[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

[bearstheshield]

Steve isn't someone to rush these things but she has a point about not being late for Erskine. Against his better judgment, he rolls his hips and slides into her, mouth meeting hers in a desperate kiss. He hopes it isn't the only time he's with Peggy Carter but if it is, he has to try and get as much as he can before they're torn away from one another.

She feels so good and he doesn't think it's solely because it's been so long for him. He thinks it's more because of who she is and while they haven't known one another for a long time, the time has been meaningful. "Let's make it fast, then."

[womanofvalue]

When he moves into her, Peggy gasps, suddenly and with surprise. It's been such a long time since Fred, but he never made her feel this alive. Reaching back for the headboard, she grips on tight, eyes a bit glazed over as she stares at him.

"Memorable," she challenges, thinking that's a far better word, and given the glimmer of joy in her eye, she hopes Steve can tell she's only teasing warmly.

[bearstheshield]

“Not going to forget it,” Steve assures her. He lifts his hands to cup her breasts as he moves in her, eyes drifting shut. She feels so amazing and even though it hasn’t been that long he feels so intensely for her that he can’t stand it.

“I need you, Peggy. I need this.”

[womanofvalue]

She should feel guilty or awful about this, but she can't. It's better than anything she's felt before and she catches herself staring at Steve dangerously, a feeling that can't be love, but might be on its way blossoming in her chest, making her feel like she should step down on it to prevent it getting worse.

And yet, she can't.

"Steve," she exhales, arching her back to push her breasts into his hands, wanting him to grip her harder. "Kiss me," she orders.

[bearstheshield]

Steve kisses her but it isn’t the gentle, tender kisses from before. This kiss is harsh, stealing purchase and forcing to yield and he is desperate enough that his hips stutter in an awkward rhythm as he does. He’s entirely too needy for her, too in love with her, and it’s going to be the end of him.

“Gonna be right here when you get back,” he swears, breathless. He fills her to the hilt and withdraws again, slow. “Just you and me.”

[womanofvalue]

Peggy reaches to cup his neck, her nails long enough to scratch and scar him, score him like she's intending to leave a mark on Steve that he's never going to forget. Hips rocking up to try and coax him deeper, she knows that he's saying things to make her pleased, but it's working.

"We can find a proper place," she insists, breath hitching. "Somewhere with thicker...w-walls!"

[bearstheshield]

"Somewhere with actual walls," Steve scoffs, thumb brushing over Peggy's clit as he rocks up into her again and again, starting to lose control. She's one of the most beautiful women he's ever been with, yes, but it's deeper than that. It's more than that. It's about a connection that seems destined even though they should never have met.

He can't lose her.

That thought sears through his brain as everything goes white hot and he arches back up into her one last time, trying desperately to get her to finish with him.

"Peggy, please!"

[womanofvalue]

She brushes her nose against his cheek as she presses her lips to his cheek, feeling the shiver of disbelief that this is happening, that she's doing this, that she's about to go in for Erskine's procedure and while her entire life might be about to change, she's managed to find herself an anchor, somehow.

"Steve," she gasps, that desperation in his voice surprising her in how it shuffles her to the edge. Where she hadn't been sure she was close, now she's utterly convinced. Coming with the push of Steve into her, she lets out a sharp hitch of pleasure, the moan half-gasped as she squeezes around him.

[bearstheshield]

There is nothing that feels quite so good as a woman losing herself around him and when it’s someone he cares about, like Peggy, that good feeling is only magnified. He falls back to the bed exhausted and looks up at her, hand reaching out to cup her face.

“You’re going to be fine. I’m going to see you on the other side of this and we will have as much time as we possibly can together.”

[womanofvalue]

Peggy's soft noises are finally abating, but Steve's words are enough to keep her feeling safe and wanted. She curls into the touch of his hand, sliding lower so that she can fit herself right beside him. With a check of the clock, she notes that there's only fifteen minutes before she has to be at the procedure and while she's not so stressed, she's still scared.

"Promise?" she asks, her voice soft. She knows Steve can't control it, but she's still going to ask it of him, because she wants to know that things will be fine.

[bearstheshield]

"Promise. Nothing is going to keep me from you, all right? No matter what happens, I'm going to be on the other side of this with you and I'm going to be one of the first people you see," Steve says.

He kisses her temple, strokes his fingers down her skin. "I wouldn't be anywhere else."

[womanofvalue]

She believes him, which ought to scare her more than it does, but she does. She believes that Steve is going to be at her side and it's the first time she doesn't think about the future that might be waiting for him. Peggy groans as she realizes that while she wants so much to stay and enjoy this, Erskine will have her head if she's late.

"Get dressed, darling," she coaxes. "Before I lose out on my chance to do this at all, which would be a shame, seeing as my nerves over the procedure are largely why this happened."

[bearstheshield]

"Yeah, I don't want the good doctor to blame me for you not showing up," Steve says. Reluctantly, he pushes himself up out of the bed and starts looking around for his clothes. Years in the military have made him efficient, sure, but he doesn't really want to go.

"I can drive the getaway car if you want, though."

[womanofvalue]

Peggy laughs as she sits up in bed, trying to tame her hair. She's not wearing Fred's ring on a chain anymore, which is a difference she's still getting used to, but it's far from her mind as she watches Steve's admirable body as he moves around the room. "Perhaps after, we can escape for a few days."

"Depending on my condition, of course," she allows. "I suspect once I'm through the experiment, I'll be undergoing more tests than I can bear."

[bearstheshield]

"They're going to want to poke and prod you until you get fed up with it and then they'll push you past fed up," Steve says, speaking of his own experience. They'd wanted to know just how good he was at everything since they'd invested so much in the serum and in him.

"But I think we can persuade them into letting you have a weekend off."

[womanofvalue]

She thinks of a weekend off with Steve, a luxury that she certainly hasn't had since the war started and it surprises her how vehemently she wants it, now that it's been suggested. Pulling on the last of her clothes, she wishes she could secretly wear something of Steve's as she goes into the procedure, but his presence will have to do.

Leaning in for one last kiss, she tells herself that it will all be fine. After all, he'd promised, hadn't he? Once she leaves the room, it's all business for her. She forgets about what she'd done that morning and instead focuses on the procedure at hand.

They take her blood, they ask if she's eaten anything, they mark her up. It goes on forever, it feels like, but inevitably, she's guided to a room where she changes into a shift and is guided to a capsule that looks like she's going to be an exhibit on display. With one last look at Steve, she mouths 'Promise?' one last time to him before Erskine helps to guide her inside and she decides not to think about anything but the job.

It's the last thing that she thinks for some time, it turns out, but in that brief moment, Peggy has no idea what's to come.