A/N- Oh my god guys I was having the most horrible day and then I saw these lovely reviews and it made my day so much better! Thank you! I have my finals in less than a month and that's why I am trying to write as much as I can, before that. This chapter is not really focusing on the mission because I felt like I needed one where we focus more on the characters rather than the mission at hand. So this one's all about feelings, jealousy being one of them :P (thank you anon for that idea. This chapter was the perfect one for me to explore that emotion). Hope you like it! As always, I am open to suggestions.
Peggy Carter was having a rather restless sleep. She kept on twisting and turning, her mind weaving through a number of real life memories and her deepest fears. First, she dreamed something that routinely haunted her, Steve's last moments, how she had been incapable of saving him. She saw in her mind, horrific scenes of Steve's plane landing in the snow, with Steve being crushed under the debris. Her dream suddenly changed, she now saw a pair of vibrant blue eyes. Steve's eyes, she thought. But no, that couldn't be right. Steve's eyes were a different shade of blue. Whose eyes were they? You smell nice, Peggy, someone was saying. She was just about to figure out who it was, when there was a loud crashing noise, which jolted her out of her dream.
Who can it be? Is it Dottie? Is it Leviathan? Have they come for me? All these thoughts rushed through Peggy's mind. I've dismissed the servants, she thought. Glad of the fact that she slept with a gun under her pillow, she decided to go check for the source of the noise. Of course, it could be burglars, but how could they have managed to get through Howard's security system. I better go check, she decided, and with her revolver in one hand, she tiptoed into the living room and then to the kitchen, since that is where the noise had come from, probably the sound a utensil falling, and went to face whoever it was.
Just as she had reached the kitchen door, she was greeted by the sight of a man with his back to her, busy looking for something in one of the cabinets. Without waiting to see who it was, Peggy said, in a commanding voice, "Whoever you are, turn around with your hands behind your head. If you try any tricks, I will put a bullet through your head", aiming the gun directly at the back of the stranger's head.
The man's posture seemed to have gone rigid for a second, before he casually held up his hands in surrender, and turned around and said, "Well, is that how you Brits greet your friends? So much for manners!"
"Howard!", Peggy exclaimed, immediately lowering her weapon and going ahead to give her good friend a hug.
As they let go of each other, he said, "Wait, what happened to you? How did you get injured?" looking at the band aid on her forehead.
"Oh it's nothing. Work stuff" she said, before continuing, "You could have rung the bell like a normal person, you know that, right? Why would you be tiptoeing like a thief in your own house?" she asked incredulously.
"My ride got delayed Pegs. I was going to come surprise you this evening. Anyways, since I already know the security code to this house, I decided to come in. And I was hungry, so I was looking for something to eat. Of course, this would have been a lot easier had you not dismissed all my servants for the night. I can't find anything decent to eat!" he complained.
"I dismissed them because I did not need them here. Wait, I'll whip up something for you. I can't sleep, as it is. No, don't you dare say no." She said, just as he was about to interrupt her and tell her to go back to sleep.
15 minutes later, Peggy sat on one of the chairs of the massive dining table, with Howard eating, or rather devouring his bacon and eggs. Of course, this was breakfast food but Howard seemed to have no complaints about it whatsoever. As it was, it was already 4 a.m. so it might as well have been a really early breakfast. As Howard ate, he kept a running commentary of what all had happened in the last 3 weeks when he had been in Paris, with his latest romantic conquest, a lady by the name of Maria. Peggy was surprised to see Howard talk so much about one woman, when generally he changed his women as frequently as he changed his ties. Maybe, he really likes this woman, thought Peggy as Howard mentioned that he was going to see her again in two days.
"Enough about me" said Howard, "What about you Pegs? How are you doing? How is work?"he asked.
"Well, it's quite interesting now that I am no longer the girl who gets the other agents their coffees and lunch" she said.
"I knew they'd realize how brilliant you are, especially after the whole Leviathan fiasco. At least one good thing came out of that nightmare" he said.
"Yes, but I must give credit to Agent Thom-Jack, for that. He's the one who's set the example for the others. He gave me my first independent case" she smiled.
"Thompson, that pompous-" Howard was saying just as Peggy interrupted him, "Howard, you have no idea how much he has changed in the last month! Honestly, it's like he's a whole new person. Well, most of the time" she said, with a smile.
"I see…A lot of things seemed to have changed while I was away" he said, "By the way, is he the one who patched up the wound of your forehead?" he asked.
"Oh yes, he did. Why do you ask?" she said.
"Only because you've been touching your forehead absent mindedly while you were telling me what a changed man he was" smirked Howard.
Peggy blushed, and quickly removed her hand from touching her band aid, which like Howard had said, she had been doing without being aware of it.
Clearing her throat and looking for a new topic, she said "I just remembered. I am going to look at a flat tomorrow. Would you care to join me? And no, I am not going to stay here forever Howard" she added as Howard opened his mouth to protest.
"Oh well, I see you're not going to change your mind on that. Fine, I'll come. Let's have a look at that place in the morning and then we can have lunch later" he said.
"No, I have to go to work tomorrow, I can't just leave everything like that, I have an interrogation to oversee" she said.
"Peggy, I am glad you got your first solo case but I think the SSR can manage a day without you" Howard commented dryly, before adding, "Come on, just tell them you're not well and spend a day with your buddy. Is that too much to ask?"
"Oh stop being theatrical, Howard. Fine, I'll take a leave tomorrow. But now let's catch up on at least an hour or two of sleep. God knows you could use it" she said and Howard nodded as he finished his meal.
3 hours later, Jack arrived at the SSR, a little annoyed. The reason for his annoyance was Lisa Goldstein, a young woman, who was one of the many telephone operators who worked at the "phone company" which was the entrance to the SSR office. She had been flirting with him for the last few weeks now, and though initially Jack had been quite pleased with it, her charm was now wearing off. He had taken her out for dinner one night and it had turned out to be one of the most boring nights for his life. The girl had blabbed on about herself, her family, her dog, the list was endless. Jack had hardly said anything that evening except for ordering the food and the occasion hmm, or oh! That's nice!
At the end of the night he had no desire to take her out again and he thought he had made it quite clear. However, Lisa didn't seem to have gotten the signal, and since then had been shamelessly and blatantly flirting with him, hinting that she wanted to go out with him again, despite Jack's repeated attempts to rebuff her.
This morning had been no different. These last few days he had managed to avoid her, but today she caught him alone and blabbed on for 10 minutes, which for Jack, translated into hours and hours. More importantly, she had made him late for work, something that reflected badly on his image as the new Chief at the SSR.
As he entered the office, his eyes scanned the cubicles, seeing everyone already at their respective jobs. However, one person was missing from among the agents. Peggy was nowhere to be seen. She was not at her desk, nor at the tea/coffee machine.
"Looking for Peggy?" came a voice behind him, and he turned around to find Daniel sitting at his desk, with papers spread out in front of him.
"Oh no, I wasn't looking for her. I was just surprised not to find her in the office. She's never late" said Jack.
"She telephoned a while back, said she won't be coming to office today. I think she had some personal business to attend to. I heard you guys got pretty banged up yesterday on the mission" said Daniel, signaling to Jack's semi healed jaw.
"Not much. Peggy managed the whole thing admirably. Knocked out Smith single handedly" said Jack, and added, "Anyway Sousa I better get to work, got some phone calls to make" and went inside his cabin.
As Jack entered his cabin, his mind was preoccupied. Why isn't she here? She knew we'd be interrogating them today? Maybe she isn't well. Maybe I didn't patch up her wound properly and now it's hurting her,he thought.
I better call and check. I already have Stark's number in one of the files.
5 minutes later, he was dialing Howard Stark's number. A man picked up the phone and Jack asked to talk to Peggy. A few seconds later, Peggy was on the line.
"Hello, Peggy, I heard from Sousa that you weren't coming in today. Are you unwell?" said Jack, in a tone that was filled with concern and yet hidden behind the veil of professionalism.
"Oh yes, I am alright. I just wanted a day off so that I could go check out some apartments in the city. I hope that's okay." Said Peggy.
Jack visibly relaxed, and said, "Bored of living the king sized life, Carter?"
"Ha, you could say that. As it is Howard is back in the city so I thought I'd catch up with him. He said he'll help me look for a place and then we could go for lunch. So I thought to make most of the opportunity." Peggy smiled.
"Oh" said Jack, his tone suddenly changing from jokey to somewhat acidic, "I didn't know Stark was here. I hope you guys have a fun time on your date. Goodbye Carter." he said and put down the receiver immediately.
Peggy, on the other end of the line, was quite surprised at the change in his tone. One moment they were being all jokey and then as soon as she had mentioned Howard, Jack sounded hostile and…if Peggy didn't know any better, she'd have thought that he sounded almost jealous. He thought she was going out on a date with Howard.
She had been linked with Howard many times in the past. She had brushed off these allegations, trying not to appear too irritated with anyone who thought that. Truth was, the world simply wasn't ready to accept that there could be a platonic and genuine friendship between a man and a woman, and that's all it was between her and Howard. She had simply ignored it in the past, but somehow the thought that Jack thought she was going on a date with Howard seemed to bother her.
"Ready to leave, Peggy?" said Howard, emerging from his room, dressed in a crisp blue three piece suit, hardly the clothes for a day out with a friend, but that's what he always wore. No matter what the occasion, Howard Stark was always dressed to the nines. Peggy, deciding to think no more about the odd phone call with Jack said with a smile, "Yes, let's go" as they both left the mansion to look for a suitable home for her.
In his office, Jack Thompson was in a very sour mood indeed.
First Lisa and now this. I thought her work meant more to her than dates with Howard Stark. Of course she's dating him, he's a genius and a millionaire. Which girl would refuse him? But other than the money and the brains, he's a pompous brat, isn't he? They wouldn't last. She's far too good for him. But, maybe after having been with Captain America, he's the perfect man for her, after Cap of course. But why him? It couldn't be about the money, he knew that for sure. Maybe it was the manly look, with expensive custom made suits and that moustache. Hey, I can grow a moustache and my clothes aren't shabby, are they?
His train of thought was interrupted by Sousa, who knocked on his door and said, "Chief, I am going in to interrogate Smith, you want to join me, since Peggy's not here and you're the one who caught them?"
Jack, who had been far too preoccupied with Peggy and Howard's date, was brought back to reality and said, "Sure Sousa, give me a moment, I'll be there"
Just as Sousa was leaving, Jack suddenly asked him, "Why do you think Carter would want to go out with Stark? I mean, he's an ass, isn't he?"
Daniel, caught completely unawares, took a moment to answer and said, "Oh, I didn't know they were going out. Well, they've been good friends since before the war. Plus, he's smart, rich and good looking enough, so I guess that played a part"
"I guess" said Jack with a sour expression, trying but failing to look like he didn't care. "Come on let's not waste any more time" he said and headed out the cabin door before Daniel.
Daniel was not the one to miss these subtle signs. Jack changing his behavior towards Peggy after coming back from Russia. Him assigning her her own mission. Him dropping her off and talking like they both had an inside joke. His admiration towards the way Peggy handled things.
And most clearly, his acidic tone as he mentioned her going out with Stark. For the last few weeks, especially this last week, Peggy and Jack seemed to be getting on splendidly, something that no one could have expected of them. They were not just cordial, they were friendly to each other, they had their own inside jokes, and they looked happy while they were together.
Daniel remembered, how that night in Thompson's car, he had caught Thompson glancing at the rearview mirror a little more than was necessary. It now dawned upon him that traffic was not what had been on Thompson's mind as he looked in that mirror. Daniel smiled sadly to himself. It looked like he was not the only SSR agent who had fallen for Peggy Carter. The only difference was, thought Daniel shaking his head ruefully, that Jack didn't know it himself.
In a different part of the city, Peggy and Howard were having lunch at a nice outdoor cafe, Peggy having shot down Howard's suggestion of having lunch at some posh fancy restaurant. It had been a good day so far, she had finally managed to find a suitable place to live. It was more than suitable. It was a lovely apartment with one bedroom and bathroom. Apart from the fact that it was relatively cheap to rent, it was also close to where Angie worked, so Peggy could pop in to visit her friend often. Howard of course, had been quite convinced that the place was too small for her, but Peggy silenced him. She was going to live in that apartment alone, which was good because…because she couldn't risk history repeating itself and her putting loved ones in harm's way. All in all, she was really happy with the place.
As they sat under the shade of their umbrella table, Howard said, in a tone that suggested that he was being careful with his words, "So… Peggy, how's your life out of the SSR? Anything interesting going on? "
Peggy knew at once what he was referring to. He was aware of the bond she had shared with Steve, he knew how much it had hurt him, made her aloof to the word romance. She knew he was asking this because he was concerned that she might end up spending her life alone, pining for a man who was no more.
"I haven't really had any life beyond the SSR, Howard. You know that. But" she said, "I want you to know, I've let go of him."
Howard appeared genuinely surprised, seeing Peggy open up about him.
"Steve will always be a part of my life, Howard. It is impossible for any man to take his place. But, I want you to know that I have decided to move on, I can't hold on to him forever. Of course, I'll cherish his memories forever, but that doesn't mean I can't move on." She finished.
"I am so glad to hear that Pegs. I am sure that's what Steve would have wanted. When you love someone, you want what's best for them. And knowing him, I have no doubt he would have killed me for letting you be all miserable these last few months." said Howard and they both smiled, remembering their dear friend and companion.
'So Pegs, now that you've decided to move on, is there anyone at the office who's "interesting"? "he asked.
"Oh no, no one." said Peggy a little too quickly, trying but failing to not think of Jack Thompson. "I'll let you know when I find someone" she smiled, and quickly decided to change the subject.
Soon, both of them were chitchatting about this and that, but Peggy's mind was trying to work out why Jack Thompson had popped in her head when Howard had asked about a potential romance. It's nothing, we're friends, that's all. We've been spending a little too much time together, maybe that's why he popped up in my mind, thought Peggy, trying to convince herself, because the alternative was of course impossible. Me, being interested in Jack! Ha! she thought.
The rest of the afternoon was spent amicably, with both Howard and Peggy enjoying their lunch and talking about anything and everything.