Work Text:
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Steve pushed his apartment door open with a sigh. He was beyond tired and there was a press conference first thing in the morning. Fury had said he wanted Steve in his uniform and...Steve froze and cocked his head. He could hear breathing in his apartment that wasn't his.
Steve turned the corner of the little hallway and stared. "Peggy?"
She stood up from the couch and smiled tentatively at him. "Hello."
Steve frowned and looked her up and down. She was young, like he remembered, not older like her file showed her now. "What?"
She looked down at herself and then smiled very sweetly at him. "Howard's boy has a heart that's bigger than he wants anyone to know."
Steve shook his head as he sat his shield down against the wall next to him. "I don't understand."
Peggy nodded and moved slowly closer. "He said I might not end up in a good timeframe." She pushed his drawing journal that he'd left in camp before that last mission. "Here. I thought you'd want to have this."
Steve numbly took the journal, sat it aside, pulled his gloves off, and carefully poked at Peggy's shoulder.
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, Steve, I'm real. Howard's boy said it was time travel and I've only a little while before it snaps me back in place like a rubberband."
"Tony was talking Bruce into trying out his labs last I saw of them." Steve moved to his couch and dropped to sit on it.
Peggy turned and settled on the edge of his armchair. "Tony? Short for Anthony? He muttered something about my convincing Howard to name him when he was born." She roamed her eyes over all the little tears in his uniform. "He said to tell you that on Lettuce Head Day you weren't to go with him. I hope it means something to you."
Steve frowned as he memorized the phrase. "No. Though, as far as I know he hasn't dealt with any time travel either."
Peggy nodded. "Right." She bit her lip. "You...survived?"
Steve rubbed his hand over his chin. "I froze. They thawed me out a few months ago." He waved his hand at the window. "Still no flying cars."
She snorted. "Good. There's enough trouble with ground cars." She shifted in her chair. "You look the same."
Steve smiled tentivily as he put his forearms on his knees. "You look nice."
Peggy shook her head, stood up, and came across the room to stand close to him. "Have you learned to dance?"
Steve squeezed his eyes closed for a moment. "No." He fumbled the radio controls until it started playing a song. "Uhm..."
Peggy smiled and pulled on his hand. "Come on, soldier."
Steve got to his feet and moved where she guided him. "I still don't want to step on your toes."
Peggy giggled into his chest as she turned them around the room. "I'm going to miss you."
He kissed her hair as the air around her started to crackle. "I always miss you."
She grabbed him by the back of his neck and they kissed until she faded from view.
Steve took several deep breathes as he touched his returned drawing journal to make sure it was solidly real.
****
Several years later, the Avengers were the go-to team for saving the world. Steve didn't visit Stark's mansion often, but when he did he usually found Bruce, Betty, and Tony in a lab with Pepper sitting near a wall watching them while she worked.
Steve slipped into a seat next to her. "Morning, ma'am."
She smiled and pushed a fresh cup of coffee from the dispenser by her elbow towards him. "Here, have some coffee."
Tony snatched the coffee from Steve's hand. "That'd be mine."
"Hello to you too, Tony."
Tony smirked at him as he gulped down the coffee. "What brings you here, Cap?"
Steve shrugged. "Bruce had mentioned you guys were close to a breakthrough. I thought I'd watch."
Tony snorted. "So...You are waiting to see if it explodes, huh?"
Steve plucked the cup from Tony's hand and took a sip. "That too."
Bruce smiled as he came up on Tony's right side. "Hey. Morning, Steve."
"Bruce. Nice to see you."
Bruce nudged Tony in the side. "Tell me again why you are calling it Lettuce Head Day, again? That doesn't even make sense."
Tony shrugged. "Something I heard when I was a kid."
Steve very gently put the coffee down. "Lettuce Head Day?"
Bruce rolled his eyes. "Tony's code name for the machine we're going to try out today. Why?"
Steve tapped his fingertips against the coffee cup. "Tony, when you say you heard it as a kid, did you hear it from Peggy?"
Tony jerked around and glared at Steve. "What makes you say that?"
Steve nodded. "Be sure to tell Peggy your name and don't expect to stay long."
Tony and Bruce traded looks.
Pepper leaned forward. "Tony hasn't even told me what he's working on, Steve."
Steve shrugged. "He hasn't told me either." He smiled at them. "I'd thank you, but you don't know for what yet. You know this makes Doctor Who make much more sense." He slipped down off his stool. "I'm going to make dinner."
****
Tony watched Steve leave the lab before turning to Bruce. "It works!"
Bruce rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You don't actually know that. It might not be today that it actually works."
Tony patted Bruce on the shoulder as he went by on his way to their machine. "You heard him. It works."
Bruce frowned as he watched Tony adjust the settings. "Maybe you should have asked him how long it worked for."
Tony hit the activation button before Bruce was done talking. He blinked his eyes open to a young Peggy holding a gun on him.
"Who are you?"
Tony sat up and rubbed his head. "Tony Stark." He glanced up at her gun. "Right, Dad hasn't had me yet. Okay. Hmmm...Steve said to tell you that you have to remember to talk Howard into naming me Anthony."
Peggy's eyes narrowed and she cocked her weapon. "You aren't endearing yourself to me."
Tony pulled his phone from his pocket and held it up to her. "Here. See if you don't think this is from the future."
Peggy frowned and accepted the phone before backing up several steps. She poked at the phone and her eyes went wide as the screen changed. She turned it around and blinked when the screen rotated position. "Future, you say?"
"Future. Steve was found. Stark Industries doesn't make weapons. I'd tell you who won the World Series if I cared to keep track."
Peggy held the phone back out. "Why are you here?"
"Yeah...When is 'here' exactly?"
"The United States dropped a new kind of bomb on Japan two days ago."
"Ah." Tony tucked his phone back in his pocket. "I...I understand you never got your dance with Steve, right?"
Peggy lowered her weapon. "That's correct."
"If I were to give you that chance would you make sure that Howard names me right?"
"You'll send Steve back here?"
Tony's eyebrows went up. "Well, I could. It'll snap back...I think it'll snap back so he couldn't stay. Like a rubberband snaps back into shape."
Peggy whirled and rummaged through her bag. She came up with Steve's drawing book. "What about this? Is there a way to make it stay in the future?"
Tony narrowed his eyes. "I think so. It isn't alive, so I think..." He looked at the clock on her mantle. "I'll aim for ten minutes from now for you. Keep the book on you."
Peggy stepped back as the air around Tony started to swirl.
****
Steve waited until Tony was asleep to spread the newest version of the Captain America blanket across Tony's bare shoulders. The undershirt Tony had on was worn and thin. Steve tucked the blanket in around Tony's sides and then backed out when he saw Pepper in Tony's workshop doorway.
"Sorry, ma'am."
She smiled up at him. "I've told you before to call me Pepper."
"Yes, ma'am."
Pepper sighed. "He tried that crazy time machine idea again this afternoon. He isn't even sure it's working right. He told Bruce he thought it might have all been an hallucination."
Steve shook his head. "It wasn't. Peggy visited me and we got to dance before she was pulled back. Like a rubberband she said that Tony said."
Pepper looked up at him. "She went back again?"
Steve nodded. "Is there a way I can thank him without making him growl at everyone for a week?"
"Ask him for a new gadget or uniform capability he can make for you."
Steve nodded. "I'll mention it to Bruce."
Pepper patted his arm. "I'm glad she got to see that you made it out of the ice."
Steve allowed himself to remember the smell of Peggy's hair. "So am I."
****