New Years Series

"I mucked up"

"I mucked up." 

"Uh...what are you talking about?" Daniel asks as he stands up from their couch. 

Peggy sighs and looks down at the ground, shuffling her feet. He sighs as well and rubs his hand over his face, grumbling at her silence. When Peggy Carter doesn't speak and starts fidgeting, you know its not good.

"On a scale of The Bakery Incident and That Time We Never Speak Of, how badly did you mess up?"

She hesitates and swings her hands behind her back as she bits her lower lip. Her beu crosses his arms and stares her down, making her heave a breath and slump her shoulders.  

"Roughly the same level as The Dentist Disaster."

 ".....Oh shit."

"Yeah."

"Peggy, what the HELL did you do?!?!?"

"Well, uhm...so you know the old Mill by the lake where we-well we snuck away to after the, uh, Water-men case."

"Yeah... Why??"

She stops talking and clears her throat, her gaze wondering to everywhere in the living room other than Daniel. He squints at her and crutches closer, making her step back. 

"I promise I didn't mean to!" He stops and stares at her.

"Deus me ajude." He mumbles. She frowns and looks down, upset at how he will react. "Peg-love- what did you do?"

"Uhm...I love you." She smiles wearily. Daniel grumbles and sighs, knowing full well this can't be good. 

"Okay, now you're dodging the question. I won't be mad, Peg. I just wanna know what happened."

She takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out, then takes his hand in hers and leads him to those couch. He sits down and she does as well, but changes her mind and stands.

"I could do with a drink. You?" Daniel squints and grabs her hand, lacing their fingers together. 

"Now you're scaring the hell out of me. What's going on, Peggy."

She sits back down, hands clasped in her lap, and avoids his gaze. He nudges her lightly with his shoulder, trying to get her to smile, but it doesn't work. He sighs and wraps his arm around her shoulder while placing a kiss to her temple. When he does he reaches for her clasps hands and holds her left in his; but notices something odd- something missing. He looks down at their hands and flips her hand over, and realizes what's missing; her ring. Daniel's taken back and looks at her, but she doesn't look up at him.

"Peggy...what did you do?" He asks with caution. She doesn't answer immediately, rather she turns her head away and lets out another deep breath. 

"I- I mucked up, Daniel. I didn't mean to, I swear on my Nana's grave."

"Amada, what happened? Where's your engagement ring?" She looks up at her beloved, with an expression that can only be described as mortified.

"Its gone."

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" Panic rises in his chest as he holds her hands in his. 

"I-" She sighs and glances at the floor, but Daniel takes her chin in his hand and turns it towards him. "I was engaging the suspect from Hilton chased him to the Mill. After a while of fighting, it uh, fell off. I was going to look for it after I apprehended him but...there were bombs stashed there. He activated them and I-I couldn't find it in time."

"Bombs? Are you okay??" He checks her over and she chuckles dryly. 

"I'm alright. But I'm afraid my ring is not."

As he process this information, Daniel sits back and looks straight ahead. "Okay." Peggy is surprised by this and turns to him, confused. 

"What?"

"I said okay. Its a ring, Peg. An object that can be replaced. You can't be." As he says this, she can feel the tears well up in her eyes. 

"Daniel..."

"I mean it, Peggy. I don't care about the ring. Only you. I would rather have had that blown up and never see it again, than go the rest of my life knowing it was you." She tosses her arms around his neck and peppers him with tender kisses. 

"I love you." She says as she pulls back and gazes into his eyes.

 "I love you too."