"Now I feel like a jerk" Tony said, looking at the screen. Petra and Hulk had drifted to sleep after that emotional conversation. "Those two are playing the long game with no exhorting whatsoever for the relationship side of thing, and here I was thinking that one of them would turn it into a power play. It had a few questions that would make control easier, but no cruelty or pure self-interest whatsoever"
"She kind of did" Natasha said, thinking about a few things there that struck a chord with her. "The conditions that she gave are things that Hulk is now going to be doing his best to provide on the chance that she will actually bear his children"
"Natasha, that is just taking care of the baby" Clint said, remembering his own family. "If she wasn't mindful of what sort of place her child would be born into, there could easily be another neglected child in the world"
"Now I feel doubly like a jerk" Tony mumbled, "Didn't even know that she existed until a month ago, give or take a few weeks, and she's there planning a family at an age before I even would have cared"
Steve wasn't sure what to say. These people all seemed to have their lives well though out. Clint was speaking from experience about a way to raise a child, Natasha had the pragmatics of raising a child thoroughly thought out, and Tony was feeling foolish and worrying about his legacy. Steve wondered if his friend Howard had planned his son as thoroughly as the others in the room were doing and decided that he probably had not. If Tony felt behind on this now, he probably didn't have the best example for family starting. Steve felt behind on it as it was, and his father had died before Steve could remember. Thinking about the possibilities that this question brought up, Steve decide that he needed to see Peggy, preferably before she died. Steve needed the closure, if this was the level everyone else managed to reach.
True enough, after getting home that night, Steve looked up Peggy's whereabouts. When he located her at a retirement home right in Brookland, he resolved to visit her the next day, no matter what it took, especially when she was only a short walk away. He managed to get there without any difficulty, and met a receptionist at the front desk. What did you have to have to get access to a retirement home anyways?
"Hi, can I visit Ms. Carter?" Steve asked, looking at the receptionist. It was awkward, but he was going to see her.
"Can you state her full name and room number please?" She asked.
"Peggy Carter. I don't know her middle name or room number, but I would be grateful if you could look it up for me"
The receptionist looked at him for a minute, and then she typed something into a computer. Looking at the results, she said "I don't think that it would be advisable for you to talk to her, dear. She was an Agent in World War Two, and her training has stuck with her, despite her memory loss"
"Ma'am, I am Captain America. I think that I can survive her, but I could go and get my shield if it would make you feel beter"
She looked at his features. "Are you the Steve Rogers that she keeps saying is late for a dance?"
"Yes, ma'am"
"In that case, go on in. She is in room 023, but expect a violent reaction. She has been known to go to the gym to, in case you don't see her in her room"
"Thank you" Steve replied.
"Don't thank me. No one knows how much she remembers, and by the time that you leave, you will wish that you never came" The receptionist said.
"I'll keep that in mind" Steve said, disbelieving that Peggy could be reduced to such a state.
"Alright, but don't blame me when she doesn't acknowledge you" The receptionist responded, amused to see what Steve would do.