Chapter Text
“Steal a car? Natasha, wait!” She ran after the other woman who was already halfway across the graveyard. Peggy caught up with her easily and kept pace beside her. “We are not stealing a car!”
“Relax, I’m kidding. We’re borrowing, and I’ve already taken care of it.” She stopped next to a black Corvette Stingray. “Hop in.”
Peggy raised her eyebrows. “A Corvette? I thought we were going on the run.”
“We are. This isn’t mine. Mine is in one of Tony’s many garages. This is Tony’s, he made it special, untraceable.”
“How?”
Natasha smiled. “Watch.” She slid into the drivers seat and disappeared behind the windows so dark they were nearly black. The engine roared to life and a moment later the car began to change until Peggy was looking at a basic silver sedan. Natasha rolled down the window. “See? Now do you want to leave in this, or leave in a Corvette?”
“Leave it to a Stark,” Peggy murmured under her breath, then louder, “You’re so dramatic.”
“You know it.” The car morphed back into a Corvette and Natasha rolled the window down. “Get in.”
Peggy opened the door and got into the small car.
Natasha roared away from the curb, heading for the freeway. “So how would you feel about Maine?”
“Maine?”
“Yeah, it’s a state-“
“Dear Lord, woman, I know what Maine is.”
Natasha smirked. “Then tell me how you feel about it.”
“Rainy. Warm summers, frigid winters. Bit like home I suppose. It sounds lovely.”
“Good, cause that’s where we’re headed. If we drive straight through, we should make it by late tonight.”
“Where exactly are we going?”
“Port Clyde. Specifically, twenty minutes inland from it, out of town, up in the mountains. I talked to my guy this morning, everything is all ready for us.”
“Us?”
“Are you or are you not currently in the car with me?”
“I hadn’t even decided I was asking to go with you this morning.”
“I knew you would.”
“How?”
“I’m a spy, Carter. I’m really good at reading people.”
“You know, if we’re going on the run together now, you should really call me Peggy.”
Natasha smiled. “All right, Peggy. Now, I’ve heard your taste in music, and if we’re going to be living together, we're going to need to modernize that, and what better time to do so than on a twelve hour car ride.”
“Oh, dear Lord,” Peggy muttered.
Natasha ignored her and pressed a key on the radio.
“A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile.”
“Starting with this?” Peggy arched her eyebrow.
“ ‘This’ is an American classic.”
“Neither of us are American, darling.”
Natasha shrugged. “I used to sing it with my sister.”
“You have a sister?”
“I used to.” Natasha turned the volume up and fixed her eyes on the road.
Peggy realized as they drove on that the radio wasn’t actually a radio, it was more of a collection of all the music that had ever existed, built straight into the car. Peggy had to admit, though it did seem like exactly the kind of thing a Stark would decide needed to be in a car, it was quite nice. Natasha didn’t say much more other than to note which decade the song they were listening to came from. Peggy found herself wishing she’d never mentioned the song, because then maybe the cheerful, laughing woman she’d left with would come back.
“What do you say we stop for lunch here?” Natasha finally spoke again as they crossed into Connecticut.
“Perfect,” Peggy replied.
A few minutes later, Natasha pulled into the parking lot of a small diner. They went in and settled into a booth. Peggy ordered tea and soup, and Natasha requested black coffee and a sandwich.
“So what do we do? When we get to Maine,” Peggy asked.
“We lay low. Blend in, keep an eye on what the world is doing. Wait for the heat to die down.”
As they sat in the diner, drinking their coffee and tea, the guard Natasha had put up in the car slowly started to fall away. “Do you have any siblings?” she asked.
“I had a brother, Michael, but he’s passed on now.”
“Were you close?”
Peggy smiled. “Very much so. Michael was the reason I joined up. He was one of the few people who ever believed in me.” They sat in silence for a moment. “Were you close with your sister?”
Natasha took a sip of her coffee and shrugged. “Yeah, for the three years we were a family.”
“What was her name?”
“Yelena,” Her Russian accent slipped into her voice as she said the name.
“Where is she now?” Peggy asked.
“Clint and I took down the Red Room as the final step of my defection to SHIELD. So,” Natasha shrugged. “She’s somewhere. She’s free.”
“Have you ever tried to find her?”
She smiled sadly. “I don’t think she’s interested in seeing me.” She downed the rest of her coffee. “Ready to get back on the road?”
Peggy nodded and followed Natasha out of the diner.
— — —
Night had fallen as they made their way up a winding mountain road. Near the top, Natasha turned into a dirt driveway. Peggy braced herself for a rough ride, but it didn’t come.
Natasha smirked. “This car was made by a Stark.”
“I am impressed,” Peggy admitted.
They pulled up in front of a small white cabin. A small amount of light spilled out from the gaps in the warm yellow curtains and the porch light illuminated the path up the steps onto the deck. Natasha turned off the car and they both got out. She drew her gun and Peggy grabbed her shield as they headed to the front door. Natasha led the way into the living room where a dark hair man lay passed out on the couch. She sighed and kicked his foot. He jolted up and looked at her.
“Do you ever not sleep?” she asked, shoving her gun into her waistband.
“You dragged me out of Budapest for this, do you know how long I’ve been awake?”
“30 seconds?”
“I don’t know why I deal with you.” He looked at Peggy and nodded in greeting. “Captain Carter.”
“Hello.”
“Do you have the documents?” Natasha asked him.
He got to his feet and handed her an envelope from the coffee table. “Drivers licenses, birth certificates, social security cards, the works. You should be good to go for five identities at least.”
“You’re the best.”
He headed for the door. “I know. The truck is out back, the keys are by the door. Enjoy your stay.”
Peggy raised her eyebrows. “Truck?”
“Driving into a little port town in a Corvette might draw some attention, don’t you think?”
“I am not the one who suggested a Corvette as a getaway car in the first place.”
Natasha shrugged. “Tony wouldn’t give me one of his vintage trucks, so I had to improvise.” She indicated the short hallway off the living room. “Bedroom and bathroom are back there. There’s only one bed, so I’ll take the couch.”
“Nonsense, you drove all the way here. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“That couch is a foot shorter than you, Cap.”
“I’ve managed with less.”
“So have I.”
“Why are you so difficult?”
“Why are you so difficult?”
Peggy sighed. “Fine you can have the couch.”
“Thank you. I’ll go get the bags from the car.” Without waiting for an answer, Natasha turned and headed out the front door.
Peggy walked down the hallway into the bedroom. She tossed her jacket onto the bed and kicked her shoes into the closet. The front door opened and closed again, and a moment later Natasha came into the bedroom with two army duffels thrown over her shoulders. She dropped Peggy’s at the foot of the bed. “Here you go.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Thank you for coming with me.”
“Thank you for letting me come with you.”
“You’re welcome,” she turned to leave. “ ‘Night, Peggy.”
“Good night, Natasha.”