She couldn't remember it ever being this cold. Sure, England and America to some extent had their deadly winters back in the day but it was never on this extreme level. This type of cold seeped straight down into her very bones and forced her whole body into a frigid submission. She couldn't even move a pinky finger if she wanted to. The question of how she got here to begin with was one of the more constant thoughts she had in this icy coffin. The other prevalent questions were 'how long had it been since she got here' and 'Doesn't ice melt after a certain time frame?' It seems this line of thinking is all she can do now while waiting on help or at the very least death.
More time she guesses passes on before she starts feeling the slightest hints at warmth again. It had been so long she almost forgot what it felt like to feel her limbs. She even felt her fingers and toes tingling again after they woke up from their long sedated state. Soon enough her whole body felt the soothing effects that the warmth generated.
"Is she waking up?" A mysterious voice questioned aloud after some time. She didn't care to answer with a witty remark or something around those lines like usual though because this heat was all she could direct her attention on.
"Well, her vitals surprisingly read that she is indeed alive so it kinda seems that way." Another mystery person that kinda reminded her of Stark in a more snarky way replied to the question voiced. She decided then to shift more of her attention onto the conversation happening. She had to figure out who these people were and why did they care if she woke up?
"Will she be okay?" A man whispered back as he tried to sound slightly hopeful. His voice reminded her of some one too but she couldn't remember who exactly. Maybe it's a person she ran into or worked with on a SSR mission somewhere?
"I'm not sure, Cap." That sentence gave her a sudden pause. She hadn't heard that nickname uttered around her in a very long time. Everyone knew not to say it around her after that tragic day a few years ago. The only person though that she knew of to go by that was...
She finally decided then to open her eyes and investigate these strange people. At first she only saw a unfamiliar gray ceiling above her but as she forced the stiffness out of her neck she turned to see the man she never stopped mourning, Captain America.
"S-steve?" She managed to force out after a moment of silently staring dead on at him. How could he be here? She was in communication with him right up until his death in that stupid martyr plane crash stunt. So she knows for a fact his body was left for certain death somewhere up in that frozen wasteland with the remains of the Red Skull's plans.
"It's me, Pegs. It's me." He whimpered while his eyes started tearing up a bit. He grabbed her hand then to hold onto as an anchor like he always used to under heavily distressful situations. She recalled he did this for the first time as she took him towards the lab where he would go onto becoming the first super soldier. He wasn't scared per say back then but he was shaking with barely suppressed anxiety over the unknown experiment about to be conducted on him. That was the first time she started to see that Steve Rodgers was the best person the allies and humanity in general had to offer up in an effort to stop the war.
"H-how? How are you here, Steve?" She choked out in a barely suppressed sob. She had to get a hold on herself right now. She couldn't be losing it like this in front of a ghost and the other strangers gathered around the room.
"Listen to me Peg, we were frozen in ice for years. I was found like you and woken by the people in this room." He tried to say as best as he could but she could tell he was struggling to explain.
"That can't be right. You died back then; I know that." She stated as a matter of fact while scowling at this charade he was trying to play with her.
"Peg, you also know they never found my body." He bitterly smiled a little with tears leaking out from his eyes.
"Wheres, Barnes? He'll set all of this blasted madness straight." Peggy shouted as she tossed aside Steve's hand from her's. He frowned more at that action and tried not to look like someone kicked his puppy.
"Ms. Carter, I hate to interrupt this little reunion going on but what's the last thing you remember?" A slightly distorted voice inquired. She looked to see the source of such a odd sound. On the other side of the bed she saw a man which she assumed was the speaker in red armor and glowing blue eyes. He looked like something straight out of those science fiction comics Steve sometimes indulged in on his breaks from the war.
She tried to think of an answer then to his question but she couldn't recall anything. It dawned on her then that all she could remember is going on a mission with Barnes to some Hydra base, fighting some men as they gained entry, and then her memory draws a blank. What events followed her and Barnes in that base? Is Hyrda holding them captive or are they using them to advance their horrendous science projects?
"I just remember being with, Barnes." She confessed to the armored man after seeing a nod of assurance from Steve. Wait, why was she looking for encouragement from Steve? He cannot be sitting here breathing and trying to hold her hand like normal, he's dead. The SSR and Barnes always assured her of it as fact when she doubted them. This had to be some twisted plot or experiment concocted by Hydra then to gain information from her by using the person she trusted most. Well, she wasn't going to lay around here and let them in on anything more.
"I'm done talking to you people." Peggy hissed out as she hit fake Steve on the head in an effort to distract him long enough to grab the shield off his back and use it as a weapon. She then threw the shield at the armored man's chest and retrieved it soon after as she took off towards the closest exit she could locate. As she escaped and protected herself from attacks with the shield she thanked the real Steve in her mind for giving her instructions on how to use this weapon properly.
"Carter, please calm down we don't mean to harm you!" A man armed with a bow tried to vouch as Peggy tossed the shield at another what she presumed to be a Hydra goon running towards her with a gun. How could this archer say they didn't mean any harm as his comrades were coming for her blood?
"Hawkeye is correct, Ms. Just stand down and we can talk this out." A man with a eye patch added as he commanded the men around them to halt their attacks on Peggy. By this time she had escaped the building she was previously held captive in and she could see that the world had indeed changed since she was gone. Now wasn't the time to think about such things though because she noticed that more men were coming as back up to surround her.
"I'm sure you're overwhelmed by all this, Carter. Please let the Captain explain more to you about the situation." The eye patch man said as he moved out of the way for fake Steve to make his reappearance on the scene.
"Peggy, please come back to the SHIELD base with us. I have a lot more stuff I need to tell you." Fake Steve pleaded as he tried to cautiously move closer towards Peggy.
Peggy only scowled coldly back at him and adjusted her shield for a fight. "I founded SHIELD secretly a few years ago with Barnes; I assure you that place back there wasn't SHIELD."
"We went over this already, Peg. You were frozen in ice for years. Everything is different now from the world we knew." He tired to convince her in that voice Steve always used when he wanted to get a point across nicely to her in a argument. It wasn't going to work this time though. The Steve Rogers she knew is dead.
"I don't believe you."
"Please, Peggy." He begged while slowly stepping towards her again with his hands up in a sign of surrender.
"Everyone assured me you were dead, Steve!" Peggy shouted in her boiling rage. "For years people told me over and over you weren't apart of this world anymore. You can't just expect me to believe your miraculously alive somehow!" She sneered.
"I know its all crazy, Peg. Look at it this way though; I can fulfill my promise now to take you out dancing."
"Bloody hell, you still remember that?" Peggy chuckled a bit at him in spite of telling herself that this whole situation was a web of lies created by Hydra. She just couldn't help herself when around Steve like this. He always knew just what to say to get her to laugh at him. Plus, nobody aside from them and Barnes knew of the promise Steve made back then.
"I never make a promise to my girl that I can't keep." Steve sadly smiled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. If this was something made up by Hydra they sure did a astounding job of incorporating all of Steve's nervous habits, Peggy noted.
"Fine, I'll go back with you lot but I'm keeping the shield for now," Peggy conceded. The man with the eye patch ordered the men back to the base then and Steve finally came forward to ask permission from Peggy to hug her. She accepted and soon enough the two of them were standing there smiling in each others arms again. Peggy noticed as they hugged that he smelled like his favorite minty cologne. She dearly missed that smell.
"I'm sorry." Peggy whispered softy in Steve's ear. She still wasn't one hundred percent sure this was real but she decided to hope it was. She really wanted to see Steve alive and well again. Those years apart from him were some of her worst ever lived.
"It'll be alright, Peg." He said and Peggy knew he wasn't just talking about the bruise she probably gave him on the head earlier.
A/N: This is shorter then my usual work and that's because I don't know if I want to continue it. I've had this sitting on my computer for a few months so I just decided to throw it out here and if people like it enough I'll give it a go for longer chapters. Hell, maybe I'll even put more focus on other female characters and femslash in general (I kinda headcanon Peggy as bisexual.) Oooh idea: they could have a side unit just full of the female Avengers or something. Whose interested? Leave a review or something if that sounds like something you'd read.
Oh in case you didn't pick up on it: In this time line Bucky didn't get caught by Hydra and turned into the Winter Soldier. Instead he joined Peggy and created SHIELD back in the day. During this time they also became close friends and bounded over being Steve's friends. So yeah. I really just wanted to give Peggy a chance to be more involved in the Avengers. If I do end up writing more of this I'll explain Bucky and Peggy's past together after Steve was frozen (also gotta explain how Peggy froze and lived.) Ugh, so much shit could happen.
-RoxyRoxas1313