[outlander psl au]

[womanofvalue]

The ground was saturated with so much rain that Peggy thought she might be washed away, but just because the plains were soaked didn't mean that the drills stopped. The soldiers didn't know it yet, but the landings were going to arrive sooner than anyone wanted and that meant no one can be untrained, lest they end up paying with their lives on those beaches. Today, when the fog rolled in, her superiors informed her that she would be running orienteering with her men, eliciting a sharp 'sir, yes, sir' from Peggy before she took the maps to her own private tent in order to brief the Lieutenants.

Leaning over to study the map, her stubborn engagement ring catches her eye. It had managed to escape from where she had tucked it away, just like all her thoughts about Fred. Their engagement was a terse and stressful thing. When she had announced that she was going into the field with the SSR, he had threatened to leave her. It had been her mother that had convinced Fred to wait Peggy out, insisting that once the war was over, things would change.

As much as Peggy was fond of Fred, she was beginning to see the splinters in their engagement turn to wider cracks, chasms so wide that you could lose sight of the love you once shared and guided you towards that engagement. Carefully, she pushed the ring back, securing it with one of her brassiere straps. Snapping her compass shut, she gave the objective and the orders. "I'll be out in the field to keep an eye on each platoon. The first to reach the objective will not run additional miles," she promised.

"The others will be doing laps around the base, respective to their finishing position." Folding up the map, she handed one to each of her four Lieutenants. "Let them look at it for a few hours, then to the navigator." With a few more orders, she allowed them to prepare as she herself got ready. She tugged on knee-high rain boots, an overcoat, and despite the misty fog in the air, she double-checked that her hair and makeup was in good shape.

Several hours later found Peggy in the thick of drills, listening to the shouts of men in the distance as they worked their way towards her and the objective. Standing there with a brolly, she glanced at her pocketwatch and decided mentally that she would see the first platoon in no more than forty-five minutes. Clasping the watch shut, the echo of it was drowned by another sound -- one that didn't belong. The sound of twigs and branches crunching made Peggy reach for her pistol, simply to be ready.

"Phillips?" she called out, thinking perhaps something had happened and she needed to recall her men. She saw the silhouette of what appeared to be a man in the fog and she found herself inexplicably drawn towards him, mainly because it simply didn't make any sense. "Who's there?" she asked, when it was clear that the man she was seeing didn't bear resemblance to anyone on base. This close, she could see that his hair had a strange look to it, not to mention his clothes. "Has there been an accident?" What could have happened to render the man in such a state?

(Peggy also did not need to allow her conscious thoughts to become aware of how handsome the man was, despite the fact she feared she was already a lost cause, given the way she was filled with a renewed warmth and how her gaze lingered)

They were inside a ring of large stones, which she vaguely recalled the locals warning her about. She had paid little mind, marking them perfunctorily on the map before moving on, but now she had to wonder if the talk of strange rituals wasn't at least a little true. Forty-five minutes. She had forty-five minutes until the men arrived, surely she could deal with this surprise in that time.

Comments

[womanofvalue]

She'd been in the midst of a terrible dream; terrible only in that it's the sort of dream a woman isn't supposed to be having and it's not about Fred. There are big hands working her legs open, sliding all over the pale skin of her body, and Peggy lets out a soft exhalation, hearing the man's voice wash over her, a pleasurable thing as she finds herself between sleep and waking.

"Steve," she sighs out with a tiny moan, curling in a little tighter. It takes her a moment to realize that it's not the man in her dream saying her name, but rather, the actual man. She jolts awake, hair in disarray, and stares at him in shock. "We're here?" she asks, when she composes herself.

[bearstheshield]

"We're here," Steve says softly. "You fell asleep." Peggy is flushed and disheveled and Steve has to put out of his mind just how beautiful she looks right now. She's made it clear she's engaged and this is a mission; he isn't going to keep pushing her when she's made it evident that their relationship is going to be work-based and platonic.

"Do you need a minute to get your bearings?"

[womanofvalue]

Peggy needs a moment to ground herself in reality, truth be told. She's a little dizzy and hazy yet, trying to recall that the man in her dream whispering to her and touching her is the one sitting in the Jeep with her, but that it isn't her fiancé. Embarrassed, she hopes she's not flushed too badly as she works to put her hair in a low knot, clearing her throat.

"Our contact is meeting us here, we'll cross over and continue to make headway. The best way to attack the fortress is at night, with you as my backup. I can't have you going in there with me, it might set off alarms," she says. "Seeing as you hardly look conspicuous, with all those muscles of yours, do you?"

[bearstheshield]

Steve looks down at his chest for a moment before looking back at her. "I didn't think the US Army wanted weaklings out on the front lines so I decided to eat my vegetables. Sorry it's not going to help me blend in."

He's not prone to sarcasm or jokes but something about Peggy Carter makes him a little more playful than usual. Without a team to look out for, he feels a little more reckless.

[womanofvalue]

She cocks a brow upwards, her lips curved up in a somewhat mean smirk because she's terribly amused by the dramatics from him. "Clearly, you didn't stop with the spinach," is her retort, checking herself in the mirror as she applies a new coat of lipstick and tucks away one of the last errant curls before she readies herself for the next leg of the trip. "Leave the keys in the ignition, someone will be along to pick it up," she advises, hauling her bag from the back.

"You'll blend just fine on the boat and the drive, it's the actual fortress itself that will prove worrisome, mainly because if Zola or Schmidt find you, I can't promise they won't want to experiment on you," she says, with an edge of warning in her tone.

[bearstheshield]

"They'd have to get their hands on me first. I can handle myself against more than one man," Steve assures her. His training has meant he's to be a shield for all comers, to take the punishment for everyone else so they can get in and out. He's not going to let the mission fail on his account and he's going to put his body between Peggy's and danger. That's just how it works.

"It'll be a hell of a job for them to pull off."

[womanofvalue]

She smirks as she imagines the picture that could be, Steve running in circles while men chase after him with great determination. She hides that smile with a hand as she walks towards the port, reaching her hand back for him. If they're posing as a couple, they need to be a touch more convincing that they are, right now.

"I don't know," she muses, "I think that if no one's been able to catch you, they're simply not doing it right," she says, assessing him in a minute and deciding she already knows precisely how she would take him down.

[bearstheshield]

Steve snorts a little. "You've never seen me run before," he admits. "Because if you had, you'll understand why nobody can catch me. I'm not someone you can take down easily."

He squeezes her hand lightly. It's for show, in part, but in part it's also for for him. He's starting to get attached to Peggy Carter.

[womanofvalue]

"And you've clearly never been taken out at the knees by someone in the right position," she counters, seeing as she's already imagining how she'd clothesline Steve Rogers, if given the opportunity, and has somehow mentally determined that she will, at some point, get the best of him to prove her point.

She's hardly stubborn at all, she's no idea how that rumour might have gotten started. She presents their paperwork when they reach the counter, chattering away idly about visiting relatives and hoping that the war won't put things off to much, how they've been guaranteed safe passage. They receive odd stares, of course, but they'll divert as far west as they can around the coast in order to avoid most of the issues.

"Good luck," is the response, from a man who clearly thinks them dead before they leave, but Peggy just needs to get past him to the contacts on the boat who know their actual purpose. Steve's hand is still in hers, she realizes, which is odd because she hadn't registered it at all. It had been a steady, silent comfort throughout, as if she's already used to it there.

[bearstheshield]

Their hands fit well together. He fits to Peggy like a glove, in some ways, and it seems they'll work well in concert on this mission in spite of not having much time to prepare or acclimate themselves to one another. He's glad for it. Steve has never been capable of faking intimacy but at least in this instance, none of what he feels has to be faked; he definitely wishes Peggy Carter didn't have a ring on her finger.

"They think we're going to fail. Have you ever failed at anything you've been tasked with by the government?"

[womanofvalue]

"Not once," is Peggy's determined reply, a stubborn edge in her gaze as she stares forward. Perhaps it's a dangerous thing, seeing as she's not prone to listen to reason now that she's been challenged with even the potential for failure, but she doesn't appreciate men implying she's weak and useless.

Besides that, she can't fail this mission. Erskine's formula is far, far too important. "There," she says, waving as she sees the boat. "There's our ride. Grab our things, darling," she adds absently, sharing a quick, mischievous wink before she heads down to the dock.

[bearstheshield]

Steve reaches back and grabs their things, glad that he's spurred Peggy on to thinking she's going to succeed and succeed above and beyond on this mission. She seems more than capable of this and he wishes he had someone like her on his team back home; she'd be more than welcome, even without enhancement.

"Let's show them what we're made of, sweetheart," he says, nuzzling her hair lightly just because he can.

[womanofvalue]

Peggy heads towards the boat after taking a moment to subdue the shiver that jolts through her at the way he'd curled in so close to her and how right it had felt. She tells herself not to let herself drift away into the fantasy she's built to protect herself.

She gives the boat driver a long look that dares him to say anything, grateful when he decides to be smart and keep his mouth shut. She waits for Steve in one of the small cabins, digging through the luggage to start gearing up with the tech that Howard's sent. Cameras and microphones, weapons, and clothing to blend in. Glancing over her shoulder, she beckons Steve inside. "Here," she says, "I think this knife would suit you," she says, holding out the bowie knife and its holster.

[bearstheshield]

"I could manage with just this," Steve agrees. It's a useful tool and one they teach in the Army even in the modern day. It can save your life, a good knife, but he hopes nobody gets close enough for him to have to use it. Knives have a distinct disadvantage over guns - they require close range. He's hoping that he and Peggy won't be found out.

"I'm hoping it won't come to that, though. I want it to be a clean extraction, if we can make it that way."

[womanofvalue]

"Ideally, we're not going to need anything, but I don't want to send you into battle without," Peggy says, sifting through the equipment for the goodnight lipstick that she will use as a last resort, if that's needed. She lifts it up and gives it a mild wiggle. "Once I put this on, do be careful not to get near my lips," she says. "I've never tried it on a man your size, but I don't want to think about what it might do and I'd rather not have to lug your frame around."

Though, she blushes a little as she applies it, grateful for the forced barrier that will prevent her from taking advantage of their cover stories to steal a kiss or two from this man.

[bearstheshield]

Steve laughs a little at the thought of her having to lug him around but he understands the concern; he's not going to go kissing her on the mouth, for sure, and she's engaged besides.

"Well, we're a reserved couple. We're not going to be necking in front of a bunch of Germans. That's improper, right?"

[womanofvalue]

She flushes, touching the back of her neck with her palm to hide the colouring there, because the mental image of what he's just said is a rather difficult one to shake, primarily because she doesn't want to dismiss it out of hand so quickly. Luckily, she recuperates easily enough, going back to outfitting herself with equipment.

"Right," she agrees promptly, slipping on a shade of that lipstick, as if to protect herself. "I'm sure they have notions about how reserved and prissy the English are, anyhow," is her irritated comment. "Though God knows what they think of you Americans."

[bearstheshield]

"That we're destroying decency and everything else," Steve says, rolling his eyes a little. Isn't that what they always claim about America, so brave and bold and willing to be first in the world when everyone else is afraid of taking that step? Sometimes America can be wrong - a lot of times - but America is never afraid to express itself.

"We're destroying families and decent living."

[womanofvalue]

"Well, you are destroying decency, but some profanity has never put me off," she assures, adjusting the holsters she's sliding under the hem of her skirts without becoming improper, keeping a steady eye on Steve the whole while. It's strange to think that a man from the future has tumbled through, which makes her think...

"You could tell me how this all ends, couldn't you?" she tells him. "You could give me tactics and advice on how to win this."

[bearstheshield]

"I could," Steve says, waffling on that a little. "I'm afraid if I do, though, I might mess things up. What if I tell you that everything winds up all right and you get complacent and then it messes things up in the future? I can say than when I come from, we win the war. The Allies win. I can't tell you how we get there, though, because I think I might be messing with fate a little too much."

[womanofvalue]

She wants to know, is the trouble. For all that Peggy might insist that she's patient and willing to wait, she's got someone here that can actually tell her the outcome of the future and somehow, she's meant to be cautious and tentative. It frustrates her, even to know that they'll win the day. "An argument could also be made that you were always meant to come back and tell us how to do certain things," Peggy feels compelled to take the other side.

"How do you know it's not that? After all, what if you're the key to this somehow?" She's ready, now, armed to the teeth (and then some), and now it's just a matter of the boat making its landing.

[bearstheshield]

"It might be. It might be that I was supposed to come here and turn the tide of the war," Steve says, weighing that over and over in his mind.

"I just don't want to be responsible for the Allies losing because I gave you bad information. Before I was a soldier, I was in art school. If it wasn't about watercolors or charcoal or perspective, I probably can't consider myself an expert on it. I only paid as much attention to history to pass the class and move on."

[womanofvalue]

"You think you're awfully important then, do you? One man, all by himself?" It's a touch critical, but then, Peggy doesn't really have it in her to believe that one single person can work to change the war. Information from him, perhaps, but that would mobilise whole armies and do the work that's required.

One man? Well, she's afraid that she can't quite wrap her head around it. "How on earth do you go from being an art student to a solider? Is there another war on?" she asks, because it's about the only reason she might see. "Or is there some other reason for you to shift your gears so wildly?"

[bearstheshield]

"I got recruited. Sometimes it's not about the man who trains for the job and it's the one who shows up," Steve says, shrugging a little. The wheres, whens and hows of how he came to be Captain America aren't something he thinks he can share with Peggy right now. He doesn't want to compromise their mission right now.

"I'm always going to be the one who shows up."

[womanofvalue]

"Well, you showed up right in the middle of my field," is what Peggy says in response to that, given that she's still somewhat wary that this man truly is an echo reverberating back from the future, and yet, what harm is there in believing it? As they draw nearer to the shore, Peggy thinks that they can hopefully load up quickly and transfer, but she dons a heavy coat to look like a pretty civilian wife and not the agent that she is.

"Just tell me that after this war, we don't rush ourselves into another," she pleads, as if that's all that she actually needs to reassure herself, though she probably shouldn't know too much about the future.