Chapter Text
She knew she would never get used to this. Its been two years and she still can’t believe she gets to wake up next to him every morning. Watching the sun, filtering in through the curtains, dance along his back, Peggy propped herself up and flicks off the alarm. She shivered, despite the warm morning, and detached herself from Steve’s arm, curled around her protectively. He shifted gently, grumbling slightly at the sudden breeze hitting his slide.
‘Urhhh Peg why’d you do…’
He trailed off, obviously getting accustomed to the change in temperature, and she smiled. After all, he really was just plain adorable when he was tired. Planting a kiss on his cheek, she wonders off into the bathroom to get changed for work. The pale blue blouse she eventually settled on, was just one of many outfits they had chosen together for her new job in LA, with the dry heat and ridiculous palm trees, as a senior agent in the new West Coast SSR office. After turning down many film-offers from various interesting enough directors with interesting enough scripts to keep them rooted in New York, the LA office had put out a request for backup. Almost as if he could read her mind, Howard Stark sent over a proposal to Steve for a Western he was filming. Peggy conceded silently that maybe this would be a good change, it would let them get away from their previous misadventures just a few years earlier. They had quickly packed up their few possessions and left the flat in the hands of Angie, before heading onto a flight across the country and into this beautiful hotel.
She was happy for Steve, but as 9 o’clock drew closer, her mind filled with images of new Chief Sousa being the same as the others, mocking and patronising, the new power filling his head and the new scenery making him a bit crazy. As quickly as these preposterous, as she told herself, ideas came, she pushed them to the back of her mind. Daniel wouldn’t think those things, he had too much respect for any woman he met, she told herself forcefully.
8:45. She gulped, suddenly conscious of the sweat beading on her forehead. Wordlessly, she planted another kiss on her face of her boyfriend and walked out the door, resolute as ever, before he woke fully. Bully to Howard for not starting filming until after lunch each day.
‘Everything is through the first door on the right’
Eyes scanning for the door, Peggy was acutely aware of the warmth of the day on her back, and the clicking of her heels on the tiled stairs. Turning sharply, she slowed her breathing as she reached the door. When she was certain she didn’t look nervous, she rounded the corner. As she walked further into the bullpen, her eyes fixed quickly on the back turned to her, bent awkwardly over a case file. She could already feel the anxiety creeping through her veins and quickly, she made a decision.
‘Hello…’
The figure jumped slightly, barely detectable had she not been staring at him, and all of a sudden, she was face to face with Daniel Sousa. He looks surprised, or scared, or confused, she couldn’t quite place what, and plasters a grin across her face.
‘…Chief.’
Slightly regaining his composure, Daniel looks questioningly at her.
‘What are you doing here?’
Peggy’s heart falls from her chest and into shoes. In an obviously dismayed tone, she queries,
‘You’ve solved it already?’
Watching his gears turn was fascinating, and Peggy studied his face. Finally, the puzzle pieces fell into place in his head, and she let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding. It was amusing to watch him backtrack, to finally take control of the situation.
‘No, no, no I – I was expecting….’
‘You didn’t put the request in’
‘No, I did’
‘Just not for me’
‘I – I just wasn’t expecting you till tomorrow’
He sighed, grateful he figured out a cover for his confusion. He truly did not expect this woman, Peggy Carter, to surprise him across the country like that, but there was no reason she needed to know that. He knew they just needed to get on with work.
‘Welcome to Los Angeles’
Peggy felt a spark in his hand when she shook it. Must be the static of this jacket, she mused. She too knew that no matter what once was felt between them needed to be pushed aside, and work must be completed. If there ever was anything between them at all, she silently added, picturing Steve at home, probably still in bed. She also knew that today she would miss him like mad; it had been 5 years since she had worked for the SSR without him.
She practically fell onto the bed at the end of the day, breathing heavily. Steve chuckled gently at the sight of his best girl exhausted after a busy day at work, while he lounged inelegantly in a robe.
Recounting her first adventures, Peggy smiled as his eyes lit up at every detail of the Jane Doe – turned – shards of something very cold, and she knew it killed him to have not been there, but now he was an actor. They both had to grin and bear it and get on with their lives. As if on cue, Steve suddenly interrupts her:
‘Let’s buy a house!’