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Peggy doesn’t regret her time in Los Angeles, but coming back to the East Coast feels like coming home. Home, with a different latitude and look. After having lived in a real house again, she can’t think about going back to being a boarder, and in this part of the country, real estate is much cheaper than in New York. She gets a bungalow in a quiet subdivision; one bedroom, small garden, nothing needing tremendous maintenance. She pays an eager teenage neighbor to do odd jobs when work keeps her too busy.
Her restored employment in SSR has benefited from her bicoastal adventures. More enlightened leaders have finally started to recognize her value and given her supervision over construction of a new base. She’d helped a little to build up operations in Los Angeles, but for the most part, the work she does now is entirely different to the rest of her career. She relishes the challenge and the satisfaction of creating something new. She talks to Stark occasionally, and Jarvis more often, about other things they might build together.
And cracking the case she’d built around her heart after the war didn’t hurt the way she thought it might. She’d said goodbye to Steve before heading west, but his mark would be on her forever, and she’d wondered whether it would still hold her back. But she had found it did not, and though she’s left Daniel behind, too, she’s more at peace than she thought she could be in the aftermath of their brief relationship.
It’s a lovely, sunny day, so she asks her ride home to drop her at the market instead. She’s low on some staples and the walk home after in the long June evening feels fresh and cooler today, yesterday’s storm having washed away the seasonal humidity. She passes several neighbors sat out on their porches, and catches snatches of radio sounds through their open windows. After spending all day in a land of secrets and concrete, her walk helps her mentally transition to living things and home.
When she rounds the corner, she checks first for her next door neighbor’s cat, often found sunning itself on a lounger. Not today; Checkers is instead in the front window ledge, picturesque black and white against the yellow curtains. She waves and passes on to her house.
There’s a man sitting on her porch steps.
***
This was his plan all along, or almost.
While Tony was preparing the stones, Bruce told them about the promise he’d made to return them from where and when they’d been taken. He stumbled through something about healing the realities; Steve took it on faith. They were all pushing through the numb aftermath of Nat’s sacrifice. Clint’s strained “We have to go back?” filtered through, and Steve wondered if he could contrive a way to see Peggy again when they did. If that was even a good idea (no) or too risky (yes) or something he wanted (absolutely).
He doesn’t think about it again until they are done and Hank Pym comes out for Tony’s memorial. With some foresight from Scott and Hope, preparations to return the stones are soon underway.
Steve is tired. He has learned to live as a man of the twenty-first century, but it was the five post-Snap years that made him question whether he will ever belong to it. At first, he thought he felt the same melancholy of mourning that the whole world was feeling. He found his thoughts retreating to the past, like everyone else did, but he went farther and spent more time than he’ll admit lost in the real old days. He can’t shake the habit after they defeat the enemy and--nearly--everyone is restored. The peace that the rest of the team makes eludes him.
He misses her as much as he ever did.
If he does it, if he goes back, how far should he go? Could he warn them, should he warn them, about HYDRA? Could he be, does he want to be, Captain America? What would be the impact on the timeline? There are too many variables to even speculate. Sure, it’s his past and theoretically unchangeable, but if he doesn’t go back, what does it do to his future? To theirs? He thinks a lot about Tony’s ironclad condition to keep the family he’s found when they bring everyone else back. Will he be able to live with keeping his head down to preserve the future for them? It makes his head spin.
By the time they’re ready to return the stones, he knows what he needs to do. Everyone who hasn’t yet retreated to a home or ship or family would willingly go, but their hearts clearly aren’t in it, so Steve pulls rank, such as it is, and says he’ll handle it alone. After all, they have all the time in the world. He doesn’t tell anyone about the rest of his plan, though he wonders if Bucky guessed, from the way he says goodbye. If anyone still with them would figure it out, it would be Buck.
He saves the Space Stone for last. He doesn’t need to pass by her office at the base, either to complete his mission or satisfy his temptation; he will see her soon. After the stone is back in place, he points the GPS to the date he’d chosen by researching the records of her movement. He tried not to dig too deep. It was history, before, but now it’s going to be his life, if she accepts him back.
As he sits waiting on her front steps, hoping she hasn’t gone away for the weekend, the calm surety that accompanied this mission starts to evaporate. He wipes clammy palms on his slacks, takes out his compass and flips it open and closed. He considers ducking behind the house and using his spare juice to go back as everyone expected.
Then she comes around the corner.
***
The man lifts his head and they lock eyes.
Agent Carter springs into action, dropping her groceries and pulling her handheld from her purse. “Identify yourself at once.”
Steve raises his hands in the air. “It’s me, Peg. I -- I came back.”
“How can I believe you?” Her voice is steel.
“Tell me what to do to prove it.”
She takes a careful step closer, enough to see the feeling in his eyes. His face looks the same as she sees in her memory, but his expression is so much older. He keeps his body still, focused only on letting her see and read him. There’s a disc-shaped bag leaning against the steps. Her eyes catch on the compass beside him, open from when he dropped it on her arrival.
She lowers her weapon, puts it away. “Nothing.”
He stands, and the space between them disappears.
***
Peggy’s native reserve is the only reason they pull apart. She wipes her eyes, he grabs her dropped bag and his, and they go inside before anyone passing by might notice. He helps her put things away. She closes the cupboard and turns to lean against it. They look at each other across the kitchen and understand the metaphor about drowning in someone’s eyes.
She takes a breath. “How...just, how?”
“It’s a long story. I can tell you some of it later. But right now, I would very much like to dance with you.” Steve holds out a hand, which she doesn’t hesitate to take and lead him to the living room. She lets go to open a window for fresh air. He approaches the radio with a soft, grateful smile, finding the switch easily. Slow music fills the air, and they step back into each other. He doesn’t need her to teach him anymore. The simple steps of their dance fade into a swaying embrace.
He still doesn’t know what he’ll say, how much to explain or hold back. She has to push down her inner soldier’s voice telling her this should be reported somewhere. They will sort it out later together. For this song, this evening, they will hold each other and dance.