SHIELD Recovery Room

There she was. Peggy Carter, in the flesh, young and beautiful, just as Steve remembered seeing her the day he jumped onboard the Valkyrie. She was sleeping, at least that's what Steve had hoped she was doing, brown curls splayed out across the pillow. She wasn't wearing any makeup, but it didn't matter, she was just as striking without her signature red lips.

Steve lifted a shaky hand to her face, before a tear fell from his face onto the back of his hand. Suddenly, Steve pulled his hand back, and turned to back out of the room faster than he came into it. He all but collapsed back into the containment pod. Simmons closed the doors behind him.

"Are you alright?" Simmons asked while she placed her hand on Steve's back.

"I feel like I can't breathe. I don't understand this at all. I went to her funeral. I carried her casket. She's dead. So how is she in that room?"

"We don't really understand either, but we are trying to figure that out." Simmons paused before moving on to the question she really had to ask Steve. "How sure are you that, that is actually Peggy Carter in there?"

"It looks just like her." Steve paused. "I need another minute in there. Alone this time."

Captain America was never one to run away from a situation, but this was unlike anything he had ever faced before.

Wordlessly, Simmons re-opened the doors, and she and Coulson stepped out of the pod. Steve squared up, and walked back through the doors. He walked with determination towards the bed this time, hell bent to punish the person who tried to trick him if in fact, this Peggy was an imposter.

Steve looked down at the bed that held his one great love, suddenly feeling like a giant standing above a city. He knelt down onto the ground, and began to study her face. She certainty looked the same as his Peggy. Reaching out to hold her hand, he noticed the insane amount of similarities between this Peggy and his. Could this really be her?

He leaned in a little closer, taking in every detail that he could. She was dressed in standard issue SHIELD clothes, and the blankets were folded right at her waist. Steve noticed a scar that was on her abdomen, and remembered reading in Peggy's file that she had been impaled on some rebar during a fight with Whitney Frost in the mid-40's. Steve laid his head down on the bed, still holding Peggy's hand to his face, her red nails standing out in contrast to the white tones in the room. Staring at her face, there was no doubt in Steve's mind that this woman was his best girl.

Placing her hand back on the bed next to her, Steve stood back up and made his way out of the room. He walked towards Coulson and Simmons, head held high.

"What do you say Cap?" Coulson asked.

"I don't know how, but that's her. She looks the same; hell she even smells the same. That's my girl in there." Steve replied, looking back through the glass at Peggy's sleeping form on the bed. "How long has she been here?"

"Only a few days. She's been in and out of sleep. In fact, this is actually the most relaxed we've seen her since she arrived." Simmons told Steve, looking in on Peggy as well.

"Well, as long as she's here, hope you don't mind me hanging around. Not exactly like I have too many places to be running off to."

"Happy to have you here, Cap." Coulson half-smiled, secretly thrilled to have two of his heroes on the same base as him. "Let's get you settled in a room."

Tony finally caught up with Steve once he resurfaced from the recovery room. "Well?" Tony came up right next to Steve, leaning his head in.

"It's her."

"Wow. Aunt Pegs, back from the dead." Tony responded back, earning a disapproving look from Steve.

"Hey, she's just as important to me as she is to you. She could always put Howard into his place, and anyone who can do that, holds high esteem in my book."

Steve chuckled, remembering the banter that used to take place between Howard and Peggy during the war. "So, have fun in the lab?"

"It's impressive in there, I could make a ton of improvements, obviously. But their tech is cutting edge. That Fitz really knows his way around a laboratory. I like him." Tony was typing something onto his phone, responding to Steve without missing a beat. "What are you gonna do about Peggy?" Tony finally looked up at Steve.

"I'm not going anywhere until she wakes up. No matter how long that takes." Steve replied, arms crossed against his body. "I hope you can understand."

"I do. But I can't stay here with you. Duty calls back in New York."

Steve nodded. Even though the Avengers pretty much didn't exist anymore, Tony still had responsibilities in his everyday life. "The jet's ready for me, but I can always try and come back when I can. Just let me know if you need anything." Tony had approached Steve, with his hand extended.

"I will. But I've got everything I need down in that room." Steve replied, shaking Tony's hand. "I'll let you know if anything changes in the meantime."

Tony smiled and nodded at Steve before turning to head out of the base, back to his jet. Steve looked around at the agents moving around the base. He began walking back the room that Coulson had set up for him when he bumped into someone.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't even paying attention to where I was going. Are you alright?" Steve apologized profusely.

"No, I wasn't looking, my fault…Captain America" Bobbi Morse's mouth was now hanging open, definitely not expecting to run face first into who she did.

Steve being Steve nodded and moved on, leaving Morse star struck. "Bob, you alright?" Lance Hunter asked as he approached her.