Waking Up from The Dead (part 1)
Title:Waking Up from the Dead (part 1)
Author: MaeveBran
Rating: Teen (will eventually get to Mature-ish I'm sure)
Fandom: Captain America:The First Avenger (movieverse)
Pairing: Steve Rogers/Peggy Carter with mentions of past Peggy Carter/Howard Stark
Summary: Steve adjusts to life in the twenty-first century.
Disclaimer: The Captain and all related personnel and stuff belongs to Marvel, I'm just borrowing for a little bit of unprofitable fun.
Notes: I've never read the comics so all I know about the Avengers is what is in the movies and what I can find on Wikipedia. The histories I give for the Howling Comandoes, Peggy, Howard, and such like for that near seventy years is mostly made up from what I'd like to have had happen.
“You’ve been asleep, Cap’,” Colonel Fury’s voice rattled around Steven Roger’s head. It was still sinking in - seventy years had passed since he crashed that wing into the ice of the Atlantic. He had no idea how he’d survived, but he guessed it was another benefit of Dr. Erskine’s formula.
The walk back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters was short. Steve was dying to ask questions about what had happened in those lost years but he figured there would be time enough for that soon enough. Agents came up to the colonel with problems to be solved right away and he disappeared deeper into the HQ, but not before turning Steve over to the female agent who had greeted him in that fake recovery room.
She walked Steve down corridors and upstairs and down more stairs until they got to the old headquarters of the Strategic Scientific Reserve. It was a place that held a lot of memories for Steve. The place was emptier than he remembered but the furniture was still there. Steve stepped forward and ran his hand over the railing around the pit where Howard had examined the submarine vehicle of the first Hydra operative Steve had fought.
“My Aunt helped mothball this place,” the female agent said from the doorway. She was still in her vintage uniform.
“Your Aunt?” Steve asked, turning to look at her.
“My aunt, Margaret “Peggy” Carter. She was an agent with the Strategic Scientific Reserve,” the agent explained. “I’m Sharon Carter.”
“I knew Peggy,” Steve said, suddenly choked up. He wanted to ask if Peggy hated him for missing that date. For him, it was earlier today that he’d made that date as he crashed but he knew it had been far longer than that for her. He wanted to ask if she had ever married but was afraid the answer had been yes and that it had been to Howard. At least that was who he hoped it would be, if Peggy had married.
“I know,” the young Agent Carter said. “She still talks about you, sometimes.”
“She does?” Steve asked. The he realized that the word still had been mentioned and the verb had been in the present tense. “She’s alive?”
“Yep. She had her ninetieth birthday last month,” Sharon answered.
“I’d like to see her,” Steve managed to say around the huge lump in his throat.
“I’ll see if Colonel Fury can make that happen,” Sharon said. She stepped forward and led Steve through the old headquarters to the sleeping barracks. She stopped in front of what had been Colonel Phillips’ quarters when he needed to stay at headquarters and couldn’t get home. “We have other quarters if these won’t do, but we thought you might like the familiar.”
Steve looked around. Some of the photos had been either left on the wall or put back up. There was a picture of Steve before the serum and then some press photos from his USO days. There was even one of Colonel Phillips surrounded by Captain America, Agent Carter, Howard Stark and the Howling Commandos. Steve traced his finger across that photo remembering everyone. He paused when he came to Bucky’s face. That picture had been taken just before that mission where Bucky had been lost. Steve was sure that this was the right quarters for him. He wasn’t sure if he could feel at home in modern surroundings if the rest was like what he had glimpsed on the way here. It might be sad to be reminded of what he’d lost, but that would happen no matter where he slept.
“This will be fine,” Steve said as he looked around again. This was the commander’s quarters so it had more room and furniture. Besides the bed, which must have been made up while he had been out on the streets with Colonel Fury, there was a chair and footstool, a desk and chair, an armoire, and a dresser with a mirror hanging above it.
“The mattress is a modern pillow top but everything else is left the way it was,” Sharon explained. “If you want we can get you set up with a computer and WiFi so you can surf the internet and find out what you missed.” Sharon looked at him and noted his confused expression. “I’ll explain later. Do you want some supper or are you tired?”
“I think I’ve had enough sleep if I’ve been asleep for seventy years,” Steve laughed morosely. “But I could do with some food.”
Sharon smiled and slipped out of the room. Steve went and looked at the photos on the wall. That was something else he was going to have to ask about - his shield. He didn’t need it now but it would be nice to have it nearby in case he did eventually require it.
Steve was sitting at the desk and reading the files left there, when the door opened. He didn’t even look up from the paper he was reading. It was a page from his own SSR file. He figured that the person would speak when they wanted.
“Where would you like this?” a strangely familiar voice said. The voice was older and without as thick an accent he remembered.
“Just put it there,” Steve gestured to the empty space on the desk. A tray of food slid in front of him. He looked up and saw an old woman in a Channel suit.
“You don’t recognize me do you?” the old woman asked.
Steve looked harder and saw the woman he had asked to dance in the woman before him. “Peggy?” he asked, astonished that she had gotten there so quickly. “How’d you get here so soon?”
“I live here in Manhattan,” Peggy explained. “When I retired from S.H.I.E.L.D. I left instructions to be notified if anything relating to you came up.” Peggy searched his face. “I just never imagined that it would be you, living and breathing.”
Steve came around the desk and pulled up the wing back chair to face him across it. “Here, have a seat. It seems we have much to catch up on,” he insisted.
“Thanks, I’m not as young as I used to be,” Peggy said as she settled in. “You should eat while I talk,” She commanded gesturing to the tray she had brought in.
Steve resumed his seat behind the desk and started cutting up the steak on the tray. “So what did I miss?”
“Oh a lot. We won the war, both in Europe and Japan,” Peggy said as a beginning, not sure she wanted to tell the personal details she was sure he wanted. “The rest of the Howling Comandos survived.”
Steve nodded. He was relieved. That had been foremost on his mind.
“DumDum died twenty years later in Vietnam. Gabe retired after that. Morita staid in until he died drilling new recruits in the mid-eighties. Falsworth is still alive, living on his manor in England. Dernier is retired and living in Southern France,” Peggy said to bring him up to date.
“And Howard?” Steve asked as he started in on the mashed potatoes.
“Dead. He and his second wife died in a car accident over twenty years ago, leaving their seventeen year old son behind,” Peggy rushed to explain. “Tony, the son, has taken over and followed in his father’s footsteps. Stark Industries leads the way in innovations and until recently, had been a major weapons development company.”
“Second wife?” Steve asked. “What happened to the first?”
Peggy hung her head briefly. “It didn’t work out. Howard started drinking and got mean when he was drunk. She put up with it for over ten years but then she just couldn’t take it anymore.”
Steve looked at her and saw what she was trying to hide. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. I was briefly Mrs. Howard Stark. When we divorced, I got enough to keep me in style for quite some time,” Peggy said with a sad smile. “We stayed friends until he died though.”
“I’m sorry,” Steve said, not sure how to feel.
“I’m not. Some things aren’t meant to be,” Peggy said. “Anyway, I threw myself back into the SSR and then into S.H.I.E.L.D. I retired in the mid nineteen eighties to raise my niece.”
“I met her,” Steve said lamely.
“I know. She’s the one who called me,” Peggy said. “I think that will do for catching up on personal histories, how about we catch you up on some technology to bring you to the into the twenty-first century?” Peggy pulled out a cell phone from her skirt pocket and called a number.
Ten minutes later, the young Agent Carter brought in a computer, desk phone, and other assorted gadgets. She laid these out on the desk and connected those that needed connecting.
“You sure you can handle this, Aunt Peg?” Sharon asked.
“I’m sure. If it gets too technical, though, I’ll call you,” Peggy reassured her niece.
“If you say so,” Sharon said as she took the tray off the desk and left.
An hour later, Steve had a basic understanding of what a computer was, how to turn it on and get connected to the internet. The idea of the internet scared him and excited him at the same time. All the information he could ever want right there at his fingertips if he could just access it. The cell phone was a modern marvel but simple enough to use.
“I think that’s enough for one day,” Peggy said as she stood up. “It has been quite a day.”
“It has,” Steve agreed.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Peggy said.
“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Steve said with a smile. She might be seventy years older but she was still the Peggy he had asked to dance so long ago. “Maybe we can have that dance after all.”
“I’d like that,” Peggy said as she got to the door. “I don’t get much chance anymore.” She slipped out the door.
Steve got up and paced the room, thinking about all she said. So Peggy had married Howard, and it hadn’t worked out. He wondered why. She had said he drank, but Steve was sure there was more to the story. He was sad that his friend and his girl hadn’t been able to be happy, in his absence.
To be continued . . .
Author: MaeveBran
Rating: Teen (will eventually get to Mature-ish I'm sure)
Fandom: Captain America:The First Avenger (movieverse)
Pairing: Steve Rogers/Peggy Carter with mentions of past Peggy Carter/Howard Stark
Summary: Steve adjusts to life in the twenty-first century.
Disclaimer: The Captain and all related personnel and stuff belongs to Marvel, I'm just borrowing for a little bit of unprofitable fun.
Notes: I've never read the comics so all I know about the Avengers is what is in the movies and what I can find on Wikipedia. The histories I give for the Howling Comandoes, Peggy, Howard, and such like for that near seventy years is mostly made up from what I'd like to have had happen.
“You’ve been asleep, Cap’,” Colonel Fury’s voice rattled around Steven Roger’s head. It was still sinking in - seventy years had passed since he crashed that wing into the ice of the Atlantic. He had no idea how he’d survived, but he guessed it was another benefit of Dr. Erskine’s formula.
The walk back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters was short. Steve was dying to ask questions about what had happened in those lost years but he figured there would be time enough for that soon enough. Agents came up to the colonel with problems to be solved right away and he disappeared deeper into the HQ, but not before turning Steve over to the female agent who had greeted him in that fake recovery room.
She walked Steve down corridors and upstairs and down more stairs until they got to the old headquarters of the Strategic Scientific Reserve. It was a place that held a lot of memories for Steve. The place was emptier than he remembered but the furniture was still there. Steve stepped forward and ran his hand over the railing around the pit where Howard had examined the submarine vehicle of the first Hydra operative Steve had fought.
“My Aunt helped mothball this place,” the female agent said from the doorway. She was still in her vintage uniform.
“Your Aunt?” Steve asked, turning to look at her.
“My aunt, Margaret “Peggy” Carter. She was an agent with the Strategic Scientific Reserve,” the agent explained. “I’m Sharon Carter.”
“I knew Peggy,” Steve said, suddenly choked up. He wanted to ask if Peggy hated him for missing that date. For him, it was earlier today that he’d made that date as he crashed but he knew it had been far longer than that for her. He wanted to ask if she had ever married but was afraid the answer had been yes and that it had been to Howard. At least that was who he hoped it would be, if Peggy had married.
“I know,” the young Agent Carter said. “She still talks about you, sometimes.”
“She does?” Steve asked. The he realized that the word still had been mentioned and the verb had been in the present tense. “She’s alive?”
“Yep. She had her ninetieth birthday last month,” Sharon answered.
“I’d like to see her,” Steve managed to say around the huge lump in his throat.
“I’ll see if Colonel Fury can make that happen,” Sharon said. She stepped forward and led Steve through the old headquarters to the sleeping barracks. She stopped in front of what had been Colonel Phillips’ quarters when he needed to stay at headquarters and couldn’t get home. “We have other quarters if these won’t do, but we thought you might like the familiar.”
Steve looked around. Some of the photos had been either left on the wall or put back up. There was a picture of Steve before the serum and then some press photos from his USO days. There was even one of Colonel Phillips surrounded by Captain America, Agent Carter, Howard Stark and the Howling Commandos. Steve traced his finger across that photo remembering everyone. He paused when he came to Bucky’s face. That picture had been taken just before that mission where Bucky had been lost. Steve was sure that this was the right quarters for him. He wasn’t sure if he could feel at home in modern surroundings if the rest was like what he had glimpsed on the way here. It might be sad to be reminded of what he’d lost, but that would happen no matter where he slept.
“This will be fine,” Steve said as he looked around again. This was the commander’s quarters so it had more room and furniture. Besides the bed, which must have been made up while he had been out on the streets with Colonel Fury, there was a chair and footstool, a desk and chair, an armoire, and a dresser with a mirror hanging above it.
“The mattress is a modern pillow top but everything else is left the way it was,” Sharon explained. “If you want we can get you set up with a computer and WiFi so you can surf the internet and find out what you missed.” Sharon looked at him and noted his confused expression. “I’ll explain later. Do you want some supper or are you tired?”
“I think I’ve had enough sleep if I’ve been asleep for seventy years,” Steve laughed morosely. “But I could do with some food.”
Sharon smiled and slipped out of the room. Steve went and looked at the photos on the wall. That was something else he was going to have to ask about - his shield. He didn’t need it now but it would be nice to have it nearby in case he did eventually require it.
Steve was sitting at the desk and reading the files left there, when the door opened. He didn’t even look up from the paper he was reading. It was a page from his own SSR file. He figured that the person would speak when they wanted.
“Where would you like this?” a strangely familiar voice said. The voice was older and without as thick an accent he remembered.
“Just put it there,” Steve gestured to the empty space on the desk. A tray of food slid in front of him. He looked up and saw an old woman in a Channel suit.
“You don’t recognize me do you?” the old woman asked.
Steve looked harder and saw the woman he had asked to dance in the woman before him. “Peggy?” he asked, astonished that she had gotten there so quickly. “How’d you get here so soon?”
“I live here in Manhattan,” Peggy explained. “When I retired from S.H.I.E.L.D. I left instructions to be notified if anything relating to you came up.” Peggy searched his face. “I just never imagined that it would be you, living and breathing.”
Steve came around the desk and pulled up the wing back chair to face him across it. “Here, have a seat. It seems we have much to catch up on,” he insisted.
“Thanks, I’m not as young as I used to be,” Peggy said as she settled in. “You should eat while I talk,” She commanded gesturing to the tray she had brought in.
Steve resumed his seat behind the desk and started cutting up the steak on the tray. “So what did I miss?”
“Oh a lot. We won the war, both in Europe and Japan,” Peggy said as a beginning, not sure she wanted to tell the personal details she was sure he wanted. “The rest of the Howling Comandos survived.”
Steve nodded. He was relieved. That had been foremost on his mind.
“DumDum died twenty years later in Vietnam. Gabe retired after that. Morita staid in until he died drilling new recruits in the mid-eighties. Falsworth is still alive, living on his manor in England. Dernier is retired and living in Southern France,” Peggy said to bring him up to date.
“And Howard?” Steve asked as he started in on the mashed potatoes.
“Dead. He and his second wife died in a car accident over twenty years ago, leaving their seventeen year old son behind,” Peggy rushed to explain. “Tony, the son, has taken over and followed in his father’s footsteps. Stark Industries leads the way in innovations and until recently, had been a major weapons development company.”
“Second wife?” Steve asked. “What happened to the first?”
Peggy hung her head briefly. “It didn’t work out. Howard started drinking and got mean when he was drunk. She put up with it for over ten years but then she just couldn’t take it anymore.”
Steve looked at her and saw what she was trying to hide. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. I was briefly Mrs. Howard Stark. When we divorced, I got enough to keep me in style for quite some time,” Peggy said with a sad smile. “We stayed friends until he died though.”
“I’m sorry,” Steve said, not sure how to feel.
“I’m not. Some things aren’t meant to be,” Peggy said. “Anyway, I threw myself back into the SSR and then into S.H.I.E.L.D. I retired in the mid nineteen eighties to raise my niece.”
“I met her,” Steve said lamely.
“I know. She’s the one who called me,” Peggy said. “I think that will do for catching up on personal histories, how about we catch you up on some technology to bring you to the into the twenty-first century?” Peggy pulled out a cell phone from her skirt pocket and called a number.
Ten minutes later, the young Agent Carter brought in a computer, desk phone, and other assorted gadgets. She laid these out on the desk and connected those that needed connecting.
“You sure you can handle this, Aunt Peg?” Sharon asked.
“I’m sure. If it gets too technical, though, I’ll call you,” Peggy reassured her niece.
“If you say so,” Sharon said as she took the tray off the desk and left.
An hour later, Steve had a basic understanding of what a computer was, how to turn it on and get connected to the internet. The idea of the internet scared him and excited him at the same time. All the information he could ever want right there at his fingertips if he could just access it. The cell phone was a modern marvel but simple enough to use.
“I think that’s enough for one day,” Peggy said as she stood up. “It has been quite a day.”
“It has,” Steve agreed.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Peggy said.
“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Steve said with a smile. She might be seventy years older but she was still the Peggy he had asked to dance so long ago. “Maybe we can have that dance after all.”
“I’d like that,” Peggy said as she got to the door. “I don’t get much chance anymore.” She slipped out the door.
Steve got up and paced the room, thinking about all she said. So Peggy had married Howard, and it hadn’t worked out. He wondered why. She had said he drank, but Steve was sure there was more to the story. He was sad that his friend and his girl hadn’t been able to be happy, in his absence.
To be continued . . .