Fennhoff's voice rang through the nearly empty hangar, "The men that you work with, they see you as broken- half a man. And Agent Carter- I see how you look at her, but she will never value you for the man that you are. How can she? She feels only pity." he continued.
Daniel held the pistol, now trained at Jack Thompson
"But we can change all that" Fennhoff went on, "But we can change all that if you just focus. Point your weapon" he instructed, "at yourself"
Daniel took the pistol and held it to his own forehead, at his temple
"- And pull the trigger" Fennhoff finished
Instead of telling to snap out of it, here Thompson remained silent, eerily so.
Daniel held the pistol to his temple.
He felt his finger press down on the trigger
He head the click
Then he awoke with a start, his shouts filled the room.
In a flash, Peggy was awake, already next to him. "Daniel, you're here, you're safe" her voice soothed him
Unfortunately, she wasn't the only other person in the room.
"I'm here, what happened?" Piper had bounded into the room, her own pistol drawn, ready for action.
"No no" Peggy held up a hand to warn Piper, "At ease, desist, calm down" her other arm around Daniel's shoulders.
"It was the nightmare again? Peggy spoke to her husband.
"It wasn't like that- when it happened- in reality" Daniel's voice rushed out in breathy gasps. He was shaking and sweating.
"What happened?" Piper had holstered her pistol and now leaned against the open doorjamb.
"He -" Peggy began
"It's just a nightmare" Daniel scowled, "small children have nightmares. I'm a grown man"
"You're a grown man who's dealing with a lot of changes" Peggy tried to console him
"You're doing a good job" Piper offered, "and trust me, I've seen people who didn't, who couldn't handle things well" she remembered Davis, and his grisly death, although that wasn't his fault, either.
"Thanks" Daniel sighed. He hated being catered to like this, as if he was an overgrown child, yet he'd been the one with the nightmare, and had apparently woken up the entire house with his shouts in the middle of the night. "I appreciate tha-" he began.
He didn't get a chance to finish the comment. The sound of someone knocking quite loudly, down the hallway, snatched away everyone's attention, including his own.
"What the bloody blue blazes was that?" Peggy threw the quilted comforter aside and yanked her service revolver from the bedside table.
"See, that's the last thing you want to do" Piper eased from the open doorway, her pistol also unholstered, "
Piper was down the hall and at the door in moments, ready to fire.
"You in there?" It's four already" Deke could be heard from outside.
Piper whipped open the door, "What the hell, Deke?" she scowled at him
"You said be here at four" he yawned
"Four in the afternoon" she scolded, "not in the morning"
"Oh, gee, yeah, that would make more sense" he chuckled at his own gaffe
"Hold on" Piper frowned, "How do I know you're really Deke"
"Who else would I be?" he laughed
"Shut up" she snapped, "Tell me something that only Deke would know"
"I – uh" he faltered, "Come on, like you said, it's four in the morning"
"Do it" she pointed the pistol at him
"I- uh—I"
"Who do you love?" she barked
"I-" he stammered
"Who?" she ordered
"Daisy! You know that. You know I love her" he cried, "Everybody knows it, but she doesn't love me at all"
"Ok, ok, come inside. You made enough noise to wake the neighbors" she glanced around and dragged him into the house, and slammed the door behind him
"All clear" Piper turned to put Peggy and Daniel at ease, but she saw Peggy standing there, ready for action with a pistol of her own.
"I should certainly hope so" Peggy mused, "with all the commotion going on"
"Is Daniel alright?" Piper was concerned
"He's uh-" she glanced back a moment, "he's putting his leg back on"
"Bobo could make him a better one" Deke quipped
"From what I understand, I don't think Daniel would appreciate whatever your grandfather could or couldn't do" Peggy was firm, "we've had enough conversations with Howard Stark already, and frankly, I find the point to be quite moot"
"How the hell did Mack even let you out at this hour?" Piper's question made perfect sense. Since the team had been stationed at SHIELD headquarters, quite only recently formerly the SSR, Mack had given strict instructions that all watches, day or night, would go through him. He was being the leader they all needed him to be.
"Him and Yo-Yo- um" Deke blushed
Piper screwed up her face, "I don't want to know" she sighed, "Well, you're here. Grab a spot on the couch, and I'll take the chair" she motioned toward the recliner in the corner of the living room.
"No no, you take the couch. Women need to-" he started
"Be extremely careful about the next words that come out of your mouth" Piper quipped.
"I'm very sleepy" Deke exaggerated a yawn for everyone's benefit.
"Good call" Piper grinned.
"Unfortunately, all this excitement did quite the number on me" Peggy mused aloud
"Alright, ok, I'm here" Daniel's crutch hit against the hardwood floor as he made his way down the hall, appearing at the living room entrance wearing pajamas, one foot bare and the other clad in a sock and shoe. Obviously, the bare foot was flesh and blood while the other was decidedly not.
"Lovely" Peggy smiled at her husband, then turned and rolled her eyes at the long night ahead of them.
"I know, I can't really do much of anything" Daniel sighed, "but I just thought—" he didn't bother finishing the sentence.
"No" Peggy shook her head, "Daniel, I'm not upset at you. We've both got a full day of work tomorrow, regardless of anyone or anything trying to kill us"
"You" he reminded her
"As it is," she went on, "It's the middle of the night, and I honestly don't fancy that anyone actually will show up now, what with the lights on and the neighbors wondering why a businessman and a telephone operator need to be awake at whatever godforsaken time it is now"
"Thanks" he smiled, "You're handling everything so much better than I could" he was candid, "and there are times when I still can't imagine why you chose me, and I know I'll never be able to measure up to you"
"Daniel" she sighed happily, and stroked his face with her hand, "You are stronger than you know" she pulled him in for a quick kiss, "and I'm not perfect, and for god's sake, please don't put me up on a pedestal" she referred to their earlier argument at an interrogation some years ago, "you and I chose each other" she continued, "and you know just as well as I do how hard life is when we're not what society calls ideal" she held his available hand in hers, "and you, you're my ideal" she squeezed his hand, "and I do know how you look at me, and I do feel the same way"
"Thanks" he smiled, "I just—sorry that I let my insecurities get to me"
"Everyone has insecurities" she was honest, "we've been married for long enough that you have got to know that I have them myself" she continued, "each and every one of us do" she went on, "we question ourselves daily, 'will I matter to this person? Will they like me? Can I do this job that I'm being asked to do? What would I do if they tell me no?' that sort of thing"
Deke stood there and stared at the married couple
"Yes?" Peggy turned her gaze to the bearded man
"I want to be like you two when I grow up" he was awestruck, "You see, I like this girl, and-"
"The girl with the powers, the earthquake ability?" Peggy meant Daisy, "Daniel mentioned her a little bit" she smiled
"You told her?" Deke frowned, "I thought we were friends"
"Hang on" Daniel put up his available hand as a stopping gesture, "All I said was that you two reminded me of Peggy and I, and that I told you to be friends with her"
"Did being friends with you really help?" Deke momentarily forgot he was talking to a married couple.
"I needed a friend" Peggy answered after a few moments' thought, "What hurt more was that you took a job clear across the country without even letting me know, effectively running away from me, from us"
"There wasn't really an us" Daniel chuckled, "and then I met Violet—"
"So—I have to make her jealous?" Deke wondered aloud
"No" Peggy and Daniel answered in unison
"Deke" Peggy began, "You seem like a very nice young man, and I'm sure you like Daisy an awful lot"
"You don't know the half of it" Piper laughed, "you still want to put your lips on her and move them around a lot?" she teased Deke
"Yeah" Deke sighed, "but—that's not going to happen, is it?"
"I think, at least for tonight, we've got enough on our hands with these killing machines out to hurt us" Peggy brought everyone back to the present, "and Deke, I'd love to assist you in your romantic tribulations, but for the moment, let's keep that aside, shall we?"
"We can't go around being paranoid at every man who shows up" Daniel reasoned, "Maybe we can chart who we can trust and who we can't"
"Splendid idea' Peggy agreed
Daniel shuffled off into another room and soon returned with a lightweight easel, chart paper and pens.
"Let's list who we know we can trust, making sure to mark the men" Peggy began, "You said that these—machines, can only take faces from men"
"As far as we know" Piper nodded, "Enoch did say that they could remove their entire skin and wear another Chronicom's skin, but I really can't see how they'd do that with people" she remembered a scene in the film Men in Black, but thought better of mentioning that to Peggy and Daniel.
"Fine" Peggy began writing on the chart paper, "Obviously, we know Daniel is safe"
"Hey" Daniel mockingly took offense
"Alright" Peggy smiled, "You're a dashing rogue and every women in America swoons for you"
"I've only got eyes for you" Daniel grinned
"Let's keep this moving" Piper made a circular motion with her hand, "I'd rather not get killed why you two are making bedroom eyes at each other"
"Jarvis" Daniel supplied, "we'd have heard something, right?"
"I suppose Edwin is definitely trustworthy, provided he's still himself" Peggy reasoned, but wrote the name Edwin Jarvis on the chart, under Daniel's name.
"Howard" Peggy continued, "I've tried to fill him in on what's going on, but he's got some filming locations to check out"
"What about the blonde guy" Deke supplied, "he held a gun to us"
"Jack" Peggy realized, "I trust him about as far as I can throw him"
"Yeah, but you can throw him pretty far" Daniel laughed
"But he has changed, especially after his near death experience" she wrote the name Jack Thompson on the chart
"What about the Colonel" Daniel asked
"Phillips?" Peggy raised an eyebrow, "I haven't heard from him in a few days" she marked down the name.
Just then, the doorbell rang
"What is going on tonight?" Piper frowned
"Speak of the devil" Peggy glanced through the door's peephole, "Colonel Phillips" she opened the door.
The Colonel didn't respond with a greeting. Rather, he whipped out a pistol and fired.