Love is not a matter of counting the years... But making the years count
- Michelle Amand
"Are you sure you just don't want to hand it to her yourself?" The Doctor asked gently holding the letter very carefully.
Steve, who had remained stiff and alert from the moment the strange blue box had shown up in the foggy marshes, finally sighed and relaxed a bit. "Not this week." He admitted, slumping dejectedly. He looked back at the glowing quinjet where his team was waiting, keeping their respectful distance so that he could have his privacy.
"A mission, huh?" The Doctor inquired subtlety, turning the letter over and over in his hands.
"Extraction. Bright and early tomorrow. I just don't have the time for a faulty navigation system right now." Steve explained, with a respectful nod at the TARDIS.
The Doctor grinned. "Extractions are cool! Except when your wife is extracting otter fur from your bow tie. Not as cool." He grimaced at the memory.
Steve shook the last part off and looked at his watch. "You'll tell her right? Why I couldn't come?" He asked nervously and to the Doctor, he looked like a lovesick fellow wringing his hands in the moonlight.
Heh. Fellow. What a funny word. Like marshmallow. No wait, not like marshmallow, forget marshmallow. The Captain raised an eyebrow.
"Of course." The Doctor hastened to assure him and then took a tentative step back, watching Steve for any sign of regret, but the captain, even though it was hard, kept his steely resolve. The Doctor carefully slid the letter into a secure pocket in his jacket and took out a wrinkled piece of paper.
"Alright, I'll see you next week and tell Natasha that River wants to know where she can get-" the Doctor squinted at the piece of paper in his hands "a skintight catsuit." He flailed in surprise, blushing and looked up at Steve who was chuckling in amusement.
"See you next week Doctor." He said finally, smiling.
The Doctor waved and stepped into the TARDIS, whooshing away through time and space, far away from the cold night where Captain Rogers stood, staring up at the stars.
"Sorry Margaret." The gangly man in tweed and a bow tie sighed, tripping out of the TARDIS empty handed except for a handwritten letter. "He had a mission the next morning."
Peggy finished blotting her lipstick and raised an eyebrow until the Doctor relinquished the letter to her. She took it carefully and set it neatly in the open safe emerging from a pile of knickers in a dresser drawer before twirling the lock and pushing the drawer in with a pump.
"I have to leave soon for a job anyway." She shrugged it off. "And there's always next week." She twirled in the narrow space of her bedroom, showing off her crimson ball gown. "How do I look?"
"Stunning." The Doctor assured her and held out his arm to escort her out the door.
"I thank God everyday that you sent Clara on that date with Bucky years ago." Peggy sighed, leading the Doctor to her door. "I thank you too, for coming every week and letting me and Steve see each other. I don't know if me and Steve will ever be able to repay you."
The Doctor waved away her words with a twist, almost knocking over a vase. "I'm happy to help and if I didn't do it, River sure would. Which reminds me." He took out the crumpled piece of paper again. "How much hallucinogenic lipstick do you want? River can buy from a sixteenth of a micro ounce to four million tubes." He peered down at her face.
Peggy slid a wad of paper into his jacket and winked, fixing his bow tie before whirling away towards the door. " Don't break anything before you leave." She ordered him, before slipping on a coat and hat and closing the door behind her.
The Doctor grinned and turned back towards the TARDIS, only to trip over a rug and slam into a delicate end table at full speed.
Basically
The Doctor: Hello! Don't be alarmed but I'm an alien with a time machine!
The Avengers: Please.