Miranda here.

Jack and I found a hotel for the night. Between us, we had a lot of amount of money (we'd brought a bunch of money for our day in New York and hadn't spent any yet), and things were pretty cheap in the 40s as compared to the 2010s.

The only thing we forgot about was that it would raise a lot of eyebrows. Whoops.

It ended up with me getting the room and Jack slipping upstairs later.

Before we went to bed, I pulled the bed against it – let's see Dottie get through there without waking me up.

The window was harder to secure, but Jack somehow made a chemical mixture which made it impossible to open. I don't know all the science involved – I'm not all that good at chemistry – but I'm pretty sure the mixture involved a huge wad of chewing gum, which was probably why it was so sticky.

After that, we shoved the table up against the window. In case anyone would think to shatter the glass.

Our room wasn't break in proof, but it could certainly be easier to get in.

Jack spread out his blankets on the floor. "What do you think will go wrong this time?"

"What couldn't go wrong? Let's see... if someone gets in tonight and hypnotizes you, but does nothing to me... what do we know about hypnotism?"

We began to work on a variety of plans for different scenarios.

By the time we finished, it was twelve, according to Jack's watch.

I lay down on the bed, and he lay on down his blankets on the floor.

It was midnight when there was a knock on the door.

I sat up. We had considered everything – forced entrance through the door, somebody breaking a window. We hadn't thought that anybody might just knock.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Peggy Carter's voice.

"Just a moment."

I pulled the bed back into place, while Jack put the table back.

Jack answered the door.

It was, in fact, Agent Carter.

"Hello," she said. Her gaze went from Jack to me. Her eyebrow lifted.

I knew what she was thinking, and the thought caused my cheeks to burn. I have never been so embarrassed in my life. Being caught in the 2010s would be humiliating enough, but in the 40s, when morals were more strict...

Jack glanced back at me, looked puzzled, then went beet red.

"I was on the floor." Jack blurted out.

She didn't obviously didn't believe us.

There was a moment of extremely awkward silence.

"Um... can we help you?" I asked, my cheeks absolutely on fire.

"You would be Jack Lewis and Miranda Pond?"

"Yeah," said Jack. "That's us."

"I'm Agent Peggy Carter with the SSR. I believe you have a friend named Carmen?"

Jack nodded.

"I need you to come with me. She also said to say 'Titanic'. Does that mean anything to you?"

Since none of our readers will ever meet us, it's probably safe to put this on the internet. Jack's first name is, well, Jack, and my name is Miranda Rose. So one of our safe words – used to say that everything's okay and that there's no trap – is Titanic. We told it to Carmen in case of an emergency.

For the record, I like the setting and story of that movie, but I don't watch anything with nudity (and didn't know about that when I saw it... awkward).

We followed her out into the dim halls.

"She said that you were friends and that she needed you."

What possibly for? Still, she must have a reason for it.

The SSR building was fairly empty when we entered it, though we did pass a few people in the halls.

We found Carmen sitting alone in the interrogation room, staring at the shattered mirror.

We were left alone with her.

"What's wrong, Carmen?" asked Jack. "Are you okay?"

Carmen nodded. "Yes. Well, aside from the bump on the head."

"We'll have to find some way to explain that when we get back. How'd you convince Agent Carter to bring us?"

"I said you were in danger from that crazy hypnotist."

"You lied?" I was actually somewhat impressed that she was a good enough liar to convince them.

"It's true! Sort of." Carmen blushed slightly. "Look, I don't know what to do. I'm scared, and I don't mind saying it. I thought you might... know something that I don't. Because I'm so scared I can barely think straight."

"That's better than most of us do. Besides, you're good at thinking straight. Ivy told me that after I went missing, you were the one who kept a calm head and dealt with things."

Carmen shook her head. "Yes, I did. That doesn't mean I know how to do this, though."

Carmen looked terrible – no offense, Carmen, but you did. Her face, blond hair, and white shirt were streaked in blood. Her eyes and face were red, from crying I think. She looked like she would collapse if she were standing.

"You put us in danger for this?" said Jack.

"You were in danger anyhow. You were there when Dottie attacked me, Miranda."

"And we would have been left alone if you hadn't brought us into this." I've never seen Jack look so angry in my life. It was rather scary, actually.

"Jack, it's okay," I said warningly.

"No, it's not okay."

"Jack, sit down and take a few deep breaths."

He opened his mouth to protest.

I shoved him into the chair. "Deep breaths, control whatever you're feeling. I don't care what she did. When you first got into this, your life wasn't in danger. You weren't nearly as scared as she is."

He took several deep, shuddering breaths. "She's been on one of these too. There was no need to drag us into this."

"If Ivy asked for help, would you say no?"

He said nothing.

"It was a bad idea. I'm sorry. I messed up."

"No need to apologize," I said.

"How can you be so calm?" asked Jack.

"Because I've learned pretty well how to handle my emotions and just let things go. How do you think I dealt with Ivy for so long? Or you?"

The "or you" wasn't called for. I admit it. "I'm sorry, Jack, that was a horrible thing to say."

He took several more breaths. "No, you're probably right about that one."

"You had a point," said Carmen. She looked absolutely miserable about the whole thing.

"I think we should be together," I said. "I don't think we can do this alone, we need all three of us. Look, we all need sleep. Tomorrow we can talk through things and plan."

"Good luck getting sleep. They'll want to grill us on what we know," said Jack.

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door.

"Let the grilling begin," I said. "Could be worse, right, Jack?"

"I guess."