Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying Christmas time! :)

This chapter is maybe a little bit dull but necessary for the storyline. The end is already written so I hope you will like it :)

I am working on something new so I hope you are not bored by my style of writing. If you do not understand any part, please let me know, I will rewrite it. English is not my first language so there might be some unclear parts.

Thanks to all that are still reading it! :)

Spoiler alert: There is a speech taken from Agent Carter (2x4).

Howard stayed to help with the building of the machine. The components arrived after two days in three trucks. Until then, Peggy was gifted by the manual which was over a thousand pages long and which she was supposed to learn. Colonel assigned her a table in his tent (which was former Fred's tent) and spent there most of the time with her alone. No one was speaking and the tension was almost palpable. However, it was for her best, as Phillips thought.

After two days, they started to assemble the machine. It should look like a weir arch made of different tubes which soldiers were supposed to go through. There were hundreds of those who were captured and came back healthy enough to continue in Europe. During this time, the whole US army was summoning them to one spot. They were in the dark. Nobody wanted them to know what they are going to be tested for, in case they would try to run away.

Peggy and Howard worked in synchronization. They knew each other for a long time, and they could call each other a friend. Even though it was highly unusual for Howard to have friends who were also women, Peggy was among them. However, it did not change Howard's language or the way he talked at all. He was vulgar most of the time. It did not bother her at all. To be honest, the only person in the camp who mind that was Steve. He was surprised to hear Howard's tirade of swear words when he was trying to find one small item. He looked at Peggy with his eyebrows raised. She looked at him and it took her a few seconds to realize what was bothering him. Then she only shrugged and continued in the work. The thing that bothered Steve the most was the way that Howard flirted with her and that she accepted it with a smile. Sometimes she even retorted it back.

During one occasion, when he was sitting at the box before the canteen and his ears were extremely red from hearing what he did not want to hear, Mr. Jarvis joined him.

"Is everything quite alright, captain? You seem to be in a sort of distress," he asked very politely.

Steve turned to him, smiled and nodded.

"If you are bothered about how Mr Stark behaves towards Mr Carter, I can assure you that their relationship is purely professional." He hit the nail.

"I… I am not bothered at all, Mr Jarvis," Steve replied, his ears staying red.

Jarvis nodded knowingly and then set an almost too-understanding face before he left Steve and went to join the duo.

"So, what's your problem?" Bucky was more straightforward than Mr Jarvis.

"I have no problem with anything," retorted Steve quickly.

"I know that face, Steve. Are you jealous of him?" Steve turned away.

"It's just that… he is natural around her. And she does not mind…"

"Come on, Steve. She would not go out with a man like Stark. She accepts him because what else should she do? But otherwise… he has no chance."

He left him sitting there thinking. It was easy to hear that… but the fact was, that even though they had known each other for years and there were so many hints that they like each other, they were in the same army at war. They could not do anything but wait.

They built the arch and waited. The first group of men were about to arrive the next day. Howard left in the morning and now it was up to Peggy and Jarvis. As it was of the highest importance, the arch was moved to one tent and there were new patrols set over the night.

And so, the first day had come and nothing was detected. And nothing happened on the second day as well as on the third day. It was terribly dull work. Those men that were summoned were just told that they need to go through an arch and were not explained why. Sometimes they were arguing, but when Dugan stood up, came to them and asked them if they had any problems, they got quiet.

Most of them were eyeing the arch doubtfully, but they came through it anyway.

On day four, the arch finally detected the microchip. One good-heartedly and a little fat-looking soldier came through it, not knowing what the test was about, still joking. Howard wanted to implement a siren which would go loud in case the arch detected something suspicious, but Peggy made him not do that. It was the right call. The soldier did not know that on their screens, Peggy and Jarvis saw in red "the microchip detected". They looked at each other and then they just signalled to Dugan who nodded and put his hand on the man's shoulder. When he told him that he should follow him, something in the soldier's brain clicked and he started to fight back. The smile disappeared from his face as he was trying to hurt Dugan and Morita. Even though he was without weapons, he put up a good fight. It took Dugan, Morita and Sam to put him to the ground, tie him and lead him to the cell.

Peggy's expression was, to say the least, surprised. Her eyes were wide open as she looked at Jarvis.

"I would not say it into him," she confessed.

"The figure of a man is not saying much," Jarvis said with icy calmness. Then, as if nothing had happened, he looked at the monitor and clicked on "next".

"You have so much experience, Mr Jarvis?"

"No, Miss, but since I tried to fight you and I was… defeated, I learnt not to underestimate anyone. So, now, shall we proceed?"

They were able to detect those chips, but they made a deal with Howard that they will not deactivate them themselves. The fact, however, that the enemies really implemented Howard's microchips into the brains of U.S. soldiers, made all of them nervous. During the next three days, there were two more men captured (and they fought as well as the first one) and there were also three attempts to destroy the machine. Even though the guards were doubled, nobody knew what was trying to destroy it. The only people who knew how to fix it were Peggy and Jarvis. Whoever tried to sabotage it, had to be disappointed. Steve consulted it with Phillips and they both agreed that if the saboteur failed two times, he would definitely come back. They decided to add more guards.

And that was why the tent of the Howling Commando was empty except of Peggy, who was the only one who had to work during the day and therefore who was allowed to sleep during the night. She was sleeping in the centre of the tent and dreaming. Or can she call it dreaming, when she was back in her memory?

She could see her older brother, Michael, sitting next to her during her engagement party, looking intensely at her. He opened his mouth and said words which followed Peggy since the day she saw him for the last time "Come on, Peggy. Slug it back. You won't beat your older brother this time. I've been practising." When she opened her eyes, unable to inhale, it took her a few precious seconds to realize that the reason for her inability to take a breath is not her dream, but the hands which were holding her throat.