HELLO AGAIN!
Okay, so my muse, in an epic return the other day, prompted me to crank out this sequel to my other story Albums. I would recommend you guys read that one first, but this can act as a stand alone. The whole idea for this came from a lunch debate with my friends. I really wanted Peggy to have some connection to the existence of Tony Stark, and wouldn't it be ironic if Tony's mother Maria actually was the daughter of Steve and Peggy? Those two dislike each other so much it would be funny.
Then I had to get all the dates squared away, and bend things as far as they could possibly go to fit my idea while still sticking with the movie-verse. I have not read the comics, but I have seen all of these movies, so "Thor", "Iron Man" 1-3, "Captain America" (obviously), "Hulk" (both versions), and "The Avengers". l know. I'm a nerd. :)
I was not expecting the request of an Albums sequel. I asked people to leave a review saying what they would like to see, and they all wrote that they wanted a sequel.
So... here it is after all this time!
DISCLAIMER: All recognizable plots, characters, and places are the work of Marvel. Have not owned, do not own, and will never own. If I did, Peggy would have been cryogenically frozen until Rogers was fished out of the ice and they would have gotten their chance together. This little plot bunny is mine and mine alone.
On any other Thursday afternoon, Steve Rogers would have been in the 40s-themed gymnasium SHIELD had graciously converted from an unused storage room for him. He would have wrapped white athletic tape around his knuckles and punched the sand out of about ten punching bags.
Thank goodness SHIELD understood.
Even Captain America, the golden boy and the de facto leader of the ragtag superhero group the Avengers needed to beat the shit out of something to feel somewhat normal. After all, he was a man out of his time.
Steve Rogers, to the modern world of 2012, had been an army man for a secret division of the CIA. He had also been the product of a science experiment… not gone wrong like Dr. Banner or the Red Skull, but one that could never be repeated. People knew his birthday was July 4th, Independence Day, but no one knew the year. People knew what he looked like, but no one could actually remember ever seeing him roam the underbelly of the CIA or at any army base training camp.
Not that they would actually say anything.
Steve Rogers, to the world of the 1940s, had been a hero. The first of his kind… a super soldier with a selfless heart. The women wanted him, the men wanted to be him, and he helped to lead a struggling and hopeless America through the worst world war in history. Old classmates recognized him as the small, skinny, sickly boy who they picked on all throughout their schooling. Old teachers remembered him as the intelligent, strong, selfless child whose parents left him alone in the world at a young age to fend for himself.
Old and surviving army and SSR veterans remembered how he single-handedly jumped into a POW compound, freed 400 soldiers whose nationalities ranged from American to Allied (even some Chinese, Russian, and Japanese soldiers), destroyed the compound, and then led the Howling Commandos to destroy even more.
But none of these people, modern time or 40s time, really knew him.
They didn't know how he had tried to sign up for the army a ridiculous amount of times, only to be rejected because of his bad health. They didn't remember that after Dr. Erskine was shot and killed after Steve's procedure surpassed expectations (for himself and everyone else in the room), Steve got angry and followed the Hydra agent who did it through the streets of New York City. Through back alleys, main roads, and finally through water (following the escape submarine) Steve ran to catch that agent, who then broke the glass containing the serum that would have given him a brother-under-the-skin and committed suicide only seconds later.
They also didn't remember all of the insecurity about his performing gig during the campaign, the hatred for the singing and dancing and not being used the way he was created to. The men and women knew nothing about the indescribable want to be a part of something bigger than himself because he believed whole-heartedly in the cause, nor the desperation he felt when he discovered that his best and only friend (and brother, if not by blood then bond) was MIA in enemy territory.
The mission was a selfish act. If he hadn't discovered all of those other soldiers, he probably would have just freed Bucky and left. Most likely not, but still... the fact did cross his mind.
No one knew how that fact haunted him. No one knew he tried to get rip-roaring drunk in a flattened bar in France after Bucky's death, or how he wanted to kill Zola, but not before torturing the man mercilessly, and not just take him captive and release him into Switzerland.
Besides being the youngest (?) on the team, he was also the quietest. Banner had Stark to open up with, to let a little loose with, and to share the ugly things that ran through his mind. Natasha Romanoff, who was probably the most emotionally screwed up person on this team had Clint or 'Hawkeye.' Growing up in an unimaginably horrible and taxing camp for Russian spies, the Red Room, and not to mention having both parents murdered in front of her, she was distant and hated being seen as vulnerable or weak. At least Clint could get her to be a little happier and smile a little more.
The trust she placed in the team, however reluctantly, was growing into genuine affection for the pseudo-family they had made.
But Stark was a whole different ballgame, in Steve's opinion.
Yeah, the man may have had a distant father. But at least he knew his parents did in fact love him. Yeah, they were taken away when Stark was only eighteen, but he was able to fend for himself. His genius propelled Stark Industries, his father's company, into the new era, and made billions of dollars every day. Getting kidnapped by a terrorist group and having that awful metal thing in his chest may seem like a downfall, but in reality it was the best thing that could have happened to Stark.
He began to take stock in his life, changed the face, cause, and clientele of his company, and still managed to get the girl in the end. He also built the beauty that was Avengers Tower.
Banner is still a celebrated scientist, though people are terrified that he'll go 'Hulk' on them when they least expect it. But through this fear, his community had come to respect him as a person and now as a hero. His love life left something to be desired, but at least Banner had Darcy. Though, Betty would still be a soft spot for him.
Thor was loud rude, uncultured (at least on Earth), but incredibly entertaining. He had the love of a whole planet of people, both his parents were still living, and the love of two beautiful women. One of whom he reciprocates the feelings for.
Steve still can't believe that Jane and Thor had met while Thor was on exile from Asgard.
Thor even had his brother (not biological, but adopted from the Frost Giants). Though his adopted brother, Loki, launched a godly terrorist attack on New York in an attempt for world domination, was at least Loki was still alive.
Steve really had no one.
Well, that's actually not entirely true. He did have one person.
Back in the 1940s, there was one person there for every step, every insecurity and every flaw that Steve possessed. Every time he wanted to give up and break down, she was there to give him a reason to hope and strive for more. She made him strong, he made him the soldier he was, not the evolved genes in him.
Margaret 'Peggy' Carter was his savior, his love, his life and his angel.
And now she was gone.
Steve sort of expected it.
At the back of his mind, hidden deep in the recesses, of course. He didn't want to believe it, but she probably moved on with her life after he disappeared, found a husband, had kids, who had grandkids, and died from old age. How long do army veterans live after retiring from active duty?
Really?
Some kill themselves from the depression caused by PTSD. Some drink themselves into death to escape the memories. Some live full lives only to die from heart problems caused by intense stress or an unknown injury that had been left to fester and infect.
One thing was for certain, though. He did not expect her to still be alive, and he certainly did not expect her to be making her merry way into SHIELD headquarters for a meeting with the Avengers.
Steve knew she really wanted to talk to him, and him alone. But that would look a little strange, wouldn't it? Plus, she had mentioned something about needing to talk to the team as a whole. She also brought old war videos from the SSR files. Stolen files, but no one would care.
He hadn't really told anyone what happened in his personal life back in the forties.
Steve was a very private person and he felt weird and awkward while talking about people, places, and things that didn't exist anymore. He also didn't want to give Stark more of a reason to call him 'old man.' Steve would rather take the assumptions and conclusions that the team made (he was a virgin, for example) than talk about the one woman who had kept him going through the destruction he caused and lives he took.
He also didn't tell anyone that he had slept with that same woman nights before he crashed into the ice.
Seeing her again, after all of these years, would be like coming home. It didn't matter to him that she was ninety-two years old. What was age anyway, but a number? He wasn't so delusional to think that they would have a chance to start (or continue) any sort of romantic relationship.
Although age was just a number, biologically, Peggy would have to leave him all too soon.
He was not happy that fate kept deciding to screw with him, for example making him disappear in the frozen tundra for decades.
His phone ringing jolted him out of reminiscence and into the present time. Steve dove over the back of the couch he was sitting on to grab the iPhone from his simple kitchen countertop where it was charging to answer it.
"Hello, this is Rogers."
Quick, controlled and efficient.
"Fury. She's here… and I hope you're ready."
The line went dead.
Steve felt as though he was being electrified. Nerves shot up through is body as he grabbed his old black leather coat (the one he one he wore to free Bucky over his stage costume) and put it on over his white dress shirt, sleeves rolled to his elbows and top button undone. It went well with the tan khakis and black Converse high-tops.
He liked this style, because it reminded him that he didn't have to look perfect all the time, but could still be himself in. Jeans and a t-shirt were, to him, a nuisance he could live without.
Women stared at him enough as it is.
He also wanted to prove to Peggy that he could acclimate to her culture but still retain a piece of himself (and the 40s). Goodness, he was so whipped (the voice in his head that whispered this sounded like Stark) and he hadn't even talked to her for seven decades.
Maneuvering his motorcycle through the busy streets, Rogers reached SHIELD headquarters in record time. He parked, flashed his ID to the undercover agent acting as the parking garage attendant. Steve then walked into the elevator that, when he punched in a certain code, would bring him to the secret facility under the city. On the ride down, he pulled out his phone and texted Banner, asking where the meeting was being held, not wanting to ask Stark and then be led on a wild goose chase.
Hey, in Steve's defense, it's happened before.
The phone dinged. Banner had replied.
Meeting Room 4A.
Steve swore later that he had actually died. Heart-stopping, blood-running cold, and all.
He walked down the hallway, breathing in and out, trying to calm down and get himself under control. Steve placed his palm on the doorknob, waiting, and then opened it. And promptly stopped in his tracks.
There in front of him, in all of her glory (and a more age-appropriate version of that damned red dress), was Peggy.
Steve couldn't believe it.
For a moment, he thought he had gone back in time to that moment when they had come face to face after he rescued all of those men. She had given him the same look, that mock-angry posture, pursed lips, and narrowed eyes that gave away her amusement.
Only this time, instead of being directly in front of him, she was on the other side of the long conference table. The other Avengers, plus Fury, Coulson, Darcy and Jane were sitting on both sides of the table, looking between the two reunited lovers like it was a tennis match. Peggy was poised, like she was a twenty-four year old officer again, standing with her hands on the back of a tall leather swivel chair.
"You're late."
Two words. He was brought back to that day in the field with dirt and ash on his face, feet aching from the walk, sweltering under all that gear in the hot sun…
The other Avengers watched, and were surprised as Steve's face transformed from unadulterated shock to a coy, sexy smirk. They quickly looked from him to Peggy, who had the same coy, sexy smirk on her face. It was different, because Peggy was ninety-two years old.
The attention was focused back on Steve as he took off his leather jacket, revealing the tight, white dress shirt, two buttons opened at the top and sleeves pushed up to elbows. He put his hands in the pockets of his fitted khaki pants, making his arm muscles bulge and define.
"I couldn't call my ride."
Eyes widened, and jaws dropped. He did not just say that!
All of a sudden, Peggy burst into tear and began to sobe and Steve rushed towards her, cradling her in his arms before she had a chance to fall. They hugged each other, and the team could see tears forming at the corners of their captain's eyes. Peggy and Steve whispered things to each other, and the most the team caught were many "I'm sorry"s and "You're an idiot"s.
The moment was private, and the people sitting at the table looked away. They didn't have to wait long for the moment to be over, though. Soon, Peggy released Steve, and after making sure she sat down, Steve took up a sentry position next to her. It was adorable.
Tony was grossed out. That was his grandmother, the woman who gave birth to his mom. He couldn't see her as a young being, even though she was twenty-four when she had met Steve. He also couldn't fathom that his beloved grandmother had also been in a (obviously platonic, but tension-filled) relationship with the young man standing by her side.
His grandmother began to speak, so he tuned out his thoughts and focused on her.
"It's been a while since I've been in a position like this." Peggy began with authority.
Her native British accent became pronounced, like it never had been lost in the sands of time spent in America. The room was captivated by her powerful attention demanding voice, and began to see why Peggy had become the first ranking female officer in the SSR.
They could also see why Steve had fallen for her. That no-nonsense tone would have been greatly admired by a cadet.
"It's been a while since I've spoken to a group of soldiers like you all, on the brink of revealing a life-changing event. It's been a while since I've seen the face of the man who I love."
She sent a loving look towards Steve, who returned the look with one of his own. It warmed the hearts of the team to see their lonely leader happy and in love.
"However, it won't be a while before my time on this Earth is over."
Steve turned sharply to stare at her incredulously. He felt his heart break, and the women in the room felt like crying. This shouldn't be happening!
Peggy grimaced. She didn't want to tell him like this; their reunion should have been at the Stork Club on Saturday night at eight o'clock. They should have had decades together, raising their daughter and laughing at the stupidity of the American and British governments. They should have been able to have sex for hours on end, and had not just one daughter, but a giant family.
The what-ifs were killing them both, but she was already on her way out. She needed to tell him; it was now or never.
"I asked you all to come here because it's time for family to recognize each other. It's time for secrets that have been kept for decades to be revealed." Peggy stood up, and walked in her flats to a bag by the door.
The sound of her shoes tapping on the hardwood floor was the only sound in the conference room. The team breathed in cedar and pencil shavings and adjusted themselves on the hard chairs meant to make foreign diplomats uncomfortable. They looked around the room at each other, confused looks decorating their faces.
Tony Stark had no idea what was going on. And he voiced as much.
"Grandmother,"
At this, people gave wide-eyed looks at Tony and Peggy. They didn't know the two were related. Steve couldn't believe it. Peggy had made Stark's existence possible. The woman he loved the most in the world had basically given birth to the man he disliked most.
The rest of the Avengers, in addition to their bosses and girlfriends, laughed at the irony.
Tony ignored the others and continued. "Grandmother, what's going on? I wasn't aware of any other family in this room." A few seconds passed. "Is Coulson my grandfather?"
Peggy just laughed, and brought out her albums. Tony leaned forward as she passed and recognition flashed across his face.
"Hey, I know those! Those are my mother's albums. But why do you have them?" He turned his gaze back to her, confusion clouding his features.
Peggy laughed again as she took her place at the head of the table again, and to the utter shock of the team, began to explain.
"Your mother, Tony, was precious to me. I nurtured her as a single mother, and I never dated, nor gotten involved with any man since your grandfather. Maria was an angel; I never had a problem with her. However, I never told her about her father growing up."
The team gasped. Thor asked, "Why would you do that? My father did that to Loki, and as a result he tried to destroy Midguard. Your daughter Maria could have destroyed my world, if she had found you not being honest with her."
Everyone looked at Thor. His logic was strange.
"Well, Thor. She did find out. And she was angry with me, though not enough to destroy Asgard. I could never have told her myself, so it was almost a blessing when she discovered it. I would have begun to cry, because I saw so much of her father in her. And I knew he was never coming back."
Peggy tried to hold back tears. She felt she had been justified in her reasons for not telling Maria about Steve. It had been too hard; the pain had been too fresh. But she had to do it. She had to tell him he had a daughter. A family.
Before Peggy could begin speaking, Natasha interrupted. "Sorry, but could I see a picture of her? I would love to see what she looked like."
Peggy smiled, and handed over an album. Natasha opened the old cover, and gasped. Her eyes widened in shock, and they flicked between Tony, Steve, and the woman who brought them together, Peggy Carter.
This couldn't be possible.
The picture of Maria, minus the dark hair, looked exactly like Steve. Exactly. It was almost uncanny how much they looked alike. She quickly flipped through the years, and though as the years went by Maria grew into her dark hair and dark eyes, much like Peggy, her face and build still identified her as Steve's daughter. Natasha couldn't believe any of it.
She closed the album, and handed it back to Peggy. "How…?" Natasha couldn't even form a simple sentence, she was so shocked.
"It all happened one cold night in France." Peggy explained.
Steve turned swiftly to look at Peggy. His brow furrowed as he did. Something in the back of his mind was trying to tell him something.
"A good friend of mine had a brother, not by blood but by bond, that he thought had been killed. We talked in a flattened bar, and then went back to the barracks and made love." She began.
The team was trying to understand. It just wasn't clicking!
"Then a few days later, we raided a compound." Peggy was staring at the white wall on the other side of the room as she spoke.
"And my friend went after the bad guy and I lost him."
It was than that it clicked. All the team members gaped and looked at Steve, and then Tony. It still hadn't click for Steve yet though.
Tony looked at Steve and Peggy in horror. Ther was no fucking way. Absolutely no fucking way.
"A month later I discovered I was pregnant with my friend's child."
Tony was shaking his head. He couldn't believe it. Denial time.
Banner, Clint and Fury were trying to hold back giant peals of laughter. Natasha, Jane, Darcy, and Coulson looked on with amazement between Tony, who was currently pacing around the room looking like… well, looking like someone had told him Steve Rogers was his grandfather. His BIOLOGICAL grandfather.
Then Peggy dropped the bomb, because Steve still wasn't understanding.
"Seventy years later, I get a call telling me that my friend, the one whose child I had, the one whose grandchild funded the program that fished him out of the ice, was still alive. And agreed to take up the mantle of Captain America again." If it wasn't for the situation she was in, Peggy would have laughed at how dense her former lover was being.
It clicked for him then.
Steve's blue eyes grew wide, and his confused expression dropped into one of bewilderment. Peggy couldn't blame him. Telling a guy that he is going to be a father is bad enough; telling a guy that he is a father, and has been for seventy years was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Suddenly, laughter could be heard. Tony and Steve, who was now standing,seethed looked at the three men in fury. Banner, Clint, and Fury were laughing their asses off, making light of a horrible situation. Much to the pairs' displeasure.
"Oh my God! Captain America, the paragon of virtue, helped spawn Iron Man?" Banner had obviously deviated from his usual proper language and kindness as he roared with laughter.
"Only on my team would there be this kind of drama!" Fury couldn't believe it.
"Oh God! Stark… all those times you called Rogers, 'gramps'? You never realized how true it was, did you!?" Clint howled as he griped his stomach. "I can't believe that someone hasn't mentioned that yet. Capsicle's the gramps of the former merchant-of-death! Oh, the irony." He mocked.
Steve sat down in shock. He looked at Tony, who was staring right back at him in disbelief. Natasha ceased her quiet giggles as she watched the two… before her eyes shot wide open as laughter took its hold once more. Their facial expressions were so similar, she couldn't believe she hadn't noticed before now.
All of the arguments and fights that had gone down between the two flooded the memories of Steve and Tony. They were actually blood-relatives? It was a fate worse than death in their opinion.
"What?" Steve's voice was hoarse, and it cracked on the tail end of the question.
There it is! Honestly, I don't think this was my best work. I am awful at writing dialogue (which is really bad) so I had help from the author I'm beta-ing for, Chaoses Angel. He was so willing to help me that when I sent him this document last night, he sent it back at 7:25 this morning with edits. Such an awesome person!
If you want something good to read, any of his stories would qualify. I'm currently beta-ing the story Love?. It's a Percy Jackson and the Olympians fanfic with the pairing Percy/Artemis.
Thank you for all of your encouragement and reviews! Also, props to author Gargonzola'sArchaicInstitution for one of the phrases that Clint uses (Capsicle's the gramps of the former merchant-of-death!). I was browsing through reviews, and I liked that phrase so much that it just had to go in. So thank you!
Please review! Remember: NO FLAMES! Only CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM!