Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Peggy
It had been about three and a half years since Steve’s death. Some days it was still hard, but Peggy had moved on long ago. Now when she rolled over in the mornings she was greeted with warmth and a smile rose to her face. A pleasant change from the cold sadness that had plagued her for what seemed so long. Angie Martinelli wasn’t any Captain America, but she fit perfectly in Peggy’s life and filled her heart with pure joy.
Peggy yawned, stretching out her arms and legs, enjoying the sound of her joints popping. As she was climbing out of bed she heard a grunt come from her lover and was greeted by grey-green eyes.
“Geez English, it’s a Saturday. Lie back down and relax a bit.” The Italian’s sleep coated voice was muffled by the comforter.
“I would love to Darling, but today is Mrs. Fry’s birthday and if you’d remember, we were planning on taking her a cake.” Peggy paused watching the younger woman snuggle deeper in to the blankets. “Angie, I guess if you aren’t going to get up then I’ll have to just buy a cake… Or I could just make it myself.”
“I’m up! I’m up!” She jumped out of bed, “Pegs, you’re gonna poison the poor woman. I’ll do it.”
Peggy chuckled, watching Angie run to the kitchen in her nightgown. She, herself, when to the bathroom to shower, mentally thanking Howard for the billionth time for giving them one of his homes. The water was always warm and here Angie and Peggy could be open with their relationship, excuse the moments Howard managed to get in again or that Jarvis stopped by for tea. The Griffith had been nice, and they had repaired their friendship with Mrs. Fry, the landlady, but if anyone had found out about them they’d be out of the streets in no time. That and had they not come to live here, there would be a high chance that Peggy and Angie would have never even gotten together.
~It had been a rather stormy night, Peggy had returned home drenched and worse for wear to find Angie twirling around the library with a bottle of peach schnapps in one hand, a script in the other and the radio up as loud as it would go. She leaned against the door frame trying to calm the clatter caused by her heart. She watched Angie glide to and fro for several minutes before walking up and taking the objects from her hands and joining in the dance. Angie had let out a drunken giggle but didn’t miss a beat as the two moved to the music.
When the storm cut out the electricity, the two were left in silent darkness, becoming increasingly aware of their closeness. Angie’s eyes fluttered close and her head tilted up towards Peggy, who could smell the schnapps on Angie’s breathe. As they slowly grew closer, Peggy pulled away.
“We should find some candles, don’t you think?” She said quickly.
And that’s how they ended up in the living room, fire place and candles their only light with a bottle of Howard’s ridiculously expensive scotch. They had been there for three months and found the location of it all already. Angie leaded against her as they sat on the couch, talking flamboyantly about the part she had finally scored when it happened. One moment she was lying against Peggy’s chest, arms waving about and the next she was up on her knees kissing Peggy’s lips softly. She pulled back, blushing furiously.
“Angela Martinelli, did you just kiss me?”
“Sorry! Oh god, I’m so sorry. It’ll never happen again I don’t know what came over me. I—“
Peggy cut her off with another kiss and pulled back as Angie let out a soft giggle. ~
Peggy smiled at the memory as she climbed out of the shower, the smell of fresh cake hitting her in the face. She got dressed and walked in to the kitchen to find Angie still in her nightgown, humming to some random song swaying back and forth as she stirred the icing. Peggy walked up and wrapped her arms around Angie’s waist.
“Good morning love, smells great.”
Angie smiled, turning to give Peggy a peck on the cheek and smudged a bit of icing on her nose, “Mornin’ Pegs.”
When the cake was done, they iced it together and decorated it with berries. They boxed it up and while Peggy fixed herself a cup of tea, Angie got ready to go. When Angie went back into the kitchen she found Peggy on the phone.
“No, Howard, I don’t have time for that today. No… Angie and I already have plans. Howard, no. We’re taking Mrs. Fry a cake it’s her birthday. For the love of everything, Howard, don’t call her Miriam. Bloody Nora, no you cannot come with us. Good bye Howard… no, good bye.”
“Ready to go English?”
“Of course dear let me grab the cake.”
On the way they decided that after they would grab lunch at the diner Angie had worked at before she began to actually get paying gigs. She had decided to quit now that she didn’t have to pay rent and was making decent money doing small parts in plays. Peggy still worked at the SSR, Thompson had actually somehow changed into less of an ass and the rest of the men there now treated her with respect. Daniel Sousa still tried to take her out for a date despite the many excuses Peggy had made.
They entered the Griffith, arms linked, carrying the cake. Miriam Fry was as dutiful as ever and shot out of the office to inspect who ever had entered her establishment. To the shock of both Peggy and Angie, the older woman beamed at them.
“Margaret! Angela! How lovely of you to drop by! What brings the two of you here?”
Peggy just stared at her slack jawed leaving Angie to answer.
“We remembered it was your birthday so we baked ya a cake!” Angie grinned and offered the cake to Mrs. Fry.
She thanked the two of them, eyeing the cake suspiciously until Angie assured her that Peggy had only helped with the decorating part. After that they talked for a bit catching up. Angie told her how she was finally acting and Peggy assured her that she was still working at the phone company and was keeping herself out of trouble. Everything was going really well until Stacy, one of the new girls that had taken Peggy’s old room, came stumbling in drunk with a man on her arm. It was then that Mrs. Fry bid them a good day and began lecturing the poor girl on drinking, especially before one in the afternoon.
“Good luck Miss Martinelli, and you, Miss Carter, do well to continue to stay out of trouble! I don’t want to hear of you involved in anymore funny business!”
Peggy and Angie nodded in her direction as they walked out in to the busy New York traffic. Angie was staring down the street while Peggy dug around in her purse for her sunglasses, when she heard a distinctive man’s voice call out her love’s name. She looked across the street towards the sound and saw a blond haired man leaning against the side of the adjacent hotel, waving his hand in the air. He called out to Peggy again, louder, this time gaining the Englishwoman’s attention. Peggy’s mouth dropped open in shock as she stared at him.
“Steve…” The name slipped passed her lips as she began to blindly run forwards, ignoring the oncoming traffic.
“English! Watch out!” Angie ran after Peggy, worry coating her features…
Bucky
They knew the location of Steve. It was a shock. After three years, Leviathan had found Captain America. He wasn’t supposed to know, but sneaking in to places undetected had been a large part of his training. So when Bucky had learned of an information meeting he hadn’t been included in, he made himself included. When he first made it in he couldn’t hear much, but the first words he did hear shook him to his core.
“Steve Rogers… Location… Captain America… Alive…”
Something in him broke; shattered into a million pieces before reforming back to who he had been before. Bucky wasn’t completely back, but what had returned was enough. He listened more intently, trapping the exact location in his brain. Just as he was about to leave, Bucky over heard one last piece of information: “Find Captain America, and finish him…”
His heart began to race. He knew what would happen if he found Steve himself, and he got caught; he would be punished, or likely killed, but worse than all of that, Steve would certainly be killed. They can’t have Captain America alive if your best assassin has an unbreakable emotional tie to him. Maybe with a mediocre person, they could use Rodgers as leverage to keep them in line, but with Bucky, you couldn’t risk that. The chances of him flying off the handle and causing significant collateral damage would be too high.
So baring this all in mind, Bucky left, grabbing whatever supplies he may need. It took him a day and a half to reach the specific coordinate points and from there he took a risk. To anyone else this risk would kill them, but Bucky Barns wasn’t just anyone. He was Leviathan’s super solider. The place where Steve was was two miles under water, in the plane, incased in ice. Bucky dove down, propelling himself towards the air craft, the image of Steve’s face keeping him motivated. When he got down there, he used his metal arm to rip through the plane, and then to pull away at chunks of ice to get the Captain.
Eventually he managed to pull Steve out, taking care to remember the shield. From there Bucky took him to New York and got the two of them a hotel room, acting as if Steve was his overly drunk friend who had gotten water poured over him in an attempt to wake him up. As soon as he got the two of them in their room, he stripped Steve down and put him in some clean, dry clothes. He then tucked him in bed and went out to buy more blankets and some hot water bottles to help speed the thawing. Once that was done he sat for hours just watching his best friend from once upon a time ago. A warm pleasant feel, bubbled up throughout his chest, growing until it coated his entire body from head to toe, making his fingers tingle with energy. The last time he remembered feeling anything close to this was when he watched his elderly mother bustle about fixing him breakfast the day of his deployment. But even that feeling, as close to the one he was feeling right now, wasn’t the same. No the last time he remembered truly feeling this was in second grade when he swore he was in love with his teacher, Miss Cleburne. Weird as it may be, this was pure romantic love.
It scared Bucky, because what if Steve woke up and was still head over heels for that British broad? What was her name…? Carry? No. He couldn’t remember. Suddenly Bucky knew that there was something he had to do. He’d been sitting next to Steve in a crappy hotel chair for the past two days and it was clear that he was going to wake up soon. Steve needed the SSR to know where he was just in case he needed more medical help.
Bucky wrote a short letter to Steve and then left. Hoping for the best.
Steve
He had been having the strangest dreams. He knew that he had crashed, but if this was death, then everyone had it wrong. It was like being forever in a dream state. Not that it was entirely unpleasant, just not what he had in mind when he thought of death. Steve had all sorts of dreams… At first they were about just Peggy, but that was for a very short time, then they progressed to having Peggy and Bucky. In the beginning of the Peggy and Bucky dreams, Bucky had been approving of Peggy he had encouraged Steve to ask her to marry him. As they wore on, however, dream Bucky started to lash out at Peggy. Eventually Peggy had left Steve’s dreams all together. After that it was just Steve and Bucky, Bucky and Steve. It started with them as children and then as they grew up.
As they grew older, the dreams began to be more and more unrealistic. In these dreams, Bucky would hold Steve close. He’d whisper sweet nothings in his ear and laugh when Steve got flustered. The two of them would hold hands and talk of the future. Sometimes they’d even… kiss. It was strange to Steve, but he found that he liked the idea. And the more that he thought it over in his dream state, the more he realized that if he had to choose between living a romantic life with Peggy and raising a family with her verses with Bucky, he found that he would rather have Bucky.
Steve knew that this was not a possibility. Even if he did wake up and even if Bucky wasn’t dead, Bucky would never feel the same way about him. It would never be. It was now that Steve began to awake. Slowly becoming aware of what was around him, that it was almost unbearably hot where it had been dreadfully cold. He noted the faint sound of a pen against paper, realized when it stopped, felt the slight brush of someone’s lips against his forehead, the smell of said person and then the echo of a door closing.
Steve began to exercise the limited movement of his arms and legs, waking himself even more with every twitch. His eyelids felt weighed down, yet he still managed to ease them open. At first just a little bit, but slowly more and more. Once fully open, he began to move his limbs more and eventually sat up; surveying the room he was in. It was unfamiliar, despite the vague smell that lingered. Captain looked to the bed side table and saw a short note that had been left in horrendous handwriting. He picked it up and began to read:
Dearest Steve,
I sound like an idiot, but this is in ink and I have limited paper. I want you to know that whatever happens next, I love you. I love you so much Stevie. I’ve gone through a lot since we last saw each other. It must be a shock for you, I’m still alive, and you are too. But I had to save you. I’ve been forced to do a lot of really bad things by Leviathan so in order to get you the help you need, I’m turning myself in to the SSR. I’m a fool, but this needed to be done. I only hope that if you ever see me again or if you learn what I’ve done, you won’t hate me.
Love me always, Bucky.
Steve’s head whirled with emotion, he was alive because of Bucky, Bucky was alive, he had apparently done some god awful things and looked god awful, but most of all he loved Steve the way Steve never thought he would. It was a lot to take in and right now he just needed fresh air, as fresh of air you could get in New York. He slipped out of bed and stumbled to the window, he opened it and leaned out a little, breathing deeply with his eyes closed, letting the sounds and smells of his city wash over him.
It was then that a faint laugh hit his ears. It was familiar, but distant. Steve opened his eyes and looked across the street. There she was. Peggy was arm in arm with another woman that he didn’t recognize and they were walking in to the Griffith carrying a cake. Just like that he was moving. Steve was agonizingly slow but at least he was making progress. Finally he made it out and was leaning against the wall of the hotel he had been in when Peggy and the other woman walked out smiling at one another. They paused on the steps, he watched at the smaller girl looked down the street as Peggy dug around in her purse for something.
“Peggy!” He didn’t know why but he was calling for her, waving an arm around. The other lady turned and glanced at Peggy before looking towards him. “Peggy!” He tried again, this time louder.
Peggy’s head snapped up in his direction and he watched her mouth drop open and her begin to run towards him, the blonde girl running behind her, concern all over her face. Steve began to think over the actions between the two women and smiled with a slight hunch forming in his mind.