Work Text:
Monday, 4:30am
Daniel stepped out of the bathroom, his crutch catching the doorjamb. He stumbled but corrected himself by slamming his hand against the wall. Looking over at the bed, he hoped he didn’t wake Peggy. He cringed as she groaned and turned over, her arms grasping for his pillow.
“Sorry,” he whispered.
She opened one eye and sighed as she saw the time on the alarm clock.
“I know,” he said. “It’s too early, but I have a phone meeting with DC in half an hour.”
“Mmm...kay.” She closed her eye.
He sat on the edge of the bed and brushed his lips against hers. She did her best to return the kiss in her sleepy state, though it wasn’t her best effort.
“I reset the alarm for six,” he said, his hand resting in her arm. “See you at work.”
“Mmm...kay.” She rolled over, facing away from him but taking his pillow with her.
Sleepy Peggy wasn’t much of a conversationalist, and she was a known pillow thief, but knowing these little intimate things about her made him love her even more.
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Monday, 8am
The next time Daniel saw her she wasn’t Sleepy Peggy but Agent Carter. Perfectly coiffed, perfectly made up, perfectly dressed. He watched her through his open office door as she approached her desk, nodding greetings to the agents in the bullpen. She looked in Daniel’s direction, giving him the same non-committal nod as the others, and he returned it.
He looked back at the desk, making his way through the mountain of paperwork. He had no idea how much time had passed when a knock interrupted him. Looking up, he saw Peggy and Agent Baxter.
“Come on in,” he said.
Both agents refused the single chair opposite Daniel -- Baxter because he was too much of a gentleman, and Peggy because Daniel could tell she had too much nervous energy.
“I assume this is about the Biase case?” Daniel asked.
Baxter nodded. “We found an informant, and we even have his name. Smiley Sabella.”
Daniel didn’t recognize the name. “Let me guess. He smiles a lot.”
“Quite the opposite,” Peggy replied. “Almost all of his teeth have been knocked out, so he wears dentures that are too big for his mouth.”
“So why is he important?”
“Smiley was double-crossed by none other than the Biase family,” Baxter said. “He’s offered to meet with Carter to spill his guts.”
“In exchange for what?”
“Federal protection and a one-way ticket south of the border,” Peggy said.
Daniel shook his head. “Smells like a trap. What's his motivation, besides revenge?”
“It turns out Mr. Sabella has cancer,” Peggy responded. “I just got off the phone with his doctor and it checks out. He's trying to make amends with God before he dies. He wants to live out what little time he has left on a Mexican beach sipping fruity drinks and cavorting with the senoritas.”
“Do you have a meeting set?”
Peggy nodded. “In an hour, at the Santa Monica Pier.”
Daniel looked at her. “You're not going alone.”
“Of course not,” she said. “Baxter is backup.”
“And so are Greene and Anders.” Daniel raised his hand when he saw her ready to say something. “No comments or complaints. That's how it goes or it doesn't go at all. Tell Rose to set them up with tourist clothing. You, too, Baxter.”
Peggy sighed dramatically but didn't respond.
“You got it, Chief,” Baxter said on his way out the door.
Peggy started out of the office but stopped just short of the doorway. She closed the door and turned to face Daniel.
“You do know that if I show up with an entourage,” she said, approaching the desk and standing next to his chair, “it will likely run him off.”
“The guys know how to be inconspicuous.”
She sat on the edge of his desk. “Daniel…”
“Don't ‘Daniel’ me. You know this is SOP. I'd do that with any of my agents.”
“Sabella’s our best chance to take down the Biase operation. We can't blow this.”
“I know, but everyone’s safety is number one.”
She smiled. “Spoken like a true chief.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, one more thing.” She leaned over and lightly brushed her lips over his.
“Peggy…”
“Don't worry,” she said, standing up. “We can't see in the window when the blinds are set like that.”
He smiled slyly. “Good to know.”
She shook her head as she approached the door and opened it.
“Carter, be careful out there,” he said, loud enough for any agents nearby to hear.
She gave him a small smile. “Yes, Chief.”
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Monday, 9pm
Peggy's meeting with Sabella proved both uneventful and fruitful. Uneventful in that Sabella didn't turn tail and run, and none of the backup agents were recognized as feds. Fruitful in that they now had an address for the oldest Biase brother.
Daniel arrived home just in time to see Peggy bringing a duffel bag and thermos into the living room. She and Baxter had the second leg of stakeout duty. He’d thought about sparing her sitting in a car for eight hours, but she was one of his agents. She had to do the grunt work along with everyone else, including Daniel himself. He’d been the one to man the radio for the first stakeout team. The only thing that happened during that time was that the brother pulled up in his driveway, alone, and entered the house. That’s when Daniel decided to head home and have the night shift take over radio duties.
“Warren and Price have the radio,” he said as he dropped his briefcase at the door. “Remember. Stakeout only.”
She slung the duffel over her shoulder. “I know. It’s the father we want anyway. Hopefully dear old Dad will pay a late-night visit to his son with a carload of weapons, though I don’t have high hopes.”
“Regardless, be careful.”
“I will.”
Her palm rested on his chest as she gave him a quick peck on the lips, and then she rushed toward the door.
“Peg?”
She turned to face him, her hand on the doorknob, her face tense in thought.
“I love you,” he said.
Her expression softened. “I love you, too, Daniel.”
She stepped toward him and gave him another far-too-quick kiss, then left.
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Tuesday, 5:30am
Daniel heard the front door open as he was finishing up slathering Brylcreem on his hair. He washed his hands, exiting the bathroom as Peggy walked into the bedroom.
“How did it go?” he asked.
“Much better than I thought. Dad did show up at about two a.m., and the two of them drove to a warehouse complex in Marina Del Rey. They left about four a.m., hands empty, I'm afraid. We followed them back to the son’s house, and Dad dropped him off.” She dropped her duffel by the bed. “The warehouse is our big break, I can feel it.”
Daniel nodded. “Sounds like it.”
“I dropped Baxter at home so he could change and get his car. We’re meeting back at the office in an hour. I called Greene and he’ll work on getting information about the warehouse, and a floor plan, if possible, once government offices open. Anders is parked down the street from the warehouse.” She sniffed. “I need a shower. Baxter smokes like a chimney. Not much I can do for my hair, but at least the rest of me won’t smell like a tobacco field.”
As she walked by him, he agreed with her assessment. Her clothes reeked of cigarette smoke.
“I’m almost ready,” Daniel said, slipping on his shirt and buttoning it. “I can lend a hand.”
“Nothing to do until we get more information on the warehouse.”
She shed her clothes as she walked toward the bathroom. He followed her, standing in the doorway. After snapping on her shower cap, she turned on the water and stepped under the stream.
“We need to regroup and get a plan together,” she continued after several seconds. “It’s a sprawling complex. We’re not sure if Biase has just the one warehouse we saw him go in or all of them. It’s going to take some work and resources to survey the entire area. Not to mention tying it to Biase. I’m sure he procured that property using dummy corporations and such.”
“We’ll figure it out. We can get help from LAPD. They have a few questionable deaths that are pointing to Biase.”
“There’s a lot pointing to Biase,” she replied as she stepped out of the shower.
His eyes followed the path of the towel as she dried off. Seeing her body never failed to make his body react. She was more beautiful than he’d imagined. He frowned as she wrapped the towel around herself.
He met her gaze, and she gave him a curious smile.
“What?” she asked.
“Just admiring the view.”
She huffed out a laugh. “It’s a view you know so well.”
“Not well enough lately.”
“True,” she said, approaching him slowly. “We haven’t had much time to ourselves the past week, have we?”
He shook his head. “Duty calls.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, her lips meeting his. No quick kiss this time. This was a long, intense, I-want-you-right-now kiss. A this-could-get-out-of-control-in-a-flash kiss.
He reluctantly pulled back. “I should probably leave.”
“You probably should,” she said as she lowered her arms. “Besides, the boss will not be happy if I dawdle.”
He hesitated. He should leave. It was the professional thing to do. But she did say there was nothing to be done until they got more intel on the warehouse, which meant waiting until City Hall offices opened...
“You know,” he said, his finger lightly tracing her collarbone, “the boss might forgive you if he’s the reason you’re dawdling.”
“Well, then.” She dropped the towel. “Let’s dawdle.”