"Why do you keep that photo of Steve Rogers in your desk?" Daniel couldn't help himself. He was dying to know, but he thought he probably should have warmed up to that question. Ever have any beloved pets killed before your eye? Any nightmares you want to tell me about? Shall I rip out your fingernails for you? Suddenly Daniel thought that he'd made a terrible mistake.

But for whatever reason, Peggy didn't shut him down. In fact, she almost seemed to want to tell him. She looked out across the restaurant, not meeting his eyes and began to speak before Daniel could try to pull himself out of the hole that he was certain he'd just dug for himself.

"I suppose it's because it's the only part of Steve that I can have to myself. No one talks about what kind of man he was before he was treated with the serum. They focus on what he could do after he'd been changed into the mighty Captain America. But I still remember his as Steve, the scrawny young man, shorter than I, who fought for what he thought was right even before he had the power to do anything.

"Did you know that he pretended to be from five different places to try and get enlisted?" Daniel shook his head.

She continued. "Five different tries, five times rejected. 4F every time. He just wouldn't give up trying to do what he thought was right.

"He fought people twice his size for disrespecting the men fighting the war and upsetting the family they left behind. He maybe hadn't made the wisest choices, but even as a scrawny sickly young man they seemed like the only right thing to do.

"All he wanted to do was his part. When given the chance to do more he jumped at it and volunteered for a program that could just have easily killed him as transformed his body as successfully as it did. Everyone in the country has a claim on Captain America. He's got radio programs and posters and costumes in shops. But I feel like I'm the only one who has Steve. If I don't remember him as who he was before the serum than that part of him will be lost."

Her voice was wistful but her eyes were clear. Whatever feelings she harboured for Steve Rogers were in check.

"I'll never forget him at boot camp - this was before he had been chosen to take the serum for Project Rebirth. He was trying to keep up with some of the biggest brutes you'd ever seen."

Peggy smiled, as if she were already remembering the punchline of the story. "We challenged the recruits to retrieve the flag at the top of a thirty foot flag pole. Steve stood back and watched as twenty men scrambled over themselves like rats escaping a ship trying to claw their way up the slick metal. Once they had been called off, he simply walked up to the pole, pulled the pin at the bottom and let the pole fall down. He figured out the smart way to do it, not the way that involved brute strength.

"That's what made him so much different from the other men. He never had strength, so he had to figure out how to solve problems without it. That's why when he was given the strength he was smarter about how to use it. There's a reason he liked the shield - it gave him the extra moment that he needed to figure out how to do something the best way rather than the most forceful way."

Daniel had always admired Captain America, but in an abstract kind of way. To hear about him as Steve Rogers rather than as Captain America was pretty fascinating. He could understand now why Peggy kept that photo. Steve Rogers was the man - Captain America was the idol. Some women were drawn to an idol, but Daniel was smart enough to realize that a woman like Peggy would have cared more for the man behind the shield.

"I can't imagine why I'm telling you all this." Peggy focused on her untouched pie on the table in front of her. "I suppose I really did need a friend at the office."

Daniel thought he could understand the sentiment. The secrecy was hard for the agents, but at least among themselves they could talk about their jobs and their issues. He could image that it was much more difficult for Peggy. It was a matter of employment that no one know exactly what they did. She obviously had no one she could talk to about anything outside of work. He had trouble with Thompson and Krzeminski, but the other agents were okay to him and treated him reasonably well, even if they did tend to underestimate him. Peggy really was alone.

Not only was she alone, but she had gone from a woman of action to a Agent in name only and a glorified secretary in actuality. It must be incredibly difficult for her.

Daniel finally spoke again. "You two were close." It was a statement, not a question. As soon as the words crossed his lips Daniel prepared for a withering glance and a cold shoulder, but Peggy must have known that his was well intentioned and she continued to speak.

"Yes, we were close. It was a hard time for everyone - no time for much more than pleasantries in passing. Steve hadn't had much luck with women in the past and now he was the idol of every girl in uniform and civvies." She chuckled. "He wasn't really used to the attention. He handled it as well as he could manage, I suppose."

This time Daniel kept his mouth shut. Peggy continued.

"Did I love him?" Sousa wondered if she could read his thoughts. He wouldn't dare have asked that question out loud. "Yes, I did. But everything happened so fast there was never a chance for us to be together. Everything was waiting for the war to be over - for the fighting to stop long enough for us to have a dance. And that never happened." She sighed.

"Steve Rogers was the best man I knew, but he's not the only good man in this world. I can't pine away for something that never was and never will be." At this point Daniel thought she had forgotten he was even there. She seemed to be talking mostly to herself. It seemed to be doing her good.

But then she pulled herself out of her haze and focused once more on the man sitting across from her in rapt attention.

"And what about you, Daniel?" Daniel. It sounded nice when she said it. Peggy rarely called him Daniel. Had she ever before tonight? "I've shared my tale of woe with you, please tell me yours."