The Choice

In the End

After the heart felt confessions and reassurances Peggy knows there was one thing left to be done. She has to speak with Rogers. Peggy wasn't quite sure what she would say, or what she really could, other than the truth. Her drunken slurs from the previous night were no help but she had to start somewhere. She has a vague memory of what had been said, and calling Daniel her fiancé was definitely one of them. Sure they planned on it in the future but it wasn't a fact at the moment. Peggy needed to clear the air, just one thing was causing her to hesitate... Steve's reaction. Given last night he may not take it too well, but he doesn't have a choice.

When Peggy returns home her door is slightly ajar. Roger must have been inside. As she step through the thresh and shuts the door, a soft click behind her, a mop of blonde pops up from the couch. When she steps closer she notice the hair a disarray of a mess and his eye dark and heavy. He hasn't slept much.

"Steve, I think we need to talk." Rogers says nothin in response, instead glances up before his eye land on his lap. He saw this coming. "Its about last night. What I said."

"About your fiancé?" She sighs then, shutting her eyes. It was a lovely thought for it to be real, but it wasn't. Not yet.

"Yes about that... It wasn't quite true." At this is interest peeks, his shoulder less slump. "Daniel isn't my fiancé.. at least not yet. We're trying to work on things." She stutters through her sentence thinking of what to say next, but Steve's next course of action catches her off guard. He stands abruptly and runs a hand over his face.

"How long have you uh... been together?" He places his hands on his hips, his eyes not meeting hers. 

"A few years. Why are you-"

"I came back for you, Peggy and this is-" He scoff and shakes his head, pacing the room. His hair is disheveled more the longer he runs his fingers through it. The blonde locks falling in his face. "This isn't how I imagined this going."

"Imagined what, Rogers?" Peggy stands to face him and he stops mid step, finally meeting her brown eye with his blue.

"After everything, Hydra, Finding Bucky only to loose him again.... Loki...The snap. Hell bringing everyone back. After everything the past twelve years of nothing but war and loss... I found a  way to be with you again and you're with someone else still? I-I just don't understand this." He scoffs and paces, looking away from Peggy.

"Steve what are talking about? "

He tenses more, his shoulders squared before his lips part,ushering an explanation filled with confusion. Alien invasions,being in the future, bring half of all life back from being disinigrated, Hydra still operational, more aliens... It was too much.

At first Carter was sure he was lying, to hear every word fall out his mouth would have made her a mad woman... But the look in his eyes told her the opposite. She wasn't mad or loosing an ounce of sanity. What he was saying was true. Every word.

But if that was the story then why come back? He saved trillions of lives, got his childhood best friend back, created a new founded family and served in a new organization of hero's. So why come back for her?

"If that's true then perhaps you shouldn't have come back to change my life! Its my life and I can choose whatever I damn well please!" 

"Peggy I can't go back."

"Why the bloody hell not?!"

As he stutters and looks for an excuse she shakes her head in disbelief. Its not that couldn't leave, its that he didn't want to... And she's caught him in his lie. She's seen the strange watch and a few viles of odd red liquid he kept hidden away. Though curious Peggy never mentioned them, but now it all makes sense. 

"You're right. When I went back to return one of the stones... I took a few more Pym Particles with me."

"Then why not use them? Steve if you had what you need to go home, why come back here?"

"You." He stands till in the midst of the argument, his reasoning clear. But Peggy was having none of it. "I thought, I hoped, this could be our second chance. But... I guess I was wrong."

Carter stands still, arms crossed, as she looks at the man before her. Now with a good look she can see how much he had ages since the plane crash, how the weight of saving the world and loosing loved ones has hurt him. But this? This was wrong. They had what they had when they had it. This was not their moment. That window between them was long closed and no matter how badly they could have wanted things to go, fate had more in store for them both. Daniel came into Peggy's life. And as for Steve? He found a new partner, a strong woman to rely on. Natasha Romanoff.

Steve spoke of her very little in his encrypted explanations of where he's been, but it never went un-noticed by Peggy of how much he cared for her. Briefly she wondered why he wasn't with her now, but after his blunt and angered explanation Peggy now understood. Natasha had died, sacrificed herself for the greater good. But maybe there was a way for Steve to get her back? Move on in a way Peggy herself had?

It was a long shot but it was more hope than either were filled with at the moment. "You're right in thinking you were wrong to come back. You should have stayed the future, Steve. Its your home. People you love are there counting on you! They're your family now. So is Natasha."

"She's gone, Peg. I-I can't go back knowing she's just... she-s-"

"You can." Peggy prods, stepping forward, one hand on each of his shoulders. "If you bring her back?"

Steve parts his lips to protest before a figurative light bulb appears over his head. The Ancient One had said that takings something out of a timeline would cause more to open, creating different version of the universe unless put back. The Red Skull said Nat couldn't have been brought back to life in exchange for the stone because the deal was already done... but what if Steve traveled back in time before Nat sacrificed herself? What if they found a way around it as a loop hole instead? What if Natasha never dies at all?

"Maybe... That might actually work!" As more thoughts  spiral in his mind, a plan forms. There may be a way to bring Nat back.

A hand on Steve's shoulder jolts him out of his thoughts and he's met with a vulnerable Peggy. "Then go save her and take her home, Steve. Live your life as I will live mine. Be happy and at peace." Steve looks down then and rests his hand on her hand, his eye avoiding hers. "I know you wanted a fresh start, but to do that you'll have to start over elsewhere. Sometimes that's the best that we can do."

Rogers is taken back for moment, her words similar to what she had said a lifetime ago. Deep down he knew she was right. He had to go back to were he belonged. Home. With a deep breath Steve nods, knowing what he had to do. He leaves the room and grabs the Pym particles and watch Tony designed. It was now or never. Peggy meets his eye and leans in, her lips brushing against his cheek, a proper goodbye.

What she had with Steve was important, yes, but they were never meant to be.

~~~

Steve does as planned and brings Natasha back to the Avengers HQ, along with Clint. They find a loop hole to who is sacrificed, and Tony takes the fall. He  goes back in time to have the winter solider kill his parents in exchange for the stone, and miracles of miracles it works. Was it easy to bare? No. Never in a million years. But did it work and keep one of their beloved members safe? Yes it did. And to the Avengers and Steve it was more than worth it. Natasha was to Steve as Peggy was to Daniel. Extraordinary, strong, compassionate, and perfect. 

As a wise person once said, 'If you fall in love with a second person, choose the second. Because if you truly loved the first, you wouldn't have fallen for another.'

Peggy loved Daniel and Steve had fallen for Natasha. Now each was happy with their own lives and loves. This was peace and happiness.