No, never. I joined SOE, and then SSR. And then -- [ she met steve, and everything else had crumbled away aside from her work and her duty. peggy clears her throat and shakes her head and she knows she doesn't need to finish the sentence. he'll understand. ]
He and I wanted very different things. I'm certain he found himself a much better match.
It's just as well, really. I can't argue with the path it set me on -- and to think I turned down the first offer for field work. I'm damned lucky they gave me a second chance.
[ to take risks. to find adventure. to make good on michael's recommendation, considering her last conversation with him had been an argument. ]
I think about that second chance and then I think about your collection of 4Fs. Both of us very nearly never went to war.
I guess that's just it, isn't it? sometime seizing these chances, weird as they are is what people need to do. You did important things in the war, you made a difference in many people's lives. You made it count exactly because of the risk.
[ it's a relaxed sort of conversation. in the end, her previous engagement is accepted without a single blink. peggy has lived a life before him and will leave a damn exciting life after him and he knows how to be grateful for each detail she allows him to know. ]
Without you, I might have been nothing more than propaganda material. You've taken a risk that day, too. Never told you how much I appreciated it.
Without a doubt, it was the easiest risk I ever took. [ peggy had possessed such faith in his potential -- his ability, and his determination. she'd witnessed it at every turn before they'd even administered the serum. and so she'd known, deep in her heart, that he would come back from that mission.
didn't change how much relief she'd felt to see him again, of course. nor the validation. ]
I was so glad for the chance Erskine gave me, after he died - I felt lost for a while. I guess Captain America only ever started to mean something because of that day.
[ because of that risk, because of the faith that laid beneath it. ]
We all sometimes need someone willing to believe in us -- [ it's one of those rare and achingly optimistic phrases that sometime find their way through her well-guarded filters. but she's got michael on the mind, and it's not a far leap from steve talking about the chance erskine gave him to considering the chance michael had given her. ]
I admit, the little speech I gave you was little more than a rehashed version of what my brother told me. [ her smile shows sadness, certainly, but it's overshadowed by a quiet affection. ] At my engagement party.
[ in many ways, then, that poorly-received uso performance before what had been left of the 107th had a lot in common with her engagement party. ]
[ it's no accident that she should gently (or, perhaps, not-so-gently) reference their camping trip. but it's important to put those words in a broader context. ten months is a long time, although it feels brief. ]
My mind is made up. Darling, my mind was made up before you hit the water.
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He and I wanted very different things. I'm certain he found himself a much better match.
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[ but in the end, that hardly matters. he keeps his hold on her hand as he shifts, lying on his side, crossing over some distance. ]
It's a bad fallout. Can't say I know what that's like. I guess in a way, I've always knew what finding the right partner feels like.
[ finding and losing and finding once more and yet, his first love was Peggy and Peggy always felt right. ]
But you're still one of the biggest risk-takers I know and you're still the best girl I've ever met, bad fallouts or not.
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[ to take risks. to find adventure. to make good on michael's recommendation, considering her last conversation with him had been an argument. ]
I think about that second chance and then I think about your collection of 4Fs. Both of us very nearly never went to war.
[ the odds had been so slim. and yet! ]
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[ it's a relaxed sort of conversation. in the end, her previous engagement is accepted without a single blink. peggy has lived a life before him and will leave a damn exciting life after him and he knows how to be grateful for each detail she allows him to know. ]
Without you, I might have been nothing more than propaganda material. You've taken a risk that day, too. Never told you how much I appreciated it.
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didn't change how much relief she'd felt to see him again, of course. nor the validation. ]
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[ because of that risk, because of the faith that laid beneath it. ]
It made all the difference.
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I admit, the little speech I gave you was little more than a rehashed version of what my brother told me. [ her smile shows sadness, certainly, but it's overshadowed by a quiet affection. ] At my engagement party.
[ in many ways, then, that poorly-received uso performance before what had been left of the 107th had a lot in common with her engagement party. ]
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[ an engagement party, of all places, is not the ideal place to hear about wrong decisions and a better path. ]
I'm sorry.
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[ there is compassion in learning this sort of information beforehand and yet, it must have been such a painful matter. ]
Well.
[ his sigh is heavy, as if he's contemplating a rather tragic affair. ]
I guess that means cutting back the big anniversary announcement.
[ he's mostly joking. ]
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Steve Rogers. [ faux-stern. ] Are you implying I can't be trusted not to change my mind moments before you go and announce it? Oh, ye of little faith.
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[ the looks he gives her is not without a healthy dose of doubt. ]
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[ it's no accident that she should gently (or, perhaps, not-so-gently) reference their camping trip. but it's important to put those words in a broader context. ten months is a long time, although it feels brief. ]
My mind is made up. Darling, my mind was made up before you hit the water.
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[ he shifts towards her until their noses touch, lips curling into a wry little twist. ]
That was entirely romantic.
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