Chapter Fifteen

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Pepper Potts was a high-power executive in one of the biggest corporations of the the twenty-first century, and she dressed the part. Her clothing was professional, crisp, and on the cutting edge of fashion. It was also completely foreign to the woman from the 1940's.

Steve saw Peggy's eyebrows fly up, and her cool, discreet appraisal of the other woman's dress, and turned his head to hide a smile. Even when they were living in tents, slogging ankle-deep in mud, Peggy had always tried to keep herself presentable and dressed as neatly as possible under the circumstances. Of course she would scrutinize Pepper, looking for clues as to what the women of this era were wearing.

"Oh, hi. You're awake," Pepper put on her best smile, more than a little nervous. She hadn't known exactly what to expect; but it certainly wasn't the self-possessed woman sitting up in bed, surveying her steadily.

"Peggy, this is Miss Virginia Potts. Miss Potts, Agent Carter." Steve was practically glowing as he made the formal introductions, and Pepper noticed the way he said Peggy's name and the look in his eyes when he looked at her. He was so happy - happier than she had ever seen him before, smiling easily in the same way as the man she'd seen in the museum film clips.

Shaking off her nerves, Pepper held out a hand, which Peggy shook cordially.

"Agent Carter. Wow, I'm - I'm honored. Please, call me Pepper. I'm the CEO of Stark Industries." The businesswoman was pulling a large wheeled suitcase, which Steve helped her lift onto the foot of the bed. "I picked up a couple things you might like; I hope you don't mind."

"Steve." Peggy caught Steve's attention and looked pointedly at the door. If this suitcase was packed with clothing and undergarments, she did not want him there watching. He stared back for just a second and then jumped slightly in realization. "Oh. Right. I, ah - I'll see you later, Peggy?" Flushing heavily, he vanished out the door, and Peggy bit back a fond smile at his endearing awkwardness.

Pepper snapped the suitcase open, and began spreading things out on the bed. "I'm not sure what kind of clothes you like, so I just brought in a variety and we'll fill out your wardrobe as we go."

Looking at Pepper's selections, Peggy felt a distinct sense of relief. The CEO had chosen well, and most of the items were similar to what she was used to wearing, if a little different in cut and material. She would feel much better once she was properly dressed in something besides a nightgown. Goodness knew what Steve had thought of her; she was sure she looked a fright.

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Steve stepped into his own room almost cautiously; he'd stayed at Tony's tower since the fall of SHIELD, but the suite still didn't quite feel like home. Then again, nothing had felt quite right since he woke up in this new world. At least, nothing until Peggy Carter had opened her eyes, and a whole part of his life suddenly reopened that he'd thought had been closed forever.

Catching sight of his reflection, he deflated instantly. Had Peggy really seen him like this? The man looking out from the mirror had rumpled hair, a wrinkled shirt, and dark rings under his eyes, betraying just how little sleep he'd had. While the super-soldier physique allowed him to run on a small amount of rest, he was rapidly nearing the end of his rope.

A quick glance at the clock showed him it was only a little after seven thirty. Peggy always had been an early riser; obviously some things hadn't changed. Pepper didn't have to go to work just yet, and the rest of the tower likely wouldn't wake for another hour at least.

Steve turned on his heel and headed straight for the shower, pulling off his shirt as he went. He had at least a little time to make himself presentable.

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Tony Stark had obviously inherited his father's eye for beautiful women. Unlike Howard's endless progression of flashy bimbos though, Pepper Potts was intelligent and genuinely pleasant to be around. Peggy found herself intrigued by the other woman, and vaguely impressed that a Stark could have managed to attract her.

"So you run Tony Stark's company." Peggy ran a brush through her damp hair. She was still feeling shaky, but Pepper had talked her into having a hot bath, which had done wonders toward making her feel like a person again.

Pepper hummed in assent, pulling a pair of heels from the corner of the suitcase and handing them to Peggy. "Yes, I do. Do those fit, or would a bigger size be better?"

The shoes fit well, and Peggy tapped the toes against each other. "Does that happen frequently nowdays - women running companies?"

The CEO was in the middle of folding something, but at the question she paused. "Ye-es," she drew the word out slowly. "It's not uncommon. I guess that would be strange to you, right? Wait, of course not; you helped found SHIELD."

"I did," Peggy's voice was low. "But it wasn't exactly universally acceptable." Howard had believed in her, but the other men involved in the project had looked down on her. Her time in the SSR and SHIELD had been an uphill battle all the way, and she had fought for even a modicum of respect. The thought of starting all over again was suddenly very discouraging.

"Well, I can tell you right now that you'll be accepted here," Pepper told her, and there was such nonchalant confidence in her tone that Peggy could only blink at her. The idea of immediate and unconditional trust was somewhat staggering; very few people had given her much of a chance after the war.

"I don't want to be tolerated just because of my connection with Captain America," Peggy cautioned, the words heavy in her throat. For a moment every old slight, every snide comment, every belittling action swept back, but Pepper was shaking her head.

"You underestimate yourself. Yes, I am friends with Steve Rogers, and yes, he did happen to give you an excellent recommendation, but I've seen your files, and they speak for themselves. Believe it or not, you're a legend in your own right."

Peggy had absolutely no idea how to take that last statement, so she abruptly changed the topic. "Tell me about Steve." He hadn't said much about himself; only the brief, biographical facts that correlated with recent events, and she wanted to know more.

"There's not all that much to tell," Pepper explained, unfolding a dress and holding it up for Peggy to examine. "He's the leader of the Avengers - and how that man can handle all of them, I'll never know. He was in D.C. until the trouble with SHIELD. Since then he's been staying here between missions. He doesn't have much of a social life outside the team."

Peggy coiled her drying hair around her fingers, trying to coax it into curls. "He's had a lot of trouble, hasn't he?" she quietly said; less of a question than a statement.

"It hasn't been easy," Pepper admitted. "Actually, I've never seen him so happy as he is now that you're awake. I swear he looks ten years younger."

Furiously, Peggy tried to suppress the pleased blush that flooded her cheeks, even as her heart thrilled at the knowledge that he cared so much.

Fighting with a zipper on the back of a dress, Pepper only caught the tail end of Peggy's blush, but it was enough to make her smile, satisfied. "You mean a lot to him, you know. He was absolutely heartbroken when he thought you'd died looking for him. Poor boy was like a ghost. He was the one who had the idea for the transfusion, actually."

Peggy's hairbrush paused. "Transfusion?"

Pepper got up to hang the last dress in the closet before moving on to the slacks. "Well, yes. He didn't tell you?" She looked uncomfortable. "Maybe I should let Bruce explain."

"No, please," Peggy put on her most engaging manner. "Won't you go on?"

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Steve finished buttoning his shirt and took a long look at himself in the mirror as he quickly combed his wet hair. Pepper and Natasha had both told him that this particular shirt did good things to his eyes, whatever that meant, and he wanted to look nice for the next time Peggy saw him.

"Gussying up for your girl again?" Bucky's voice rang back through the years, and he couldn't help but grin wistfully at the memories it brought back. Bucky would have been so happy to see Peggy alive and well. Perhaps someday he still could.

"Shut up, Buck," he remembered retorting, and his friend's old laughter echoed in his ears as he sat on the edge of his bed to tie his shoes. His eyes were almost ridiculously heavy, but he blinked hard to stay awake. There would be time for sleep later; he had to get back to Peggy.

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"So Steve offered to give you his blood in hopes that it would work for you," Pepper finally finished, and eyed the other girl carefully, trying to read her reaction.

"Evidently it did," Peggy murmured, looking down at her hands. She rubbed one slowly over the other before bending back her wrists to look at the blue lines beneath her skin.

Steve's blood. She had his blood in her veins - the very blood she had worked so hard to keep safe from the scientists and money mongers who wanted to get their hands on it. It was odd how things worked out. Suddenly she felt closer to him than ever, sharing this special secret.

"Well, nobody knew for sure," Pepper went on, sorting out socks to give her hands something to do; a habit she'd picked up from Tony. "It was really sweet - Steve stayed by your side as much as we would let him. Even when we dragged him out, he just paced or went down to hit things in the gym. I honestly don't think he's slept in a week."

Peggy turned away, inexplicably warmed at the thought of his worry for her. The fact that she'd caught him asleep by her bedside that morning now seemed twice as precious.

A high trilling sound interrupted her thoughts, and she looked up to see Pepper raise something flat and black to her ear. The woman spoke briefly, and Peggy realized it was some kind of wireless communications device. Intrigued, she craned her neck as unobtrusively as possible, trying to get a better look. Such a thing could come in incredibly handy, depending on how long of a range it had.

"I'm so sorry," Pepper's eyebrows furrowed apologetically as she put the device away and got to her feet. "Something's come up at work, and I've got to run. Would you like me to call Steve before I go?"

Peggy shook her head with a smile, and watched the other woman as she briskly left, walking confidently in heels taller than she'd ever seen before. She desperately wanted to see Steve again, but there was a lot for her to think about, and she needed the time to process it all. Besides, the eventful morning had left her physically and emotionally exhausted. Her eyelids were very heavy, and she barely noticed when they slid shut.

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"Avengers assemble in the living room, like now!"

Tony's voice over the intercom jolted Steve wide awake and straight off the edge of his mattress onto the floor. One startled glance at the clock told him that it was almost noon. At some point after showering and getting dressed, he had somehow ended up fast asleep, face-down on his bed. So much for getting back to Peggy.

Going by the urgency of the summons, he swept up his shield and sprinted down the stairs to join his team. There wasn't time to get into his uniform; hopefully the shield would suffice. Thor met him in the hallway below, fully armed, thanks to his magical armor, and they entered the room together.

Steve did a quick head count as he entered the room. Everyone else was already there. Natasha was wide-awake and immaculately put together as always. Clint, on the other hand, had all his hair sticking up on one side of his head, and Steve had a sneaking suspicion the man's vest was inside out, though he wasn't about to mention it. The two agents had been taking turns monitoring the security cameras around the clock, and it had apparently been Clint's turn to sleep.

Tony stood at the end of the room in front of a bewildering muddle of screens, flipping through them at an incredible rate of speed. It was actually surprising that he was awake before noon, and the unlikeliness of the event only accentuated the urgency of the situation.

"What've we got, Stark?" Steve crossed to Tony's side, glancing over the monitors. "Aw, shucks."

Tony glanced up. "'Aw shucks?' Cap, your vocabulary is as out of date as you are. I think this rates something at least a little stronger than an 'aw shucks.'"

The tower was surrounded by black SHIELD cars and agents. Traffic was being rerouted to other streets, and curious people were beginning to gather. Tony sighed and rubbed at his face. "Ten minutes ago, they came out of nowhere. Nat locked the exterior doors down and called me."

"Breaking news from New York City," babbled a newscaster on one of the screens. "Stark Tower has been barricaded off, with government vehicles completely surrounding it. Home to Iron Man and the team of superheroes known as the Avengers, the tower is run on a private energy source. Questions are being asked..."

"Mute that, JARVIS," Tony growled, raking both hands through his hair as the sound abruptly shut off. "This kind of stuff will shoot my credibility down in about ten seconds flat. Pepper's on the phone with local law enforcement, but they can't do anything about it."

The cameras showed Commander Fury stepping out of the crowd, facing the tower. "Put it on speaker," Steve ordered, and the room suddenly filled with Fury's voice.

"...come to speak with Tony Stark and the rest of the Avengers. We want to do this whole thing peacefully - there's no need for anybody to lose their tempers. We can work this out."

"Yeah, he's talking to me," Bruce mused, rubbing his face a little sheepishly.

"This coming from a man named Fury," Steve heard Clint mutter behind him, and then a grunt. Natasha had probably hit him for that.

Tony turned to Steve, hands spread. "Your call, Cap. I've still got like five ways out of the tower. Six, if I deploy the zipline. Do we get out of here, or would you rather hole up and pour boiling oil out of the windows?"

Steve didn't answer for a moment, and then decisively tapped the screen, turning on the outside speakers. "All right, Fury. Come on up. Just you, none of your agents. We're willing to talk." He turned off the com, and looked up to see the rest of the room staring at him.

"We are?" Tony finally asked, but his fingers were dancing over the screen, unlocking the front doors long enough to let Fury through.

"Well, we can't let the street stay blocked like that forever." Steve turned to Natasha. "Romanoff, you usher him up. Make sure he doesn't go wandering around where we don't want him. Bring him to the conference room on level twenty-eight. Stark, your job is to stand your ground, but don't tell him anything important. Stall him as long as you can. Bruce..."

Bruce fidgeted. "I, ah, actually think it would be a little healthier for me not to be there. I'll be in the waiting room though, in case you need me or the other guy."

Steve nodded decisively. "Good enough. Thor, Clint, you provide backup. I'll be right down." He spun on his heel and went for the door.

"Cap? Cap! Where are you going?" surprise made Tony's voice higher than normal, though he would deny it to his dying day.

They could just hear Steve's voice calling back. "I need to find out what Peggy wants. It's her life, you know."

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"You're telling me," Peggy repeated slowly, "that SHIELD is fighting over my supposedly dead body because they think Howard gave me the super soldier serum?"

Steve nodded mutely, admiring the growing fire in her eyes. In his haste, Tony had forgotten to call the members of the team individually, instead sending the call building-wide. Peggy had been out of bed when he reached her room, slipping on her shoes and demanding answers. Steve had tried to explain the situation as succinctly as possible, but when he finished, the look on her face was still highly skeptical.

"That," Peggy finally decided, "has got to be one of the strangest stories I've ever heard in my life. Get out, I need to get ready."

Blinking, he backed out of the room. "Sorry. I - I thought you were. You look fine."

"That's sweet, Steve," Peggy told him absently, already going through the things Pepper had put on her bedside table. "But this is a dressing gown. Besides, when a lady fights, she puts on lipstick first."

Five minutes later she emerged, and Steve caught his breath. She looked like herself again, dressed in a neat skirt and jacket set, with warm lipstick and heels finishing off the living memory. Her dark hair curled softly around her shoulders, and it bounced when she walked.

"Steve?" she asked, and he snapped himself out of his reverie with a jerk.

"You sure you should be up?" he ventured carefully. He had no doubts about her being able to hold her own in an argument, but he worried about her physical strength. Steve knew better than anyone just how far she would try to push herself. Peggy had just woken up, and the memory of her reaction to the new era was still strong in his mind.

Peggy shot him a suspicious look, but her face softened at his genuine concern. "I'm all right," she reassured him, although she felt a little wobbly. The bath and unexpected nap had worked wonders, but simply getting dressed had still taken a surprising amount out of her.

Steve wasn't fooled. He knew her far too well, but he also knew that if she was truly determined to go with him, there was no way to stop her short of locking her in her room. Actually, that probably wouldn't work either; he'd seen her pick locks.

"At least promise you'll sit down if you get light-headed." He tried to sound authoritative, but Peggy merely laughed as she fell into step beside him, taking the arm he offered. "Oh Steve. You never stop worrying, do you?"

He matched his stride to hers, looking down at her with an admiring grin despite his concern. "Well, somebody's got to."

It felt so right to walk side by side again. Peggy's steps were slower than he remembered, and she was breathing a little hard when they got to the end of the hall, but her eyes were sparkling with determination, and the color was high in her cheeks.

At the elevator, he picked up his shield from where he'd left it on the way to her room. With a catch in her throat, Peggy softly ran her fingertips along the edge, and it thrilled and rang under her touch.

"You still have it," she half whispered, and Steve smiled down into her eyes, a great warmth welling up in his heart. Then the elevator doors opened, and they stepped out into a bright lobby. Bruce looked up, startled from his magazine, before relaxing back against the couch. His eyes widened when he saw Peggy, but he didn't otherwise comment on her presence.

"They're in there," he jerked his thumb down the hall. "Tony's been yelling, so I figure things are getting pretty tense." Steve nodded, and ushered her towards the conference room, fingertips brushing her elbow.

At the door they stopped for a moment. Tony was indeed shouting, but it sounded like Fury and Thor were getting involved too. Natasha was there, conspicuous by the frosty silence from the left of the door, and Clint was probably with her. This had to be hard on the former SHIELD agents - they personally owed Fury a great deal, but their allegiance lay with the Avengers.

Steve paused and looked down at the girl beside him. "You ready?" For a moment, he felt the old exhilaration of going into danger at her side, and from the look on her face, she felt it too. Peggy tipped back her head with a breathless laugh, eyes dancing.

"Cover my back?"

His heart swelled. "Always."

He held the door for her, and they walked in together.

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I sincerely apologize for taking so long to upload. Projects and a family crisis combined against me. I can't promise it won't happen again, but I will continue to post as regularly as possible, so don't worry.

Thank you for all your kind reviews, especially the guests and non PM people that I can't reply to personally. I can't tell you how nice it has been to read them during this tough week.

Thoughts?