Author's Note: This is a little one shot that would not leave me alone after Season 1 of Agent Carter. As you might have guessed, these characters are the property of Marvel and do not belong to me.
"Jarvis, do you know what all this is about?" Peggy asked, giving the butler a sideways glance.
He gave a noncommittal shrug of his shoulders. "I only do as Mr. Stark asks, Agent Carter, beyond that his plans are a mystery to me," he assured her, but something in his tone made Peggy doubt his sincerity.
Peggy groaned. "Well, in that case, I only hope there are fewer explosions and deadly assassins this time around."
Jarvis chuckled. "One can hope, but this is Howard Stark. Things have tendency to explode when he's involved."
Peggy nodded her agreement and the pair fell into silence as she continued to ponder her summons to Stark Mansion. Howard's telephone call had been brief and enigmatic. "I have something to show you, Peg. Jarvis will be there to pick you up in five." He hadn't sounded distressed, he'd even sounded a bit enthused, but with Howard it was impossible to tell. At least, this little meeting didn't come right after Howard being publicly named a traitor.
"And we've arrived," Jarvis announced, pausing at a thick metal door. He punched a code into the keypad and the door slid open to reveal one of Howard's many labs. Jarvis stepped aside and gave Peggy a slight bow. "After you, Agent Carter."
Inside the lab, Howard worked on some metal monstrosity with a large welding torch, oblivious to her and Jarvis' presence. Peggy pursed her lips, annoyed. "Hello, Howard," she called out over the noise of the torch. "Would you be so kind as to tell me what this little audience is all about?"
Howard extinguished the torch and set it aside. "Hey there, Peg," he said, flipping up the face shield. "Glad you could make it," he continued to pull off his safety equipment, "I have something very exciting to show you."
"And what is that?" Peggy demanded, hands on her hips.
"Come with me and I'll show you." He strode off and with an arched eyebrow, Peggy followed him to a corner of the lab covered in a deep red curtain.
Hand on the pull cord, he turned to face her. "There's a lot of bad stuff happening out there, Peg, and you're going toe to toe with each and every day, but the world needs a hero." With a flourish, he yanked open the curtain revealing what stood behind it.
Peggy stared up at the sight in front of her, her mind going blank in a whirl of emotions. The red, white, and blue suit on the mannequin was unmistakable. It was Steve's suit. Peggy wasn't foolish enough to think it was the one that he been wearing when he'd - no it couldn't be. By the end of the war, Howard had made him three or four suits in case one was damaged in battle. It could be any one of those, but why was Howard showing it to her now?
Peggy sucked in a breath, trying to calm her racing heart, and as her thoughts cleared, she noticed that something was not quite right about the suit. Suddenly curious, she stepped up on the platform of the display.
All at once, she realized what was off about the suit. It was an exact replica for Steve's Captain America suit, down to the standard issue holster and ammunition belt he'd always insisted on wearing, but it was much too small. In fact, Peggy realized now that she was standing directly in front of the suit, it looked like it was made for someone her own size.
"Whose suit is this?" Peggy demanded, whirling around the face Howard.
He tipped his head to one side. "It's yours, Peg, if you want it."
The words hit her in the chest. "What do you mean?"
Howard gazed up at her, unusually somber. "I see you, Peg, and you're capable of so much more than just being a faceless SSR agent. You're smart, tenacious, and passionate, but more than that you are honorable in the face of, well, everything." He placed a hand on the suit, his eyes never leaving her face. "Peg, I believe that you have the ability to be the hero we all need."
Peggy shook her head, tears gathering in her eyes. "I appreciate what you're trying to do here, Howard, but I'm not a hero. I'm not Steve Rogers and I never will be."
"You're not a super soldier like Steve," Howard agreed, "but you have his heart and that's what counts. He would be proud to see you wear the suit."
"I don't - I don't know what say," Peggy stuttered.
"Say yes," Jarvis said, stepping forward. "I never had the honor of knowing Captain Rogers personally, but I've had the extreme pleasure of working by your side, Agent Carter. I've been with you in the thick of it, where it looked like neither one of us would survive, and you have always acted with honor and grace." He took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. "You are already a hero in my book, now it's a matter of outfitting you like one."
Needing a moment with her thoughts, Peggy turned back to the suit. She ran her fingertips along the narrow shoulders, barely half as wide as Steve's had been, and down the arm to the almost dainty red gloves. She tried to imagine herself wearing this suit, leading men, fighting evil doers, maybe even posing for the occasional photo, but she simply couldn't. Steve Rogers was, is, and would always be Captain America and no one could change that.
"What would Cap say?" Dum Dum Dugan's voice filled her head. "What would Cap say?"
Peggy knew the answer. Even before Steve had been transformed into Captain America, they had seen something in one another, a similar vision and drive, that had bonded them instantly. And after he'd become Captain America that had never changed. Until the day he died, Steve had carried her picture in his compass, wordlessly making her his true north. Steve Rogers had admired and trusted her. She placed her hand over the white star on the suit's chest. The answer to Dum Dum's question was simple. Do as Peggy says.
"I think you're right, Howard," Peggy said, wiping a tear away. "I thinking Steve would find it fitting for me to wear the suit." She looked at each of Howard and Jarvis in turn, her face determined and somber. They both nodded to her, a silent promise to follow her wherever she led them.
Peggy let out a weighty sigh. "Though," she teased, "it's a bit ironic to call me Captain America, seeing as I'm British."
Howard face split into a wide grin. "You fought with our boys against the Germans, that makes you an American in my books."
"And if it becomes an issue," Jarvis added with a wry smile, "you have an impeccable counterfeit American accent."
Peggy beamed at them, her eyes still shining. "I suppose if no one finds an issues with a British Captain America," she cocked her head to one side, "I should suit up."