Chapter Three: Advice From A Friend

When she eventually pulled herself away from the museum, Peggy wasn't entirely sure where to go. She had originally intended to ask Natasha if she would like to go do something fun, to try and be friends outside of work, but Peggy now didn't even think of her a work friend so those plans were out. She did not feel like spending yet another afternoon sitting in her apartment all alone with nothing but her thoughts.

She suddenly remembered an offer from Sam Wilson to visit the Department of Veterans Affairs. She thought that sounded better than solitude so she hopped onto her motorcycle and took off in the direction of the National Geographical Museum.

As she road she had nothing distracting her from what she had seen at S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ that morning. Flying warships meant to kill people who hadn't even done anything wrong yet, how could she be apart of an organization that would cause so much pain and death. For as long as she could remember she just wanted to do what was right and make the world a better place, but this wasn't the world she knew so how could she be sure what would make it better. She could no longer be sure what was inherently right and wrong anymore. She thought she could fit in the organization Steve had worked hard to build, to once again follow orders and serve, but it was just not the same.

She parked outside and went inside, she could here a PTSD meeting going on and so she waited outside one of the doors.

"The thing is, I think it's getting worse," a woman inside said. "A cop pulled me over last week. He thought I was drunk. I swerved to miss a plastic bag. I thought it was an IED."

Then she could hear Sam speak, so she tilted her head to look inside, "Some stuff you leave there. Other stuff you bring back. It's our job to figure out how to carry it. Is it gonna be in a big suitcase, or in a little man-purse? It's up to you."

The meeting finished up, and after Sam said goodbye to some of the attendees he turned his attention to Peggy. "Look who it is, the lapping woman."

"What you said in there, it was very powerful."

"Yeah, well, we all got the same problems. Guilt, regret."

"Did you lose someone in Afghanistan?"

"My wingman, Riley. Flying a night mission. Standard PJ rescue op. Nothing we hadn't done 1000 times before. Until an RPG knocked Riley's dumb ass out of the sky."

Sam took a deep breath, it was clear still hard to talk about, "Nothing I could do. It's like I was up there just to watch."

"I'm sorry for your lose."

Sam gave a little hand wave to let her know it was all good, he continued, "After that, I had a really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?"

Peggy than asked Sam the question that had been bothering her for a while, "Are you happy? Being back I mean. Away from the fighting."

"The number of people giving me orders is down to about zero. So, hell yeah."

Sam seemed to notice her struggles, and asked in a calm voice, "Are you thinking about getting out of the hero gig?"

"No, er, I'm not sure. Things are very complicated right now. Even so, what would someone like me be able to do in this day and age?"

"Action star actor? Just a great idea off the top of my head."

She gave a little laugh, but Sam could see he hadn't really helped with her problem. "Seriously, you could do whatever you want to do. What makes you happy?"

This was probably meant to make her feel better, and maybe talking it out helped a small amount, but she really couldn't think of an answer. Finally she just spoke the truth, "I don't know."

After talking with Sam a little longer she was feeling somewhat better as she road home, but none of her problems were fixed. She didn't know what she was going to do about S.H.I.E.L.D. nor did she know what she was supposed to do with her new life in the twenty-first century. As she entered the stairway to her apartment she heard the voice of her next door neighbor above.

"So sweet. That is so nice."

It seemed that she was on the phone. Peggy had only met Kate once but she seemed like a nice enough woman, she'd at least have to be somewhat caring to be a nurse. Despite being mad at Natasha at the moment she remembered her advice from the previous night about potentially making friends with Kate, so Peggy called up to her as she climbed the stairs.

"Hi Kate, if you're not busy I was wondering if we could talk?"

In a hushed voice Peggy than heard, "I got to go. Okay. Bye." And was followed by the sound of a door closing.

Peggy wasn't truly surprised, whenever she was home the same time Kate was, her neighbor always seemed to go silent and never left her apartment unless to go to work. Peggy would have to find someone else to be friends with.

As she climbed the final stairs she started to hear music. At first she thought it was coming from Kates apartment, but she quickly realized as she approached her door that it was coming from her own. She hadn't been home in thirty-six hours, but she knew she hadn't left any music on before she left, nor did she think the player had glitched out. Someone had been in her apartment, and was possibly still in there now.

Quietly she climbed out onto the fire-escape and made her way over to her own window. Peering inside she didn't immediately see anyone, although it was quite dark, so she quietly opened the window, walked inside, drew her shield, and slowly made her way through her apartment. She turned the corner and came face to face with someone she did not expect.