Chapter 31
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"Is she okay?" Steve asks dreading the answer.
"Yeah, she's lucid." Sharon explains "But not just regular lucidity, where she is confused about why she is in a home, but complete awareness, she remembers everything that has happened over the last few years, all of the visits." Sharon explains, "That shouldn't be possible."
"They told us that that wouldn't be possible." Melinda says shocked as she was with Sharon, Tripp and Tripp's mother when Peggy was first put in the home, she remembers everything that they were told.
"We need to get to DC, as soon as possible." Tripp says, "Skye do you know what is going on?" Tripp asks his cousin curious as he figures If anyone knows then it would be her.
"It reversed itself." Skye reveals, no one being able to see the small bit of electricity that she has in her hand below the table, "Hydra gave her the dementia and it was too far gone for me to do anything, but it's reversed itself, somehow, I think there must have been a fault in what they did, I don't know how long it will last though." She explains, not sure if she wants to keep digging with her power to find out because she has a feeling that it is going to be bad news.
"Tony, can we borrow a plane?" Melinda asks, wanting to get to DC as fast as possible and not having the patience for driving at the moment.
"Of course, I'll arrange it, I'm guessing that you want to fly it." Tony comments and Melinda nods.
"You know how risky it is for you to fly a plane into DC right now." Maria tells Melinda, it being a comment not a question.
"This is Peggy, I don't care about the risk." Melinda tells her, "Tonio, call you mother, she would want to fly up as well." Melinda says to her nephew.
"On it." Tripp says getting up and walking out of the room, pulling his phone out as he does.
"So, you, me, Tonio, Skye, Steve." Sharon says to her aunt, "Phil, Bucky are you coming too?" Sharon asks.
"I think it would be better if is stayed." Bucky comments as while he would like to be there for Skye and Steve its better if he doesn't go, "I draw to much attention, and even with what Skye said to them the authorities aren't fond of me, it will be better for you if I stay behind." Bucky comments though it's clear that he is saying that because he thinks it will be best, not because it's what he really wants to do.
"Maria can you take my meetings with my contacts?" Phil asks Maria.
"Which ones?" Maria asks.
"MI6 and Homeland." Coulson tells her, "Agents Holden from MI6 and Jones from Homeland." He explains.
"They hate me." Maria says simply, "And they would never trust Tasha or Tony." She realises,
"No, they hate me too." Natasha corrects.
"Clint, John, how are your relationships with them?" Maria asks as they were agents that used to liaise with SHIELD a lot so they are all familiar with them.
"Worse than yours." Clint answers.
"John?"
"Even worse." He answers simply, "They would never want to help me, in fact that have actively tried to stop partnerships in the past." He explains.
"Damn it." Coulson says angrily, "I can't push them either." He comments, "I had to pull every favour the owed me to even get them to take the meetings." He reveals.
"And we need the connections." Maria says, "I'm sorry but I think you have to stay." She says to Coulson.
"I'm sorry." Coulson says to Melinda, hating that he isn't going to be able to be there for her.
Five minutes later Bucky heads to the room that Steve shares with Bruce, Tony and Pepper knowing that that is where he will find his brother rather than the room that is technically his, when he gets there the door is open and he finds Steve putting things into a bag.
"Are you okay?" Bucky asks his friend.
"I don't know." Steve says not even looking up from what he is doing, "You should come with us." He tells Bucky.
"You know as well as I do that with me on the plane it's likely that Melinda won't even be able to land." Bucky tells his friend, "I would love to come, but if I do then I will be making it harder on the rest of you, and I won't do that." Bucky tells Steve, "Tell Peggy that I am sorry that I didn't come." He tells his brother.
"I will." Steve responds, "So apart from finding a photo to embarrass me where else did you go on your date?" Steve asks.
"The beach, and the old neighbourhood." Bucky answers, "And to be fair that photo embarrasses both of us." He tells Steve.
"The Old Neighbourhood, are you alright?" Steve asks concerned looking up from his bag.
"I'm going to pretend that it was easy but it helped having Skye there." Bucky tells his brother.
"So it was a successful date then." Steve comments.
"The first of many I hope." Bucky responds as Steve picks up his bag and walks over to Bucky, "Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone." He says hugging Bucky.
"I'll do my best, but that means that you can't either." Bucky responds as they break apart before leaving the room.
Ten minutes after Bucky and Steve had their talk everyone is down in the garage saying goodbye to Melinda, Tripp, Sharon, Skye and Steve.
"The plane is standing by and I've filed a flight plane with all the necessary information, you shouldn't have any problems, but that doesn't mean that you won't." Tony tells Melinda.
"Thanks Tony." Melinda tells him.
"I've also booked you rooms at the same hotel you were at last time." Tony says and Melinda nods.
"Did you get through to your Mom?" Melinda asks her nephew.
"Yeah, she's going to be on the next available flight from LA to DC." Tripp tells his Aunt, "Considering she's a nervous flyer and that she is flying alone I'm going to try to meet her at the airport." Tripp comments.
"What about your father?" Steve asks curious but the second he does he realises he shouldn't have as Sharon, Melinda and Coulson get sad looks on their faces.
"He was killed in action in the first Gulf War." Tripp answers, "He was special forces." He explains.
"I'm sorry." Steve says, "What about your Uncle?" Steve asks, remembering that in the picture on Peggy's nightstand that there is a girl and a boy, not realising that it is just as painful of a question.
"He was killed in the September 11 attacks." Melinda answers, "He was at the pentagon" She tells Steve, "We should go." She says getting into the driver seat.
"Right." Steve says shocked, not sure how to handle all the information that he's been given, as he gets in the passenger seat and Skye, Tripp and Sharon get in the back.
Half an hour after they leave the tower, Skye, Melinda, Sharon, Tripp and Steve are in one of Tony's private planes on their way to DC. Once Melinda turns of the seatbelt sign Skye gets up and heads to the cockpit to talk to her mother.
"Hey, can I sit?" Skye asks not sure if she will be able to as this isn't the bus.
"Of course." Melinda answers and Skye walks over and sits in the co-pilots chair.
"Are you alright?" Skye asks her mother curious.
"I don't know." Melinda answers, "The day that Angela, Sharon, Tonio and I made the decision to put Peggy in the nursing home was one of the hardest days I had." Melinda reveals to her daughter, "None of us wanted to but we realised we had to." Melinda says, "The doctors told us that she would never be the Peggy we knew again, but he didn't know Peggy like we do." Melinda says, "I just never though that I would get this chance again." Melinda explains to Skye.
"Angela? Is that Tonio's mother?" Skye asks.
"Yeah." Melinda answers, "She's been wanting to meet you for a really long time." Melinda tells her daughter, remembering the conversation she had with the woman who is basically her big sister a few days earlier.
"Well I look forward to meeting her to." Skye comment, "Do you think Tonio is okay? Skye asks concerned, "He hasn't said a word since we left the tower." Skye tells her mother.
"Tonio was five when his father died, he doesn't remember much about him, and he was very, very close to his Uncle." Melinda explains, "It's hard for him to talk about their deaths." She explains.
"Oh." Skye says and the mother and daughter drift into silence.
Forty five minutes after Skye walked into the cockpit Skye, Melinda, Tripp, Steve and Sharon are walking into the facility where Peggy lives. Surprisingly they didn't have any problems with landing the plane or with security and thanks to the Car that Tony had waiting for them at the airport they were able to get from the airport to the facility very quickly, and Steve suspects that part of that reason may have been the fact that he doesn't think Melinda was sticking to the speed limits.
"Sharon, Melinda, Antoine, it's good to see you." A man who is waiting at the reception desk who Melinda, Sharon and Tripp know to be Peggy's doctor.
"Hey Doc." Tripp says, "How is she?" he asks as they walk towards Peggy's room.
"She's amazingly well, I don't understand how." The Doctor responds honestly, "She been asking when you would get here." The Doctor admits, "And may I ask who are you two?" he asks Skye and Steve.
"This is my Daughter Skye and a very old friend of Peggy's Steve." Melinda explains.
"Ah, that makes sense." The doctor responds as they reach Peggy's room, "Go right in, I've told the staff to give you as much time as you want considering we don't know how or why this happened, or how long this will last." The Doctor tells the group.
"Thank you." Sharon says as the five enter the room.
"Melinda, Steve, Tonio, Sharon, May." Peggy says when she sees the five.
"Hey Peggy." Skye, Melinda and Steve say.
"Hi Grams." Tripp says.
"Hey Aunt Peggy." Sharon says.
"Sit, all of you I want to know everything." Peggy tells the five So Sharon and Tripp walk over and sit either side of Peggy, Skye and Melinda sit on either side of the edge of the bed and Steve sits down on the chair next to the bed.
"Are Philip and Bucky not with you today?" Peggy asks
"Phil had some meetings he couldn't reschedule, he said to apologise." Melinda explains.
"And Bucky would have come but…" Steve says trailing off not sure what to say.
"But what?" Peggy asks looking between the five, "You're keeping something from me, is this to do with whatever 'bad' thing happened with SHIELD?" Peggy asks, giving them all a look which says tell me.
"Yeah, it does." Tripp says caving to the look after a few minutes.
"What happened?" Peggy asks, "Please tell me." She requests as the five exchange a look, not sure whether they should tell her.
"Hydra's back." Steve answers, "Or I guess technically they never really left." He explains, "SHIELD fell, but we're working on re-building it." He explains.
"No, it can't be." Peggy says in complete shock, "How? How did they do it?" she asks, complete shock and pain clear on her face.
"We don't have to talk about this now Grams." Tripp tells his grandmother kindly, not wanting to hurt her because he knows how much SHIELD means to her.
"I want to." Peggy tells her grandson, "I need to know" She says and Melinda, Sharon, Tripp and Steve exchange a look as they know how stubborn Peggy is but they also worried about what it will do to her having to hear about what happened.
"The infiltrated SHIELD." Skye reveals, "And basically every other area of government and military." She explains, "Us and other people who we trust fought back, and we stopped them but the cost was SHIELD." Skye explains, knowing that Peggy needs to know, that she deserves to know "The only way we could get all of Hydra's secrets out to the public was to release SHIELD'S as well. For months we've been fighting back and working on re building SHIELD, a week ago we officially started New SHIELD and we're taking down Hydra forces." Skye explains, "Uncle Steve is one of the three new Directors and Mom is one of the deputy Directors." She tells Peggy.
"You are?" Peggy asks and they both nod, "Then SHIELD is in the safest hands it can be." She tells them, happy with the decision as she tries to comprehend what she was told, "They killed Howard didn't they?" She asks, "He found out." She realises because the night he died Howard told her that he had something that he had to tell her but she never learnt what, even though she spent a long time looking into it.
"Yeah, they did." Steve answers, "It was also Hydra who found Bucky after he fell from that train and brainwashed him. Skye here helped him, un did what they did using the abilities that she got when she was kidnapped." Steve explains and Peggy looks at Skye surprised, "She also stood up to congress last week to get the permission we needed to officially re-form SHIELD." Steve adds, "She made them realise that we are the best qualified to defend humanity and during that they found out about Bucky and because of things that they want to do to him, which we won't allow, he though it was better not to come with us." Steve explains.
"I'm assuming that you aren't very popular with Congress now." Peggy says to Skye.
"No." Skye answers, "But it does help that I know all their secrets, gives me lot of leverage." Skye explains.
"Howard, Chester and I wanted SHIELD to exist to protect people." Peggy tells the five, the shock gone from her face though the pain remains, "Over time some people forgot that but you have to remember, always make protection be your number one priority." Peggy tells the five
"We will." Melinda tells Peggy, "I promise." She says and she exchanges a smile with Peggy as she reaches over and gives her hand a squeeze.
"Tonio, how is your Mother?" Peggy asks her grandson, looking away from her adoptive daughter.
"She's good, she's on her way from LA now." Tripp answers.
"Where did you come from?" Peggy asks the five.
"New York." Sharon says, "It's where our base is." She explains.
"If you can get in contact with Tony Stark." Peggy tells the five, "He doesn't know it but hidden away in his father's old storage lockers there is a lot of the old documents we used to found SHIELD, all of our original plans." Peggy explains, "We never made them electronic, they may help you." Peggy explains.
"Our base is one of Tony's properties." Melinda reveals, "We're living with Tony and the other eleven people who are re-forming SHIELD with us so that shouldn't be a problem." She explains.
"Good." Peggy answers, "Now, I want you all to catch me up on everything about you that I have missed, not work, everything else" Peggy tells the group, "And May, I want to know everything about you, I've missed a lot."
"Of course." Skye responds, not even objecting to Peggy calling her May like she usually would because she realises that she doesn't mind.
For next hour and a half, Melinda, Steve, Tripp, Sharon and Skye fill Peggy in on everything that has gone on with them.
"Oh come on, that wasn't my fault." Tripp objects.
"Yes it was." Skye and Sharon object, "You got in a Nerf war with Tony and you weren't paying attention and you fired a Nerf that got stuck in the wheel of Skye's wheelchair casing her to go flying forwards." Sharon tells her Cousin, "It doesn't get much more your fault."
"Wheelchair?" Peggy asks concerned, "Why were you in a wheelchair?"
"Tonio, Bucky and I had to deal with a Hydra cell who were planning something big when everyone else was out of town, well lured out of town actually. I fractured both my legs, ended up having to use a wheel chair for a few weeks." Skye explains, "And it was so your fault." She tells her cousin.
"Tony's the one who started it." Tripp points out, "So it was his fault." He tells her.
"You fired the shot." Skye tells him, "That makes it your fault." She tells him.
"No it doesn't." Tripp tells her.
"Yes it does." Skye and Sharon respond.
"Nah uh." Tripp responds.
"Ah huh." Skye and Sharon say.
"Enough, you three." Melinda tells the trio, "Stop fighting." She tells them as Peggy watches on with an amused expression on her face.
"They started it." Tripp comments.
"And now I'm ended it." Melinda tells them, "Clear?"
"Yes Aunt Melinda." Tripp and Sharon respond, Sharon not realising what she said until after she said it.
"Yes Mom." Skye answers.
"Good." She tells the three adults who are acting like children. "Sorry." Melinda says to Peggy, "What were we saying?" She asks.
"Don't apologise." Peggy tells her adoptive daughter, "They, all of us, have many years to catch up on." Peggy tells her, "I want a picture of us." Peggy tells them.
"Do you have a camera?" Steve asks, "I can take it for you." He offers.
"In the draw." Peggy tells him, "But you're going to be in the picture too." Peggy tells him, "Call a nurse to take it." She requests and Steve nods and gets up.
Several minutes later everyone is on the bed together and the nurse takes a picture of them all huddled together on the bed.
"Here." The nurse says handing the camera back to Steve.
"Thank you." Steve answers and Peggy starts coughing.
"Here Peggy." Steve says handing her a glass of water.
"Thank you." Peggy tells Steve once she's finished drinking, "Do you mind giving me a moment alone with Steve?" Peggy asks the other four.
"Of course not." Melinda answers, "Come on you three." Melinda Skye, Sharon and Tripp.
"Is there a vending machine around here?" Skye asks Tripp and Sharon curious, "Coz I'm hungry."
"We didn't get to finish breakfast so that's not a surprise." Tripp says as they get off the bed.
"That didn't answer my question, is there a vending machine or not?" Skye asks Tripp curious.
"Down the hall." Sharon answers as the three walk out of the room, Melinda walking behind them rolling her eyes at the three of them as they go, Peggy and Steve watching with amused expressions on both of their faces as they do.
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