womanofvalue | [outlander psl au]

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

bearstheshield

"You should rest," Steve agrees. "Not that you'll need it, after the procedure, but it usually helps to go into it well-rested so you don't feel as panicked. I'm less useful when I'm tired." It's a stupid thing to say and Steve knows it. Everyone is less useful when they're tired. That's a proven fact. Still, it just goes to show how much Peggy Carter affects him that he says stupid things around her all the time.

"I'll see you in the morning?"

From:

womanofvalue

She can feel the way her gaze is lingering on him, longer than she'd like it to. She's not typically a woman prone to such thoughts and weaknesses, and yet, here she is staring at him like a silly schoolgirl with a crush. "Yes, I will," she agrees. "Steve..."

She says it just as he's getting ready to leave. "You will let me keep that drawing, won't you? I'd like to have something for when you go back to your future," she can't help but tease mildly, trying to keep the heartache from her voice. Better to think about the benefits of what his presence here is doing.

From:

bearstheshield

“I was intending to give it to you,” Steve says. He can do another one later from memory for his own purposes but this one, he’s happy to give Peggy. It pleases him she wants something to remember him by.

“You know, we don’t know if I can even go back. I might be here for the duration and you’re just stuck with me.”

From:

womanofvalue

She doesn't need to tell him to stop saying such things, because honestly, if he does, she's going to find herself wanting them to come true when they can't. "Maybe," she says, instead, not daring to let herself get her hopes up.

"I'll see you in the morning, bright and early," she says, offering him a last smile as they stand by the door, terribly hopeful that she will see him and he'll be there for her procedure.

From:

bearstheshield

Steve barely sleeps. He usually has no trouble getting his eight hours but he's nervous for Peggy and he has trouble falling asleep, trouble staying asleep. He gives up after a while and goes for a long run at dawn, just coming back when the sun is peeking up over the horizon. By the time he showers and shaves, it's time for breakfast, and he thinks it's an acceptable enough time to go find Peggy and see if she wants a pep talk before pulling the trigger.

"Peggy?" he asks, right outside her quarters. "Hey, it's Steve. Do you mind if I come in?"

From:

womanofvalue

Unsurprisingly, Peggy's had quite the sleepless night.

At first, she'd thought that she'd manage to will herself into stubborn sleep, but all that stubbornness had fallen in the face of her nerves. Instead, she'd sat up thinking about the undertaking and even that had paled against other thoughts. She'd thought about Fred and how he'd left her, she thought about Steve.

By the time Steve comes to her door, she's managed to make it into her combat fatigues, her hair twisted into a low knot. Opening the door, she's sure that Steve will see her exhaustion. "Is it already time?" she asks, having thought perhaps she had at least another hour or two.

From:

bearstheshield

"Not quite. I was going to get breakfast but I wanted to see you first," Steve says. She looks like she's barely slept and while she isn't the one actually delivering serum today and is just the test subject, Steve is still worried. It's a hard process and he doesn't want Peggy to come through it badly. He wants her to come through just as well as he had.

"Are you all right? You look like you didn't sleep at all."

From:

womanofvalue

"Spot on observation," is her wry reply, seeing as sleep had been the last thing that had been on her mind. She's not utterly pleased with the fact that Steve can see it so clearly, but it is the truth of the matter. Rubbing at her eyes, she heads back inside in order to settle back on the bed.

"I couldn't stop myself from going down a spiral of my own thoughts, unfortunately," she admits, trying her best to hold back a yawn, but failing.

From:

bearstheshield

“Well, you’re going to do just fine,” Steve says, trying to encourage her as best he can. It’s frightening to know you’re going to do this and he’s been through it before; Peggy has no idea what to expect.

“Nothing is going to happen but just in case, did you have any letters put away or things you wanted to delivered to anyone? I’ll handle it for you.”

From:

womanofvalue

"Fred beat me to the punch when it came to ending things," is Peggy's wry comment, finding it terrible to realize that she really has no one left. Michael is gone, her parents have basically disavowed her for joining the military and whatever friends she had, well, she's lost touch with them that a letter would be more surprising than not.

"Unless you were hoping for something," she notes, "seeing as you're probably the only friend I've made in a year."

From:

bearstheshield

"Well, I think everything will turn out fine," Steve says. Even if he has his doubts, he's not going to express them to Peggy. He doesn't want to add to any anxieties she's currently already feeling. He gives her a smile that's a little bit bashful.

"Anything I want to say, I can say directly, but if you want to write me a letter, I'd keep it. Not too many people still write letters in my time. I think it's a lost art."

From:

womanofvalue

"Perhaps while I'm waiting for Erskine to set everything up, I'll write you something," she says, staring at him with a relieved look, because she honestly doesn't know how, but even being here with him has made her feel calmer and more herself.

"Steve, I..." She opens her mouth, then closes it. "We should get going before I say something utterly ridiculous," she settles on, because there's no point making a fool of yourself when you might be about to walk to certain doom.

From:

bearstheshield

“I’m pretty sure there’s nothing you could say that would be ridiculous at this juncture,” Steve counters. He reaches out and touches Peggy’s shoulder, squeezes it once.

“I’m here, no matter what. Do you believe me?”

From:

womanofvalue

There is one thing that she's spent the night thinking about and that's something she won't do when she's surrounded by soldiers and scientists. When he reaches out for her shoulder, it's the perfect opportunity, which is why she steps into the circle of his personal space, staring up at him with a steely-eyed, sharp look.

"I do, I believe you," she agrees, which should be a wild mistake on her part, but she trusts this man.

More than that, some part of her wants more of him, which is why she rises on her toes and leans in to kiss him, on the heels of this promise that he'll be here for her.

From:

bearstheshield

Steve isn't expecting the kiss and it takes him a few moments to respond in kind, to cup her face in his hands and kiss her a little more fully and a little deeper; he doesn't know if she's going to come through this or not but he's never had a connection with anyone the way he does with Peggy and he wonders if that'd been the purpose of him being sent here.

It's a tender kiss but it's full of longing and uncertainty too. He doesn't know what's going to happen but he does know he wants a chance to do this again.

From:

womanofvalue

He doesn't push her away. For some strange reason, Peggy had half-thought that he would gently take her by the shoulders and ease her off of him, but he doesn't, which leaves her filled with a fire that she uses to push herself to the tips of her toes, hands on his sturdy torso as she presses flush against him.

Swallowing, she eases back, staring at him with wide eyes. "We don't have that much time," she says, which is a statement of fact, but also half of a dare, asking Steve what he intends to do.

From:

bearstheshield

"We don't. I don't want to have any regrets, though." Steve has had a lot of regrets over the years. He always errs on the side of being too cautious, too careful, too slow. Right now, though, his breath is coming in a rush and all he wants to do is kiss Peggy again and again. He eases his hands down to the small of her back and keeps her close to him while he leans in to kiss her yet again.

From:

womanofvalue

Peggy is half breathless, if she's honest, not sure what else to do but continue to touch him, wanting to take this man apart considering how tempting he's been since the first moment that she laid eyes on that ridiculous mountain of a man. "Are you telling me that you'll regret this?" she challenges, already stepping back to begin to undo her nightgown, raising a brow.

She's giving him very little time to back out, but she is giving him the chance.

From:

bearstheshield

"I'll regret I only got to do it once," Steve says, laughing softly. He's a little embarrassed that it could have been interpreted any other way and his fingers draw down to catch the hem of his t-shirt, dragging it up and over his head.

"So you have to promise me everything comes out all right so I can do it again. Promise?"

From:

womanofvalue

Her gaze of hungry interest is clear in the way she looks like she wants to devour him, her eyes fixed on that chest of his. "I promise to do everything in my power to come out of the procedure alive and fine," she vows, leaning back and gesturing for him with a finger.

"Come along then, soldier," she encourages, "we've got limited time here, and you've got some nerves to calm."

From:

bearstheshield

"Yes ma'am. Never let it be said I was insubordinate," Steve says, closing the distance between them and kissing her again. This time, though, he doesn't hold anything back and he tilts his head as he captures her mouth with his, the kiss long and searching. Maybe they don't have all the time in the world but he's not planning to rush this. Not when it might be the only time they get a chance together.

From:

womanofvalue

Peggy lets him kiss her harder, shifting until she's lying flat on the bed with him atop her, sprawled and comfortable, though she's keenly aware of the time press. Easing kisses over his neck, she eases back, a somewhat wary look on her face.

"This won't complicate the procedure, will it?" she asks warily, because he's already had the serum, and she has to wonder if it's bound to impact her in any way.

From:

bearstheshield

"I can't imagine it would. I didn't sleep with anyone prior to having mine done," Steve admits. "But I don't think it's going to affect anything."

He's not a scientist but sex is a perfectly normal thing. Why would that affect anything? He slides a hand down to cup her breast. "Let's not think about that right now."

From:

womanofvalue

She can feel her heart beating wildly, but even as they're almost ready, she feels compelled to be honest about one last thing. "I'm not a virgin, but I've hardly got much experience," she warns him, even as she arches her back into his touch. "Are you going to be able to take the lead?"

It's not something she'd readily suggest to just anything, but going on a mission with Steve has proven to her that they work well together, and they can do this.

From:

bearstheshield

"I don't mind taking the lead. I've been following you since I've been here," Steve says, fingers gently brushing against her breast as he speaks. He wants her to have the memory of his touch, the reminder of it even while he's thinking and taking his time with his words.

"I think it's about time I took over. Don't you?"