The World Has Changed
A week, next Saturday at the Stork Club. Eight o'clock on the dot. Don't you dare be late.
Pairing: Peggy/Steve
Rating: general
Warnings: none
Tropes: Enhanced!Peggy
Words: 1,179
Original Release Date: 26 Jan 2020
Peggy woke but didn't open her eyes. She couldn't remember where she'd fallen asleep. That wasn't completely unusual, as the longer the war went on the more creative places she and others of the 107th tactical team found to get a bit of sleep. Yet she didn't feel like she'd only caught a little sleep. She felt well-rested and comfortable like she hadn't felt since before the war started.
It was quiet, nothing like the subtle hum of camp life, even the early mornings had the sounds of wind on canvas, hundreds of men shifting in their sleep, and the animals just starting their day in the woods. Even if she'd managed to fall asleep in a building somewhere with the team, it wouldn't have been this quiet.
There were no noticeable odours in the air either. Not of unwashed bodies nor sweat-stiffened clothes. The ever-present smell of gun oil was missing. In fact, all she could smell was fresh laundry.
"You can open your eyes, Peggy, I know you're awake."
The sound of Steve's voice catapulted her thoughts back to her last waking moments. Red Skull's surprise when he saw it was her on the plane and not Steve, the full force of his enhanced strength as he fought, the surreal experience of seeing him all but evaporate into the night sky. The realization that the flight mechanism was damaged and she would have to force the plane down... and her last words to Steve over the radio.
She opened her eyes and sat up with a start. The person at her side wasn't who she expected—not at first—he was an older man, grey hair, wrinkles at his eyes and around his mouth, but then she began to see: It was Steve. Those kind blue eyes and the shy, adoring smile he reserved for her. "Steve?"
His smile grew. "It's good to see you, Peggy."
She touched the back of her left hand with her right then glanced down to confirm what she felt. Smooth, wrinkle-free skin. "How?" she asked, returning her gaze to his. She reached out, without intention, and almost touched one of the prominent laugh lines at the corner of his mouth.
"When you put the plane down, the ice froze you and the serum—"
"The serum kept me alive." She glanced away from him, more in thought than to take in the details of the room. She, Steve, and Howard had done their utmost to keep the British and American governments from finding out that she had received the serum too. "I suppose everyone knows I was also enhanced, then. I doubt survival through cryonics was a side effect Dr Erskine envisioned when he created the serum."
"No, probably not." Steve inhaled deeply and shifted in his chair, drawing her attention back to him. The movement sent a whiff of his subtle aftershave her way. It was familiar in a way even his face was not. "How are you feeling? They performed a lot of tests and it looks like you're as healthy as you were in '45."
"What year is it now?" She again focused on his age lines and grey hair. She had the sudden urge to weep over the lost years, over the fact that he'd had to grow old without her. She pushed the thoughts aside; she'd never been one for sentimentality and they'd never made promises to one another. Their assignments in the war were too dangerous to make plans for a future that may never come.
"2015." He waited a few heartbeats for that information to process. "Come on, you've got a lot of catching up to do."
When she stood, she finally made note of what she was wearing. Her uniform blouse and trousers, though from the feel of things she wasn't wearing most of the foundation garments she was used to. She even had boots on rather than her usual oxfords. She didn't see any clothes lying around and she suspected the chest of drawers in the corner was solely a prop. Steve held the door for her and they exited the room into a larger, empty space where her "bedroom" had been constructed. She looked at the construction and then back at Steve.
"They thought they would 'break the news to you slow.' Pfft, I told them if you woke up in unfamiliar surroundings the first person through the door was likely going to need a medic if they didn't answer your questions."
As they headed for a set of double doors several yards away, she asked. "Who are 'they'?"
The doors opened ahead of them and two men were standing there. An older black man wearing all black clothing and an eyepatch, standing in parade rest. The other was a white man in a suit, well-tailored though the silhouette and styling seemed wrong to Peggy.
"Well if it isn't Sleeping Beauty!" the younger man said exuberantly, moving his hands in the air as he talked. "It's nice to finally meet the woman my father and this guy talked so much about when I was growing up." There was something about his look that seemed familiar but she couldn't place it at first. "Lady Britannia in the flesh!"
Peggy raised an eyebrow at the ridiculous name and looked back at Steve.
"They made comic books after the war," he said as an explanation, "Captain America needed a British counterpart. This is Tony, Howard's son." So the familiarity was warranted.
"Pleasure to meet you," she said nodding at Tony when he didn't seem to offer his hand to shake.
"You won't think that once you get to know him," said the man in black.
Steve took a step forward to usher her closer to the man. "And this is Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD. Which is what the SSR became after the war."
"It's nice to meet you, Agent Carter, " Fury said, giving her the tiniest smile. "We have an apartment set up for you and there's a lot of debriefing material there but take your time. We might even have a mission or two for you at the end of it if you're interested."
They exchanged a few more words and then Steve was escorting her outside. The street was busy and vibrant and loud in a way she hadn't expected and it took her a moment to adjust. She and Steve were quiet as he walked her down the pavement, so she could take in the world around them.
"The world has changed so much..." she said, even as her gaze lingered on the Empire State Building in the skyline past the many new buildings.
Steve nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. He looked back at her and gave her another smile. "But there's something that hasn't."
"What's that?"
"I still don't know how to dance."
And the words that she'd said to him last, the setting up of a date that, at the time, they both knew they would never get to have, seemed to echo in her mind. "I'll show you how."