Scenarios

A/N: This prompt is from shepweir always who requested that there be a one-shot of 'Jack being very jealous of his older brother, a successful junior senator (who is much favored by his parents), when he starts making moves on his younger more insecure baby brother's most challenging SSR agent...'

Enjoy.

Sibling Rivalry

Carter patiently waited for her boss to finish his congratulatory call from the congressman, before entering his office and handing him a form that she needed him to sign. Having him in good spirits was shrewdly strategic on her part, but no guarantee of success.

Case in point:

"Carter, what is this?" Jack inquired disbelievingly.

Keeping her face blank and her voice as neutral as possible, she replied, "It's a time-off request form, sir."

"I know that," he snapped irritably. "What I meant was: why are you asking me for it? Didn't you just take an unreasonably long vacation in L.A.?"

"Yes, but that was several months ago, sir, and you see there is this thing called accrued PTO. With all of my overtime that I worked on the Zodiac case, I was able to earn a week's worth. But as you will note on the form, I only asked for Friday and Monday."

Jack scowled at her and eyed her suspiciously, rightly attempting to ascertain if she was being intentionally condescending. (She was, but there was no evidence of it in her overly polite expression).

Finally, he waved his hand in dismissal, while yet growling out, "This long weekend of yours isn't going to be spent anywhere west of the Mississippi River, is it?"

She smiled with a hint of amusement, even as she innocently replied, "Oh no, Chief. Nowhere as far as that. Just to the Potomac, sir."

He eyed her sharply once more, possibly because of her guileless smile yet impish eye-twinkle or because of the reference to the region near the nation's capital, but nevertheless he signed the form anyways, grunting, "Drop this off at H.R. on your way out to relieve Wallace at his stakeout."

Being very careful to hide her feelings of triumph, she meekly took the form and said "Yes, sir", while silently promising to dance a jig in the elevator if it was unoccupied.

Operation: Weekend Wedding and Other Shenanigans was a go.

~A~

That weekend…

Jack leaned against the open bar that the Omni Shoreham Hotel had set up in its glamorous ballroom and tried not to look as bored as he felt. A sophisticated indifference was socially acceptable, but outright disinterest was no way to make influential friends – or so he had been repeatedly told by his family.

This was why his elder brother was an up and coming junior state senator and on the fast track to becoming governor and who knows what else, and he was just going to be a government stooge, a figurehead of an increasingly irrelevant investigation agency unless he shaped up and followed in said brother's example – also something he had been repeatedly told by his family.

He was here at this ostentatious socialite wedding so that he could rub elbows with the rich and powerful of the Washington elite, especially since he no longer had Vernon Masters or any of his well-connected cronies to put in a good word for him. But it was a difficult thing to do when his brother was also working the room. No, he would wait until the man left with whatever arm-candy he had brought with him tonight, but until then, he was not going to be David's kid-brother shadow. He had had enough of that growing up.

He was glancing about the room to see if any of the single bridesmaids were available or tempting enough to be a distraction, when he saw her.

There she was, the woman of his dreams, all curvy and confident and glorious in a burgundy wine colored gown, with her glossy curls stylishly coiffed, and her smile sultry and as radiant as he had ever seen it.

And there she was, dancing with him – David-fucking-Andrew-fucking-Thompson.

Mr. Fucking Perfect. Of course, she bloody was.

~A~

A few months ago…

If anyone asked, she was running late. There was no way in hell that she was going to let on that the reason she was not proudly standing amongst the S.S.R. ranks was because she was concerned for Jack bloody Thompson.

However, while she may be proud to a fault, she was not going to let her pride get in the way of keeping her chief safe.

The last time the S.S.R. did such a public awards ceremony, Fennhoff and Dottie had happened. This time, she did not think that the enemies Jack had made by hunting Arena Club members were going to stop at a leisurely kidnapping and brainwashing.

She was just completing her second scan of the crowd, when she saw him – a suspicious looking chap in an overly non-descript, perfect for blending in a crowd and the shadows outfit (charcoal grey blazer and trousers, heather grey waistcoat, and grey pinstripe cap pulled low over his face). He was skirting the edges of the crowd but never taking his eyes off of Jack. And there was not a press credential in sight.

It didn't take her long to slip around behind him – a few elbow jabs here and a few Oh-I'm-such-a-ditz-beg-pardon smiles there and voila! she was in position.

With a hand firmly clamped on one shoulder and the other to grab his other arm, she was able to shove him off balance, spin him around, and slam him up against the hood of a nearby parked car. She pushed one of her legs between his to keep him off balance, while twisting his arm up behind him and pinning him there, before getting his other arm equally pinned to his back so that she could cuff him.

Surprisingly, he did not put up any kind of fuss while she frisked him. The only sudden movement he made was to swiftly turn his head away from the nearby crowd of cameras when his cap fell off. He even kept mum right up until the point she was done and had started to ease off some of the pressure she had on him.

Over his shoulder, he politely asked, "Now that you see that I am not a threat, are you going to tell me what I am being charged with?"

"One, I haven't charged you with anything – yet. Two, just because you aren't armed doesn't mean that you are not a threat," she explained, even as she let him stand up straight and slowly turn around. "I myself know how to kill a man a half dozen ways with just a bobby p– Oh."

Her usual air of confidence deflated right out of her on that one breathy gasp, because she most definitely recognized him. Even if his picture hadn't been so frequently in the newspapers, she would have known who he was just as instantaneously.

He had the same tall lanky build, the same strong jaw and aquiline nose. He had brown hair instead of blond, steely grey irises, instead of icy blue. But the same goddamn 'I am so charming' smirk.

"So I see that you know who I am. And if I were to take an educated guess, you must be that indomitable lady agent that my kid brother jaws on so much about and who sends him into such a tizzy."

She was saved from having to make any kind of response to this blatantly exaggerated flattery by the crowd's sudden eruption of laughter. Her gaze flitted from her notable quarry to the crowd and up to the podium. Jack was still standing to the side, and the congressman was still grandstanding away.

Turning back to the junior state senator and releasing him from the cuffs, she asked curiously, "If I may be so bold as to ask - where is your phalanx of security that should be putting me into my place for laying a finger on you?"

"One, if all I have heard about you is true, my security would only be attempting to put you into your place. Two, if they were here, they would know better than to interfere with a lady friend of mine who likes to get rough with me." Here he paused to give her a knowing leer while he rubbed ruefully at his chafed wrists. "And three, I left them guarding my mild-mannered body double so that I could sneak away and watch my brother be awarded an honor he has more than earned without my presence stealing his thunder."

Peggy ignored the compliment and the overt ribald comment and snorted derisively at the last, "You do know that there will be more of a stir in the papers about your presumed absence from the ceremony than there will be about your attending it along with your parents?"

If he had been anyone else, she might have missed it. But because his face was so similar to the one she knew so well, she caught the fleeting look of … sheepishness.

It confused her for a moment, but then when she was able to put it and everything she knew about Jack and his family dynamics together, she spun on her booted heel to glower at him and hiss:

"You meant to get caught, didn't you?"

"What? I don't kn-"

"Pffft! Yes, you do. You purposefully acted suspicious enough to get somebody's attention so that when Jack or your parents or a reporter were to ask you why you weren't at the ceremony, you could honestly say that you were, but were just held up by security."

She didn't know whether to be disgusted by the convoluted machinations or be grateful that he at least understood how it would effect Jack to have his own fears confirmed by his brother - that his very presence would outshine Jack's - and that this Machiavellian would do whatever he could to avoid that.

Dropping the innocent façade, Senator Thompson gloated with a wink, "And even better yet – I was apprehended by one of the S.S.R.'s very own special agents, and I will honestly be able to say that I now know from personal experience that he is leading a group of 'top notch investigators'. Jack was right. You are most impressive, Agent Carter."

She wasn't going to say anything. She was going to bite her tongue and not get into any further trouble than she already was.

But then he leaned down and whisper-shouted in her ear over another round of applause:

"This is the point that you tell me how I impressive I am."

Keeping silent now was no longer an option though, so out of the corner of her mouth, she hissed, "And Jack was right about you too. You are a cunning bugger."

Instead of being offended, the irritating man threw back his head and howled with laughter. Wolfishly flashing her his set of pearly whites, he rejoined with:

"You, Margaret Carter, are just the woman I need."

~A~

The wedding shenanigans…

She knew the moment Jack saw her with David for the first time.

Fortunately for him and all innocent bystanders, the traditional wedding toasts had already been given. Otherwise, the delicate champagne flute would have shattered quite spectacularly under the amount of pressure he was bearing down on his current, more sturdy glass of whiskey.

David, who had placed his hand lightly yet possessively at the small of her back while they danced, must have felt her stiffen, because he spun them just enough so that he could follow her gaze. She was too busy watching his brother's ramrod straight back disappear into the crowd and out to the patio and courtyard below to notice her dancing partner's reaction.

She did, however, feel him spin them back around and pull her in tighter, his hand drifting even lower, which most definitely did return her attention back to him.

When she finally met his cool grey gaze, he gave her a lopsided yet unapologetic smile (yet kindly returned his hand to its previous position), even as he asked almost wistfully, "Do you think what works on the gander, may work on the goose?"

"I don't know, maybe," she answered with a half-hearted shrug. More confidently, she added, "But I think she will appreciate a rescue right about now, even from you."

David looked in the direction she nodded and saw poor Nora Danvers being cornered by the groom's dull and pontificating uncle, the one that was rumored to currently be in the market for wife #3 in order to have a mother for his pack of hellion children.

He gave her a slow impish smile, asking drolly, "Permission to leave you to the saving of my asinine kid brother from himself, while I go rescue the damsel in distress, my dear?"

"Granted," she breathed even as she began to plot out the most expedient route to the exit.

Thankfully, the dance ended right then, and she was able to discreetly take up the chase.

It didn't take her long to find him. If his bright blond hair catching the courtyard light had not made him standout like a beacon, his being the only one who looked at the elegant tiered fountain like he wished it was flowing with the blood of his enemies certainly would have.

Now a person with even half a lick of good sense would have approached him cautiously, but as it can be (and has been) reasonably argued that her sense of self-preservation was mightily underdeveloped, she boldly strode right on up to him, channeled her friend Angie, and began prattling.

"So fancy meeting you here. If I had known you were coming to this shindig too, I would have offered to ride up with you. We could have been train buddies. Then again it might have been awkward at the station when the Jarvises came to pick me up. They still haven't quite forgiven you for that threat you made about deporta- "

Jack broke in, slamming his hand down on stone balustrade and growling out, "Screw the Jarvises, Peggy!"

Unfazed by his outburst, she coolly replied, "Well, I think that was rather the poi– "

Again, he interrupted her, grinding out each word as if it physically pained him. "Why, the bloody hell – are you – here – with – him?"

"Because he asked me to."

"Bullshit!"

This time his outburst caught the attention of the party nearby. When she convincingly smiled her reassurance that she was alright, they politely moved away to give the two of them some privacy. But Jack did lower his voice to more respectable levels, as he continued his argument.

"I know for a fact that the Adonis-like medical examiner would and has asked you to functions like this, and if you had wanted to come to this particular one for whatever reason, that J.A.G. lawyer that is always panting after you whenever we are down at the court house would have taken you at the crook of your little finger. I mean, I know David's smart, strong, brave, and true – a man of Steve Roger's caliber like I never will be, but out of all the men who are, why the bloody hell did it have to be him?"

The more he talked, the faster her smile fell, so that by the end of the speech, she was scowling at him. Her voice was hard and flat, as she declared scathingly, "For all your vaunted investigative savvy, you know nothing, Jack Thompson."

Before he could make some snide and less than witty retort, she began to enlighten the oaf.

"For your information, that Dr. 'Adonis' is a medical examiner because he loves the sound of his own voice, and it's guaranteed that his patients will never interrupt him. For another, the Lieutenant Commander flirts with me because he thinks he is God's gift to women and I will be so overwhelmed by his attentions that I will give him a sneak peek at evidence in ongoing cases against his defendants."

She let that sink in for a moment before adding irritably, "And it amazes me that you think these are 'equals' of Steve's, but even more so that you think your brother – a career politician – could ever be."

It amused her somewhat that he looked abashed at his flawed character assessments, triumphant that his brother did not make the grade either, and a little outraged on his brother's behalf.

However, her heartbreak over that one small self-deprecating comment hidden within that offensive diatribe far outweighed her amusement at his reactions or her annoyance at his assumptions.

More softly, she explained, "If you must know, your brother asked me to come with him tonight because I 'clean up rather well', am an unknown mysterious entity in these circles at least to the women, that I can hold my own against the catty and conniving, and I know how to convincingly play a role."

He blinked at her slowly, clearly not being able to connect the dots, so she spelled it out for him.

"He wanted to make his ex-fiancé jealous and regret that she ever left him."

Now full-on sheepish, Jack glanced away and muttered, "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'," she gently chided.

She did not add the obvious that while his brother did what he could to share the limelight with him, so that his parents could be equally proud of him, David had found it to be a delightful bonus to steal Jack's 'lady agent' out from under his nose, even if for only an evening. Pointing this out would not really answer his question and would distract from the heart of the real issue.

So instead, she reached up and turned his face back towards hers, whispering softly, "And more importantly, the one man that I did want to come with to something like this will never ask me."

Endearingly yet frustratingly, his reaction was to look askance at her as if to ask 'Who in their right mind…?'

She answered his unspoken question, "My best guess is that he does not think himself 'worthy'. At one time, that might have been the case. He was a wannabe politician himself. But he soon learned that he was a true blue copper at heart, a seeker of justice. And even though, he now tries to walk on the side of the angels, he cannot forgive himself for one act of cowardice, and he seems to foolishly think a brave man is one who is absent of fear."

She took a deep steadying breath herself, because she was terrified at what she was about to reveal, scared of how he would react. But she did not want to live her life with anymore regrets. 'Now or never, Peggy-girl.'

So she took the plunge.

"And he does not seem to realize that he is among the rare few that I trust to have at my back when the chips are down. And he definitely does not seem to believe that I might want to take a gamble of the heart on him."

Even as she stood there with her hand cupped to his cheek and her gaze earnestly locked with his, he stood there looking at her in utter bewilderment and disbelief, as if he expected her to end this soul-baring speech with the name of some other guy or a hearty laugh and a 'See? I told you I can play a convincing role!'

Letting out a low growl of frustration, she grabbed him by his dinner jacket lapels, muttering, "Never have I known a man to so constantly need his ego stroked."

And then she spun him into the nearest darkest recess and snogged him into belief.

~A~

The following Tuesday, after having an interesting proposal made to her by Howard Stark over Sunday brunch, Peggy Carter handed Jack her letter of resignation as well as a request that he be her plus-one at Daniel and Violet's wedding that coming spring.

Two years later, David was giving his Big Brother-Best Man speech, taking full credit for bringing the two of them together. At which point, Daniel, one of the other groomsmen, could be heard to mutter, "Peggy, are sure you don't at least hear the family resemblance?"

Peggy's response was to stare into Jack's adoring eyes and murmur, "My husband may be an asinine jackass at times, but he is at least a quick learner."

Not very many of the guests heard this exchange, but everybody saw the bride and groom kiss like they were competing for it to be the most passionate and the most pure of all recorded kisses.

And for perhaps the first time in David Thompson's life, everyone ignored him for the sake of his younger brother, because Jack was the one who clearly got the girl.

A/N: and that's all for now folks. Do let me know what you think and/or send me new prompts : )