Back to You [An Endgame Continuation]

Memory Lane

2,000 reads?? I appreciate each one, truly. 💕XxLauren_Luv

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p.o.v: peggy

There was an overcast the morning we got on the plane for New York. I drove myself there using Daniel's car, and no one was standing outside to escort me to the plane. The hangar was dark and looming, and I could hear things being rumbled around within the cabin as I proceeded up the stairs. Upon entering, golden light flooded my vision and made me squint, and I saw Howard step out from the cockpit. "Rise and shine," he announced.

"Emphasis on the shine," I added, complaining about the bright lights as I set down my bags.

"My doctor says it helps you stay awake," he argued as he took my bags to load them onto the plane. His eyes darted behind me. "Thought it might wake em' up too, but that guy's out like a light."

I turned around to see Steve almost entirely slouched down on the cream colored couch,  his long legs hanging off as his mouth dangled open slightly. I was glad Howard couldn't see my smile.

I sat down on the seat across from Steve, running my hands over the smooth leather as I took a deep breath. I heard the popping of a record player and saw Howard lowering a needle onto a vinyl. Strings began to swell as Bing Crosby's ballad "Once in a Blue Moon," started playing.

"Don't you think that's going to wake him up?" I questioned, looking at Steve and how his face was peaceful and devoid of any signs of stress.

"If anything it'll probably keep him asleep," Howard responded shortly, bringing up the fold out stairs outside the plane and shutting the door. "Besides, I think he needs it. I don't think he slept more than three hours last night."

"Why do you think that?"

"Well, I was on the other side of the wall so I kept hearing him getting out of bed, mumbling to himself, going back to bed, and then doing it over and over again."

At my unreadable expression, Howard looked at me. "What?"

I flinched my eyebrows. "Oh, nothing. I just had a hard time finding sleep too last night." That was actually an understatement. Sleep had evaded me as if I were its life long enemy.

"Did you," Howard stated, his face looking as if he knew something I didn't.

"Yes." Howard seemed to be coming up with his own reason why, so I made sure to correct him. "If must've been all the coffee I had at the office."

He chuckled as he started walking towards the cockpit, and I frowned. "What?"

"Nothing," Howard replied as he turned around. "It's just..." the glint in his eye unnerved me. "That's exactly what Steve said too."

With Howard piloting the plane, I was allowed to watch Steve sleep. I studied him while I had the chance, looking over his bomber jacket laying across his torso and his new black shirt that hugged his arms and torso tightly. Howard must've given him that, I presumed.

The creases between his eyebrows and on his forehead seemed deeper than what I remembered, as well as the matured line of his jaw. I supposed details like that were forgotten when the image of him in my mind started fading and losing its realism. When I came across the day I couldn't remember where exactly the green revealed itself in his eyes, I realized I was never going to be able look into them again. But now they were here in front of me, hidden by his eyelids. If he opened them, there they would be.

Howard directed the aircraft out of the hangar and onto a less popular runway that was reserved for recreational planes and lacked directional lights. The plane bounced as it reached a higher speed, and after a particularly nasty bump, Steve was jousted awake, his eyes riddled with sleep. I pretended to be looking outside as I sat in the seat opposite him, making sure to keep my eyes out the window when I felt his gaze travel over me.