He had loved her, he truly had, but he never let her know it.
I was going to grab a drink… you want to join me?
Maybe another time, alright? I've got to meet a friend.
After that he had been too embarrassed to ask her again. Later he found out that she really had gone to meet a friend, but by then it was too late. Jack had asked her out and, much to Daniel's surprise, Peggy had accepted. They seemed happy together and maybe it was better this way. They were a good looking couple and besides, Jack could take her dancing.
A year later, Jack and Peggy were married. It was a beautiful ceremony. Jack had asked Daniel to be his best man and Angie was Peggy's maid of honour. Peggy looked stunning in her wedding dress. Her lips were as red as ever and her hair sat in its usual way, framing her face in loose curls. As Daniel stood beside them, listening to them exchange their vows, he tried to be happy for them. But he couldn't help but feel jealous of Jack for getting to spend the rest of his life with Peggy.
No girl is gonna trade in a red, white, and blue shield for and aluminum crutch.
The words still rang in his mind as watched Peggy and Jack begin their life together.
Before long Peggy and Jack welcomed Colleen Rose Thompson into their lives. Two years later Roger James Thompson arrived. They had asked Daniel to be Roger's godfather and he could find no reason to refuse. As the years went by, Colleen and Roger grew to be bright young children. They had good lives and often stayed with Daniel or Angie, or Uncle Danny and Aunt Angie as they became known, when their parents were away on missions. Daniel loved the children, but seeing them only reminded him of how stupid he had been to let a woman like Peggy get away. Slowly he found himself distancing himself from the family. In part this was because the children were growing up and no longer needed the constant support he often gave, but it grew into him refusing dinner offers, coming up an excuse like his leg hurt, or he was too busy and couldn't get away from work. They always gave him a questioning look when he would do this, but never said anything more than "maybe next time". The biggest hit came when he turned down Peggy's offer to join SHIELD. She had offered him a good position, but he could spend every day in an office with her. Each time he looked at her he found himself dreaming that he was the one who got to take her home and enjoy her company in the evening, and he hated himself for feeling that way. He almost changed his mind when he saw Peggy's face and she tried so hard to persuade him to come, but he insisted on staying on with the SSR. It killed him to do it and he knew how much it hurt her, but it was for the best.
He still saw her when she would visit the office on SHIELD business and over time the distance made it easier to see her. He knew he had made the right decision to stay at the SSR. Eventually he was able to accept her offer to come to dinner. It had been too long since he had had dinner with them. The children were just beginning to make lives of their own. Colleen was engaged and Roger was focusing on his studies. Angie, who had long since found success on Broadway, had taken the night off to join them for dinner. It felt as if no time had passed. The dinner itself was delicious. Peggy and Jack had made roast chicken that was followed by a rhubarb pie that Angie had picked up from the L&L Automat, "for old time's sake," she said when she walked in.
As the night came to an end, Peggy hugged him, whispering "I'm so glad you came" in his ear. Daniel left feeling content. He had forgotten how much fun these gatherings were and he realized how much he had missed them.
But one day everything turned upside-down. Peggy and Jack had led a mission to Russia where there had been rumors of a Leviathan rebirth. Everyone had tried to convince them to stay behind and let other agents go, but Peggy had insisted on going, saying that they would need her knowledge of the land for the mission to be a success and Jack would not let her go alone.
The mission was going well, Jack and Peggy shared stories about their first time in Russia together and of their time in the SSR with Daniel, who was back at the office trying to find as much as possible about where the new Leviathan might be located, cursing himself for not being more help and leaving all the field work to Peggy and Jack. He was in the middle of a report on Dottie Underwood when he got a message from Peggy saying they seemed to have reached a dead end and that they were coming home. "Oh and Daniel," she said before hanging up, "I expect you to come out for drinks with us when we get back."
But there were to be no drinks when they returned. Shortly after Peggy hung up with Daniel, they were ambushed. By the time a rescue was deployed, most of the agents had only sustained minor injuries, except for two. One junior agent had taken a knife in the leg, and Jack had a bullet in his stomach. When they finally returned home, Jack Thompson was dead and Peggy had a broken heart. Daniel had no idea how to comfort Peggy when the agents walked solemnly into the office; he hugged her awkwardly, wishing he could do more. Then Angie arrived, pushing past everyone she found her way to Peggy and enveloped her in a hug.
At the funeral Peggy didn't say a word. She just stood silently between her two children. When it was over, Daniel tried to talk to Peggy, but she left quickly, leaving Colleen and Roger to talk to the other agents. Daniel managed to snag a moment with Colleen, who was standing quietly off to the side. He had only intended on letting her know that she could always come to him if she needed anything, but somehow she ended crying into his shoulder while he tried to comfort her.
As for Peggy, she busied herself with running SHIELD and hid her emotions from her coworkers, just as she had done all those years ago when she was mourning Steve. Despite his attempts to talk to her, Peggy and Daniel lost touch.
Daniel retired early and moved to the coast from some peace and quiet. Colleen and Roger visited on occasion and they kept him updated on Peggy. The loss of two loves was too much for even Peggy to handle and her mental condition had begun to deteriorate. Soon caring for her became too much for Colleen and Roger, who both had their own families to care for, and so Peggy was moved to a retirement home. Daniel considered visiting her, but he held back, afraid of how much Peggy had changed.
Time dragged on, weeks turned into months, months turned into years and Daniel still didn't visit Peggy, always afraid of what might happen. She wouldn't even recognize him now and that is what scared him most.
They were both well into their eighties and Daniel's health was starting to deteriorate. Finally he decided it was time to visit Peggy, to see the woman he had loved for so long, even to this day.
He ordered a car to drive him into the city, stopping to pick up some flowers along the way. When he finally reached the retirement home it was midafternoon and the sun was shining brightly overhead. After signing in, Daniel found Peggy's room with very little difficulty and suddenly he found himself face to face with Peggy Carter. Despite her condition she was beautiful. Her now silvery hair hung in their usual curls around her face and her lips were as red as ever. When he looked at her, he saw the same beautiful woman he had fallen in love with all those years ago.
And yet, she had changed so much. She stared up at him with no evidence of recognition in her eyes. He was nothing more than a stranger to her. He set the flowers down on her nightstand and sat down in the chair next to her bed. Peggy's nurse came in with some water for them. When she asked him what his relation to Peggy was, he hesitated, unsure of how to respond. He hadn't seen her in years, but they had been so close when Jack was alive. "Just and old friend," he finally responded. The nurse nodded and left the room.
After she left, Peggy finally turned to Daniel, asking "when were we friends?" Daniel then proceeded to outline their past together, how they met while working for the SSR (skipping the part where he arrested her) and how she eventually left the SSR to found SHIELD. At this point Peggy, who held the expression of a child listening to a fairytale, asked him if he had joined SHIELD with her. Pausing for a moment, he told her that he hadn't because he had loved her too much. "Did I love you back?" she asked. "Not like that," Daniel replied, rather guiltily. At this Peggy gave him a sad look, as if she were apologizing for the pain she seemed to have caused him. "It's OK, we were always friends. You had a wonderful life, Peggy." She smiled at this.
Looking out the window Daniel realized how late it was. He said goodbye to Peggy, promising to visit again. As he stood up, Peggy looked up at him, "maybe we could grab a drink." He smiled to himself, he knew she wouldn't recognize him the next time he visited, but something clicked and for a moment he saw the Peggy Carter who cared about him beneath the illness. He had been so scared to come, but he was ever so glad that he did. He was still thinking about Peggy as he stepped out onto the sidewalk but his thoughts were rudely interrupted by the sound of screeching tires and screams. A car had spun out of control and Daniel had just enough time to turn around to see it careening toward him before he felt himself flying through the air.
He landed a good fifty feet from where he was hit, right below Peggy's window. When everything stopped spinning, he looked up at the window to see her standing there her eyes full of curiosity about what was going on below her, and with a flower in her hand. She sniffed the flower delicately as she watched the chaos unfold below. Finally her eyes fell on Daniel. She stared at the old man lying in the pavement, struggling to breathe. Something about him seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite figure out what. As he watched her standing there, twirling the flower between her fingers, he realized how much he still loved her. He knew she no longer knew who he was, she had forgotten everything:
Her role in the SSR and SHIELD.
Her family and the life she had worked so hard to build with Jack.
And she had forgotten Steve, the captain who had changed her life.
But perhaps it was better this way. She may have left her memories behind, but she also left all her suffering behind. She would never again feel the pain of losing Steve and Jack, nor would she have to hide her emotions. She had new memories, happy ones, no matter how short term they were.
As Daniel lay in the street, he looked up at the woman he had loved so much, feeling happy that she had finally found peace, and whispered "Goodbye, Peggy" before closing his eyes for the last time.