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As Steve watched Peggy leave the room, he hung his head a bit, overwhelmed with grief he wasn’t expecting to deal with on this trip. He took a breath to collect himself, when he heard the door open and the office light flick on. Nerves built up in him as he turned, expecting to see an either confused or furious Peggy Carter behind him. However, the young woman standing in the office looking down at a magazine in her hand was not Peggy.
He must have made a noise, because the girl looked up and yelped at the sight of him, nearly dropping the magazine in her hand. She was young, maybe twenty or so, with brown hair past her shoulders and blue eyes. As those eyes settled on him though, her stance seemed to relax.
“You scared me,” she said lightly with a little laugh in her voice, “What are you doing here? I thought you were at Mike’s game today.”
What? Steve just stared at her.
Her smile dropped a little, “Dad, are you alright?” Steve felt all the blood drain from his face. WHAT. He felt frozen. He turned and looked back to where Peggy had been, trying to pull some strength from whatever energy she had left in the room. It was impossible. He was breathing heavily at this point and could feel his hands begin to shake.
He felt a hand lightly grasp his wrist. “Let’s sit down, okay?” The girl said as she guided him to sit in what was obviously Peggy’s chair. He looked into her eyes and didn’t want to believe it. If he believed that he was her father for even a second and then had her ripped away, it would kill him. But it was hard to deny when he felt that he was looking into his own eyes.
“Should I go and get Mom? I don’t think she knows you're here,” She asked leaning back against the desk as Steve shook his head.
“No!” He practically shouted at her. The girl startled. “I’m sorry,” he said, lowering his voice. “You don’t need to get your mom.”
She looked at him for a good while, as Steve sat there panicking over how he was going to get out of this situation without overpowering the young woman.
She leaned down in front of him to look him in the eyes. She smiled, “I know you said one day you would tell me the whole story, but today might be the day to break your time-travel rule.”
“Time-travel rule?” He muttered.
“Oh yes, the whole ‘I had been to the future but I can’t say anything about it, in case something changes’ rule. You wouldn’t even crack to tell us if the moon landing was going to be successful.”
Steve huffed a laugh that could have been mistaken for a sob. This was a lot. He looked at her again. He could barely bring himself to glance at the photos that Peggy had at her bedside in the future, but this seemed to be the same girl a few years older. Could she really be his? He needed to talk to Tony about all this time-travel stuff.
“What’s your name?” He asked, leaning back in the chair, running a hand over his face.
“Sarah. It’s nice to meet you, Dad. ” She said with a smile. Sarah, like his mother.
“It’s wonderful to meet you, Sarah.” Steve smiled back at her. “I’m so sorry—“
“It’s alright.” She interrupted gently, offering her hand as he stood from the chair. “Do you want me to get Mom before you have to leave?”
Steve was tempted. So, so tempted to say yes. But he knew that if Peggy were to walk into this office right then, he would never be able to leave.
“No, but thank you.” He said, a little choked up and confused. He didn’t have time to break all this down. Tony was waiting for him.
Sarah gave him another sad smile, “Would a hug from your future favorite child help?”
He laughed a little, “A hug would definitely help, but I have a feeling that if I say yes to the favorite child part of that, future me is really gonna be in trouble.”
She laughed, “It will be our little secret.” Then she moved forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, as if she had spent her entire life knowing how to give Steve the best hugs. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, leaning his cheek against her hair. She squeezed the hug a little tighter, “It’s going to be alright, Daddy. This isn’t goodbye.”
He pulled away from the hug slowly and nodded his head. “You wouldn’t happen to know how to get out of here would you?”
Sarah grinned, “Let me show you, but if we get caught, you have to explain what happened.”
“Deal. I’ll protect you.”
She walked him up through the building out to the main part of the military campus.
“Will you be able to find your way from here?”
Steve nodded. “Thank you. I guess, I’ll see you soon then.”
Sarah nodded back then wrapped her arms around him one last time. “I love you, Dad. Mom and Mike love you. Hold onto that for us, please.” She pulled back, “And if you could come back, I would appreciate it because I would really hate it if I was never born.”
Steve smiled at her. For the first time in a long time he felt hopeful for a happy ending.
“The Beatles break up.” Steve smirked at her as she gasped, putting her hand to her mouth.
“Daddy!” She exclaimed quietly and Steve grinned as he moved to where he was meant to meet Tony, turning back to wave at his little girl. Maybe his future wouldn’t be so bad after all.