Raising Liberty
All characters belong to Marvel Comics
Steve and Peggy Family Collection
{Dedicated to JuliaAurelia}
(1)
The battlefield was no place for a pregnant woman, unless she was Peggy Carter. Tonight, she was locked inside the metal haul of a four engine heavy American bomber. The outside view was spectacular; her brown eyes softened against the light brush of azure that tainted against the heavy cloud cover as intense streaks of lightning illuminated the sky and flashed the window. She wasn't alone on the mission, Captain Steven Rogers was sitting across from her; adjusting his helmet as the strap fastened against the broad clench of his jaw. The roar of the turbine engines created a barrier against the firm commands of his voice, Steve leveled his stern and obscured azure eyes at her. "We're approaching the drop zone, Peg," he spoke evenly, with concern held in his firm baritone. "I want you to stay in your seat. I can handle jumping out of the plane and into enemy fire alone."
Wrapping her arms around her swollen midsection, Peggy shot him a hard glare, trying to the ease the recurring waves of nausea erupting in her churning stomach. "Captain," she returned with a bit in her rich voice. "I dismiss your orders...You are the father of my child. I will be damn if I lost you on this mission. You will listen to exactly what I tell you and follow every word, do you understand?"
"Peggy," Steve breathed out his frustration, his eyes narrowed at her stomach, protesting. "You are three months pregnant and I am your husband." He quickly stripped the leather glove off his large hand; revealing a simple wedding band that had the engraving (right partner) etched in silver. "You can't give me orders, Mrs. Rogers."
Peggy clenched her jaw, tightly noncommittally. "Bloody hell I can, Captain Rogers," she growled, her voice caught in a heavy breath, she felt the bile threatening to rise up her throat. Quickly, she encompassed a hand over her red lips, surpassing the urge to spew out the contents of her stomach. This was really overkill for the mission, but she pledged her life to the SSR and refused to remain in head office while he was out saving the world a few times over. She refused to become dominated by the harsh symptoms of morning sickness, the baby was growing securely in her womb, and Steve was being overly protective. She was stalwart, defiant and composed to fight against whatever form of pain or weakness she would experience in the next six months.
For a moment tension twisted between them, a writhing mess of unspoken emotion and doubt. Releasing a compressed sigh, Peggy reached for his gloved hand and gently clasped her fingers into interlock, assuring him not to worry, as much of trying to calm down his accelerating pulse. He looked distressed, and less confident of engaging into another battle with rouge HYDRA agents. Breathing in his masculine scent, Peggy closed her eyes, opting out her own set of fears to relish the surges of his strength pulsating against her hand. They were silent, listening to the thunder rattling against the metal walls, and embracing the heat of their bodies, she was struggling to ignore the storms of emotions whirling in her heart, the pounding throb which invaded her temples. Was she acting selfish? She wanted to feel jovial and content about having a baby with her love, not standing on the razor's edge, hoping for another war to tear them apart.
Feeling a wilt of relief, Peggy opened her eyes, and stared deeply into his blue chasms, searching for home. He was her world and life. Her right partner. "May I remind you, that we're in this together as husband and wife, Steve whatever dangers you will face, I'm right behind you...For better or for worse."
"I guess I can't convince staying home on this Saturday night," Steve joked, his full lips arching into a hint of a smile. "..We can go dancing in Venice?"
"Well, I'm in need of new red dress," Peggy reminded him, quirking her lips into a smirk. "I don't suppose there's a boutique down below..."
Steve pressed his lips, furrowing his slacken brow. "Well, if I happen to crash into one," he sheepishly retorted. "I'll be sure to find a dress for my best girl."
She smiled, despite the gnawing sense of pressure forming in her stomach. "Put it on Howard's tab." she ordered, flatly. "He owes me...A lot."
He nodded, squeezed her hand, and then turned his head to the side hatch. "I guess it's time for me to...You know..."
"Save the world and look all glamorous while bashing a few HYDRA agents with your shield," she countered back, with his chiseled features pooling with heat, and she inwardly marveled at the flood of his enhanced strength flexing in his thick and vigorous muscles. He was truly a symbol of valor and the deepest of the four vitreous-all the measures of a good and noble spirited man. He was partner for every dance -and for every battle in their new life. "Well, it's not a life that most wives would want for their husbands, but then again, I'm not adaptable to normalcy." It was the genuine truth. Peggy was a woman who had craved for adventure since she was a little girl, after discovering that she was pregnant with Steve's child, she knew that indomitable and fiery spirit would somehow merge with her growing baby-girl.
Steve grinned back at her. "Well it beats watching the Dogers blow another series," he said, with his most earnest voice. The shield lifted in the second a flash of lightning struck through the darken sky. He fastened it over the broad expanse of his heavy shoulders. He leveled her with a pointed look. "Doesn't it?"
Peggy felt the urge to roll at her eyes, "You're absolutely right, unless you prefer knitting a security blanket for your son or daughter while sipping Earl Gray..."
Steve stiffened his lips, he didn't respond to her sneakiness in her retort. His chiseled face grew tensed and driven as he straightened to his towering height, and leveled his clear and intense blue eyes onto her, taking a moment to capture her flawless beauty and curled pinned chocolate locks, that didn't shadow over her shining dark eyes, all the uncertainty bled away. His breath grew in a feverish pitch as he lifted her hand close to the white star of his solid chest. She didn't push back, and rested in the strong embrace of his arms, she became trapped in a sea of euphoria against the ripples of heat emitting from his muscled torso. "Tonight," he sighed, heavily, she was glaring up at him. "Peg, let's just focus on the mission and keeping you and our baby safe."
"How in the bloody hell do you expect to keep your pregnant wife safe in a rattling plane above the Atlantic waters, Steve?" she asked, leaning an inch back.
Steve winced, almost like he was surrendering to the powerful firmness held in her voice. He kept his stern resolve even as Peggy writhed uncomfortably against him. His face went lax into crestfallen semblance. "Peggy," he began in a soft and straining voice, tearing his azure eyes away from her unbreakable stare. "I know that you'll be safe. I trust the pilot with my life." He gently settled his hand on her belly, spaying his fingers over the vibrations of his baby's heart beat. The infuriated depth in her brown eyes overpowered him. He couldn't reason with her. "Besides you're too stubborn to follow my orders."
"Careful, Captain, you're breaching dangerous territory," Peggy teasingly warned in a hushed whisper, her index finger traced over the arch of his full lip. He stared down at her, his blue eyes fathomless and welled with surges of power. A smile pulled on his lips as she encircled her arms over his neck, holding him with a steady tempo of her heart. All the tangled strings of fear and uncertainty became cut into pieces and whisked away. "...just don't be late." Never be late.
Catching Steve off guard before he walked away, Peggy tipped her chin up, inadvertently close and pulled his broad face down as their lips joined into a feverish swell of a loving kiss. She clutched his shoulders, feeling his muscular body move with equal rhythm. It was a moment of eternity-no remnants of doubt. Just contentment and trust in each other that when the mission was over, they would dance another night away.
After giving her another kiss, Steve move to the open hatch of the plane, his hands gripped the metal exterior and he gave him a reassuring smile, "I'll see you on ground level, Peggy." Within a few seconds of listening to the clashes of thunder, he vanished into the fury of the storm.
Peggy stared down at her belly, lips curving into a tentative smile. "He'll be back, my little darling," she soothed, holding that promise. "You're our mission."
