Chapter 32
Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Everything belongs to their rightful owners and I am not making any profit from this.
AN: Thank you to all who have added to alerts, read, reviewed or any combination of the three. It means a lot to me.
AN2: Advance warning, this chapter is very sad. Thanks for your support.
"Steve, I am so happy that you are here." Peggy tells Steve once Melinda, Skye, Sharon and Tripp are out of hearing range.
"So am I Peggy." Steve tells her.
"I'm not going to be here much longer." Peggy tells Steve.
"Don't say that." Steve tells Peggy.
"It's the truth, I can feel it." She tells him, "I've lived a long life Steve, a good one." She tells him, "But it will end soon." She tells him.
"Don't." Steve requests, not wanting to think about her dying.
"I'm alright Steve, it's alright." Peggy tells him, "I'm just glad that I get to see you all again." She tells him.
"This isn't the last time. You'll see us again." Steve assures Peggy, who just gives him a smile because she knows that, she won't, she can feel it.
"Promise me you will live your life for a long time." Peggy tells Steve.
"Peggy…." Steve begins to say.
"Promise me Steve." She tells him, "Promise you won't spend the rest of your life just hunting Hydra, that you will let yourself live to." Peggy tells him, "That you will find someone to spend it with." She tells him.
"I already have." Steve answers thinking about the three people that he loves back at Stark tower.
"You have?" Peggy asks
"I have." Steve confirms, "It's everything I've wanted all these years." He tells Peggy.
"Good." Peggy answers, "You deserve it." She tells him, "Always remember that you are loved." She tells Steve.
"I will." Steve promises, "I promise you that." He tells her.
"Look out for my daughters and my grandchildren for me, please Steve." Peggy requests.
"Of course I will." Steve assures.
"I've missed you so much." Peggy tells Steve.
"I've missed you to." Steve says reaching down and grabbing Peggy's hand which he places a gentle kiss against, "I promise you Peggy, I will never forget you." He tells her.
For several minutes Peggy and Steve sit in silence, neither saying anything because nothing else needs to be said.
"Can you please get Melinda?" Peggy requests several minutes later, "I would like to talk to her."
"Of course." Steve says getting up and reluctantly letting go of Peggy's hand before walking away.
After getting something to eat at the vending machine Skye, Melinda, Sharon and Tripp returned to Peggy's room but instead of going in they are waiting outside in the corridor. They have been standing for a few minutes when the door opens and Steve walks out.
"She wants to talk to you." Steve says to Melinda.
"She's saying goodbye, isn't she?" Melinda asks Steve who has a heart broken look on his face and several tears in his eyes threatening to fall, leading Melinda to only one conclusion.
"Yeah. She is." Steve answers and without a word Melinda walks past him and into Peggy's room closing the door behind her.
When Melinda walks in Peggy's room she walks over to Peggy's bed and sits down on the edge.
"I am so proud of everything you have done, of everything you are." Peggy tells Melinda once she sits down, as she reaches over and grabs her hand.
"Peggy." Melinda objects, not wanting to hear it because she doesn't want to say goodbye to the woman who has been the closes thing to a mother that she has known.
"You have come so far." Peggy tells her, ignoring her objection, "You are a truly amazing woman Melinda, and I consider it a privilege to see you as my daughter." Peggy tells Melinda.
"I wouldn't have done any of it if it wasn't for you." Melinda tells Peggy, "You saved me." Melinda tells her, "Whenever I needed you, you were there." She tells Peggy, "You gave me a chance when no one else would, when Bahrain and loosing May broke me you fixed me, even when no one else could, and you gave me a home whenever I needed it. I am who I am because of you." Melinda tells Peggy, and realising that this might be her last chance, Peggy, defiantly seems to think so, she decides to say what she has wanted to say for many years, "For a long time I thought that I didn't have a Mother, that I hadn't since I was one, but I was wrong." Melinda tells her, "I had a Mom from when you answered that first letter when I was fourteen, I had you, I always had you" Melinda tells her, "I love so much, Mom." Melinda tells her before hugging Peggy.
"I love you too Melinda." Peggy responds as she hugs the woman who is her youngest daughter, even though it's not biological.
"Angie is on her way." Melinda tells Peggy, "She should be here in the next couple of hours." She explains.
"Good." Peggy answers, "Have you seen your sister recently?" Peggy asks curious.
"No, not recently." Melinda answers, "But I talk to her a lot." She explains.
"Good." Peggy answers, "How is it having your daughter back?" Peggy asks.
"Amazing." Melinda answers, "It took me a while to get used to it and I feel like I failed her because she's been through so much in her life, been hurt so many times, had some horrible things happen to her, and now her abilities are hurting her, and her ex-boyfriend turned out to be a Hydra sleeper, but now she's starting to date Bucky and she sees to really like him and I'm worried about her getting hurt again." Melinda realises babbling which is something she seems to do a lot when she talks to Peggy, as it's almost like she is fourteen again, "What?" Melinda asks when she notices the look on Peggy's face.
"I haven't heard a babble like that from you in a very, very long time." Peggy explains.
"I know." Melinda says, "I know I'll never be who I was again, but May's helped to bring a lot of that person back." Melinda explains.
"Hang on, did you say May's dating Bucky?" Peggy asks surprised.
"Yeah, they went on their first date last night." Melinda answers, "I'm worried about her being hurt again, but she seems to really like him so I don't want to interfere." Melinda explains.
"If it helps the James Barnes I remember was a very good man." Peggy tells her.
"That does help." Melinda tells her and the pair drift back into silence, "Who do you want to talk to next?" Melinda asks a few minutes later.
"Sharon." Peggy answers.
"I'll go get her." Melinda says standing up she is half way across the room before she turns back and looks at Peggy, "If I'm half as good of a mother to Skye than you were to Me, Angie and Mark then I think I'll have a lot to be proud off." She says before walking a few more steps.
"Melinda." Peggy says and Melinda turns back around to face Peggy. "Tonio and Sharon are going to need you more than ever." She tells her daughter.
"I know, I'll be there." Melinda tells her mother looking at her, "I promise you that." She says before leaving the room.
When Melinda exits the room she sees Sharon, Tripp, Steve and Skye waiting.
"She wants to talk to you Sharon." Melinda tells her and Sharon nods and enters the room.
"Are you okay?" Skye asks concerned walking over and hugging her mother.
"I don't know." Melinda admits as she returns the hug.
Like her Aunt did when Sharon enters Peggy's room she walks over and sits down on the edge of the bed.
"I want to thank you Sharon, for everything you've done for me." Peggy tells her niece.
"Don't, okay, just don't." Sharon tells her great Aunt, "I don't need or want a thankyou." She tells her, "I just did what you would have done for me, what you did do for me." Sharon tells her, "So don't you dare say thankyou to me." She tells her.
"I'm so proud of you." Peggy tells Sharon, "And I love you so much."
"I love you too." Sharon tells her, "And I promise, I'll look out for Skye and Tonio and help Aunt Angie and Aunt Melinda however I can." Sharon tells Peggy.
"I know you will, you've always looked after everyone else." Peggy tells her, "But you should look after yourself too."
"I do." Sharon tells her.
"The job we do is important, but it's also important to take a break sometimes, to let yourself relax." Peggy tells Sharon.
"I know and I do." Sharon tells Peggy, "I'm working to re build SHIELD and living with sixteen other people who are doing the same thing, but all of us are…pro having fun." Sharon explains trying to find the right way to phrase what she is saying, "Trust me, relaxation is something I get a lot off." Sharon assures her great aunt.
"Good." Peggy responds, "Have I told you that you remind me of how I was when I was a young woman?" Peggy asks curious.
"Yeah, a few times." Sharon answers, "And I still consider it to the biggest complement that I have ever gotten." Sharon tells her aunt.
"You flatter me." Peggy responds.
"It's not flattery if it is true." Sharon tells her, "You're the most amazing person I've ever know; and I'm so proud to be your great niece." Sharon reveals.
"I'm proud to be your great Aunt." Peggy tells her and Sharon smiles at her Aunt and the pair drift into silence.
"So Tonio or Skye next?" Sharon asks as few minutes later.
"Tonio." Peggy answers.
"I'll go get him." Sharon says before leaning in and giving Peggy a hug, "I love you so much." Sharon tells her.
"I love you too." Peggy responds and Sharon ends the hug and goes to get Tripp.
A few seconds after Sharon left her room the door opens and Tripp walks in.
"I'll sit here and talk to you but I'm not accepting you saying goodbye." Tripp tells his grandmother, "Not yet." He tells her.
"You've never been good at saying goodbye." Peggy says to her grandson.
"This isn't goodbye, so I'm not saying it." He tells Peggy. "I've lost Dad, I've lost Uncle Mark, I'm not ready to say goodbye, not to you, not yet." Tripp tells his grandmother.
"Goodbye's come whether you are ready for them or not." Peggy tells her grandson, "You have made me so proud Tonio, and I know your father and Uncle would be too." Peggy tells him.
"Just stop, please, just stop." Tripp says to her, "You're Peggy Carter-Jones, you're not dying, you can't die." Tripp tells her.
"Do you remember what I told you after your Uncle was killed?" Peggy asks Tripp.
"That death is the one thing we can't completely stop." Tripp answers, "That as much as we love someone the day will always come to say goodbye, you'll never be ready for that day, you can't be ready for that day, but it will come and even if you don't think you are you are strong enough to get through it you will." Tripp recites remembering what he was told, "I can't say goodbye to you Grams." Tripp tells her, "You, Uncle Mark and Aunt Melinda were there for me more than Ma was, you looked after me, you were always there. I can't lose you." Tripp tells Peggy.
"You mother did her best Tonio." Peggy tells him, "I know she wasn't always around but she loves you more than anything." Peggy tells her grandson, "You are one of the strongest people I know, you're a fighter, just like your grandfather, every day I see more of him in you." Peggy tells Tripp, "Even if you don't think you can, you'll keep going, just like you always have." Peggy tells him
"Stop, just please, stop." Tripp requests, clearly getting even more upset.
"Come here." Peggy says patting the bed right next to her so Tripp craws over and sits next to his grandmother, once he is sitting down Peggy puts an arm around him and she grabs his hand, "I'll stop, okay, I'll stop." Peggy tells him, "But I just need to say this; never doubt how much I love you Tonio or how proud I am." She tells Tripp.
"I never have." Tripp tells his grandmother.
"Good." Peggy tells him, "Now tell me about this girlfriend of yours." Peggy requests and Tripp nods before explaining all about Maria to his grandmother.
For the next ten minutes Tripp and Peggy engage in casual conversation, Tripp telling Peggy all different things and Peggy gladly listening.
"So yeah, Skye, Jemma, Fitz, Bucky and since she joined us Sharon spend a lot of time together, the others refer to us as the kids which I really don't think is fair, but still that doesn't stop them." Tripp says with a smile, "It's nice."
"I'm glad." Peggy tells him, "You have never been one to get close to people, I am glad you are now." She tells Tripp.
"So am I." Tripp responds and the pair drift into silence, "So do you want me to go get Skye?" he asks as few minutes later.
"Yes, please." Peggy responds.
"Love you Grams." Tripp says giving Peggy a kiss on the cheek before getting up and walking across the room.
"You turn Skye." Tripp tells his cousin when he exits the room. Skye nods and she nervously walks in. Without a word Melinda walks over to her nephew and hugs him because she knows how close he is to Peggy and how hard that would have been for him. As he hugs her Tripp puts his head on his Aunt's head and allows a few tears to fall.
Not really sure what to expect Skye walks into Peggy's room and sits down on the edge of the bed.
"No need to be nervous." Peggy tells Skye, being able to read on her face that she is.
"Kind of hard not to be." Skye admits, "You're family, and I never got to know you." Skye tells her, "I thought I was starting to be kind of okay, or as okay as I could be, about everything that I missed out on, but then something like this happens and I remember all over again how much I missed out on, how much I'll never get to experience even when I was de aged." Skye says to Peggy.
"De-aged?" Peggy asks confused.
"Yeah." Skye answers, "I was dying, the only way to save me was for Uncle Tony, Jem and Fitzy, who are two scientist who work with us, to use complicated science stuff to remove the energy that was killing me, the energy that my powers come from, but doing that caused me to de age so that my brain could develop being able to handle the amount of energy that it would build once more too. I was a kid again for months, though for me it felt like years." Skye explains, "But it wasn't the same as what it would have been like if I was never taken, I know that, but it doesn't change the fact that I love having those memories now." Skye says.
"I was the first call your mother made when she woke up and you were gone, I told her that we would find you" Peggy tells Skye, "Losing you destroyed your parents, we tried everything to find you, even when SHIELD officially stopped looking I never stopped." Peggy tells her granddaughter, "I'm so sorry that I didn't find you; that I couldn't." Peggy tells Skye, guilt clear on her face.
"It wasn't your fault." Skye reveals "I recently spent some time away from everyone and while I was gone I learnt something thanks to my powers, something I haven't even told my parents yet." Skye reveals.
"What is it?" Peggy asks interested and wondering why Skye hasn't told her parents.
"Did you ever know Alexander Pierce?" Skye asks.
"Of course." Peggy answers, "A member of the World security council and director of SHIELD for a time." Peggy answers, "I never liked him." She reveals.
"He was leader of Hydra so that's not a surprise." Skye reveals.
"That makes sense." Peggy says hating that she didn't see that coming, "What did you learn?" Peggy asks curious.
"I already knew that the person who took me was called Harold Quinn, or the Clairvoyant and he has spies among SHIELD one of whom was his daughter." Skye explains, "But, after finding out about Hydra I found it odd that there was two different groups who had spies among SHIELD at the same time." Skye explains, "It turns out Hydra and Pierce let Quinn's group be because it drew attention away from them and they took some of the tec they developed and used it for their own purposes." Skye explains, "Alexander Pierce learnt who I was when a SHIELD team died to protect me a few months after I was taken because they thought that I was an 084." Skye tells Peggy, "He did everything he could to keep me away from Quinn's group and to keep any of you from finding me because he didn't want anyone to find me, he wanted to see just what I grew to be on my own." Skye explains, "See what I could do." Skye explains, leaving out that another part of the reason was that Pierce wanted their family to suffer because Peggy doesn't need or deserve that guilt, "He thought that he had a better chance of recruiting me to Hydra if I had a hard life, but he knew he couldn't keep me hidden with Hydra from the beginning just in case I was found, but then when Dad found me, having no idea who I was, he realised that he had to change his plan so he ordered Ward who was a member of the team, and a Hydra sleeper to get close to me even though Ward had no idea who I really was. What he didn't count on was Ward actually caring about me or the fact that I would get so much control over my powers, both of which ruined his plans." Skye explains, "None of you could have found me because Pierce made sure that no one would consider the 084 baby girl to be me, he buried the paperwork, any trace of me to be sure of that." Skye explains, "I was hidden on purpose, kept away on purpose. I haven't told that to anyone." Skye tells Peggy as she hasn't been sure whether she should so she kept it to herself or not, but she doesn't know why she just knows that she should tell Peggy.
"Where is Pierce now?" Peggy asks angrily.
"Dead, he died when the Triskelion fell." Skye explains, "I wish more than you know that none of that happened, that I got a chance to be a part of this family." Skye tells Peggy.
"You are a part of this family May, never doubt that." Peggy tells Skye reaching out and grabbing her hand, "I may not have gotten a chance to know you but I am proud of you, and I do love you." Peggy tells Skye who gets tears in her eyes, "I mean that May."
"I know." Skye says, "That's why I'm crying, for so long all I knew was that my whole life I was alone, and the last couple of years happened and I found my family, and I'm getting to know them, but I'm never going to get to know you, and I hate that because I really want to." Skye reveals.
"Oh May." Peggy says pulling Skye down for a hug, "I want that too, I really do. So much was stolen from you, decided for you, and it's not fair." Peggy tells her running her fingers through Skye's hair and after a few minutes Skye sits up, "I have something for you." Peggy says reaching into the bedside table, pulling out a framed photo and handing it to Skye, the photo is off of a younger Peggy, a baby that Skye knows to be her, a young boy who Skye realises is Tripp and a young girl who must be Sharon, "Your Uncle Mark took that picture, it was two days before you were taken." Peggy tells Skye, "I learnt a long time ago that I can't change the past, no matter how much I may want to and changing what happened to you is one of the things I want to change the most, you're my granddaughter May, you always will be I hope this picture can remind you of that." Peggy tells her.
"I can't keep this." Skye tells Peggy
"Yes, you can." Peggy tells Skye, "And I think because of your powers you know exactly why you should." Peggy says to the granddaughter she never got a chance to know.
"Yeah, I do." Skye admits, "Thank you." Skye tells Peggy, "Grams." She adds after a bit of hesitation not sure if she should say it or not, but when she sees the smile on Peggy's face she realises that she said the right thing.
"I've waited a long time to hear you say that." Peggy tells Skye with a smile, "Now I have some advice if you would like." Peggy tells Skye.
"I would like that a lot." Skye responds and for the next ten minutes Peggy gives Skye advice that she is sure that she will never forget.
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