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Thompson didn’t know what the hell was going on with Marge, but he’d about had it with it. Broads had no place in the office. Not that Carter was a bad agent. She was actually pretty good. But it was just unnecessary, a distraction when they couldn’t afford distractions.
Carter always tended to come and go as she pleased with little regard for the actual rules. Drove him nuts. Lately though, her schedule had been more erratic than usual. When he looked up at the clock to see that it was nearly ten and she still wasn’t in the office, he lost it.
“C’mon, Sousa,” he snapped. “We’re goin’ on a field trip?”
Sousa frowned, but grabbed his coat and followed Jack to the door. “Where?”
“Ta get Carter. She’s late again.”
“Jack,” Sousa said, frowning. “She’s an adult. We can’t just go get her because she’s late.”
“The hell we can’t,” Jack replied. “With Dooley gone, I’m in charge and I’m not putting up with this. She’s got to know there are rules. If she can’t abide by them, then she needs to go somewhere else.”
Sousa was limping quickly after Jack as he marched down the hall to the elevator. Sousa caught up with him as he waited for the doors to open. He was frowning so hard Jack was afraid he was going to strain something.
“Do you even know where she lives?” Sousa asked. “I’m pretty sure all that Leviathan stuff got her evicted from her last place.”
Jack held up the piece of paper. “Payroll always knows where you live.”
The building was in an okay neighborhood. No more ladies’ residence. It was a regular apartment building with a wide variety of tenants. Her apartment was a third floor walk up. The elevator had seen better days, but it worked, much to Daniel’s relief.
Jack strode out into the hall, glanced at the piece of paper and pounded on the door of apartment D. “C’mon, Marge,” he bellowed. “You’re late for work. Get up.”
“You fellas need something?”
Daniel and Jack both turned toward the stairs. There was a guy. A big guy. He was probably Jack’s height, but significantly broader. He was holding a bottle of milk and a paper bag. He’d just walked up the stairs. Daniel knew at a glance that the guy had served, even though he was currently dressed in a light blue button up and a pair of tan trousers.
Jack regrouped quickly. “Yeah,” he said, more forcefully than was necessary, if you asked Daniel. “We’re here to get Peggy Carter.” He nodded toward the door.
The guy’s expression didn’t give much away. He approached slowly, key in hand. “She’s asleep,” he said. “She’s sick. She called in.”
They watched as he unlocked the door to apartment D. He stepped inside and held the door open. Jack hesitated for a second before following. Daniel just stared at the guy. It couldn’t be.
“Sousa,” Jack snapped.
Daniel nodded and entered the apartment. The guy closed the door.
“You fellas want coffee?” the guy asked.
“Sure,” Thompson said. He looked around the apartment. It was small, but decent. Second hand furniture, a radio in the corner. “So … “ Thompson ventured. “You and Marge?”
The guy just looked at them. Again, his expression gave absolutely nothing away. God, Sousa knew it wasn’t possible, but he could swear …
The guy poured three cups of coffee, handing a cup to both him and Jack. They all took seats at the table.
Jack took a drink, wincing at how strong the coffee was. “You serve?” he asked, knowing full well that only someone who had seen active duty would drink coffee like that.
“Serve?” the guy asked, surprised. “Yeah. Yeah, I did.”
Daniel reached out and tapped Jack on the arm. “Jack …”
Jack looked the guy over. “I’m guessing since it’s 10:30 on a Tuesday that you’re not currently employed. Who did you serve with?”
Daniel tapped him again. “Jack.”
The guy smiled, shaking his head and taking a drink of his coffee. He didn’t even flinch. “107th Infantry mostly.”
Jack nodded. “I know some of the 107th. Good fellas.”
The guy nodded.
“That how you and Marge met?” Jack asked.
He shook his head. “No. I knew her before that. Since basic.”
Jack frowned, laughing. “You knew Carter in basic?”
“My basic, yeah,” he said. “She was already an Agent. She was in charge of the division.”
“Learn new things every day,” Jack said, feigning being impressed. “I didn’t know that Carter had any … old friends, from basic.”
The guy frowned, drumming his fingers against his coffee cup. “That’s not quite the story I heard,” he said carefully. “I heard that she got quite a bit of hell about me.”
Jack snorted.
Daniel smacked him again. “Jack.”
He brushed Daniel off. “No one’s said a damn thing about what Carter does in her spare time. What do you think we are? A bunch of broads?”
The guy just looked at Jack. “So you never said anything to her about how she didn’t like to take orders from you because she was too used to serving under a Captain?”
Jack snorted. “Who the hell are you? Captain Americ -” He stopped. He swallowed thickly. “You’re Steve Rogers.”
The guy nodded. “I am Steve Rogers,” he said calmly, taking another drink of coffee.
Daniel sat there and watched Jack’s mouth move, while no sound came out. He finally cleared his throat. “It’s an honor to meet you, Captain Rogers.” He held out his hand. Rogers just looked at it, taking another drink of coffee. Jack lowered his hand. “I didn’t - um, I mean I - “
“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” Daniel asked.
Rogers looked at him, frowning. “Depends on who you ask. According to the government, yes. Hopefully, Peggy would be of a different opinion. But you never know. She’s pretty hard to impress.”
“I’m hard to impress?” Peggy asked, opening the bedroom door. She was dressed in a bathrobe and her nose was all red. She blinked at the three of them and sighed, turning around. “Oh, bloody hell.” She slammed the bedroom door shut.
Rogers winced. “She caught a cold in the Arctic. She’s not very good at being sick.” He leaned back in his chair and said, louder, “You’re going to have to marry me now. We’ve been caught. It’s a scandal.”
“You couldn’t have a scandal if your life depended on it,” she yelled back. “Bugger off. All of you.”
“Married,” Jack said. He motioned between Rogers and the now closed bedroom door. “So you two …”
“Yes,” Rogers said firmly. He shrugged. “I just have to convince her.”
Jack laughed and then abruptly stopped when he realized Rogers wasn’t kidding. “You serious?” he asked. “Carter won’t marry you? What’s wrong with ‘er?”
Rogers frowned. “I think maybe it all got soured for her a little. You know, Betty Carver on the radio. Locker room jokes.”
Jack paled. “We didn’t mean anything. It was just …”
“A joke,” Rogers said. “I went down in the line of service and everyone turned her into a joke. Like she wasn’t a real person. Like I wasn’t a real person. They took all the work she did and they turned her into some crying damsel in distress. They made jokes about how she slept her way to the front. She’s smart, classy, strong as hell. There was never anything even the tiniest bit inappropriate about our relationship. And I come back and find out people have been callin’ her a whore.”
Jack looked down. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I was completely out of line.”
“I’m not the one you need to apologize to,” Rogers replied tightly.
Jack looked at the closed bedroom door and then back to Rogers.
“Not today,” Rogers said. “She’s sick, which means her usual happy go lucky demeanor is being put to the test.”
Daniel could only imagine. Carter could be a hellcat when the mood struck her.
“I gotta convince her to marry me,” Rogers continued. “And she’s not going to do that if she has to look at your face. So you just go back to the office and look after yourselves for the day. Try not to starve to death.”
Jack nodded, standing and Daniel did the same. Rogers opened the door for them.
They stood in the hall for a moment. Jack frowned. “Captain America is kind of a dick.”
Daniel just stared at him. “You called the woman he’s going to marry a whore,” he said. “You’re lucky he was just rude to you.”