Scenarios
A/N: As of right now, I have no new plots for this series, so it will be a while before I post anything more. But if you have any ideas send them my way, I am always open for prompts.
Also, please let me know what you think, which of these was your favorite or what you would like to see more of.
This chapter was inspired by booboo12361015 who requested a spin-off from one of my Moment's chapters: 'instead of grandmas piping in (to long distance phone calls) it would be kids'
Enjoy ; )
Family, That Came to Be
Summer 1957
4PM in New Jersey, USA / 9PM in Casablanca, Morocco
"So how was your flight?"
"Long, cramped," she replied wearily even as she kicked off her shoes and wiggled her tired and sore toes.
"And the hotel?" Jack inquired curiously, although from the hint of sympathy that she was detecting even over their tenuous connection he probably already suspected what her temporary living conditions were like.
Fanning herself, Peggy answered with a resigned sigh, "It has not yet installed those new-fangled cooling units. It is almost unbearably hot and muggy even this late at night."
She was in Casablanca to meet up with a 'friend' of a 'friend' (after a week of turning over every rock he was known to have crawled under) who just might have some much needed intel on Hydra's movements in the region; and as they had no S.H.I.E.L.D. branch office set up in that region, she was also there to recruit a few more local eyes and ears. She was predicting that the Middle East and North Africa were going to be a hot beds of unrest and terrorist activity for several decades to come.
"How are the kids?" Although she had good reason to be here and it was nice to have a break from her 'mummy' role, Peggy was already terribly missing her terrible babes. Michael was a toddler now, nearly potty trained and growing so fast and Ellie was ever the wandering explorer and resident know-it-all even though she had yet to even start kindergarten.
"Oh, they're fine. Determined to rack up the water bill by wanting to run through the sprinklers all day. I had them attempt to give Dog a bath."
"How did that go?" she asked, smiling to herself as she could well imagine.
"Wet," was his dry and equally amused response.
"Is that Mummy?" a high-pitched voice chirped in the background.
"Yes, it is, Monkey. Do you want to say hello?"
"Hi, Mummy!" chirped her daughter rather loudly, and Peggy could just picture her snatching the receiver close to her mouth, just as she did with her anytime they were talking with either one of Ellie's sets of grandparents. "Did Daddy tell you that Michael got a marble stuck up his nose?"
"No…" she answered slowly and evenly, not wanting to indicate to her daughter if this bit of news had gotten Jack into trouble or not – either because Jack getting into trouble was exactly what mischief-making Ellie was hoping for or because this is what her daughter did not want and she did not want Ellie to become upset at the idea. "How did that happen?"
"He put it there," was Ellie's matter-of-fact explanation.
Hoping she was keeping her amusement out of her voice and suspecting she was failing miserably, she replied, "He did, did he?"
"Yeah," her daughter answered with a giggle, and then over Jack's muttered "tattle-tale", Ellie prattled excitedly, "Oh! Oh! And I think Goldie is rein- reincar- is Jesus born-again!"
It took her a full minute to process this abrupt change of topic and quite frankly bizarre statement before she could respond. Eventually, she managed to ask, "You think Goldie the Fish is Jesus reincarnated?"
"Yeah, after church I saws him, and he was floatin' upside down in his tank, and now 3 days-es later he be swimmin' again and even golder-er than b'fore."
She was saved from having to come up with a response to this by Jack's quiet prompt: "Alright, Monkey, speakin' of Goldie, have you fed him today?"
"Oops. I gots-to-go, Mummy. Wuv you!"
"Love you too, sweetie!" she called out to her daughter, who was no doubt already halfway across the kitchen to complete her forgotten chore.
When she was sure it was just the two of them on the phone again, she prompted dryly, "So marble up the nose, huh?"
There was a brief pause, and then Jack admitted with a reluctant, aggrieved, and guilty sigh, "Yeah," before hastening to add, "But Doc Petersen was able to get it out in a flash. No fuss, no muss other than a few tears and lots of snot. And I am already writing a thank-you card to Anna Jarvis for her bail on the new fish. I hadn't thought Ellie saw him belly-up before I did and was able to make the switch."
"Hmmm…sounds like you have things well in hand."
And he really did. She couldn't blame him for not wanting to tell her all of that while she was away, especially since she had struggled so hard with the idea of being so far away from them in the first place.
"Yeah," he agreed proudly, but he was also quick to add with just a hint of the desperation only a father with two very young kids on his hands could have, "But come home soon. I am not touching the subjects of white lies, death, and religion all on my lonesome."
~A~
Spring 1962
7:30AM in New Jersey, USA / 8:30PM in Seoul, Korea
"So have you got him convinced yet?" Peggy asked him hopefully.
'Him' was Richard Dickerson (and yes, his Pacific unit, like a bunch of middle-schoolers, had way too much fun with that unfortunate name). 'Double Dick' was completing his last tour for the Navy, and Jack had been sent to Seoul, Korea to recruit him to join S.H.I.E.L.D. so that he could be their local agent there. He was sharp-witted, observant, and had that excellent ability to make friends anywhere (and so was not as much of an asshole as his nickname might suggest and thus quite the asset).
"Not yet. He's got a few other offers he is considering," he admitted with an annoyed grumble. His famed 'silver-tonged' wiles were taking too damn long to produce results in his opinion and judging by the hint of longing he was hearing in Peggy's voice, hers too.
Trying not to sound as defeated as he was suddenly feeling (because overall he was far from ready to throw in the towel), he added more confidently, "But I think since we want to keep him here to utilize his local connections, he'll bite."
"Oh yeah? What's the bait?"
Smirking to himself, he shared his personal theory, "I think he's got a local girl on the side. At least that is what he hinted at when he invited me out to a dinner and a show for tomorrow night."
"If you're right, we'll need to do a background check on her. I don't want a new recruit coming into the fold already compromised."
"Ten-four," he agreed equably as he recognized the necessity for it, but he couldn't help but unhappily point out, "But that will extend my stay here."
"I know." Her answering sigh was filled with as much longing as he felt.
Their shared miserable silence was broken by their seven year old son's excited voice in the background: "Mumsy, is that Daddy on the phone?"
There was a muffled side conversation and then: "Hey, Dad, when are you coming home?"
Ah, the question of the hour.
"Hey, little man, it should be soon," he assured with more brightness than he felt. "Are the girls driving you crazy yet?"
"No, but Mumsy is going crazy. And my first game is next week. I don't want you to miss it."
"I'll be there. Don't you worry," he quickly reassured. Even if he had to call in one of his IOUs for Stark to use his private jet, he would be there. "But, Michael, why is your mother going crazy?"
He knew Peggy missed him, but was 'crazy' a seven year-old's exaggeration or was something else more serious going on?
Quite matter-of-factly Michael answered, "Oh, she misses you lots. She stays up late reading reports 'cause she can't sleep."
"Oh well, if that is the case, then you and Ellie are going to have to give her lots of extra hugs for me."
"Oh, we do." And Jack was sure that they did. Michael got especially clingy when either one of them was away for an extensive period of time. Jack would be more concerned about this, but he was pretty sure that this reaction would fade away the closer he got to his adolescent years.
"And tonight," Michael crowed with such excitement that he could practically picture the boy bouncing in the chair by the phone, "we're going to have a big campout sleep over in the backyard to watch the star shower! That way Mumsy can take a break and not be a she-grouch."
Trying not to laugh, Jack kept his response to a minimal, "Hmmm… sounds like a plan."
As soon as he got Peggy back on the phone, he asked dryly, "So you are letting the kids stay up to watch the meteor shower tonight?"
She was always going on about the importance of 'keeping to the routine' when she was away 'for the sake of consistency and stability'. But when he was away…
"Yeah, it's not a school night," Peggy defended.
"And it's for the sake of your sanity?" He couldn't help but tease. He wondered which one of his two charmers came up with that justification when they argued with their mother to bend her rules for this special occasion.
"Apparently," she acknowledged with a chuckle. "I think certain someones with big ears have been overhearing certain other someones' big mouth complaints that I am 'all-work and no-play'," she noted in her tone of voice that was especially reserved for Howard Stark.
Even without that tone, he would have known it was Stark making the complaint, as Peggy's usual tolerance for her friend's shenanigans infamously disappeared when she was juggling work and being alone with the kids.
He chose the better part of valor and wisely did not comment, observing, "We are going to have to be really careful to ensure that we don't have little con artists in the making who use our emotions against us."
"Ha! Don't I know it."
There was a knock on his door, and he knew that his ride to the embassy shindig was here. Reluctantly, he said, "I got to go, but, Peggy?"
"Yes?"
"I miss having to wrestle you for the blankets too."
And grinning like a buffoon, he hung up to her squawked protests about being a "blanket-hog".
~A~
Fall 1966
6:30PM in New Jersey, USA / 6:30PM in Nassau, Bahamas
"Mother, tell Dad he is being unreasonable! He's got us locked down like – like inmates in one of those super-secret prisons of yours!"
"Now be fair, Ellie," Jack interjected coolly before she could respond. "You're the only one that is grounded, as you are the only one who attempted to sneak out past curfew."
"Is this true, Ellie?"
The only response she heard was a mumbled something that ran along the lines of 'party' at some Brad's or Chris's house.
Taking that as a yes, she unsympathetically chided her 13 year-old daughter, stating quite firmly, "Well, tough then."
Before she could protest, Peggy added, "And if your attitude and behavior does not change – that includes trying to play your father and me against each other or butting into our private conversations to do so as well as any further attempts at a 'jailbreak' – the door will come off your room and bars will be put on your window and I will assign a probie agent to tail your every move."
This threat of hers was met with momentary dead silence, but when it was broken there were no protestations that 'she wouldn't dare', only a huffed and resentful: "Fine. Whatever. Enjoy the Bahamas, Mother."
And then there was decided click as she disconnected the upstairs phone from the call.
"You know – not that I am complaining with the worse cop to my bad cop routine and all because, sweetheart, you are something fierce and I love you for it – but technically you can't use resources and personnel for personal reasons. I don't think even Howard would let you get by with that."
"Yeah well, she does not need to know that," she wearily pointed out, and then to change the subject from their independent-minded daughter and all the headaches that accompany raising a teenage girl she asked, "So how is Michael?"
"Spoiled."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, the little charmer and nerd has convinced my parents to take him to the World Expo three days in a row."
There was such an odd mixture of amusement, affection, and annoyance that she was not quite sure how to respond. Finally, she settled on a hesitant observation. "You sound…annoyed with that. I would think you would be relieved to have him out of the house while Ellie is in one of her moods."
"Oh, I am. It's just that I think I'm jealous."
Peggy scowled at the phone at this, since with voice alone she was not sure if he was pulling her leg or not. Taking the bait, because she had no other choice, she asked, "You want to go to the World Expo?"
"No. I get enough of that squint speech and jargon at work, even when I am no longer in the S.S.R.," he declared with an amused chuckle. Even more wryly and with far more bitter introspection than what was usual for him, he continued, "No, it's just that if I had displayed half the interest that Michael shows in science projects when I was growing up as he does, I think my parents would have disowned me."
Peggy knew how important it was to Jack's father for his son to uphold a certain kind of masculine image (oh how well she knew and her being her husband's boss was a great point of contention), so she made a small mew of sympathy at this insight into his upbringing, but with far less sympathy, she teased, "Well, look on the bright side, darling – if you think Ellie is unmanageable now, can you imagine what she would be like if my mother was there?"
There was yet another dead moment of silence and she could just picture his face screwing up into a grimace while he pictured that horrific image – shopping and enabling and spoiling and more shopping. Eventually, he managed to plead exasperatedly, "Please, Peg, don't give me ulcers."
Taking pity on him, she reported, "Well, I will be home soon. If there was a Hydra cell of operatives here, I am not finding any sign of them." And then because she could not resist, she added gleefully, "And then we can plot together how we will spoil our grandbabies one day."
In between all of his squawks and sputters, she was able to distinguish: "What the f– … Marge! I'm too young! ... She's too young! … I don't even want to think how – grandkids – Geez! You are one evil woman!"
"I know, but you love me anyways, don't you, Jack darling?" she wheedled.
"You know I do," was his grumbling reply.
After that the pair of them sat in silence, neither one of them wanting to say goodbye, but knowing that the sooner she wrapped up her investigation out here, the sooner she could come home, Peggy sighed, "I have to go."
"I know. I'll hold the fort down here, and all of its inmates will be hale, hearty, and whole for your return."
Peggy laughed at his wry twist to Ellie's complaints and rang off, content in the knowledge that he would keep that promise. He always did.
~A~
Late Summer 1946
6:45PM in New York City, USA / 11:45PM in London, England
"…You don't think I'd be setting myself up for failure, juggling a career and family?"
"Peggy, the only way you of all people would fail at that is if you didn't have a bloke who was 100% behind you and you didn't accept his help when he offered. If there is anything that I have learned to expect about you, is that you defy expectations…."
~A~
February 1953
10PM in a small town near Camp Lehigh base in New Jersey, USA
Standing over their newborn daughter Ellie's crib, Peggy voiced to Jack the question that was on her mind, whispering it into the dark:
"Jack? Do you think I'm crazy?"
After several years of marriage and many years of close partnership, Jack had learned to recognize a loaded question and not put his foot in it – or at least not irrecoverably. After a healthy moment of consideration, he eventually responded with a circumspect if slightly teasing:
"To be honest? Fifty percent of the time. But for what reason in particular?"
"For trying to be both the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and a mother."
"Crazy? No. Ambitious? Yes." When she continued to hug herself and gaze anxiously down at their little girl, Jack wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest, whispering confidently, "But you and me? We got this."
"You have my back?"
"Always."