The Ordinary Days

A/N: Hello! I decided to post both chapters fifteen and sixteen together because they both felt a little short (but too long to put together into one lol). So enjoy the double chapter this time! Once again, I would love it if you could leave a review – good or bad – which only takes a couple seconds. Reviews help me stay motivated to keep writing this story (and future stories) so they are always appreciated!

There are no warnings for this chapter.

Chapter Fifteen

The morning after the break-in, the hours before Bucky left were spent reinforcing all the locks and hinges on the front and back doors to secure the house. Peggy watched nervously as Steve and Bucky worked, wondering if all their effort would turn out to be futile. Would this really stop a man like Jack Thompson from coming in and taking what he wanted? She felt locking him out would only really slow him down; he seemed a patient man, waiting weeks for the right moment to catch Peggy alone so he could threaten her, and it only took one time for them to slip and forget to lock the door one night after the baby was born.

She sat outside on the porch chair with a warm shawl wrapped around her while Steve fussed with the front door lock. She watched him work for a few moments before Steve said, "I think we should tell the sheriff about what happened last night."

Peggy sighed. "Would that really do anything, though?"

"It would show the court that we reported him breaking and entering, for one thing," explained Steve as he hammered nails into the wooden door. "We might be able to build up a case that he has a history of violence and breaking the law."

"Well, with his father being the district judge…"

"I know, but we can't just let slide what he did." Peggy noticed Steve began hammering the nails a little harsher than normal. "We could even ask the sheriff to go talk to Thompson and get a statement from him, to see if he'll deny what he said or prove he broke into our house."

"I suppose…" Peggy stood up and placed a warm hand on Steve's back, causing him to stop hammering and look at her. "I'll telephone the sheriff right now and see if he can come call on us today."

Steve grasped her hand gently and gave it a chaste kiss. "Thank you."


Sheriff Creel came by a couple hours later, pulling up in his black and white car with a pad of paper and pen in hand. He was an older man with a hard glint in his eyes, but had a kindness to him that both Peggy and Steve appreciated.

Peggy poured them all steaming pots of tea while she, Steve, and Bucky explained to the sheriff what happened.

"And then he disappeared? Just like that?" the sheriff asked Peggy, and she nodded.

"He said he would come back when the baby was born," she explained. "So I doubt we've seen the last of him."

"Hmm," replied Sheriff Creel, looking down over the meticulous notes he had written. "And he did all of this out of revenge? Because he was a – what did you call it a minute ago? – a 'spurned lover'?"

"That's right," Peggy lied. She glanced at Steve who nodded encouragingly. "I rejected him right before Steve and I started to get serious, and I guess he waited until he saw an opportunity to get revenge on me and my unborn child."

"I see. And then when you two had come home," he gestured to Steve and Bucky, "she was by herself?"

"Yes," answered Steve firmly, "and she was very shaken up. She's not usually one to get upset for no reason so I knew she was telling the truth."

Bucky nodded in agreement. "She looked upset from what I could tell, too."

The sheriff remained silent while he scribbled down his last few notes, and then stood up.

"Well, I will file the report and stop by Mr. Thompson's house today to see what he has to say," he asserted while Peggy, Steve, and Bucky joined him in standing. "I doubt he'll confess to breaking and entering, but I'll get a statement from him nonetheless. I'll telephone you if there are any developments. I'm sorry this happened to you both."

"We appreciate you taking the time to come and see us, Sheriff," said Peggy with a forced smile. "Please call on us at any time."

"Will do, ma'am."

They opened the front door for him as he headed outside to his police car. The three of them watched him drive down the dirt road until his car was no longer visible.

Steve sighed, turning to look at Peggy. "Well, we did all we could do. There's not much else we can do besides wait and see if the sheriff has any news for us."

"I suppose," she replied quietly, absentmindedly rubbing her stomach. "I wish it made me feel better to get the police involved, but it honestly doesn't. If anything, it makes me more nervous that Jack will somehow try to use that against us."

"How so?" asked Bucky.

"I'm not sure exactly. It just feels like he could twist anything we say or do to his benefit somehow."

Steve leaned over and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, kissing her on the forehead. When he did so, Peggy felt a flutter in her belly and knew the baby was moving around. She smiled.

"The baby recognizes you, I think," she said to Steve. He raised his eyebrows.

"Oh yeah?"

Peggy nodded. "It knows when you're near me, or giving me a kiss. I think it knows who its real dad is."

Steve smiled sadly, but said nothing. The trio made their way inside the house, making sure the door was securely locked behind them.


Bucky was upstairs finishing packing up his things into his rugged brown suitcase when the telephone rang suddenly. Steve answered it while Peggy listened intently, but she could not discern what was being said as Steve was only replying with quick, one-word answers. After about a minute or so, he thanked whomever was on the other line and hung up the receiver.

"That was Sheriff Creel," he explained as Bucky came down the stairs with a few unfolded shirts in one hand and his suitcase in the other. "He said he stopped by Thompson's house today."

Steve paused with a furrowed brow and Peggy prompted, "Yes? What did he say?"

"He said Thompson was nowhere to be found."

Peggy and Bucky exchanged confused looks, but Steve continued, "The sheriff said he stopped by the house and the servants told him Thompson never came home last night. His car was gone and he left no note or indication of where he was going. The sheriff even drove to town and asked at a few places he frequents, and no one has laid eyes on him since yesterday afternoon."

"Do you think he fled Denver?" Bucky asked Steve. "Realized he could get in trouble with the law for breaking and entering and decided to book it out of here?"

Steve shrugged. "I have no idea, but for whatever reason, he just decided to vanish."

The three of them remained silent for several moments, thinking intently. Peggy wondered if she should feel relieved that Jack had seemingly left Denver, or if she should feel afraid that they have no way of knowing exactly where he is right now. Did he flee when he realized he had no way of claiming the baby as his own without concrete proof? Or did he leave so that he could avoid the law for a few months until the baby is born and then swoop in to take the baby just when they started to relax? The thought made Peggy feel sick but she tried to put on a brave face.

"Well, it's a relief to know he's no longer in town," she said, breaking the silence. The two men looked at her and Bucky cocked his head to the side in half-agreement.

"True," he replied, "but that doesn't mean you should let your guard down. There's no way of knowing what he's up to or what he's planning."

Outside, they heard a car rumbling up the driveway and Steve glanced out the window.

"Your mother is here to take you to the train station," he said to Bucky, whose eyes widened.

"Ah, damn, I didn't realize how late it was," he said as he finished throwing his remaining shirts haphazardly into his suitcase. He forced it shut and picked up his bag, turning to face Peggy.

"Well Peggy," he said as he kissed her on the cheek, "it's been real nice getting to know you. You're ten times better than the woman I had envisioned based on what Steve wrote to me about you, so tell him to improve his writing skills, will ya?"

Steve glared at his friend while Peggy laughed. "I'll keep that in mind, Bucky. Thank you for helping us with everything. Best of luck, and return home in one piece, will you?"

He smiled as he and Steve headed outside to the porch, closing the door behind him. They walked down the porch steps and Bucky stopped Steve before they reached his mother's car.

"If I were you," Bucky said to Steve in a low voice, "I wouldn't let her out of my sight. She wouldn't be able to fight him off, but if it came down to a fight between you and Thompson, I'd bet all my money on you coming out on top."

Steve pulled his friend in for a hug. "I'll keep her safe. I promise."

Bucky patted Steve on the back affectionately and broke the hug. He gave him a reassuring nod and then turned to walk toward his mother's car with his suitcase in hand. Steve watched for a few moments while Bucky put his things into the car and waved when he and his mother both turned to head down the drive.

Steve felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he watched his friend driving away to return to war. He wondered for a moment if this would be the last time that he saw him, but pushed the notion out of his mind, knowing his friend was a good soldier and he shouldn't worry about those things.

Steve wished, though, that his friend were here to help him deal with this mess of a situation that he and Peggy now found themselves in. But he realized there was really no one else who could help them: it was him and Peggy now, and Steve would be damned sure that he would do everything in his power to keep the promise he made to his friend that he would keep Peggy safe.

And over the next several weeks, Steve did exactly that; although Peggy would have preferred to not have him hovering over her all the time. He seemed to have taken Bucky's advice of "don't let her out of your sight" literally because Peggy rarely went more than a few moments without Steve checking up on her or at least making sure she was in his line of vision.

At first, she had thought it was sweet that Steve was so protective of her and the baby and she felt relieved by it. But after weeks of feeling like a prisoner being surveilled by a warden, it got old fast.

"Steve," she said firmly one day when he knocked on the door while she was taking a bath to ask if she was okay, "I am perfectly fine. I'm not a child you need to keep a constant eye on. I'm starting to consider living with Angie on her farm until the baby is born so I can have a few moments to myself."

Steve leaned against the open door frame and sighed. "I'm just trying to keep you safe, Peg."

"I know," she replied in a softer voice as the warm water lapped around her. "And I love you for it. But I'm also really starting to hate you for checking up on me all the time."

"I just couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you," he said with those puppy-dog eyes that made Peggy melt. She wanted to argue, but instead said nothing, casting her eyes down to continue lathering herself. Steve lingered for a brief moment but then closed the door behind him and left Peggy alone to contemplate if she was starting to become a terrible person for snapping at her husband for wanting to protect her.

Eventually, a compromise was reached and Steve went back to tending to the animals and helping in the fields during the day but made sure there was someone near the house to watch over Peggy while he was away. He called on Angie, the Jarvises, and even his mother to come stay with her during the day. They never revealed the real reason why Peggy needed the surveillance, but instead told their friends she was getting lonely with Steve having to be away during the day.

At night, despite Steve waiting for her to fall asleep first before drifting off himself, Peggy's nightmares of being chased and held down by a shadowy figure returned and she woke up crying out nearly every night. Steve held her and soothed her for as long as she needed, but it worried him that their usual trick of Steve holding her while she slept no longer was working.

His heart broke for her that her pregnancy was bogged down by the stress and worry of someone taking their baby away but he felt powerless to do anything about it. Steve knew he could physically protect her, but what would happen if Jack got his way and the court made them give up the baby? How could he comfort his wife then, knowing they both failed to keep their child safe?

If anything happens to either of them, Steve thought to himself while he listened to Peggy's steady breathing, I will never forgive myself.