AN: Sorry for the delay. It will likely still be irregular updates, but I am still moving on this, but am only a few chapters ahead of posting so far. Hope you enjoy the continuation.
She turned off the light next to the bed and closed her eyes as she laid back on the bed, ready for a solid night's sleep.
There was a noise in her room.
Maggie woke up and she scanned the room as she turned her head on her pillow, trying to see what it was with the limited light coming in from the window.
As she tried to sit up, she was unable to move. Her eyes moved back and forth and then she saw him. The doctor. As he walked up to her, he raised his hand with a syringe filled with a blue liquid and an evil smile on his face. Maggie struggled against the restraints holding her down and she started to scream.
Maggie jolted awake. Her own scream died in her mouth as she sat up in bed, the sheets an extra blanket were wrapped around her arms and body.
She quickly ripped off the sheets and felt sweat pinning her shirt to her body, so she changed into a new shirt and put on a pair of running shorts from her bottom dresser drawer that she had found earlier.
Maggie then reached for the light and turned it on but started to breath quickly and felt trapped in her room, so she tiptoed out and looked down the hall. There was a light on in the stairwell but no one else seemed to be up. Maggie walked downstairs and felt herself calming down as she went down the steps.
She walked into the kitchen, the wooden floorboards were cold on her feet but it helped Maggie cool down. Looking at a ticking clock on the wall of the landing in the staircase showed 2:45. Maggie figured she had been asleep about 2 hours before waking up.
Opening and closing most of the cabinets, Maggie finally found a glass and turned on the tap to get herself some water.
After drinking about half the glass, she wandered through the first floor. There were a few bookshelves in the living area. A few she had even heard of. Then there were pictures of landscapes and buildings on a few of the walls. Then Maggie saw a stack of newspapers on the side table next to the loveseat.
She moved over there and grabbed the top paper, turned on the small light near her and started to read. She mostly skimmed stories, but it distracted her enough from the nightmare she had been having. She was tempted to go back upstairs, but she almost didn't want to be in her room alone. So she leaned back on the loveseat and started reading another paper from a few days ago.
Maggie was just seeing the light peek in through the blinds on the front window when she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Since most of the men had been out late into the night, no one was awake until about 8:00.
Steve came down first and started to make coffee without noticing the sleeping woman in the next room.
Gabe was next to follow and hushed Steve when he started to talk, holding his head with one hand and holding a mug to Steve in silence, hoping to move away from his hangover.
It was a while later that Peggy marched down the stairs, said a quick good morning to the two men, and went out the front door, closing the door behind her, also missing the sleeping figure on the couch.
Maggie heard the door close and stretched, her feet going over the end of the couch.
Steve saw the movement and heard a sigh come from the couch. He motioned his hands to the couch, seeing if Gabe knew she had been there the whole time.
Gabe shook his head and continued to just stare at his coffee.
Steve walked over and checked on Maggie, seeing a newspaper over her chest and then he saw that she was in shorts that had rode up her legs and he quickly walked away, eyes wide. He quickly told Gabe he was going to go change and walk over to SSR headquarters.
Bucky and Dum Dum came downstairs at the same time, apparently having woken up to Steve using the restroom and making a bit too much noise as he got ready.
Dum Dum grabbed the coffee pot and poured two cups and Bucky thanked him as one was passed over to him.
"So what's on the docket for today?" Dum Dum asked Gabe and Bucky.
Bucky shrugged, sipping his coffee and smirking at Gabe. While Bucky had had a few drinks, he was no where near as drunk as most of the other men had been and enjoyed not having a hangover this morning.
Gabe also shrugged and added, "Don't know. Figure we should go in to the headquarters at some point?"
Dum Dum nodded in agreement, "Yea, suppose so. Figure out their plans for our first assignment."
As the three men fell into silence, they heard paper rumpling from the living room and then the Bucky and Dum Dum saw the pair of feet sticking off the side of the couch and looked at Gabe to see if he knew someone was there.
"Just Maggie," he said, his head hanging low.
As her name was said, her head popped up and she stretched her arms above her head as she sat up.
Then she turned and saw the two men staring at her and the other, head now on the table. "Morning."
"Did you sleep down here all night?" Bucky asked.
"Um, no, not all night." Maggie said, putting the newspapers in a neat stack before standing and beginning to walk to the table. "Couldn't sleep very well in my room so I came out here to read a bit and must've dozed off."
As she made her way around the couch, the men all went "oh!" and turned away, looking anywhere but at Maggie.
"What?!" Maggie asked, looking at herself. "What's wrong?"
Bucky coughed the coffee he had just taken a drink of and Gabe patted his back. Dum Dum was the only one willing to answer. "Umm, just that you're um... Maggie, you don't have pants on."
Maggie looked down and laughed. "Seriously? These are the same shorts I wore for PT. And the same shorts all of YOU wore for PT."
"Yea, but, they're just..." Bucky started, looking back at Maggie and having a hard time looking her in the eye without his gaze going to her long pale legs.
"Just what?" Maggie said, hands on her hips, waiting for an end to his statement.
Bucky looked at her."...short?"
Maggie scoffed. "They're just as short on you as they are on me. Besides, I trained with these and none of the men in our training section minded."
"Yea, I'm sure they didn't..." Bucky said with a small grin as he looked at Maggie now, the only one of the three men willing to look up from the table.
"My eyes are up here Buck." Maggie snapped. "Besides, I didn't think to put on pants that would appease your frail masculinity or fragile hearts."
She walked toward them and Bucky snickered, looking at Dum Dum and Gabe as they still hadn't looked up.
"Get over it guys. I'm not flashing you or giving you a free show. They're my legs and that's all."
Maggie grabbed the mug in front of Bucky as it still had over half a cup of coffee in it and continued to walk upstairs.
"Hey!" he yelled, "That's my coffee!"
"Not anymore." Maggie said over her shoulder and walked upstairs, going to change for the day.
After Maggie washed her face and changed back into the uniform from last night - she would have to figure out a way to get pants back into her wardrobe rotation. She didn't mind the skirt, but it was a little chilly out and she preferred pants. She made her way downstairs and found it deserted. So she put the mug into the sink to add to the other ones that were there and walked out the front door, not locking it as she didn't have a key yet.
She walked the few blocks over to the place where she had her meeting the previous day and enjoyed the brisk air. It was November already, but Maggie preferred the cold over the sweltering heat that came with the summers.
She took a few deep breathes on a corner while she waited and then crossed the street and walked into the building. She was greeted by a woman that directed her to the back and she took a small stairwell downstairs to the basement.
Everyone seemed to have somewhere to be as it was like a beehive. Everyone with something in their hand walking with a purpose.
And then there was Maggie. She tried to stand off to the side, but then she heard a commotion coming from a back room and a British, female voice say "Oh you fat-head! That's the third time this week!"
Maggie smiled at Peggy's use of words and walked down a small hallways and around a corner and she saw Peggy at a table with liquid all over it and the back of a man frantically trying to grab the papers that were getting soaked.
"Well dammit Pegs, you could at least help a guy out!" he said, an American accent and a voice that Maggie swore she knew.
"Oh no dear, that was you making the mess, you can clean it. Ah! Maggie Brady!" Peggy said, seeing Maggie now. "Come in, come in. Mind the mess though."
Maggie stepped forward and nodded at Peggy as they looked on at the mess on the table that was now finally cleaned up as much as it could have been. Some papers were on another desk nearby and others were wadded up and thrown away.
"Howard, this is Maggie Brady, a new SSR agent that will be a part of the new group Rogers is putting together. Maggie, this is Howard Stark, our contractor, scientist, engineer, and among other things for the SSR."
Howard turned around and Maggie held her breath, hoping he might not remember her from the night less than a year ago when she talked with during the fair.
"You! I know you!" He said, "Wait, how do I know you?"
Maggie just stuck her hand out and said, "Um, I'm not sure. It's a pleasure to meet you though."
Howard frowned and put his hand under his chin, ignoring her outstretched hand, so she took it back. "I never forget a woman. I do know you. What was it... Chicago? Summer of 41?"
Maggie's eyes widened, a bit affronted at that. "No." She said firmly.
"Yea, that wasn't it..." He looked away from her and then snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "New York- this past summer! You asked those questions about time travel."
Peggy looked at Maggie with an odd expression and then back to Howard.
Maggie caved and said, "Um, yep, that was me."
"Right, I knew I had seen your face before!" he said excitedly. "You were doing research, right? At college or something?"
"No, um was just curious and um..." Maggie tried to think on her feet. "A friend bet me I couldn't get back to your tent and talk with you for over a minute, so I um, went with something I hadn't really heard of but sounded hard to explain, so I asked about that..."
"Time travel!" He corrected. "Well, I guess you won that bet, huh doll? Well, anyway, I did a lot of thinking after that, too bad you're not a scientist, I'd put you to work on a few theories I have!"
Maggie just smiled and nodded, looking at Peggy from the corner of her eye who seemed less interested in what Howard was saying and just waiting for him to finish.
"Well, since you still need to clean up and then rework that last bit of your last... project, Maggie and I will leave you be." Peggy said, cutting him off from speaking anymore and turning and putting her arm in Maggie's elbow, leading her away.
"It was nice to uh, meet you. Again!" Maggie said over her shoulder.
"Pleasure's all mine, doll!" he said back, already turning to his wet table.
"Sorry about him. Bit of a ladies man and can't help but flirt with any female." Peggy said with a smile on her face. "But he's one of the good ones. Could be making millions off of his products alone, but the challenge of this apparently is enough to keep him helping us for now."
Maggie nodded and followed Peggy, getting a quick tour of the facility that was the SSR main operational center in London. Peggy refused to call if the headquarters since apparently it was "American-made" as she stated, so there was an official headquarters in New York.
Peggy walked Maggie to a back room where there were more uniforms, living supplies, and things that Peggy told Maggie to take her pick from.
"You won't be getting a paycheck for a few more weeks, change of paperwork so the front-end looks the same," Peggy said quickly, "So for now, you can take what you need. Here's a bag."
Maggie was handed a tan sack and Peggy asked her to hurry so they could make the first team meeting in about 10 minutes.
So Maggie grabbed a shampoo that smelled nice, a few pairs of combat pants and matching drab jackets. A handful of white t-shirts and pairs of socks and a few more shorts that Maggie figured she could either run when the weather wasn't terrible or sleep in.
She found, in a box in the back, different women's underwear. Maggie sighed, they weren't her favorite, almost preferring men's boxers to the women's underwear that rode up and felt like a pair of shorts instead of underwear. But she grabbed a few women's pairs and a few boxers.
Then she added 2 skirts and a few women's tops, figuring she would have to have at least have dress uniforms when she came down here for formal meetings like today.
She was about done, Peggy had just come back, when Maggie saw a hairbrush and tossed that in. She was pretty sure the one she used last night was Peggy's and she didn't want to keep using someone else's property. Peggy also grabbed Maggie's bag and tossed in a small box of what Maggie recognized as tampons.
Maggie closed the bag and nodded to Peggy, then they headed to a room at the end of a hallway.
They walked in and it had a large map on the table with various wooden pieces as well as a few red markers. The walls were also covered in maps and pictures of people that Maggie could only imagine were targets or at least known enemies.
"Welcome to the dungeon," Peggy said, flashing her arm across the room.
Maggie noticed Steve was in a far corner, talking with a skinny kid in uniform frantically taking notes. They both looked up when they heard Peggy and Steve waved, patting the kid on the shoulder as a queue to leave.
The kid walked briskly by Peggy and Maggie, not acknowledging either of them, which Maggie found a little insulting.
Peggy noticed Maggie's frown. "Don't worry about the little one, I scared him his first day and he's been terrified ever since."
Maggie saw that Peggy was smiling fondly on the memory and decided not to ask more about it.
Steve explained that from the information Bucky, he, and a few others had gained, they had a few mapped out positions of Hydra and would be taking out the bases as quickly as possible, but they might not be prepared for about a month with the amount of planning and materials they might need to strike a facility with the new team.
Maggie nodded and asked a few questions here and there, and that was when Peggy informed her she wasn't just a medic, but should probably start training for combat situations soon too.
"Now, you won't be in the field the first mission or anything, but you need to be prepared more than the training you've had. We have a few specialists here or you could work with a few of the companies that are placed in England right now, but I figured you could work with our team on their specialties so we can keep you around here and have focused sessions. If that's quite alright with you?" Peggy spoke so quickly it was hard for Maggie to keep it all down.
Peggy looked at Maggie, waiting for an answer, and Maggie stumbled one out, "Yea, um, I mean, yes. That works for me."
Peggy nodded and smiled, "Great! It's settled then. Here's a schedule for you as you heal. I know you have a few broken ribs and other... ailments, so just get healthy and in the meantime, before anything too heavy physically, you can work on some technical skills."
A packet of paper was handed to Maggie and she scanned through the top quickly. It was a few pieces of information about the team's skills and then the second page had a time break down of when she was to work with Jim, Gabe, Jacques, and Falsworth on various skills, including learning German, hand to hand combat, wiring and radio skills, different firearm trainings, and explosives.
Maggie's eyes widened at explosives. "And this is all stuff I will be trained in. To use. In the field?"
Peggy frowned and Steve straightened up a bit, "Well, yes, unless you aren't comfortable with this. We just wanted to utilize your skills and from what the men said in their debriefings, they seemed to think you would thrive given more responsibilities and freedom to do more. If they were wrong and you're worried-"
"No!" Maggie cut her off. "I do want to help, in anyway I can. I guess I just didn't know you would put this much effort into training... well, me. A woman."
Peggy looked at her and put her hand on her hip. "And I'm what, a chimp? Of course we'll train women. Not any woman, mind you, but qualified and strong ones, of course. Your gender doesn't matter to me or the men, so it doesn't matter. Being a medic is helpful, but on a small team, we need everyone active on all fronts."
Maggie smiled as Peggy talked. Steve just nodded along and Peggy ushered her from the room after that, saying she is supposed to be able to find Jacques and a car at their apartment in an hour. "So go unpack your new things in your room, and you can go from there."
So with that, Maggie set off and did as she was told. She walked to the house, went to her room after finding the rest of the apartment empty. She unpacked her new clothes and items in her room.
It took her less than 10 minutes to unpack everything, so with at least 20 minutes left, Maggie wandered to the upstairs of the house. She knew the men were living there, but she hadn't seen it yet and she was curious.
Maggie got to the top of the stairs and waited to see if she could hear anyone. She heard nothing so she walked down the hall. One room had a closed door, but the others were all left open. She didn't enter any of the rooms, but took a quick peek in.
They looked about the same as Maggie's. A few had wider windows and one had what looked like a larger bed, and none had many (if any) personal items since they had been there just a day.
Maggie saw a clock in the hall and made her way downstairs and waited less than 5 minutes, leaning against the brick outside of the building.
Jacques arrived in an Army jeep shortly, "Come come! We will practice now!"
Maggie smiled and nodded, getting into the passenger seat. "So, where are we off to?"
Jacques smiled as he looked over quickly, "Fields."
Maggie frowned, not quite sure what that meant but went along with it.
She shifted in the seat, her ribs still quite sore and the bumpy jeep ride did nothing for her head.
"Are we almost there?" Maggie asked, trying not to whine too much.
"Almost, ma cherie." he said. He started to hum a song and within 5 minutes, he pulled over.
They were in a large field with a few bushes and she noticed a few barrels - of what she had no idea.
"And what exactly are we doing here?" Maggie asked, looking across the field. As she turned back, she saw him taking two boxes out of the truck.
Jacques smiled, "You are going to learn how to make a bomb!"
Maggie was horrified. She knew she would be trained in much more depth, including explosives, but already?!
They spent the next 4 hours going over wiring and how to make an explosive from gun powder, gasoline, and a few other explosive materials. They set off a few small explosives to test how Maggie did on her own, and she was pleased that she improved and got quicker with time. She was by no means an expert, but she had the main ideas and ingredients needed.
The sun was starting to set at this point so they made their way back into the city.
Jacques just parked the car in the street, explaining that the jeep was for the team when and if they needed it.
Maggie thanked him again for the day and he smiled and mumbled something quickly in French that Maggie wasn't able to gather. "Peut-être que vous pouvez m'aider à améliorer mon français?" Maggie stumbled over the words, but she think the point got across.
He smiled widely, "Oui, ma cheri. Mon plaisir."
Maggie smiled as he held the front door open for her.
The were immediately met with the smell of something burning.
Maggie rushed to the kitchen to find Dum Dum in the kitchen, waving a cloth at smoke coming from the oven and Bucky, Gabe, and Steve at the table giggling at Dum Dum's poor cooking. "Dum Dum! What the hell are you trying to do?! Burn down the house?"
He smartly got out of the way and stood next to the table, and Maggie reached and opened the window, hoping more smoke would escape through there. It was a little chilly outside, but she wouldn't need to keep it open too long.
She used the cloth Dum Dum had been using and reached into the oven, pulling out a large pan filled with a burnt something in a lump in the middle.
She put it on the stove and looked over to Bucky, "What did this start as?"
Dum Dum blushed slightly, "A chicken."
Maggie looked at him. "And have you cooked a chicken before?"
He was silent and the giggles from the table started again and Maggie glared at them, seeing Steve, Bucky, and Gabe trying to hold back laughter.
"And what have you three got to say? You obviously didn't help at all..."
They stopped and shrugged, looking somewhat guilty.
"Well, Dum Dum said he could do it, so we just provided... moral support instead of actual cooking advice?" Bucky offered, trying to see if that was a good enough answer for Maggie.
"Ugh," she sighed. "Someone should just go pick up dinner. I don't know how to make too much from scratch and until we get real groceries in here, I think it'll be safer for us and the house to not try to cook anything."
The men agreed and Bucky and Steve decided to go to the nearby pub and get whatever could be transferred back to the house.
Maggie looked around the kitchen and saw that while she didn't know how to make a dinner with the limited supplies in the cabinet, there was flour, sugar, baking powder, a bit of butter, and eggs. She couldn't find vanilla extract, but found what she thought was actual vanilla. And she did know how to make one thing with those ingredients. Cookies.
She started to measure out the ingredients and re-heated the oven.
The remaining men didn't offer to help, and Maggie wasn't too upset about that, especially Dum Dum since he had burned a whole chicken.
The men migrated to the table once more and started dealing a hand of cards.
At the table, Dum Dum, Gabe, and Dernier played cards quietly while Maggie hummed to herself and made work of the cookie batter.
She was just finishing getting the first batch of cookies into the oven when she heard Steve and Bucky at the front door.
Leaning over to the hall, she saw them balancing a few bags each, full of food.
She quickly closed the oven, and wiped her floury hands on her pants before hurrying over to help.
"Here, I can take something." She said to both Bucky and Steve as Bucky bumped the door shut with his back.
"It's alright Maggie, we've got it." Steve said politely before walking past her.
"Oh, okay." Maggie trailed, looking at Bucky as if to keep the offer open for him.
He smiled and shrugged, "I made it this far, I think the next 15 feet will be alright."
Maggie rolled her eyes and followed the dark haired sergeant into the kitchen, quickly wiping the counters and removing the cookie batter bowl for space for the paper bags of food.
Then, moving over to the oven, even though she knew it was bad to open an oven while something was baking because it let the cold air in, she couldn't help it.
Bucky came up to her and looked over her shoulder into the oven. "Hey, if those tastes the way it smells, they're gonna be great."
Maggie smiled and closed the oven. "Butter and sugar can rarely go wrong."
Bucky laughed in her ear. She liked the the sound of the low rumble as it made it's way to her ear. "Yea, but that smells especially good."
Maggie agreed and they turned to Steve opening the bags and announcing various types of food as everyone claimed someone of another.
Maggie settled on a roast sandwich with chips and started to reach for the cabinet to get plates out.
But she jumped a bit when she moved to take a step back and bumped into someone's chest. "Oh! Sorry, Bucky!"
He laughed and held her shoulders, "Never a problem."
Maggie tried to not blush and looked away instead of at his eyes as he was staring at hers.
"So!" He said, dropping his hands from her shoulders and clapped them together looking at the cabinet she had been reaching for. "Plates?"
"Yes please." Maggie said.
Everyone grabbed a plate from Bucky as Maggie sat down
When she sat down, the men continued their conversation about baseball.
Bucky and Steve were arguing for the Dodgers, Dum Dum for the Red Sox, Gabe the Giants, Jim insisting basketball was more interesting, Falsworth and Jacques just rolled their eyes at the whole thing.
"What about you Maggie?" Bucky asked. "Who's your team?"
They all paused a second looking at Maggie. She panicked for a split second. She always watched the Minnesota Twins when she grew up, but she was sure they weren't a team yet. "Um, whoever has the worst record?"
Bucky frowned at her answer and looked confused.
She continued quickly, "You know, gotta love an underdog."
She then took a bite of food, waiting for the conversation to continue. It wasn't until Dum Dum spoke that the silence was broken.
"Well, I guess that means you're with Gabe and his losing Giants!"
The entire table laughed and Gabe stuttered trying to defend his teams poor standings.
Maggie leaned back and smiled, enjoying the light hearted teasing and easy conversations. Just a week ago, she almost couldn't imagine being here. But not, with a healing nose and ribs, a clean and safe house, and the people she trusted most with her life, she finally felt relaxed.
She frowned when she smelled something acrid and jumped up from her seat and looked at the oven. "Shit! The cookies!"