It was supposed to be just a normal night hanging out with other S.S.R colleagues after the day shift. After working so hard for the last two years, Peggy had won the respect of most agents in S.S.R and now they were even considering her the third in the line, after the Chief and agent Jack Thompson. Agent Thompson actually helped a lot for her fight to earn the spot in S.S.R. He had given her a lot of chances to prove her abilities and never shy to give her deserved credits in front of everyone. However, peace never existed long enough for this line of business. When they walked out the bar towards the cars, the nearest car exploded and Peggy was immediately put down to the ground while someone shielded her with his own body. The explosion was so loud that Peggy could barely hear anything. She felt the person who covered her started standing up so she could also get up from the ground and turn around to see who helped her. It was agent Thompson and he did not look well. His face was pale and there were stream of blood dripping down from both of his ears.

"Are you OK, Carter?" Thompson's face suddenly changed from worried to a mixture of happy and sad.

"I am fine. What about you? You look pale." Peggy started to worry about Thompson especially after seeing his face changed. She felt he realized something bad was happening to him and it was somehow related to her.

"Glad you are fine. I am just…" Thompson started falling down to the ground before he even finished the sentence. Peggy managed to catch him and noticed his back was soaked with blood.

"Agent Sousa, we need to get him to the hospital. Now!"

5 minutes later, they arrived at the closest hospital and Thompson was hurried into the operation room. Peggy felt tensed and uneasy. Something bad would happen. She started pacing around the waiting room and tried to calm down, but instead she was more nervous. Her intuition was screaming at her something was not right, but she did not know the cause. The last time she felt so helpless was when Steve decided to crash into ice.

"Carter, can you stop pacing? You made me nervous, too"

"Sorry, Chief. I just feel something was quite off, but I do not know what makes me feel like this."

"Thompson is a badass. He has survived the war and he definitely will survive this bomb attack."

"I know he will live. I saw him being hurt worse before, but the way his face changed just made me uneasy. He seemed to know something vital but I do not know it yet."

"Relax, Carter. He will be fine, so are you."

5 hours had passed and the surgery was still on. Peggy had a bad feeling that Thompson would never be the same guy again. He had changed a lot since they first met. At first, He was a sexist jerk who always took advantage of others and only cared about promotion. With more and deeper interactions, he started to loosen up of the badass cover and revealed his secrets and insecurities to Peggy. He became her biggest ally and supporter in S.S.R. He was the first one that believed her story about Howard Stark and helped her clear the reputation for both.

Agent Sousa came whispering to the Chief and Peggy saw Chief changed to his "you-are-so-dead" face. She knew they probably discovered some important leads.

"Carter, Sousa can stay here if you want to come with us."

"No, I want to stay. He did save me."

"OK, but do not blame yourself, blame the criminals who did this to us. We will catch this son of bitch. Nobody can hurt my agents!"

Another hour had passed before Thompson was finally pushed out the operation room. His face was even paler than before, which worried Peggy more.

"How is he? He looks so pale."

"If patient remind stable for the next 24 hours, he should be dischargeable after another 2-3 weeks bed rest."

"But?"

"Patient's ears have suffered from the big vibration of the explosion and both eardrums have shattered. Currently we do not have any method to fix this problem. Some doctors have suggested tympanoplasty as a potential cure, but no one has done this before."

"So he is deaf now?"

"Patient will suffer from hearing loss, however we have some newer and smaller hearing aid coming up this year. I actually know a few products that can be hid inside the pocket and they are not much more expensive than the previous version. If you need, I can provide you all the necessary information."

"How much hearing will he have, with and without the new hearing aid?"

"Without the hearing aid, probably not more than 15%. With the hearing aid, maybe 25%-40%. It all depends on the product you choose."

"What does all this mean?"

"It means he will have trouble hearing soft and moderate speeches if background noise exists. In the worst scenario, he will have trouble hearing loud speeches and understand them. I am not an expert in this field. I suggest you find a specialist after the patient is discharged."

After following the nurse pushed Thompson into his room, Peggy sat by his bedside. Until now she found out her hand was shaking. After seeing so many death of close allies in the front line, she should get used to situation like this, but apparently she did not handle this news well. She asked herself-why? Why was she so panic about Thompson getting hurt and lose his hearing? She should feel relieved because he was still alive after all. It may be because Thompson was the first one who actually decided to save her from the mess and she felt responsible for his current situation. But this answer did not seem right or not enough to answer the question. The sun started rising from horizon and someone will be here soon to exchange her spot. Peggy needed to figure out a proper way to tell this news to Chief and everyone in S.S.R. Or maybe she should not tell anyone before Thompson knew this? Maybe Thompson should be the one making the announcement? Peggy looked at Thompson's relaxed face and she could not image his reaction upon hearing this information.