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“Can I go down the street to Jackie’s house?” Sarah quietly asks as she finds Peggy on the couch snuggling James closely. “Mrs. Bradley is making chocolate chip cookies this afternoon and Jackie says you have to eat them while they’re hot because otherwise her Daddy eats all of them.”
“Does Mrs. Bradley know you want to come over?” Peggy raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” Sarah rubs at her neck, “cause Jackie invited me.”
“Does Mrs. Bradley know that Jackie invited you?”
“I… I think so.”
“Have your father call her and then if she says yes, then you may go. Daddy is going to walk you there and pick you back though. I don’t like the idea of you just walking through the neighborhoods like a hooligan.”
“Hooligan,” Sarah giggles, clamping her hand over her mouth, “that’s what Nana called you, isn’t it?”
Instantly dreading any other similarities she may share with Amanda Carter, Peggy whispers a quick, “Just go find your father, Sarah.”
James stirs lightly as her older sister takes on a more loud tone after she exits the living room, the baby clearly inheriting that paternal hearing that in a way, Peggy knew she was responsible for.
“Hush, my little man,” Peggy coos, rubbing the baby’s cheek. “Everything is alright.”
“I’m going to go take Sarah over to the Bradley’s, but I’m going to drive her because Mrs. Bradley insists she stay for dinner.” Steve says, reaching for the car keys.
“So, I suppose Mr. and Mrs. Bradley knew about the children’s playdate?”
“No, but they really love whenever Sarah comes over, and she knew that we’d be pretty busy with Pumpkin right now so she didn’t have a problem with that.
“This is quite a family we have for ourselves, Ms. Carter.” After dropping Sarah off, Steve returns home and quickly scoops the sleeping James into his own arms, resting his head on Peggy’s shoulder.
“Yes, quite.” She replies, “Our little unit is something I could have never imagined for myself, especially after…” It’s fascinating that after 10 years the memory is that visceral.
“I never thought I’d get this either.” Steve answers, kissing her cheek, “but I’m so glad I have it now.”
“I know we’re being oh-so utterly domestic, but I do have to go to the restroom. Could you move for a moment?”
It’s a strategic battleground Peggy must navigate as she:
- Puts James in her bassinet without waking him
- Makes the trek to the upstairs bathroom without stepping one of the many toys the children have left in the hallway.
- Enjoys a brief moment of solace as she pees unaccompanied for the first time in over a year.
Nevertheless, she returns victorious, carefully making her way back to the living room and leaning over the bassinet before she hears the phone ring. James’ eyes snap open as it rings, forcing Peggy to maneuver both the soon to wail child and the receiver in her hands. For a brief moment, she thinks of asking Steve to get the phone, but a quick glance reveals he has fallen asleep as well, his head shifted to the right.
“Hello?”
“Oh great, it’s you, Pegs. I was hoping either you or Steve would pick it up and not Sarah. This is good news.”
“Howard, if you’re going to ask us to try out one of your experiments again, or if you want to tell Steve or I about some woman you’ve recently made love to, we haven’t got the time.”
“No, Peggy. This is really excellent news.”
“Then out with it.”
“So, I was out in Vienna doing some personal business… wait, don’t hang up, I swear to God, Peggy. This has a point and I was doing SHIELD business, too. So, I’m in Vienna and we run into this branch of Leviathan, and I only know this because they tried to kill me by seducing me. I wake up and, let me tell you, it looks like HYDRA and Leviathan were in cahoots the whole time.”
“I know, Howard,” Peggy clicks her tongue as she manages to get James to settle back into a more restful state, “while you were spending the big bucks to make SHIELD look dazzling on paper, I was busy infiltrating some of this.”
“Okay, so, regardless of that, this branch had no idea that HYDRA was cut off a few years ago, and we managed to get some guys in custody. The one guy, it’s killing me because he looks so similar, but I can’t place him, right? And so I do some private research on this guy and it looks like he was a failed attempt to start the Winter Soldier program before Barnes, and I shake that off as that being all of it. But then one of my guys goes, ‘sir, I think he’s waking up now,’ and wouldn’t you believe it, Peggy? It’s him.”
“Him?” Peggy repeats.
“Royal Air Force pilot that ‘died’ in 1941. Born in 1917, brown hair, brown eyes. Poor guy is shaken up and is clearly remembering stuff, but Peggy, I think this is your Michael.”
The phone falls from her hand, clattering against the tile enough to wake James and Steve.
“Everything alright, Peggy?” Steve asks.
“I need… I need you to take the baby…” Howard wouldn’t joke about something like this. He’s an ass, that’s for certain, but this would be too far for him.
A small part of her wishes he’s wrong, praying that this isn’t the same Michael Carter, her Michael Carter, and that this is all some well established Levithan plot to catch her at her lowest. Having her brother back would be a dream, and could quite still be one, but nonetheless Peggy makes an unexpected trip to the office just six short hours later, her fingers crossed that whatever this ends up being, everything will ultimately be alright in the end.
“Where is he?”
“He’s a little jetlagged, but he’s in examination room seven,” Howard replies. She had made Howard come back from Vienna at once after she was able to pick up the phone again, swearing on his life that if he didn’t she would kill him. Peggy pushes her friend aside, determined to find her answer.
She exhales deeply as she opens the door of the examination room, her eyes closed tightly.
“My baby sister seems to have finally taken me up on the SOE order, it seems. And oh, boy, did she roll with it. Your friend says they call you Director Carter now.”
And then all Peggy can do is sob.