Moments
Red Herring(s)
Several months later…
Jack lazily leaned against his pool stick and watched as Howard Stark methodically cleared the table.
He hadn't really expected to win against the brilliant millionaire, but he needed something to do other than be the fifth wheel at the couples table.
Stark was treating the gang to a night at his newly purchased 'pub' in honor of catching the S.O.B. who had shot Jorgensen. Their alive and nearly fully recovered chief had already dipped out to be with his 'special lady friend'. Of the people he cared to associate with, Daniel was proudly introducing everyone to his newly be-ringed fiancé, Violet the Nurse, and Peggy had brought Wilkes the Doctor, whom she was currently holding hands with.
If Samuel wasn't being so cagey about his 'special lady friend', he would ask him if she had any connection to the medical profession too.
"So how was it again that you know the Chief's shooter?" he overheard Wilkes ask curiously. The pool tables were just close enough that he could eavesdrop even over the hubbub of the pub.
"He was my handler back when I was in the S.O.E."
"Wait. You were in the British Special Ops during the war?"
Jack smirked as he lined up for his shot. How did the man think his British girlfriend became so good at espionage?
"Yes, after my brother Michael died, I accepted their commission. I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to do something to make sure my other one came home."
He nearly missed his shot. She had known this guy for a handful of months and was already talking about the Brother-who-was-not-to-be-mentioned. They had been partners for close to a year before she told him of her childhood partner-in-crime.
He missed everyone's responses to that personal bombshell, but did catch, "After I got done with my training, I was sent over to France. Mason Colter was my reluctantly assigned handler. I say 'reluctant' because he didn't believe women had any business in the line of espionage work, so he didn't use me to my fullest potential or trust my instincts."
"Let me guess," Wilkes interjected. "You did what you typically do and found a way to work around him."
Peggy took a moment to answer. Her reply was so soft that Jack was only able to pick up "…more like he found me."
"He? He who?" Violet asked curiously.
Jack moved around the table as if he was trying to find the perfect shot, but it was rather more for the perfect vantage point to see everyone's reactions when she revealed:
"Ethan Grey."
Jack could tell that while Daniel needed to explain to his fiancé who the 'Concierge of Crime' was, Wilkes, whose eyes were wide and his shoulders tense, needed no such explanation.
Peggy was quick to defend her connection to the crime lord as she always was. "Ethan was part of the Resistance at the time and noticed my 'untapped potential' as he put it. He took me under his wing."
"I am confused. Was it your connection to Colter or your connection to Grey that caused you to blame yourself for Jorgensen getting shot?" Wilkes questioned, looking none too happy that his girl had any kind of connections to these men.
Buck up, lover-boy. Your girl is an agent. She has rubbed and will continue to rub shoulders with all sorts of shady fellas.
"Both," Peggy answered with a shrug. "He didn't like the fact that I went on unauthorized missions that got results and thus showed him up, so when he screwed up, he chose me to be his scapegoat. It was his signature on that redacted file that he stole from Jorgensen after he shot him."
Mason Colter, who had been a rising star in MI6, had not wanted that incident in question to come to light; so when he learned that friends of Peggy Carter had that file and would likely dig deeper, he went on his own little 'unauthorized' clean up mission.
"Pardon my asking this, Peggy, but how did a British agent, with that kind of black mark on her record, get into the SSR?" Violet asked, proving she was not just a pretty face under that nurse's cap.
Peggy smiled gently at the girl, answering, "Ethan used his connections and got me transferred to the SSR as a liaison. My dual-citizenship helped matters too."
Her fondness for the crime lord was evident for all to see and hear. Wilkes certainly picked up on it, and judging by the tightening of his mouth, he was none too comfortable about it.
Jack knew he had a problem when he both rejoiced at the man's discomfort and, for Peggy' sake, mourned it.
As soon as Stark finished schooling him, he headed over to the bar. Perhaps, a pretty distraction would present herself.
~A~
"Hey, Aloysius, Rose was wondering if you could walk her home," Daniel declared, mercifully interrupting a rather long-winded dissertation on something or other.
The pompous egghead, who had with his incessant chatter destroyed any chances of Jack introducing himself to a pretty distraction, immediately closed out his tab to go and join Rose at the door.
"So did my savior name her fee for being such a noble sacrifice?" Jack queried sardonically.
Daniel shrugged, "Just an I.O.U. to be collected someday."
He merely grunted in response and would have continued to sit in silence, but his gaze landed on Violet as she was saying her goodbyes to the odd couple.
"In case I have not already congratulated you, Danny boy, you have a one-in-a-million girl there."
Daniel snorted, "You have no idea."
That caught his attention. Signaling the bartender for another round, he prompted, "Sounds like quite the story there, Sousa."
And because the man could not resist an opportunity to brag about his girl, he explained, "While Masters was trying to prove that I was involved in the thefts of the uranium rods at Roxxon, she agreed to provide me with an alibi for that night, and she helped patch up Peggy even when she thought I was in love with her."
So it wasn't just him that was detecting the deep connection between the two. That was good to know.
Not one to ever pass up an opportunity for a moment of truth when it presented itself, he asked, "So you're not, huh?"
"No, Jack, I am not," Daniel denied with a sigh, glancing over at Peggy who had her arm looped through Wilkes'. Jack noticed that he looked sad at the sight but not jealous.
"In fact," Daniel mused thoughtfully, "I think she was my red herring."
"You're what now?"
Daniel grinned at him, "My red herring. You know like in serial murder mysteries where it is never the first guy that they suspect?"
At his dubious expression, Daniel elaborated slyly, "Or like how that charming scientist there, is not Marge's ultimate Prince Charming?"
He nearly spewed his bourbon all over the bar. Was the love-happy man insinuating what he thinks, he is?
"Like I said to Violet, I may have a soft spot for Peggy. I may always love her, but I am not in love with her, and have been resigned for a while as to who holds her heart, you know once she wakes up to that fact and all."
Yep, the ridiculous man so was.
Before Jack could protest, Violet walked up and looped her arm through Daniel's, asking teasingly, "Are you two done with your boy talk yet? Because we have a wedding planner to go see bright and early tomorrow morning."
He stared bemusedly after the pair as they slowly made their exit. Violet was a sweet enough girl and clearly had his boy Sousa wrapped around her little finger, but for the life of him, he could not imagine how a man could love Carter and not be in love with her too.
~A~
Several weeks later…
"Peggy, that does not look like the face of someone who is out celebrating the capture of the Chameleon-Maker and his client list," Daniel pointed out as he sat down at the bar next to her.
No, it wasn't. She should be over the moon, but instead…
"I'm just tired," she admitted. Well, not 'just' tired. She was lonely too. It seemed even Jack had someone tonight.
She didn't because Jason had ended it between them. His reasoning had been that he didn't feel like she was prioritizing them. His parting speech ran something along the lines of her 'not making an effort to sync up our admittedly convoluted work schedules' and his 'not being willing or able to compete with your job...you love it more than your own life and I deserve more'.
That, and he 'was going out of his mind with worry' when she did cancel her plans with him for work 'because I know all too well what kind of danger you get up to...And it is more than I thought I could handle.'
When Daniel saw what she was looking at – Jack assisting a svelte blond chit with her wrap before 'chivalrously' escorting her home – he declared dryly, "Don't worry, Peg. She's nothing to him. Jack is just being his ambitious self, flattering whoever is the most well-connected girl in the room."
Peggy glanced at him sharply, "I know that. And for the record, why should I care?"
Daniel just gave her a look.
It was a look that she blatantly ignored. Now that Daniel was engaged, he was just doing what all affianced couples do – pair up everyone around them.
He was just a love-sick puppy.
Wasn't he?
A/N: just as a side note (contains spoilers), I have to confess that my desperate Cartson heart has taken a twisted kind of solace at the fact that while Jack is bleeding out on the hotel carpet, the final line of the song "Oh, But I Do" can be distinctly heard - 'I know that it's you that I love.'
Grasping at straws, I know. But did I mention desperate?
Anywho, feedback is always appreciated : )
