womanofvalue

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Dutch

Peggy feels as if she's floating on a cloud and has been since her birthday. She had worried all day, but the date with Daniel had gone better than expected. She still has lingering fears about how they move forward, but she's too pleased to think about them now, tucking them away carefully. Today, she sets out for the day with an addition to her wardrobe in the form of the pin that Daniel had bought her for her birthday, securing it on her blouse before drawing a shawl over her shoulders to head out.

When she sets out, it's with a particular destination in mind, having texted Dutch to meet her at a coffeeshop near to her place, not wanting to make the other woman go out of her way for Peggy. It's silly, but she very much wants to tell someone about her success, but also to ask what happens from here. It may be terrible, but Peggy's engagement hadn't been very modern, so she needs a little modern advice.

Who better to turn to than someone from an even more modern time than this? Ordering her tea, she settles herself at a table near the window to keep an eye out for Dutch.

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Even now, days after the whole situation, Dutch still finds herself keeping an eye out for those vicious furry creatures that had run wild a few days back. They hadn't done much damage but they had ruined a good pair of pants and that was enough to sour her.

The city seems to be clear of them so Dutch lets her guard drop a bit as she steps into the coffee shop and looks around. Spotting Peggy, she gives a wave and orders a coffee before coming over and slipping into the seat across from her.

"Hello there. You look relaxed."

"I am," she replies, feeling utterly relaxed and almost ashamed to admit it. She knows that things have been tense for others, but not for her. For her, they've been wonderful and she finds herself smiling in a pleased daze, thinking that hardly anything could spoil her mood, now. "I had the most wonderful evening," she says.

"I thought I would invite you to coffee, as a thank you," she says.

"Ooooh, is this about the handsome gentleman you were hoping to have a night out with?" Dutch asks, eyes lighting up with interest.

"There's no need to thank me. The fact that you seem to have enjoyed yourself is thanks enough. Will there be more wonderful evenings?"

Peggy blushes slightly, only because this isn't the sort of thing that she feels comfortable talking about. Her romantic life has been particularly absent of late, which is why a single date is such a big deal for her. "I hope to have more wonderful evenings," she agrees. "I do need to thank you, though," she insists.

"You're the one who pushed me to ask him out to dinner. I know things are still early days, but I'd like to hope things will continue to get better."

"This is the rare time any advice I give works out well," Dutch jokes, laughing. "And I'm glad it did. He would have been silly to refuse an invitation like that from you so I'm glad to hear he's not a ridiculous man."

There were, after all, many idiots in the male species out there. Dutch is glad Peggy seems to have someone good.

"So, when did all this happen?"

"I may not have been quite outwardly blunt about what he was attending for," Peggy admits, which is why she'd been extremely happy when he did arrive, seeing as she hadn't had the guarantee of it. "It was my birthday," she says. "The 9th of April," she says, which she had been keeping quiet from most everyone else because she didn't want to make a fuss about it.

Besides, the progress with Daniel had been enough to give her a gift as she grew older.

"Oh, happy birthday!" Dutch says, eyes lighting up. "And kudos to you for using all the things at your disposal to make sure he attended. I would have done the same thing if I saw something I wanted. The only way to know if the sentiment's returned is to ask, isn't it? And you did and it seems to have gone well."

She raises her mug and nods. "I do admire a woman who goes after what she wants with all the weapons, forgive the word but I can't think of a better one, she has at her disposal."

Peggy feels rather proud of herself, even though she's sure she ought to act far more modest. "It took a little convincing," she does have to admit, which isn't what she might tell anyone else, but the truth is that she had needed to talk him around. "He was worried about the time between us, but as I pointed out, the man he is didn't change in that time," she notes.

"I'm very happy, though," she agrees, "and all thanks to one simple dinner. You're quite clever with your advice. Though, I do feel I owe you, now."

"You don't owe me," Dutch says, waving that away with a shake of her head. "The fact that advice I gave actually worked is enough for me. It's rare that that happens. I tend to give advice that blows up in people's faces. Johnny could tell you if he were here."

Johnny would gladly share all the embarrassing things he knew about her because she would do the exact same thing to him.

"Besides, we're having a drink now," she points out. "You got me out of my apartment when I was feeling particularly lazy."

"No, but I would still like to thank you," Peggy admits, agreeing that this isn't the sort of thing to amass favours over, yet at the same time, she doesn't want to ignore it. "You're one of the few true friends that I have here," she admits, seeing as she doesn't want to let that go by without calling attention to it. "How does your advice blow up?" she can't help but wonder.

"It can't be that bad, can it?"

"I guess it depends on the type of advice I'm giving," she says thoughtfully. "If you ask me how to best incapacitate a man, my advice will be excellent. It's something I know quite a lot about, after all."

Khylen had made sure of that. His way of incapacitating someone had been to kill them but she's revised that to simply taking out a knee or knocking them the hell out. It might not be much difference but it helps her sleep better at night.

"But, relationship advice or things that I haven't really done well with myself?" She shrugs. "My last relationship before this place ended very, very badly. In that he tried to kill me."

Dutch realizes that that might be the first time she's said that out loud to someone in Darrow. The only person who'd known back home besides D'av had been Johnny. It doesn't hurt to say it but it does turn her stomach a bit.

"I've never needed help in incapacitating something," Peggy lies, because she certainly has needed an extra hand here or there, but the ideas had always been right there for her. "Why did he do that?" she asks, instead, choosing not to focus on bragging about her own capability, not when Dutch had brought up something so serious.

"Was he under some form of control? Was something wrong?" she asks, calmly, because if he had done it with full awareness, then Peggy's got a name on her list that won't be allowed to live, if they arrive here.

"He wasn't himself," Dutch says with a shake of her head. "There was some sort of...programming that was switched. I don't really know the details because I refused to hear them. I --"

She trails off and taps a nail against the mug, sighing. "Despite the fact that it wasn't his fault, I couldn't get past it. I couldn't be with him because I didn't trust him. Perhaps that's unfair but we've managed to be friends. I can't do more with him. Not anymore."

Daniel had attacked her, indirectly, under the influence of Midnight Oil, but she hadn't held it against him. Peggy has to wonder, though, whether he had come after her directly if she would feel the same. Lucky for her, then, that she doesn't have to think about that, just yet. "Did you try talking to someone about it? I'm glad it sounds like you were friends, but if you did love him, maybe there was a way back to that?"

Dutch shakes her head in answer to both question. "I don't think I loved him. I haven't loved anyone in a long, long time."

Matthias, she knows, she might love but she also knows there's a lot of things holding her back, keeping her from fully opening herself up to that.

"It's been too long to try and get back to that," she says with a sigh. "We're better off as friends. His brother is my best friend and it just made the ship a bit awkward. This way's better."

Peggy understands that, though she doesn't feel as if she's in a position to agree with that any longer. After all, now, she has Daniel and she can begin to open her heart again. The sad, unloved future that had been sprawling out in front of her no longer exists.

"I'm sorry it didn't work out," she says, genuinely. "Perhaps, though, it means that someone else is right for you? Or no one at all, perhaps it's a different path all together that's waiting for you."

"Oh, it's fine. It's completely fine," she says, waving a hand and smiling brightly. "That's enough talk about my depressing past, though. This is a meeting of celebration. I shouldn't have brought my morbid past relationship up to bring it down. How awful of me. I'm usually better than that."

She laughs and takes another sip of her coffee before sitting back. "My relationships now are quite fine, I assure you. Perhaps not as new as yours but still good."

"Very new," Peggy agrees with a hum, because it's the sort of new that she very much likes, but also knows that she has to be careful. "I haven't been at the start of a relationship for some time, I don't even know what pace to take things at," she admits. "Not to mention, Daniel and I are both from the 40's, it's a bit different when it comes to social standards."

Not that she minds, seeing as Peggy likes to think of herself as a progressive woman, but she doubts Daniel would be so quick to agree that he's willing to move a little faster.

"Oh that's right, sometimes I forget about that," Dutch admits with a nod. Dutch supposes that since she's not actually from this planet she doesn't see as much difference in how Peggy handles herself as she would if she were actually from here.

"I guess that means you can't just jump into bed for a good roll, can you?" Dutch asks, a clear note of teasing in her voice. "Too bad, it's quite fun."

Peggy is a touch flustered at the implication because while she's hardly a blushing virgin, it's also been some time since she had any sort of roll in the hay. "I'm afraid it's been roughly seven years since my last roll," she clarifies, struggling to get out the words, though if she feels comfortable around anyone, it's Dutch.

"Things with the last man before Daniel never really got there, no matter how much it was wanted on both sides. The war was a complicated time," Peggy says.

"Seven years," Dutch says, eyes widening. Her surprise doesn't last long because she forces it away but trying to think of going seven years without sex makes her want to die. She knows there are plenty of people who do so and are just fine but she's never been one of those people.

"That's quite the dry spell," Dutch says after a moment. "Is that...something you want? Not right away, not if you'd rather wait but can you see it getting there with this man?"

"If it were up to me, we would already be there," she admits, feeling like she can be frank with Dutch. It's not that she'd wanted to wait seven years, but after breaking off the engagement with Fred, she hadn't thought it right to move on, then she'd met Steve and he'd held her heart until Daniel had found a path in.

It hadn't left much time for casual dalliances. "There are other issues at play, I fear," she admits. "I think he sees himself as being in the shadow of my last beau, which I've tried to dismiss as untrue. Still, I believe it's something he fears."

"Ah. Well, if it helps, you are doing one better than me in that he knows about your last relationship. The man I'm currently seeing here does...not."

She hadn't told anyone about D'av and how that had gone until today. It's one of the many things she's keeping from him and she realizes how bad that will be when she finally does tell him. She hopes Matthias won't hold it against her too terribly but she knows she deserves it if he does.

"I don't really talk about my past with him," she sighs, shaking his head. "Anyway. I have no good advice on how to convince him that he's not in anyone's shadow either. That's difficult. I can only hope that spending time together will make him realize you're seeing him and only him?"

Peggy raises her brow, sipping at her tea. "Why not?" she asks, mostly because she doesn't really think that she had a choice in telling Daniel about Steve, mainly because so much of it was on SSR record, including her liaison time with him and all the stories that came with it as a result.

"Yes, of course, that's my hope." It's not her place to talk about his leg, but it's in Peggy's mind, unbidden, seeing as it's something that often lingers in her worry that Daniel thinks himself as something less when she doesn't care a whit.

At that question, Dutch has no good answer. She shrugs and says, "I don't know. I guess that I got so used to keeping things to myself for other people's safety that it's second nature now."

Though Matthias is strong and skilled, she knows Khylen, she knows what kind of man he is and though he's not here, she worries. She can't stop worrying that he might show up.

"You could always talk to him about it, just tell him what you want and see what he says in return. I don't know how much you want to have a frank talk about sex but it could work."

"I should make you a deal," Peggy says, with the keen eye of a woman who's ready to negotiate not only to preserve herself for a moment or two, but to hopefully help Dutch along. "I'll talk to Daniel about what I want physically if you talk to your bloke about your past," she says. "If it's important for me to open and honest, I think you ought to have to live by some similar rules."

"Or neither of us can ever say anything, which I could live with, as well," she admits. "Let things happen naturally and such?"

Dutch's eyes widen at that, not having expected Peggy to be as sly and tricky as she's just been. Dutch almost admires it because it's caught her off guard and so few things do that to her these days.

"For some reason, I think your conversation with Daniel will be easier than mine," Dutch says with a dry laugh. "I would like to amend this deal, though, before I accept. I can't tell him everything. There are things that have happened to me that I would rather not share with anyone. But, I will tell him most of it. Still good?"

"I think just a shade, yes," Peggy admits, though she has her suspicions that it won't go as calmly and easily as she'd like to believe. After all, there's the hurdle of his leg to jump over, which is something she's more than willing to vault, but she understands how it can be difficult for him.

She narrows her eyes, as if she needs to debate these new terms. "Yes, fine. Shall we shake on it?"

"Sure," Dutch says, sitting up and offering her hand across the table to Peggy. "Here's to your very honest discussion about a roll in the hay and my..."

She trails off and sighs though it's exaggerated and light. "My past finally coming to light. Next time we meet, hopefully you'll be quite exhausted and I'll be lighter a little less baggage."

Peggy shakes Dutch's hand firmly as she can, thinking that her conversation might be more awkward, but now that she's made the guarantee, she has to go through with it. With luck, it will turn out for the best. "Even if I don't manage to talk him around, I might have to go and take matters into my own hands," is her sharp, wry remark.

"I've avoided such things, but then again, seven years..."

"Well, taking matters into your hand is something I wholeheartedly support," she says with a smirk. "In fact, it's sometimes more fun that way. I do enjoy the look on the face of the person you're with when they don't know what's happening and then, once they do, watching their face change. It's quite the thing."

She's done that to Matthias a time or two and he's always adorably flustered at first and then completely pleased with the world. She loves that look.

"If that's the case, I might need to go shopping," she says evenly, though she knows she's likely going to have to do that regardless. Back home, Peggy had a full drawer of things that a future boyfriend or husband was going to enjoy. Here, she hadn't seen the point, but now that she has Daniel, she might need to make a trip.

"I might require your help in that department. For both scenarios," she clarifies.

"That can be arranged," Dutch promises with a nod. "Whenever you might need a helping hand with shopping or other matters of the heart, I..."

She trails off and snickers, shaking her head. "I might not be an expert but I will most definitely do my best to help you out. After all, no ready and willing woman needs to wait seven years to get laid. We'll make that happen. I promise."

"In that case, perhaps we ought to make an appointment to go shopping," Peggy says, feeling a touch risqué and daring to even say it out loud, but perhaps she can treat herself this once. "It's not a bad idea for a woman to have that sort of thing in her arsenal, is it?"

"I do appreciate it," she adds, more sincerely, "all of it. The advice, the company, and the friendship a great deal."

"Now, that's something I haven't had the chance to do in quite a while," Dutch says, looking interested. "I didn't exactly have the time back home and it's not like Johnny or D'av would have wanted to go with me. They would have bitched the whole time."

She supposes she could have taken Pawter but she still doesn't entirely trust that woman and spending precious leisure time with her hadn't even been on her radar.

"But, you're welcome," she says with a nod. "Whatever I can do to help, I will."

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