Hey everyone! This is my first fanfic for Agent Carter and my first Peggy/Jarvis story (gosh! I love these two so much) and well I hope you all enjoy it! There's no real canon connection to any specific episode but it does take place during the first half of season 1! ^_^
A/N: I don't own anything, Marvel owns everything.
Their first kiss was a bit awkward, but not entirely unwarranted since it was Peggy's quick thinking which had possibly saved their lives. She and Jarvis had snuck into the Opera House on Broadway Street in an attempt to secure one of Howard's inventions; but when they'd discovered SSR Agents patrolling the auditorium, specifically Agents Thompson and Yauch, Peggy had retreated to the projector room which was thankfully empty. It was there then, did they encounter more trouble while searching for any clues to pinpoint where this mysterious package could be located. The door had been left open with Jarvis posted outside to be on the lookout for any signs of imminent danger and when he heard the first whispers of a conversation floating up the staircase, Jarvis entered the room and swiftly closed the door without making a noise.
"Miss Carter, I do believe we might have company headed our way." He was a little apprehensive about this mission, it seemed unlikely that Mr. Stark would use morse-code to communicate with them, but all of their previous efforts had been successful which in turn meant that this venture could be fruitful.
"It's not Thompson is it? I still haven't found this 'box' that Howard mentioned in his telegram." Peggy huffed as she moved several discarded cardboard boxes aside, not even sure what she was looking for.
"I cannot be certain that it was Agent Thompson but we must hurry, they could be here any minute." Jarvis looked around the room, wondering how anything could be hidden here if everything was already thrown out or left behind, completely empty.
Just then, the shuffle of footsteps outside the projector room could be heard quite clearly; within the next few seconds, the door-knob would turn and open to reveal Peggy and Jarvis to whomever was on the other side of that door. Dropping everything that she had in her hands, Peggy crossed the room to a second door, beckoning for Jarvis to follow suit. As soon as he closed this door behind them, to reveal that they were inside a... broom closet... the first door could be heard being opened. For several long moments, the two of them waited with bated breaths in the dark, confined space as they tried to determine if it was the SSR Agents in the main room. The loud voice of a stranger suddenly broke through the silence as someone yelled at a second man about the mess everywhere and ordered a clean up immediately before the door was slammed again.
"He's coming here." Jarvis sounded panicky as he and Peggy both realized at the same time that whoever was supposed to 'clean up' would have to take supplies from inside the closet where they were hiding in.
"Yes I suppose he is." As always, Peggy was much more calmer and composed in the face of danger, even if it wasn't SSR outside... whoever was going to open the door to this broom closet would find them and that would be potentially problematic for everyone.
Taking only a split second to make the decision about what she could do to prevent anything from going wrong on this mission of hers, Peggy glanced up to see Jarvis who was mere inches away from her.
"Kiss me." She said to him, much to the man's bewilderment; it may have been dark but Peggy swore she could see his eyes widening in surprise at her suggestion.
"I... I beg your pardon Miss Carter?" He wasn't certain that he'd heard her correctly. Surely she hadn't asked him to kiss her?
"Mr. Jarvis," Peggy's tone changed to one he recognized all too well, "Kiss me now." It was an order and not a request.
Somehow he was still too stupefied by her words to comprehend and act on them; Jarvis simply froze up. And unfortunately, at that very exact moment, the door-knob began to jangle. Without wasting another second of their time, Peggy reached up and grabbed him by the tie as she pulled him down, their lips crashing together in a hurried frenzy, with Jarvis barely managing to move his hands towards her waist but not touching... yet. A loud exclaim of anger from the other side of the door broke them apart as they heard the second man complain about the broom closet being locked followed by a grumbling that he would have to go and get the key from his manager.
"We should get out of here before he comes back." Stepping behind to bump against one of the shelves, Peggy quickly fixed her hair, trying not to pay attention to the thumping of her heart as it hammered against her chest.
"Ahem... Miss Carter... I... I think I know where Mr. Stark's mysterious box is." Jarvis was possibly turning red as he tried to process what had just happened, but his attempt at pointedly avoiding Peggy's gaze had led him to stumble upon an interesting looking object on the shelves above her head; the fact that it glowed seemed to suggest it was precisely what they were here for.
"Are you..." Peggy frowned a little as she turned around to see where Jarvis had indicated their mysterious and elusive item was. Oh. I see." She added, when she looked up and saw the glowing box; whoever chose to stash this in here clearly didn't want anyone to be able to even reach it since the topmost shelf was extremely high above her.
"If I may?" Taking a step forward towards Peggy, Jarvis knew that he was tall enough to simply reach his hand up and grab the box so they could leave, hopefully before that cleaning boy returned.
Peggy simply nodded as she moved to the side, closer to the wall, keeping a little distance between herself and Jarvis. She knew that they had precious little moments left to retrieve this item and make their way out of the Opera House in time for her to make it back to the Griffith before curfew.
It was the second kiss which made her start to think. Really think. And that was disconcerting. This kiss turned out to be the unexpected one, but definitely what had saved their lives as opposed to the first kiss which was more of a trial run if she was being honest with herself. As she and Jarvis were trapped inside that broom closet in the Opera House for no longer than 10 minutes, their stoke of good luck ran out the second he'd grabbed a hold of Howard's latest invention and handed it over to her for safe-keeping; she'd barely been able to slide it inside her handbag when the locked door had finally been opened by the cleaning boy who'd returned.
Seemingly reacting on pure instinct and better prepared this time, Jarvis had slid his arms around her waist and quickly kissed her again as they were discovered by a flustered teenager and his manager; the latter had immediately interrupted their 'moment' by clearing his throat as he politely explained to them that sneaking around in the projector room was forbidden and escorted them outside. Once again, neither of the two said anything about the kiss, but simply resumed their conversation as if nothing had happened.
"Miss Carter, do you have the item with you?" Jarvis inquired as he held the lobby doors open for her; other than the fact that they weren't meeting each other's gazes, he focused his thoughts on what was most important.
"Yes. Yes, it's safe." Peggy was a little distracted, but glanced at her bag once to show Jarvis that she did have what they'd come for.
"Very well, to the Griffith then." He wondered if he should have phrased that sentence as a question but pushed that thought out of his mind without even realizing it.
Once they were in the car, Peggy was glad for the silence that filled the air all around them as Jarvis drove her towards the hotel without saying anything. Her thoughts were scattered and she wasn't quite sure why; what he had done back there was no different than her first attempt at creating a reasonable explanation as to why they were locked inside a broom closet. And yet, yet... the second kiss had been much more... like a kiss than their first. Peggy clearly remembered the way Jarvis' hands had felt; strong and firm but at the same time, also very gentle. Not to mention her own hands had somehow found themselves tangled up in his hair as he'd deepened the kiss to make it appear more believable. If that wasn't surprising enough, Peggy was startled out of her reverie when she remembered her friend Angie's words just then.
"What about Mr. Fancy... Nice suit, nice car, nice shoulders." Angie had obviously seen Jarvis at the Automat before and the comment was nothing more than a tease on her friend's behalf which happened weeks ago, so why was Peggy recalling that moment now?
The kisses were nothing more than a distraction to keep their mission intact and Howard's invention safe from prying eyes; She had only done what was needed in that situation just as he did the same, merely a few minutes later. Then how was it that her heart was still racing and her mind feeling conflicted? The man was married to someone else. Happily married. Peggy couldn't afford to be thinking such things when Jarvis was simply her... her what exactly she didn't know. Bodyguard seemed unlikely to be true, companion was too formal, partner... partner-in-crime perhaps? He was more than an acquaintance since she trusted him a lot and cared for his safety, but was he just a friend? Did she really need a label to this working relationship of theirs? It would be better for both of them if she did; labels meant boundaries and boundaries meant lines that couldn't or shouldn't be crossed... but what if they already had crossed a line and couldn't go back? Why was she thinking so much about something that shouldn't have meant anything? Or perhaps it did?
If Peggy was deep in thoughts about all that had occurred between her and Jarvis only a little time ago, she wasn't the only one. Even though he kept his eyes on the road ahead of them as he drove towards the Griffith Hotel in silence, Jarvis couldn't help himself but think about what he'd done... what they both had done. The gold band on his left hand was glaring in the street lamps and headlights as if to remind him something that he'd forgotten, something he had ignored, something he had... betrayed. Despite all that, when Jarvis stole a glance in the direction of the woman sitting beside him, he realized one very important detail; there was something he hadn't ever revealed to anyone, not even Howard Stark who had employed his services or Peggy Carter who was an extraordinary woman in every sense of the word, but perhaps it was time.
"Miss Carter?" Jarvis finally ended the silence which had built up for far too long already; they were near the Griffith and he figured that it was better to say what he had to sooner rather than later.
"Mr. Jarvis, there's something... there's something I must say." Peggy suddenly interrupted him; she didn't know what she was doing, but if the erratic heartbeats were anything to go by, her next words were probably going to be just as dangerous as any situation she'd found herself in ever since this crusade to prove Howard innocent.
"Of course." He kept his answer curt, wondering what it was that she had to tell him.
When he heard Peggy speak again, Jarvis was perplexed and taken aback and confused, all at once. He understood what she said much faster than he had anything else that night; but at the same time, as he focused on those words, it was harder for him to make sense of the strange feeling that began to rise up within his chest. A feeling that, if he chose to think about would eventually be described as a growing darkness... a hidden desire... a forbidden temptation.
That temptation was the source of both their actions which followed through later that night when Peggy set foot inside a familiar bedroom; the car had turned away from her original destination at the Griffith when she told Jarvis that she was well past her curfew and asked him to take her to Howard's penthouse. Peggy couldn't even sneak into her hotel room if she had tried, and although she simply stated that the hour was terribly late as her reasoning, there was a part of herself which dared to simply choose not to go back. Not until she faced what had happened at the Opera House; the knock on her door was what she had been waiting for.
"Come in." Her voice was strangely calm, and considering how nervous she felt, Peggy began to wonder if this was something she really wanted to do.
She had already changed into a night-gown and robe which she'd left behind the last time she had stayed the night. The door was unlocked already, as Jarvis stood at the threshold of her bedroom, his jacket discarded and tie loosened, but he made no move to enter.
"You wanted to see me Miss Carter?" He asked, trying to sound as formal as he could; this was something he hadn't anticipated when hearing Peggy requesting him to drive her here. At the same time, he knew what she wanted to talk to him about now and also knew what was being left unspoken.
"Yes, I did." She knew that maybe this was wrong, but maybe there was also a part of her which knew without a doubt that it was right; Peggy just needed to know what Jarvis had to say for himself.
"Is there something I can do for you?" Jarvis decided that he was going to step inside the room at last, locking the door behind him and waited patiently for Peggy's next orders.
Whatever Peggy had been waiting for, that was certainly not something she was expecting from Jarvis. As soon as she heard the lock clicking, her head snapped up to stare at him and when she saw him walking across the room, closer to where she stood, Peggy could feel her heart racing again... the only difference was that she didn't feel scared, but instead... that last thought was left incomplete when Jarvis suddenly stopped in front of her, just an inch away from her and took a hold of her hands in his. He had chosen to show Peggy what his secret was instead of telling it and as she looked down, she finally understood; his hands were bare... there was no ring... this was who he was... the real Edwin Jarvis.
"Yes. You can kiss me." Peggy finally answered his question, meeting his gaze with a small smile playing on her lips.
"I would be honored to." Was all he said before he kissed her for the third time that night. This may not have been a kiss to save each other, but as Jarvis carried Peggy in his arms to the bed, it was the kiss which changed their lives forever.
So... reviews please?