The Choice

Havoc

As Peggy returned to the SSR within the coming of days, she notices something off about Daniel. It's only been 3 days and she hasn't seen him or spoken with him unless in a meeting or crossing paths in the bullpen. Normally she wouldn't think too much about this, seeing as he is the chief and may be busy. However there are no active, or inquisitive, cases that would need his immediate attention.

On day 4 is when her worry takes over.

Peggy Carter has always been known as a woman to take action, and so she does. Carter walks over to the chief's office and knocks on his door. She hears faint come in from inside so she turns the nob and steps inside.

"Hello chief" she says her voice soft. Watch to her surprise he doesn't look up.

"You need something, Carter?" At this she flusters. He's never this formal or direct with her. Not even in New York.  At this thought she closes the door behind her and steps closer to his desk.

"Daniel are you alright?" Peggy asked while sitting down across from him. watched her dismay he doesn't look up from the report he is writing.

"I'm fine. Is there's something you need?" Now she's getting annoyed.

"W- no I don't need anything, it's been days since I last saw you and I wanted to see if you were alright." Still he does not look up.

"Yeah I'm fine, just busy. You know chiefs work is never done." He glances at her for a moment shaking the file in his hand, before going back to reading it.

Peggy leans back in her chair and watches him for a few moments observing his every move. He doesn't seem in pain nor is there a ton of paperwork on his desk. He hasn't been acting like himself, she's noticed, nor does he seem too busy. If she were to admit it she was slightly hurt by the way he was acting, distant and somewhat cold. Maybe even avoiding her. Simply thinking this could be a possibility makes the strings in her heart pull at her chest, but she tries to push that feeling down.

"Very well I'll leave you to it then." He mumbles is thanks not looking up at her still. She bites her lip in thought before stepping outside his office. Something wasn't right. Daniel was not acting like himself.

It's almost time to clock out during her shift so when Peggy goes downstairs she confronts Rose. Though doesn't get many answers there either. The chief has had a lot going on dealing with senator and the last few cases needed to be wrapped up.

Carter tries to believe that and goes home for the day. There really weren't any dire cases needing her attention, if anything things were still very full, so going home at a reasonable hour was all she could do.

Several more days go by and Daniel still acts the same, even more so it's apparent he's avoiding her. Peggy tries to speak with him again but his blinds to his office are closed and his door has been staying locked. The dread in her stomach continues to rise when she starts to believe something is very very wrong. This isn't Daniel. Her Daniel does not behave like this.

Never has and never would. Something was terribly wrong and Peggy needed to find out what it was. She was an Agent, a spy, and one of the best, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. Except Daniel was also a spy, and he was good at hiding things when needed. His promotion out West is an easy example of that. Peggy sighs at that memory and shakes her head.

The only way to figure this out was to talk about it. She needed to confront Daniel.

But how?

Then an idea forms in her mind. She'll catch him once he leaves the office to go home. It might be easier than showing up on his door step anyway.

Peggy almost misses her window of opportunity when Daniel leaves for the day. It's late, very late. Almost 11pm. He never stays this late, much to her previous knowledge. But now wasn't the time to think about it. Instead she walks towards him car as he gets in, barely getting to his side as he starts his car.