Steve's PoV
"It's just a local mission. She'll be alright. She's Peggy Carter, for cryin' out loud. Of course she'll be alright."
Steve paced back and forth, walking up and down the length of Howard's office, playing with his hands as he waited for news.
"Cap, she's only gone a short while. We won't know for another few hours," Howard tried to reassure him, but it didn't do much for the knot in his stomach, the feeling in his gut that something wasn't right.
Steve stopped his pacing, running a hand down his face as he sighed.
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right, Howard," Steve said after a moment as he tried to convince himself that he was right.
"Am I ever not?" He asked with a smirk, before his smile dropped. "Don't answer that."
Steve felt his lips turn upwards slightly, but not enough to change his mood. He walked over to the window, looking down at the lunch time rush on bustling New York street, his forehead creasing as he frowned. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over at Howard, who know stood beside him.
"Cap, you're gonna blow your top if you keep doin' that."
"Doin' what?"
"Worryin'! Thinkin' 'bout all the things that could go wrong. She's Peggy friggin' Carter! Don't tell her I said this and if ya do, I'll put your freedom lovin' ass right back in the ice," he grinned at Steve. "She's the best. Don' worry, my friend. She's got this."
Howard clapped him on the shoulder before walking back to his desk.
"Tell ya what, Cap. You help me get these plans done real quick and I'll cover for ya so you can take a walk an' clear that head of yours. Keep ole Phillips off your back," Howard grinned, but hurried to cover his tracks. "But don't tell him I called him old 'cause-"
"Don't worry, Howard. I won't," Steve promised, grinning at the smaller man's panic. "And thanks."
"Thank god. An' it's no problemo, Cap." Howard took out some pages, a few files and a map and clapped his hands together. "Let's get down to business."
*
Once he had finished helping Howard make some new plans and organise new moves against HYDRA, Steve headed out for walk, hoping the cold air would clear his mind.
As he walked down the street, he shoved his hands deep into his pockets, his breath hanging in the chilling city air. He began doing what he always did when walking; looking for things to sketch. It was almost subconscious, but it helped to takes his mind off this, to take his mind off her.
It wasn't as if he had his sketchbook and was going to draw everything. It was more of an exercise for his brain, something to keep him distracted so that the quiet didn't get the better of him. It helped to keep him calm for short while, to get away from his thoughts and just focus on what was around him. It kept him grounded.
He noticed a few things, like certain buildings, peculiar shapes, the way the light hit something, but it was mostly faces. In the glimpse that he managed to get of people he could almost picture them as a sketch, a grey, shaded version of the one in front of him, the strokes of his pencil coming together to create the angles of a particular face.
As he strolled down the street, he browsed the shop windows, not slowing his pace, but just having a gander here and there.
Just as he passed a jewellery shop he heard a loud crash, followed by a short yelp. Steve, being the man that he is, ran into the shop to make sure everything was okay. His eyes flickered around the room until the fell on an older woman, probably in her sixties or seventies, who was on the floor surrounded by glass.
Steve rushed to her side, bending down beside her.
"Ma'am? Ma'am, are you alright?"
The woman looked up at him, confusion leaving her deep blue eyes as they landed on his face.
"Hmm? Oh yeah, I think so. I'm just a bit clumsy is all," she spoke softly, a smile on her lips as her face lit up.
Steve helped her to her feet and over to a nearby chair.
"Do you mind?" He asked once she had sat down, motioning if he could check her hands for glass.
"Be my guest," she said, her smile not leaving her face.
Steve took her small hands in his, noticing a small cut along the inside of her left palm. On her instruction, he fetched the first aid box from its spot behind the counter. He kneeled down in front of her and opened the box on the floor.
"Do you mind me asking what happened?"
"Not at all. I just slipped and next thing I know I'm sitting in the remains of a vase with you pickin' me up." She paused for a moment. "You know, you remind me o' my husband. He was always cleanin' up after me when I got clumsy."
Steve glanced up to her face from her hand, seeing a beaming smile plaster on her face.
"You kinda look like 'im too. Tall, handsome, a gentleman too. I never did know how I got myself a dreamboat like him."
Steve cleaned her cut and began bandaging it for her, his military training kicking in as he fixed her up.
Once he was finished and satisfied that she had no other injuries he repackaged the first aid box and put it back. He took a step out from behind the counter.
"Sorry, ma'am, but do you have a sweepin' brush or somethin' that I can use to clean up the glass?"
"No. No, son-"
"Ma'am," Steve held up his hands to stop her. "I insist."
Her eyes lit up as she smiled at him.
"Just behind the counter," she replied, pointing him in the right direction.
The Captain grabbed the brush and swept up the glass, picking it up using the dust pan and brush that he also found. When he was finished he walked back to the moment, crouching beside her.
"Are you sure you're okay, ma'am? Is there anything else I can do?"
"Now, son, you needn't call me ma'am. Mabel will do just fine and I'm sure. You've done more than enough," she replied with a toothy smile as she looked down at him.
"Yes ma- Mabel," Steve corrected himself. "Once you're okay, then I don't mind."
"Okay? I'm more than okay. I'm swell! How could I not be just perfect when I have a fine young man like yourself helpin' me out?"
Steve chuckled quietly as he stood up, holding his hand out to Mabel. She took it and he helped her to stand.
"Say...." She looked at him questioningly.
"Steve," the Captain offered.
"Say, Steve. Since you helped me, let me help you with the thing I know most about." A smile tugged at her lips as she spoke. "Does a handsome fella like you have himself a dame?"
Mabel walked around the counters so she could lean it on and face him, her eyes nit leaving his face.
"I-"
"And just so you know, Steve. I'll know if your lyin'. It's a gift," she said with a wink.
Steve grinned at her and leaned his side against the counter just a bit down from her and sighed in defeated.
"I do."
Mabel beamed at him.
"And what is the name of this lucky, lucky lady?"
Steve felt a wide smile form on his face.
"Peggy."
The woman giggled, her blue eyes sparkling as she clapped her hands together and looked at him.
"Mabel?"
She put her hands to her lips, trying to contain her excitement.
"Son, do you know what just happened there?"
Steve shook his head, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.
"No, ma'am."
"Mabel," she corrected. "Steve, when you said her name, boy, you should have seen your face! It was like a kid's at Christmas one Daisy-Lou in 2-14 when Bernie's has a sale!" She walked out from her behind the counter as she spoke. "Your eyes lit up like you'd just won a thousand dollars!" She paused, stopping beside a picture that hung on the wall opposite the counter. "Steve, I'm gonna be honest with you," her eyes flickered to Steve and back to the picture. "I haven't seen that reaction all that much in my twenty-five plus years-" she joked.
Steve chuckled, causing Mabel to smile.
"-but, the last time I did and I knew it was completely genuine was when my husband looked at me the last time I saw him. Tuesday, 24th May 1915. We weren't married that long, not long enough to have kids.... successfully-," she sighed. "-but besides the point. 29th August 1915, I got that dreaded knock on the door. The one everyone in the world feared. The one telling them that their loved one ain't coming h-home." Mabel took a deep breath, a single tear making its way down her face.
Steve wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder.
"You're probably wonderin' why I'm borin' you with this," she went on. "Thing is, Steve, if that's the way you look just sayin' her name, then I have no doubt in my mind that you love her like Fred loved me, if not more. My point is, I had the one for me and I know from just talking to you that you have yours-"
Steve knew she was right. God, he loved Peggy more than he thought possible.
"-but I lost mine. He was snatched from me and I don't want that to happen to you. So don't wait. Who knows what's gonna happen tomorrow. Live now, Steve. Love her with everythin' you've got, get married, have seventy-five kids and just be happy. Be happy, Steve, okay?"
This woman was a genius. She knew nothing about him or his life and yet she knew everything. Both Steve and Peggy worked and lived dangerous lives, never knowing when a goodbye would be their last.
That's it.
He knew now what to do, what he wanted to do, what he needed to do.
Steve pulled Mabel into a gentle hug, afraid of crushing her fragile body in his arms.
"Thank you, Mabel."
"I did nothing, but thank you, Steve."
"You did," he reassured her. "More than you know."
Mabel looked up at him, her beaming smile back, her eyes shining.
"Go get her, son."
Steve gave her a quick waved and headed back to S.H.I.E.L.D., all the way trying to remember where he had put his mother's ring.