was unthawed. She finally gives a quirk of a smile. "You look…you look exactly the same, Steve."

Steve doesn't move at all, just standing there to her close, looking into her dark eyes. "It's only been about a year since they found me. I didn't age in the Arctic. Some scientists aren't sure I'll age the same way as everyone else." He takes a deep breath, "I know you searched for me. I reviewed the files…Peg. I talked to you. I mean, the older you." He falters for a moment. "You had a happy life, Peg. Without me, you had a happy life."

The mention of the other her brings the reality of her situation rushing back. A duplicate, a part of a separate dying reality. For a moment, she glances down, staring more at Steve's chest than at him. "Yes, that would make sense. Dr. Erskine theorized at the time that that might be a side effect. Your-your ability to heal at an advanced rate could mean that you would also age at a slower one." It's as if she's quoting the German scientist they both knew. It's a coping mechanism, grasping onto something scientific, certain and familiar. Things she knows in the face of this great insanity.

However, after a brief pause, she looks back up at him, eyes a bit watery. "So, I'm still alive, then? Though, it might be argued whether I am even…" It's a self pitying thought that she quickly shoves away with the barest shake of her head and she turns away from him. "Forgive me, this is all…impossibly strange. And you had to deal with all before without the benefit of familiar company." Even if one of that familiar company she had finally started to move on from.

"I understand. If you want me to leave, I can. I don't want to put more pressure on you with all of this going on," Steve says as she pushes away from him. He doesn't move, but he looks absolutely sad. "It's…It's wonderful to see you, Peggy."

"And we can talk about all that stuff some other time. And, you can talk to someone else about it if it's easier."

"No," Peggy says quickly, automatically, turning again toward him, voice resolute. "You were gone for so long. I had just given up the thought of ever seeing you again, Steve. And now…you're here. And…I'm here. And I'm not even sure where here is." A gesture is made at this strange, medical bay that has hints of familiarity. "And I missed you so much for so many years, that seeing you here…now…I think it must be some horrid trick being played on me. That you're going to vanish at any moment."

"I'm not going anywhere," Steve says quietly. "I'm sorry. For what it's worth, I'm sorry for leaving you. I don't want this to be any more difficult for you than it needs to be. Whatever you need me to be, I'm here for you."

"You had to do your duty, Steve." Peggy was never angry at Steve for dying in the line of duty, nor leaving her because of it. If anyone understands duty and sacrificing for it, Peggy does. She is British, after all. At that, she reaches out to take his hand in both of hers. "I'm not sure you have any control over how difficult it will be for me," she smiles, looking up at him. "To figure out how to live in an entirely different time period while knowing that somewhere out there was another woman named Peggy Carter who is essentially me, but lived an entirely separate life." She shakes her head again, pausing in her train of thought.

"But, to know that what we did was worth it: that we actually did find you. It is something. And that you're here…that's…it's more of a help than I think you can imagine."

"I know you feel that way. But not a day goes by that I don't wish it would not have happened a different way. A few weeks ago, I met with Booster Gold. The man from last night. I begged him to take me back to the forties. Back to you." Steve squeezes her hand. "The other Peggy is you—but she isn't you. I was relieved to find out how happy she was in life."

Steve hasn't been so happy, but not for a lack of trying.

"There's nothing that can be done about the past, Steve," Peggy tells him softly. Even with time travel, even though she's here now, she firmly believes things happen for a reason. "You saved the world and no matter the consequences, I don't think either of us would have allowed things to go differently." Otherwise New York may have been destroyed and neither of them would have allowed that to happen. "But, look, we're here now. Both of us."

As for the other Peggy, she shakes her head. "I was always the resourceful one," she smiles wryly, before she looks at him more seriously. "But, no matter how happy she was, she didn't have you."

Steve looks down towards Peggy and wraps his arm around her waist and looks at her for a long moment, debating internally if he's actually going to go through with this. The other hand comes up to her hair and then brushes by her scalp.

"I know this is probably so much for you to take in all in a few hours, but I want you to know that I can't tell you how happy I am that you are here. I missed you so badly."

"And you still owe me a dance."

As Steve wraps his arms around her, Peggy rests a hand on his arm. While she's not sure she's happy to be in 2015, nor what it means for her future (and past?) that she is here now, but the fact that whatever comes, Steve is here makes this all the more a welcoming place than she could have imagined.

"I missed you too," she replies. As to the dance that she owes, she smiles. "I'm a bit rusty." Though she did tell Steve she would teach him all those years ago, it has been a few years since she has actually danced.

Maybe she should wait and figure out what is happening in this time and place before she makes snap decisions. But, that is not very Peggy. Instead, she raises up on her toes to kiss him, very gently, on the lips.

Steve doesn't close his eyes until her lips brush his. As they do he squeezes her gently until it's time to pull away. "You can be rusty. I won't know the difference. I'm not any good anyways. But I'm still going to call it in." He tilts his head, "And maybe some dinner if you're lucky."

"I'll teach you," Peggy tells him, though it's not far from her mind that she told him the exact same thing 70 years ago - or three, or one depending on perspective. "I've just been waiting for the right partner."

Steve exhales in a smile and leans in to kiss her once more, this time its a little bit more than a gentle peck.

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