Chapter Text
This is where it begins.
It begins with Peggy. It begins with her pulling back after she kisses him, seeing the light in his eyes, and pulling him back in. It begins with the understanding that one does not fall in love, one chooses to love. And Peggy chooses to love him fiercely; to love him profoundly.
It begins with Daniel. It begins with him letting go of his fears and doubts as he wraps his arms around her waist while she kisses him senseless. It begins with the realization that love is action. That love is something one must build every day. So he builds it piece by piece, because Peggy will always be worth it.
How do you measure a life together? In anniversaries, in children’s birthdays, in promotions, but in the small moments too. It happens when they learn to navigate each other’s bodies. It happens in the morning, when they take turns making each other coffee. It happens when he opens the door to greet her after she returns exhausted from another mission. It happens when she sits up with him all night after a difficult surgery, holding his hand. It happens when he strokes her hair and rubs her back after she wakes up from a nightmare, and when she does the same for him. It’s all these things and more.
It’s not perfect and it’s not an easy life, but that was never in their nature anyway. Some nights, there are whispered arguments in the kitchen as they try to not wake the children. Some nights, she walks away, and other nights, he does. There are days and sometimes weeks when work interferes and they don’t even see each other. There are emergency calls from the hospital, there is loss, there is sorrow, because that is part of living too.
There is joy as well. They dance at parties, at restaurants, on the sidewalk, in the living room. When they dance, the rest of the world melts away and it’s just the two of them. They hold onto each other like they never want to let go.
But it’s the quiet mornings that are the best. They lie in bed awake for hours, curled up in each other’s arms, and remember how fortunate they are; how blessed. And with every passing day, every month, every year, it just keeps getting better.
No, dearest: now is not the end.