A Heart Break In Time

What The Hell Happened Here?

Somehow, it ended up being just me taking the drive to Steve's apartment. Bucky would have come with, but we needed him to be the one to explain all of... this to Steve. He was the most likely to be believed, and the most likely to handle if it came to a fight.

So here I was. Knocking on the fiancé of my ex-fiancée's door. What the hell is my life?

Peggy answered the door, she seemed to be in one piece. Her eyes widened when she saw me. "Is Steve..." she didn't finish the statement.

But I knew. "Steve is... physically fine. I'm here to make sure you are. May I come in?"

Peggy hesitated, but opened the door for me, letting me inside. "Would you like some tea? Or coffee perhaps?"

"Coffee would be great, honestly. It's been a long night." That was the understatement of the year. All the alcohol had left my body by now, leaving me with the nausea and exhaustion, with a mild headache.

Peggy nodded and started the pot. She was jittery, nervous. But she tried to hide it. It's hard to believe this was the woman I admired. But then again, this wasn't. This was... her before.

Time travel is weird.

When the pots finished, she poured us both a cup and brought the cream and sugar to the table. We made our prospective cups in silence. It seemed I was going to have to start this awkward conversation.

"Peggy... It seems like there is something wrong with Steve. I came here because he had gotten slightly..." I pondered the word to say without scaring her, but I wanted her to know the severity. "Violent." She didn't answer, but her eyes glanced at the wall behind me. I turned around and saw a picture frame, with a generic picture.

I got out of my seat and walked towards it. I lifted the frame and saw a hole. In the wall. I placed the picture frame back and turned to Peggy. "Did he hurt you?"

She shook her head. "No, just... frightened me. And then he never came back." She held her head down and stared at her hands in her lap.

There was so much sadness in her voice. It hurt me, too. "Peggy, it wasn't Steve." He head popped back up. "I mean, it was. Physically. But Steve... he's not all right. Something happened when he traveled through time, Wanda looked inside his head. She thinks she can fix it. Can fix him. Make him back into the old Steve." I held my hand out towards her for comfort, trying to give her a smile that would be comforting and confident, even though I felt anything but.

Peggy ignored my attempts. "I want to go back."

Well, I wasn't expecting that. "What?"

She looked up at me again. "I want to go back. To where I was. I do not want to remember any of this... I want Steve... to be the small man in my thoughts again. I don't want any of this" she waved her hands around, "to be in my head. Ever. Again."

"I-I guess we can do that, Peggy. But we have some things we need to do first. Can you wait?" I really wasn't sure what to make of this. But if this is what she really wanted, we should be able to do it.

"I can wait." She stood up, bringing her barely drank coffee to the sink and poured it out.

I walked next to her, placing my cup beside hers in the sink. "Did you want to come back to the compound? And wait there?" Peggy shook her head. "Okay, well. Do you need anything here?"

"No, thank you." She said, final. It was clear she wanted me to leave. I couldn't really blame her.

"Okay. I'll be back soon, with an update and a plan for you, okay?" She ignored me. "When Steve is... back to normal. He's going to want to see you. Should I send him here?"

Peggy hesitated, thinking for a moment. "You may. But don't send him alone, please."

I nodded even though she wasn't looking at me. "I can do that, Peggy." I grabbed the plain writing pad I saw on the counter. "Here's my number."
I wrote it down quickly. "Call me if you need anything. Okay? I should be back soon but just in case something comes up. Don't hesitate." I walked over and handed the piece of paper to her directly and smiled.

She took it from my hand. "Thank you, Talia. You are... kinder than I would have thought. Given the circumstances."

"Welcome to the future, Peg. Women support women around here." My smile grew as hers did. I walked out of her place and sighed as I closed the door behind me. I heard it lock immediately.

It's one damn thing after the other today. I guess we can add time travel on our list of things to do.

Again.