Earlier, the day had been rainy, and while Peggy had been working, putting together SHIELD, Steve had been running around New Jersey, trying to find her house. Thankfully, her name wasn't too hard to find in the telephone directory.
So, here he stood, soaking wet, still dressed in a white and black futuristic uniform.
"Peggy" Steve smiled
Peggy Carter, couldn't speak. Here was Steve Rogers, standing at her doorstep. Finally, when she found her voice, a whole volley of unresolved issues bubbled to the surface,
"Where the hell have you been? Do you know what you even did to me when you left?"
Steve was taken aback. Peggy didn't let him speak,
"I thought you were dead" she yelled
"Surprise?" he attempted a grin
Just then, the telephone rang, and Peggy had to leave Steve standing there, sopping wet on her stoop, "I'll get back to you later" she was firm, and didn't sound sexy. She sounded stern.
Peggy pulled the needle off the record and answered the phone.
It was Daniel.
"I got caught up in the rain" he explained, "It's not raining now, of course, but I'd told you I was working late because I was hoping to surprise you with dinner tonight, but I'm still at the grocers. It'll be awhile until I can get home"
"Oh" Peggy sighed, concerned about what to do with Steve, and both hoping that Daniel would hurry home, as well as hoping that he wouldn't. There was no telling what might happen if the two men fought over her like some sort of carnival prize. "I'll see you when you come over here" she smiled
They said their good-byes and she put the phone back down on the cradle.
"Who was that?" Steve asked from the door
"That was my fiance" Peggy was matter of fact. There was no reason hiding it now, "I'm engaged"
"Engaged?" Steve sounded surprised, even uncharacteristically jealous, "What can he do that I can't?"
"He" Peggy picked up the photo of Steve, pre-serum, that stood on the mantle, "reminds me of who you used to be" she smiled sadly
"I'm still that guy" Steve grinned broadly
"No" Peggy shook her head and replaced the photo on the mantle, "You're not" she sighed. "This" she picked up another photo, this one showing Daniel before his accident, "is my fiance, Daniel" she went on, placing it back on the mantle, "and I think in some part, the reason I love him is because he does that- he reminds me of you, the man you were"
"You love him?" Steve looked confused, and cautiously took a step inside the house. This entire time, he'd been rooted inside the door frame, especially after Peggy's tongue lashing.
Peggy turned away from the phone and looked at him. Water droplets fell from his still soaked uniform onto the hardwood floor.
"Oh, for heaven's sake" she fumed, "go into the guest room and change into something dry. I have a few of Daniel's things kept aside for emergencies"
After several minutes, Steve bounded into the living room, dressed in a sweater vest, shirt, tie, slacks, and frowned, "He's got two different sized feet?" he stared down at his shoes, Daniel's shoes, which apparently didn't fit right on anyone else.
Peggy knew exactly why Daniel's shoes might seem an ill fit to Steve, let alone to anyone else. One shoe, the left, had been stretched from Daniel's prosthetic leg. As for the other, it seemed to fit fine. Peggy glanced at the clock. All that had to happen was for Daniel to arrive home. There was never anything to worry about regarding his actual arrival, and it certainly wasn't as if he'd fly off the handle like a shrew of a wife. No, Peggy was more worried that the two men would physically fight each other.
She looked at Steve warily. Seeing him dressed up in her Daniel's clothes was unsettling. The odd thing though, was that Steve looked right at home. Perhaps in another life, she could have imagined him, Steve, being her husband. Peggy wistfully allowed herself a daydream, except in that moment's vision, her mind's eye saw not the man before her, but the frail, slight man who'd won her heart in 1942.
Steve broke Peggy from her momentary daydream. He placed the needle back on the record player and let Harry James' song fill the room again.
"How about that dance?" he smiled.