February, 1955

In which Steve did not think Peggy would be home this early.


In an unexpected twist of luck, Peggy found herself finished with the week's tasks at 2:30 on Friday afternoon. She checked around in case she'd missed anything, and when it appeared she was well and truly free, she decided not to press her luck and head for home.

She was about to announce herself as she walked in the door, but stopped when she heard what sounded like Steve singing. Curious, she poked her head around into the living room. Steve and James were standing in the living room, and Michelle was sitting in the armchair, watching them curiously, and near enough to her father for Steve to catch her if she decided to lurch forward out of the chair. Steve was, in fact, singing, which he enjoyed doing with the children, but she'd never heard this song before. There seemed to be a dance that accompanied it, so she crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall and watched.

"To the left!" Steve said, and he and James both slid over to the left, James looking up quickly at Steve to make sure he was going the right way. "Take it back now, y'all," he said, and they both took a couple of steps back.

Peggy quirked an amused eyebrow at Steve's use of the word 'y'all'.

"Two hops this time! Two hops this time!" he said. They both jumped the requisite number of times, James giggling as he lost his balance and bumped into Steve's leg.

"Right foot, two stomps," Steve kept singing, smiling as he nudged James back upright with his leg. James stomped the wrong foot, then corrected himself when Steve said, "Left foot, two stomps!" They both put their hands on their knees and bounced up and down when Steve sang, "Hands on your knees; hands on your knees."

"Get funky with it!" James exclaimed, knowing the next line and clearly waiting for his chance to jump in. Peggy snorted into her hand, and she wouldn't quite call it 'dancing' what they were doing now, but it was certainly freestyle…something. They were moving back and forth and waving around, and Steve picked up Michelle and spun her in a circle before placing her back on the chair, where she laughed gleefully.

"Cha Cha now, y'all," Steve sang, going into a move with his hips that was very lovely to watch indeed. James tried and failed miserably to copy his father's steps, but was having a good time.

They repeated the series of sliding left, hopping and stomping, then froze in place as Steve called, "Freeze!" He and James stared at each other, as if waiting to see who would move first, then he grinned and said, "Everybody clap your hands!"

They both started clapping in something that sort of resembled a rhythm, and even Michelle joined in, though it was more of a flailing motion where her hands occasionally met.

"How low can you go?" Steve sang, and he and James both spread their feet apart and started lowering themselves to the floor. "Can you go down low? All the way to the floor?" Apparently the goal was to get as close to the floor as possible without falling. "Can you go down low?" James's four-year-old flexibility was giving him the advantage here, as his little bottom was hovering no more than an inch above the floor—somewhat to Peggy's surprise, as his coordination wasn't usually that refined.

"Can you bring it to the top?" Steve sang, and they started moving up again. "Like you'll never never stop?" James was lifting his hands to reach as high as he could, and Steve picked up Michelle and started lifting her over his head as he 'brought it to the top'.

They returned to the stomping and sliding, and as Steve Cha Cha-ed ever so nicely, he stepped forward and deposited Michelle back in the chair before they got to the hopping.

"Reverse, reverse!" he called, and they both spun quickly around and then forward again. "Slide to the left!" There was a minor collision as James got the directions wrong again, but Steve caught him under the arms and lifted him over to a new section of floor before he got tangled in his father's legs.

They slid to the right, reversed, and Cha Cha-ed again, and James was starting to get the hip movements down. A bit.

"To the left!" Steve said, pausing to give James a proud high five when he got it right this time. "Take it back now, y'all," he continued, and they both moved back. Peggy chuckled again at his use of the word. It sounded so odd coming out of his mouth.

"Two hops, two hops!" They both jumped. "Two hops, two hops!" They jumped again. "Right foot, let's stomp! Left foot, let's stomp!" Another high five here as James got the order correct again.

"Charlie Brown!" Steve said, and they both did an odd little rocking back and forth hop that Peggy wasn't quite sure what it had to do with the comic strip character.

"Slide, to the right! Slide to the left! Take it back now, y'all! Cha Cha now, y'all." They both Cha Cha-ed again, Steve sliding back and picking up Michelle, who cooed happily as they swayed back and forth.

"Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm," Steve said as they moved into freestyle again. "Oh, yeah."

"Yeah!" James echoed.

"Alright," Steve said with a grin. "I'm outta here, y'all. Peace!"

"Peace!" James echoed, holding up two fingers.

When no more seemed to be forthcoming, Peggy leaned away from the wall and started clapping. They both spun around to face her in surprise.

"Mommy!" James exclaimed happily.

"Peggy!" Steve said, going rather red. "You're home early."

"Did you see me, Mommy?" James asked, running over for a hug. "Did you see? I can do left and right!" he said, sliding to the appropriate sides to demonstrate.

"I did see that," Peggy said proudly. "Very well done."

He beamed.

Steve narrowed his eyes suspiciously, picking up Michelle and walking over toward them. "How long were you standing there?" he asked.

She smiled and kissed him, then scooped Michelle from his arms and kissed her too. "A bit before you 'got funky with it'," she said. Faint color rose in Steve's cheeks again, and she laughed. "I can't say I've heard that one. What does it mean?"

"Um," Steve said. His brow furrowed thoughtfully. "I guess it means, 'cool'."

"Another one of your future words?" she guessed.

"I guess so, but probably not too far off now," he said.

"Is this something you three do a lot?" Peggy wondered.

"Yeah!" James said. "Michelle's too little to really do it, but me and Daddy know all the parts, and sometimes Daddy helps her dance too."

"You did seem to have it down well," Peggy told him, and he smiled.

"Hey, why don't you go and clean up your toys in your bedroom," Steve said, reaching down and ruffling his hair. "Then we'll have a snack."

"Okay!" James agreed eagerly, rushing to his room.

"Lucky me to have arrived in time for snack time," Peggy said.

"Everything okay at the office?" Steve asked.

"It's fine," Peggy assured him. "We're just all caught up. For once."

"Oh, good," he said. He smiled. "Although, had I known you were coming home early, I would have done the dancing earlier."

"No need to be embarrassed," Peggy told him. "I have no idea what that song was, but it was adorable."

He grinned.

"Future again?" she wondered. She would catch him sometimes humming snatches of songs that wouldn't come out for several years yet.

"Yeah," he said. "In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have taught him a song from the year 2000. That might be weird if he hears it again. But it was stuck in my head, and it turns out to be a decent way to teach him right from left."

Peggy shook her head. "The year 2000 sounds impossibly far away right now. And he is four. I think you're safe." Michelle squeaked in agreement.

Steve chuckled, and Peggy let go of Michelle with one hand and slid her arm around his waist. "And that Cha Cha move you were doing was gorgeous," she said, lowering her voice just a little. The Cha Cha was one of the new dances that Peggy had seen, but hadn't had time to learn. "Perhaps our next date could be at a dance studio and we could learn to do it together?"

Steve smiled and hugged her. "Sounds good to me."

Michelle made an annoyed grunting noise, and Steve looked down at her and chuckled. "Well, fine," he said. "You're not invited to dance lessons. You can go stay with Mr. and Mrs. Jarvis."