Ripples of Her Dreams
All characters belong to Marvel Comics and Agent Carter
I own nothing
Author's Note: Well, this is a little Steggy treat I wanted to write for all the readers who enjoy this timeless love connection between Agent Carter and Cap. I wanted to say thank you for all your support. Enjoy!
Peggy Carter had chosen to ride the storms on her own. It's was a choice that had remain leaden against her aching heart for almost two years; she never could recollect her memories without feeling the corrosive remnants of her regrets invading her agile and reserved mind—but the world had changed in a blind of eye, the pledge that she entrusted had been violated by the acts of betrayal that diminished the foundations of truth and integrity; the ideals that she carried every time she walked in shadow and dared fate with a little wager of game.
Everything was dismantled, and the people in her small circle had paid a great cost to preserve freedom and she was left to feel her detached heart fraying into splinters—the next mission was a repetitive escape she used to bury the untamed measures of grief that ate away at her reservations.
Every begrudging trial she'd endured in the shadows; resulted in holding her word to a cause of restoring the balance of power—outweighing negatives and restructuring distant trust residing in Howard, the brilliant, egoistical man who made her risk everything so that his promising future empire could be secured from the corrupt world enfolding around them.
It seemed like a muddled destiny of reformation and injustice. There was no fine line between the shades of black and grey, just blotted slash of white, but Peggy knew the value of the patriotic colors of red and blue —symbols of hope became furling embers in the darkness.
Steve was gone. His strength and noble- spirited heart was buried in the depths of ice, but the love they had shared had grown constant and true. Equal to the pledge he gave to the shield, but it seemed to increase into something unbreakable: everlasting.
Leaning against the garter railing of the Brooklyn Bridge, listening the low volume of replaying song (The Way You Look Tonight) Peggy tugged billowing scarf around the buttoned collar of her long coat; settling her dark eyes passively on the clusters of pink embellished clouds; holding the streams of light as a new dawn was about to break across the horizon.
A promise of change was coming, the reverence of her defining moment was dwindling as she cast a glance at the depths of crystal waters reflecting the illusion of serenity back to her—it was hard choice to release the most precious memento of everlasting love into the East River.
At first, it seemed like a silent debate, a swell of reluctance blossomed in her chest, absently her fingers curled over the vial; hesitation pulsed in her veins. Fighting against the oppressive guilt, Peggy wanted to hold onto his untainted existence a second longer, feeling the eroded part of her heart, the layers that were bruised with unsettled grief and she refused to uncap the vial and release the last, real strength of Captain America-her greatest love and regret into the restless fathoms of water.
Steve had entrusted her with his mission—to restore liberty and truth back into the reforming world, and she had obliged to withhold that covenant, to fight for every scrap of humanity and set the course of her journey on a uneasy road that no one dared to venture, but Peggy had proven to her doubting spirit, that she was a resilient—intrepid and steadfast woman that couldn't be taken lightly.
"Get a hold of yourself, Carter," she chided in an undertone breath, and felt the lashes of cold wafting breeze wavering over her fastened, burgundy lips. She couldn't afford to cling onto sentiment, to force herself to play the role of damsel in her own reverences.
Instead of dwelling on the torturous moment of battling with her betraying emotions, Peggy exhaled a steady breath, and raised her chin firmly, indignant to resurfaces of constricting pain nestled in her.
After taking an inhale the empowering scent of salt water, Peggy reclaimed her second chance, braving herself to finally begun to untwist the cap, knowing that the last sample of Steve's collected blood would drip into oblivion: the one place where no one would ever steal his strength and immeasurable defiance.
She wanted to reunite with him, just for a moment to confess everything that remained leaden on her heart-to find a glimpse or illusion to she could grasp onto when the ground threatened to crumble beneath her feet; Agent Carter needed her Captain to guide her back into the light and to embrace her when the raging storms of compromised would clashed through her.
It wasn't fair…Steve was chosen for a reason to protect and avenge the world, not to become a distant memory and relived on poorly written on a radio drama broadcast—a misleading story that revealed no inspiring, or genuine purpose in the scripted words echoing through American households. It was mocking performance that degraded the true existence of the benevolent, tenacious and unyielding Brooklyn soldier she loved.
"I suppose this will be our last goodbye, my darling…" she paused, hitching out abated exhale, a prick of tears dispersed from her dismal brown eyes, rolling aimlessly over her ivory features; her resolve settled intently on the glass vial. "I wanted to teach you how to dance, to be brave when you falter, but I guess we'll have to wait a little bit longer, Captain…"
There wasn't much time. Pulsating fire rippled in her veins; she held the rifle in tight grip, standing in the light as the echoes of chaos matched the thunder growing inside her heart.
Driven the unexpected surge of temperate desire; Peggy was immobilize only for a vague moment; staring at him pacing forward to meet her. His steps carried determination and unfaltering ease, the royal blue uniform revealed the definition of his muscles, as his towering presence approached her with tentative and fierce gleam evident in his crystal azure eyes. He was so close to grasp, a mere inch, and yet the moment seemed far away.
Holding her guard, Peggy refused to allow Steve to see her betrayal of emotions across over her ivory features; she kept her posture firm and unyielding, summoning all her strength to hold on her unbreakable, hell-bent defiance and face the captain without unveiling the wrenching truth of her love for him.
As he somehow detected the raving storm clashing against her heart, Steve moved one step closer, and she inhaled the scent of fresh evergreen and his masculine strength wafting off him. The fullness of his lips curved into a grace of a smirk, creating indents on his cheek as his squared jaw clenched during the momentary duel of breathing the other's unspoken desires.
His adjoining stare never left hers, as the bunker's lights cast over his youthful brave face. She wanted to him tell everything, give Steve all her unspoken confessions when she found resonance welled in his searing blue irises, and they parallel as the exceptions of the mission left them hostage -tangled in a paradox of sacrifice and acceptance. It was just a brief lapse of time of feeling the uncertain dream that give them enough kindles of inspiring hope to carry on the fight.
Peggy had pretend to believe that she was brave enough to face the aftermath of the battle-even though she had an inkling that time was playing a cruel game; regardless, she had to put all her trust, faith and love into Captain America, as he now was carrying the fate of world on his shoulders.
Steve was America's secret weapon to use against the HYDRA army; but to Peggy and James 'Bucky' Barnes, he had been the same little fighter that never back away when fists pummeled him to the ground. Beyond the assertive and fierce mantle of the super-soldier; Steve Rogers would always exist by the truth he carried in his heart, the will of determination that flowed in his veins- and the faith that made him do the impossible.
Without saying a word, Steve placed his gloved hand on her shoulder with a gentle ease, gripping the leather of her bomber jacket, and he looked steadily into allure remaining leaden in her jeweled eyes. Finally, Peggy slowly parted her crimson lips, and reminded him that he had a mission to finish.
When her urgent words registered; Steve quickly veered his head to the direction of airplane hangar, and he breathlessly heaved out, "Right..."
He'd left Peggy in a heartbeat; leaving her standing in the middle of the bunker as HYDRA soldiers passed her like flickering shadows, and the gleam of his shield pierced the vacant darkness.
A stab of severe, idyllic misery twinged in her heart; penetrating and forcing torrents of arising guilt to bleed out of her. "One day when the value of my life fades, I will find you waiting for me, Steve, and we will share that one dance."
Feeling the prick of tears swell in her coffee orbs; Peggy tilted her head skyward; allowing the biting gusts wind to sweep away the remnants of her unadulterated, and immense pain; she had become a captive inside weaves of utmost despair. She was barely gripping onto reserves of unbridled strength that coursed in her veins, while she held onto his prominence for a little while longer; her steady pulse was beating against the encasing glass securing his blood-her life line.
Somehow, it felt like she was terminating him through her reluctant decision of giving him away; she had wished that Steve was still alive; venturing with determined, paces of ambled steps through the snowy landscape, holding his brass compass, and following the spinning arrow that would point him back home.
Breathing in the salty air, holding her tears back, Peggy finally unfastened the cap, and with a shaky release of her hand; she commanded every fiber of her body to finish the task. She would possess his legacy, the worth of power and true measures of strength, valor and integrity and valor that didn't exist inside a bottle.
Tipping the vial with firm ease, the purest blood sample of Captain America made its slow descent, meandering into the gentle November breeze, each drop was followed by her repetitive tears. For an intangible and shattering moment, when she felt threadbare of pain scraping down her throat, Peggy composedly steered her watery eyes, and she watched the visages of maroon pour into the river, knowing it would dissolve just like the steadiness of icy driblets of rain.
Resumed dreams of sharing a life with him became vague, distant throbs that lanced into her restrained heart. It was the final cut, a fulfilled promise that she had embraced, and when she felt the rising light of dawn laved over her delicate, chilled features; Peggy stood reformed and prepared to face the new day, remaining pacific of her choice, and looked at the rushes of current greeting the open sea.
With a calm assured whisper, Peggy listened to the tempo of the music wavering in the air and deeply knew with a swell of irrational hop that she would see the love of her life again. "For now, I will find you in my dreams, Captain Steven Rogers."
When the daylight hours faded through the windows of Stark mansion, and the vast array of her despondent thoughts were restored by certain vows, Peggy slowly drifted into peaceful currents of her cherished dreams. She followed each of the ripples that morph in size with the abiding percussion of urging her heartbeat. Her soul chased the soft echoes of the band music lulling her to take dare and grasp his hand that pulled her halfway, between now and forever into a place where ghosts of the past danced forever.
The signaling light pierced through summer haze, as waves bashed against the peaks of stone, mounting a lighthouse parallel to the restless sea. Peggy was standing on a creaking wooden dock boards on the edge of the shoreline; heat lightning flickered in the distance as the rolling tide caught reflections of candle light.
She was utterly alone in the ambiance of soften light, her graceful curves hugged against a scarlet dress; she was dressed for a midnight dance and waiting for her partner to lead her through the gentle tempo resounding from a cruise ship floating away into veils of obscurity.
It didn't seem real to her, just small glimpse of time that wasn't stolen by day's grief and lost desires that had burned out when her tears fell.
Before Peggy took another step, her ivory skin became eclipsed by a towering shadow; she refused to turn around and face her doubts, it was the same dream replaying the hopelessness that the constant, residing ache in her heart devoured when she tried to reconnect herself to foolish wish.
Taking a risk, Peggy permitted herself to face the illusion, only for second darkness blurred her resolve as his densely, sculpted muscular form stepped through the flecks of amber light shining in her brown eyes.
"Steve..." she gasped, compelling herself to stare into his wintry eyes-the fierce embers of azure that held an everlasting promise of his love to her. He wore his spangled, royal blue uniform; the graphite helmet tightly clutched in his gloved hand. She noticed that his ashen-blond hair was spiked with a disarray of tresses hooding his slacken brow as his evened, abashed stare mirrored her longing gaze.
In that moment of listening to the thunderous paces of his heart, Steve discarded his helmet and Peggy watched his blue eyes swell with tears when he shifted his weight closer to her; steadying his hand through the mass over her chocolate ringlets draped over her shoulders."Peggy..." the young captain whispered in low rumble of heated breath, and there was undisguised submission evident in his baritone. She traced the squared edge of his broad jaw line; sliding over his ageless skin with delicate caress of her poised thumb. "Would you share this dance with me?" he asked timidly, swallowing down a lump in his throat, offering her his opened palm.
"I thought you never ask, Captain," Peggy intoned a breathless reply, with a coax of an enticing smile tugging across her red lips, and Steve pulled her firmly against him. They slowly interlocked their fingers into secured clasp as the warmth of their palms merged together.
Peggy restrained her building tears, feeling the rhythmic pull lead her into cradle of his arm, and she placed her hand on his shoulder, and locked herself against the planes of his solid torso. "Has it been a long time, my darling?" she whispered silently, resting her head against his pectoral, and felt weightless as he swayed her still body with soothing, tender rock of his slender hips. She lifted her head to the side of his head, feeling the tentative brush of his plush lips against the curve of her jaw.
"It doesn't matter, I'm dancing with my best girl," Steve said, coils of his breath stroked over her beautiful lips, as she felt the pulse of heat solidifying against the swell of her untouched flesh.
In a silent, riddled accord Peggy tilted her head up slightly; meeting his urging lips and melted them with fervid pressure of her slow, passionate kiss as their fused mouths collided and their bleeding hearts soared.
They absorbed every moment of their dance—completely lost in a different time—a different world—not tainted by their faults and regrets, just an endless dream where Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter could be equal partners forever.
The End.