Moments


A/N: The following is AU from what has been hinted for Season 2, but I wanted to expand on something I briefly referred to in my other Agent Carter story Finally.

Anywho, enjoy!


Demotion


The problem with being in the espionage business as long as she had was that one begins to spy on her colleagues, whether intentionally or not.

When she had first arrived at the SSR New York office, she had intentionally cultivated a rapport with the switchboard girls, especially the pack leader Rose. Daniel and Ramirez may be the office gossips but no one was more truly in the know about the whole organization than the women who were the gatekeepers to all calls in and out of the building.

It hadn't done her any good in the beginning, but once she had proven to be someone worthy of being in the office and not someone who had just used her relationship with Captain America to weasel past the elevator doors, it was paying off in dividends.

They were how she knew that Jack's promotion to Chief was only actually to 'Acting-chief Thompson'. They were how she knew that he was holding the title for a probationary period of 6 months, and how she knew that higher-ups in D.C. were highly dissatisfied with Dottie/Ida's continued 'at-large status'. Apparently, one had been overheard saying that they were tired of the 'Russian bint leading Jack and the New York office around by the nose' and that 'perhaps new blood is needed'.

So it came to her as no surprise when early one Friday morning, she received a cryptic call letting her know that 'the Golden-boy has lost his crown.'

It had only taken her un-caffeinated mind a moment to process this, and then she had replied in kind: 'How long until the Jester ascends the throne?'

'One week' was the brisk reply before the call was ended with a decided click.

She was unsurprised, and therefore, completely prepared for this eventuality.

Peggy watched him throughout the day, noticing the slump to his shoulders and the sharpness of his acerbic tongue. She made sure Daniel, a favorite target of his, was out and about doing errands, and that young Matthews whelp was around to take the brunt of it.

And when the bullpen was empty for the day, minus, as per usual, the two of them, she walked into his office bearing gifts.

~A~

Jack had had a shitty day.

It hadn't just been the fact that the idiotic powers-that-be had told him that they were demoting him after an unsatisfactory trial period despite all that they had accomplished since Vinnie's interview. It had been the fact that they told him that they were replacing him with that paper-pushing, brown-nosing toady Johnson that had been his team leader in San Francisco before Dooley had tapped him for New York.

It had also been the fact that Sousa hadn't been around when he needed him. And add to that, Matthews always being underfoot.

He was calculating the odds of Johnson taking a shine to Matthews, and not liking the results, when a glorious vision appeared at his door…

Peggy Carter. Holding two coffee mugs. And a bottle of Axel Grease - Bardstown's finest barrel-aged bourbon hooch.

Aces.

"So, boss, you got two options. You can either (a) share with me a farewell toast or two to your office here or (b) you can join me at my favorite hole-in-the-wall where we can commiserate over dunderheaded superiors buggering up what ain't broke."

It took him a moment to get passed the mouth-watering vision in front of him to compute the fact that Carter (whom he had admittedly not treated very well) was being a pal about all this - not just with the offer of booze but also going so far as to use over-the-top British vulgarity in an attempt to cheer him up.

It took him another moment to compute the fact that she knew.

And like an imbecile, because that was what she did to him, that is what he led with.

"How the hell do you know about Johnson, Carter?"

Her dark eyes flashed with hurt and the proffered bottle lowered, even as she cheekily replied with her pert nose in the air, "A girl and an agent never reveals her sources."

Despite his foul mood, this brought a smile to his face. It was a smile that turned into a slow sly grin, as he, in the hopes of making it up to her, answered her earlier question, "Does it have to be either-or? Why can't it be both-and?"

Her head cocked to the side and her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized him speculatively. Jack could see the wheels turning in that brilliant mind of hers, as she weighed the pros and cons of his proposal and calculated the best response.

He didn't know if it was the pitiful ass he had made of himself today or the daring look he shot her that won her over, but he knew he did when she said:

"Fine. But you're picking up the tab on my taxi home tonight."

"Deal."

~A~

They eventually did migrate to her hole-in-the-wall. It was literally called 'Endroit Cache' and was owned by a relative of a friend of hers in the Resistance.

He had been impressed when she revealed that last little bit, but not so much when he had walked in. It was dim, smoky, and the walls were covered in questionable art deco. He swung back to impressed when he saw the quality of American whiskey that was on stock.

Carter led them to a back corner booth after signaling the dark-haired pouty-looking boy behind the bar.

Whatever arrangement she had with the owners was downright swell in his book, because the drinks kept coming, easing their repartee from their usual adversarial to his preferred camaraderie.

After an hour of swapped tales of idiot superiors during the war, he asked, "So when was a time that you said 'Screw it! I'm gonna do it my way'?"

Peggy stared at him blankly for a moment, and then asked incredulously, "You mean aside from the recent Howard-Leviathan fiasco in which I was branded a traitor?"

He snorted and waved dismissively. He wasn't quite able to hide his look of sheepishness behind his blasé attitude though.

Whether she noticed or not, he couldn't tell, because her usually composed face was scrunched up in comical exasperation. He topped off her glass, because whatever she was going to say had to be good.

And it was.

With a dramatic sigh she replied, "Well, if you ask my mother, it would be easier to identify a time when I wasn't a 'rebellious hellion'."

Grinning, or perhaps smirking, he arched an eyebrow in his best 'please, do go on' expression.

She kindly obliged with an annoyed sniff and girlish irritated toss of her hair as she explained, "Oh yes, my mother was often giving me the speech of: 'Yes, Margaret, you probably are smarter than that boy in school and quite possibly some of your professors and your Headmaster, and one day your father and your eventual husband. But, sweetie, you don't need to prove it to them. Use those brains of yours to persuade them to your point of view. Don't beat them over the head with it or rub their noses in their inadequacies. It will never end well for you'."

Carter concluded that speech with an indifferent shrug that in no way masked the bitterness of her muttered, "Obviously, I'm still struggling with that philosophy."

It was his turn to look at her speculatively with head cocked to the side. He would never understand her. If he had to have suffered all the fools that she had, including Colonel Phillips and his own damn self, there would have been no way he would have stuck around to achieve all that she had – at least not without a far larger chip on his shoulder.

After a few moments of this quiet observation, he noted softly and with all due sincerity, "Nah, from where I'm sitting, you've handled it all quite graciously."

When her dark eyes met his, he raised his glass in a silent toast of gratitude.

He hoped he could be half as gracious as she was come next week. But he doubted it. It took a special person to achieve that level of generosity.

"How's Tiny?"

At his question, she let out a long-suffering groan, "Rivaling 'Teddy' for the dubious title of sadistic bastard."

Her childish petulant expression sent him into random fits of laughter the rest of the evening. It was the cherry on top of an already laughter-filled night, which had not been how he expected his shitty day to end.

But then Peggy Carter never was what he expected.


A/N:

Translation: Endroit Cache = 'hidden spot' in French

Next will be, I think, what office life is like with the new toady boss.

Questions? Comments? Constructive Criticisms?