With Schmidt dead and hydra defeated, the SSR was set to be re-tasked. Peggy didn't know where she would be sent to next but she knew that there was somewhere she needed to go first.
It took some digging but Peggy was able to find Barnes' file to look up Lizzie Rogers address.
Peggy stood outside the house for awhile not wanting to go in. She wasn't looking forward to informing a complete stranger of the death of her brother and fiancé but she promised Steve.
With the thought of Steve in her mind, she goes up and knocks on the door.
A young women comes to the door and Peggy can see the resemblance between her and Steve. They both have the same shade of eyes and the same color hair. Peggy imagines that Lizzie and Steve were similar heights before he took the serum.
Peggy also notes that she is quite beautiful. She understands how Barnes would fall for a girl like her.
"Elizabeth Rogers?" Peggy asks.
"He's dead isn't he," Lizzie says flatly.
Peggy doesn't know how to respond because she was expecting to work up to the reveal. She wanted to give it to her gently.
"He died three days ago," Lizzie continues.
"How did you know?" Peggy asks.
She asked Colonel Phillips to refrain from sending the condolence letters for Steve and Barnes so she could tell her in person.
"I felt it," Lizzie says numbly.
"You felt it?" Peggy asks.
Lizzie leaves to go inside but she doesn't close the door so Peggy assumes that this is an invitation to come inside.
She follows Lizzie into the living room and watches as Lizzie settles on the couch.
"Steve and I we have, had, this connection. No one could ever understand it but him and me. We are linked in a way that defies logic. We can feel each other and it felt as if a part of me died that day. I feel as if I'll never be warm again, like there is literal ice in my body," Lizzie explains.
Peggy knows that Steve died crashing into the icy Atlantic. She doesn't know if she believes Lizzie's claim but that would explain the cold she describes.
"He wanted me to tell you that he loves you and he's sorry," Peggy says.
Lizzie's head snaps up to look at Peggy.
"You were with him?" She asks accusingly.
If this girl was with Steve, why didn't she save him?
"No, not really. He radioed me and we talked until he crashed," Peggy explains.
Lizzie didn't know until this moment how her brother died. She doesn't really want to know how but she asks anyways.
"Crashed?" Lizzie asks.
"Yes, he forced a plane into the Atlantic in order to stop a bomb from destroying New York. Your brother died a hero," Peggy explains.
"Stevie was always a hero. Even when he was small and sick and skinny, he was my hero. Now? Now, he's a dead hero," Lizzie says.
Lizzie feels like she should be crying but the ice in her soul is numbing her.
Peggy is quiet, trying to figure out what Lizzie is thinking. Her eyes just look dead to the world.
"My brother is dead and my fiancé is God knows where..." Lizzie trails off.
She looks at Peggy and can read the regret on her face. Lizzie gets up from the couch and begins to back away from Peggy.
"Elizabeth," Peggy starts.
"Don't you say it," Lizzie warns.
If Peggy doesn't confirm what she already knows, then maybe she can live in denial. She can pretend her fiancé isn't gone too.
"Barnes, Bucky, he didn't make it either," Peggy says.
Lizzie didn't think that anything could overcome the numbness but she was wrong.
Her worst nightmare in the entire world has just come true. She lost both parts of her heart.
Lizzie crumbles to the ground and clutches her chest over her heart. She begins to sob and then lets out a loud wail.
Peggy doesn't know what to do. She is not the comforting type but she can't help but feel for this women.
Also, Steve loved her and Peggy can't help but care for her because of him.
Peggy sinks to her knees beside her and wraps her arms around Lizzie.
Lizzie freezes because it's been so long since she's been comforted by another human being. She forgot how much she missed physical touch.
Lizzie wraps her arms around Peggy and cries onto her shoulder.
She doesn't even know this woman's name but she allows her to hold her.
Peggy runs her hands up and down her back and tries to soothe her.
Eventually, Lizzie stops sobbing but the girls continue to hold onto each other.
"Did he die quickly?" Lizzie whispers.
"Yes, your brother was with him," Peggy says.
Peggy at least hopes he died quickly. He surely died falling from a height that far but that doesn't necessarily mean he died instantly.
Lizzie separates from Peggy and sits on the floor with her knees to her chest. Peggy sits across from her and leans her back against the couch.
"I bet Stevie blamed himself didn't he?" Lizzie says.
"He did. He thought he failed you," Peggy admits.
"Steve could never fail me. He always did everything for me and Bucky so I know he did all he could to save him," Lizzie admits.
"Your brother was an incredible man," Peggy says sadly.
Lizzie looks at Peggy and can see the grief on her face. She was more than just a colleague of Steve's.
"You loved him," Lizzie says.
It wasn't a question because it is written plainly on her face when she talks about Steve.
"I did," Peggy says.
"Did you tell him?" Lizzie asks.
"I wish I had, but I hope he knew regardless," Peggy admits.
They fall into silence and Lizzie thinks about the last time she saw her brother and how he gushed about a SSR agent.
"Are you Peggy Carter?" Lizzie asks.
Peggy looks surprised that Lizzie would know her name.
"Yes, how did you know?" Peggy asks.
"Steve mentioned you. He was definitely smitten with you," Lizzie says with a small smile.
"He talked about you too. He admired you greatly," Peggy says.
Lizzie takes a moment to think about Steve and Bucky.
"It hasn't sunk in for me yet that they are both gone. They were all I had left in the world and who am I without them? I have Jaime's family I guess, but they aren't really mine. Not like Jaime and Steve were," Lizzie says.
"Can you tell me about them? I really only knew Bucky as Sergeant Barnes. I knew Steve better but I want to know them as you know them," Peggy says.
Peggy came here as a favor to Steve but as she sits there with Lizzie, she realizes that she wants to be there. Lizzie is the only person left that truly loved Steve as Steve and not Captain America.
"Steve was my other half. Our mother used to say that God created a soul with too much heart so he split it into two and made me and Steve," Lizzie says.
"And Barnes?" Peggy says.
"He was my Jaime. We belonged to each other and we loved so deeply. I used to tell him that I didn't know if I believed in soul mates but if I did, he'd be mine. I hated him when I first met him. I thought he was using Steve and was just playing a mean trick but the longer he stuck around, the more I let him in. We fell in love long before either of us acknowledged it but once we got together, we knew it was forever," Lizzie explains.
Peggy wants to know more from this woman that has known these extraordinary men for so long.
"What is your favorite memory of them?" Peggy asks.
Peggy asks Lizzie question after question about Bucky and Steve until the sky goes dark.
"I should go," Peggy says as she looks out the window.
Peggy gets up to leave so she can go over to her hotel.
"Or you could stay? I have a guest room," Lizzie says.
Lizzie doesn't know why but she doesn't want Peggy to leave. She just knows that she doesn't want to be alone.
As Peggy looks into Lizzie's blue eyes, Steve's eyes, she knows she wants to stay.
"Sure, I would appreciate that," Peggy says with a smile.
They both lost men that they loved and they knew in that moment that they need each other.