2053/A Peggy, a Puppy, and a Soldier

A Peggy, a Puppy, and a Soldier
Date of Scene:	11 June 2020
Location:	The Triskelion: Courtyard
Synopsis:	Peggy brings Bucky one of his favoured beverages and they have a relaxing night in the grass of the courtyard. The first of many evenings soon to be tradition between them. Lili, of course, is spoiled with love, as is her due.
Cast of Characters:	James Barnes, Peggy Carter

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James Barnes has posed:
So, Buck's status here is weird and ambiguous. He's not a prisoner. He's not a patient. He's not a fully cleared agent. He's sort of one of Fury's little projects. He lives here, in one of the suites in the residential wing, and he does go on missions. Occasionally he ventures down into the city proper to visit Steve and go to the library, but mostly, he's here.

The dog gets him out a lot, though. At the moment, they're strolling along the landscaped paths, Lili off-leash and off-duty. She's ranging back and forth, sniffing all the things, as Buck looks on in amusement. He's in old fatigue pants, a gray t-shirt, and a black compression sleeve and glove over the metal hand. Looking about as contented as he ever gets, some of the tension lines in his face eased.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Having spyed him in the courtyard, and feeling a touch guilty for not having come around to visit more often, Peggy went off on a mission. It wasn't a hard mission, this canteen certainly not on rations, but getting the too-sweet, too-cold coffee that he used to slam together or she'd bribe him with back in the day, when she really needed him AWAKE and on her side, it was a weird tradition. They had a lot more options now, most of them premixed, but after getting recommendations on a certain 'frappacino', Peggy makes her way back outside, relaxing a bit to still see him there.

She's in a sundress that would be as appropriate in the 1940s as right now, a vintage plaid pattern and short capped sleeves, instead of the low plunging, spaghetti strap numbers that many girls would be wearing this summer. Her bright yellow high heels, matching a stripe in the plaid, click lightly against the concrete walk as she approaches his side. She's still looking a little frail, not having filled back out or quite regained her old muscle, but she's not using a cane today and that's a good step. "...I stole this from the canteen for you. That is to say, they gave it to me perfectly freely and recommended this instead of mixing up half a cup of sugar and old coffee over ice."

James Barnes has posed:
Lili looks up from her investigation of a fallen pine cone and wags her tail. Buck looks over with raised brows, and grins that crooked grin. "Hey, Peggy," he says. "You look good. I like your dress." He would, their tastes were shaped in the same era, but there's definitely approval in the pale eyes. Only then does his gaze fall to the drink. "Ooh, hey," he says. "Thanks. I gotta admit, I'm a sucker for all the crazy things they do to coffee now. They're more like ice cream desserts than the tank fuel we used'a drink, y'know?" He comes over, accepts it with gratitude and a little inclination of his head.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Once the drink is passed off, Peggy sinks to one knee and opens her hands up for Lili to sniff, or lick, coming down to the dog's level as to not be scary as a new person, but clearly happy to greet the sweet girl. Her skirt pools out around her as she knees, still with all the grace of a woman who had to fight a war in heels, a skirt, and make it look good. A few weeks in a bed wasn't going to change that about her. As he comments on her dress, though, there is a slight heat that rises to her cheeks. It's been a long time since someone just looked at her like a woman. "...Thanks. It's been... a blessing that apparently this modern era has a bit of an obsession with things 'vintage' or 'mod' as they call them. I've got a better selection of 40s wear now than I did in the 40s and 50s." She admits with a little laugh, but clearly feels more comfortable in her own skin in a dress like this. "...And yes. The woman in the cafe` did warn me as such and I figured you'd love it. I'm glad to see I was right."

James Barnes has posed:
"I ....I feel like the clothes we used to wear were more flattering. Like it was easier to look good in them. This modern stuff....it's too tight, it doesn't leave enough to the imagination. I don't really like it," he confesses, sounding a little sheepish. "I've got a few suits and they're kind of a compromise between how they're cut now and how they used to be. I mean, things are a lot more comfortable...."

James takes a sip of the drink, sighs contentedly. "Thanks. This is a good thing for a summer night, and I didn't have dessert." Then he gives her a more thorough looking-over. "You look good. You're clearly getting your health back in leaps and bounds."

Peggy Carter has posed:
If Lili comes over, Peggy happily gives her some deep, loving scratches into her scruff and under her chin, just petting the dog warmly and the action alone lets her slender shoulders drop a few inches in releasing tension. Lili was good for that. "They absolutely were. When they finally let me out, I didn't even bother with the more... modern styles they showed me. It's not as bad as the shoulder pads and... well, what I did to my hair in the cold war, but... This is infinitely better." The 80s were, by far, the worst fashion disaster for SHIELD and the rest of the world. She clearly feels more comfortable in her skin here.

"...I'm... getting there. It's still taking too long. I just want to be out in the field and, by the end of the day, I'm lucky to get back to bed without help. It's...a process, I know. And the physical therapist is quite good. But... it's... Frustrating." She doesn't quite meet his eyes as she says that. She doesn't need him to see the shame.

James Barnes has posed:
Lili is her usual astute self, and comes over to be petted....leaning into the scratching with an expression of canine bliss. Buck grins, approvingly.

He's gazing at Peggy herself, though. "It's hard," he says, quietly. "I know. I....heal a lot faster than other people, after what Zola did to me, but I still get hurt. And accepting medical care is.....it's hard. Because..." His speech has gone halting, but he forces himself to keep going, "Mostly those situations remind me of experimentation."

Peggy Carter has posed:
That comment is enough to draw her eyes up, because while she can't fully understand, she does get it. The discomfort of it all. Though there is a line of concern across her gaze. Slowly, limbs still growing tired far quicker, she sinks back into sitting on the grass instead of perching on haunches. She pats the grass next to her for him to join which, really, would be an ideal place for Lili. She could lean against both of them.

"I...can't even imagine. If I knew enough, I'd offer to be your personal nurse but, hell, Buck...If we're out there and you go down, I still know my field training. It'll be Steve or I. You won't have a stranger there, you know. I promise that."

James Barnes has posed:
She's one of the few he's willing to confide anything to at all. He doesn't look away, though his jaw is tight, and it takes him a moment to revive the smile. But then he ambles over and settles down beside her, positioned so Lili can tend to them both if she wants to.

"Nice as you'd look in an old-school nurse's uniform," he says, dryly, "I'm glad to hear it. I'm usually okay with the in the field stuff, that's different. It's later, when it's white coats and lab rooms and scalpels. I get kind of.....uneasy." Understatement of the year.

Lili settles down with them and clearly deliberates, deciding that she'll lay her head in Peggy's lap.

Peggy Carter has posed:
While it's a touch more familiar than they ever were in the past, things were different now. It was like he and Steve were the last pieces of her life she really had left. They were family, or something more. She sinks to the side as he settles there, so her upper arm rests against his and that comfortable warmth of another body is simply there. Her fingertips lovingly stroke across Lili's ears, giving lazy, warm attention to the pup even as most of her mind is focused on Bucky.

"Does... it help if someone else is there with you? Someone you *know*? Easy thing to make certain you're not alone, all things considered." She asks gently, no pressure behind her voice but a worried thoughtfulness to her clipped British tones.

James Barnes has posed:
He's a very different creature now than the laughing, flirtatious boy he was in the war. Far more somber, weighed down by what he's done and what he's been through. Reserved and reticent, occasionally grim.

But he is easier in her presence, even if still quiet. Her resting against him makes him smile a little, almost shyly. Family, indeed. Very nearly the last two who remember the boy he was. "It does help a lot," he admits. His gaze falls to the dog, as Lili sighs contentedly. "She helps a lot. I never had a dog, I never worked with dogs when I was HYDRA. She's....she's kind of a way of reminding myself where and when I am. She's really comforting."

Peggy Carter has posed:
As he doesn't shy away from her leaning, though it's not lost on her that he kept his warm arm on her side, Peggy lets herself lean a bit more. She's quietly exhausted, happy for the place to sit and be comfortably supported, even as she keeps her chin up and the stiffness in her frame which tries to say she's ship shape and work ready. Her fingertips remain buried against Lili's fur, smiling a bit more at the commentary on the dog.

"She does her job well. But...I'll selfishly say I'm glad there's more than just a good dog to help bring you back to yourself if ... well, if a mess hits the fan. As soon as I'm up for it, I'm going hunting. Too many loose ends from too long ago..." This close, she smells like the tea she was drinking earlier and her usual vanilla soap. It's a very Peggy combination, something more timeless than modern perfume or oils.

James Barnes has posed:
He has a habit of doing his best to act like the prosthesis isn't there. He doesn't reach for things with it, doesn't touch things unless he has to. It's never uncovered, save in the privacy of his own rooms. The engineers did a good enough job that it doesn't distort his form, no hint of lopsidedness. But he doesn't act like both are the same.

A smile for Peggy, in turn. "I mean, yeah, I'm glad to have you guys. People who really know me. It's just.....I can hardly cuddle up to either of you at night when I have nightmares. I do with her." He admits it without hesitation. Like he's just too tired to pretend anymore.

There's a certain glint in his eyes at the comment about hunting. "Right? It's depressing to come out of what was basically a seventy year coma and find out that those j- jerks are still out there and still causing trouble. Like......wasn't that enough time for everybody else to take care of the problem?" James punctuates the grousing with a good-humored expression, though. He, for his part, smells like castile soap and warm metal. It's nearly always present, though it's generally a fairly subtle tang.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"No. I suppose not." Peggy admits quietly as he comments on not being able to cuddle up at night, some lonely edge to her voice that, all too well, understands that. She exhales slowly and is now just fully leaning against him in the summer evening. The picture to the unknowing would be strangely romantic, a young looking couple and a loyal dog enjoying the night air. How strange the truth is in compare, but she's letting herself steal a few moments of comfort and relaxation.

"They always left the commandos the clean up. Even when we did the initial job. No surprise this time either... Just means more work to do. And it'll be better than staring at the ceiling every night feeling like shite because I just... can't get out of that bed and do it *now*."

James Barnes has posed:
"I hated that part a lot, when they weren't sure enough of me to let me go on missions," Buck confides, voice very low. "I really felt like a prisoner, then. I understand why everyone was wary and many still are, but....I had the physical energy. I had the skills. But I didn't have any trust, from them for me, or for my own mind. I still....I'm still afraid of it. That there's some last trick in the bottom of the box that they'll use to set me off like a bomb." There's a long pause, as he looks at some of the flowers, nodding in the evening breeze. Still leaning against her, as he strokes his human hand down the dog's silky flank.

"Lemme show you something," he says, after a moment. "I'm gonna write a phrase down on a piece of paper. If you say that phrase aloud in my hearing, it'll knock me out." He reaches into his pocket, comes out with a scrap of paper and a pen, hastily scribbles down a couple of words, then holds it up to her. The phrase printed there is SOLDAT SPUTNIK.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"James..." Peggy breathes out quietly, though a bit more insistently, and she shifts away from leaning against him but just enough she can turn her body so she can fully face him. She wants to be eye to eye for this, even if it means slightly shifting Lili's comfortable bed of father and friend. "I know you. I know who you were... I know much of what they did to you and... well, I'm learning who you are now. But it's *you*. The moment I can go out there, I want you at my side. I trust you. Even in the worst depths of it all... you knew me. Even for just a second. I knew your eyes. You knew me. You... hesitated. If we had that even *then*... I trust you more than almost anyone else in the world. You and Steve. Never a question. I mean it."

But the she looks down, dark eyes taking in the piece of paper and the words that he's given her. She looks a little unsettled, knowing she's been trusted with a discomfortingly grim secret. She nods slightly, mouthing the words to herself three times before tearing the paper in a dozen pieces to be burned later. "...I'll remember that. But I don't need it. I'd want you at my side anyway."

James Barnes has posed:
Lili looks up, glancing between them, eyebrow dots working. Ready to spring into action, even if she's off-duty. "I did remember you," he breathes, not even a whisper. "A little. It hurt, those flashes of memory. I knew they were supposed to connect to other things, but they didn't. They wouldn't let them....." James looks down at the dog, buries his fingers in her ruff. "It was you."

Then he nods at the piece of paper. "That's just a failsafe, so you can shut me down if something goes really wrong, without having to kill me or do enough damage to stop me. Steve knows those words, too. So does Fury. I don't think Fury's shared them with anyone, he's really good about keeping things close to the vest."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"I'm still here, today, because you knew me. That's enough. We survived it... both of us, and we're here now." Peggy's hand comes up, stretching across his cheek for a moment, her touch gentle but her gaze firm. There is no doubt in her eyes or heart about him, even if he did try to kill her. It's all so long ago, she's clearly never blamed him a single inch for it. She lets her hand linger a heartbeat longer before pulling back, perhaps realizing just how close she had gotten.

"I've not even... seen Fury since.. Everything. But that is the general method with him. I'm glad you told me. It's... not going to be necessary. But if having it helps you feel better about the matter, I have it. Now... just need to get back to the point we *can* go into the field." She huffs a little, the impatience with her own body running quite high as she sinks back into leaning against him.

James Barnes has posed:
The faint rasp of stubble under her hand, for all he's carefully clean-shaven. Buck smiles a little, if wanly, at that assurance....but the pale eyes are a little too bright, for a moment. He looks down to Lili, who looks over and cranes her neck to lick his hand.

"Yeah, Fury...he comes and goes. But yeah, I'm glad you do." A little, nearly soundless laugh, jolting through to her. "Yeah, I wanna be there when you do. I really do. HYDRA won't know what hit 'em."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"I've been... catching up on what files they'll give me. There's a lot of work to do. I think I got... too comfortable, towards the end there. The world felt like it was changing so much that I thought, maybe... Maybe we'd succeeded. It was easier to sit back and look at the victories than to find where we'd failed." Peggy admits softly, that faint line of shame actually sneaking into her voice when she considers it all. "...training new agents, keeping an eye on new threats... That seemed enough. It clearly wasn't." Her head lulls to the side a bit, the top of her dark hair brushing against the scruff of his cheek.

James Barnes has posed:
He resettles them both a little, Lili draped over their laps. "You had a long hard fight, after me and Steve were gone," he says, quietly. "I can't blame you for wanting to rest, a little. Let the torch pass on, and all that. It's...." He unbends enough to rest his cheek against her hair, a moment. "It's hard to think about going on, sometimes, but....the fight isn't over, is it? There's always gonna be somethin'. Which.....I guess that's job security?" Another fit of that soundless laughter.

Peggy Carter has posed:
The press of his cheek against her hair is enough to send her silent for a few moments. Just enjoying it. It wasn't the same as someone curled up when dreams get bad, but it was nice. It was more than any of them would have let themselves have back in the day. She lets out a slow, low breath of easing, letting go of the exhaustion behind it, letting herself just feel it for a heartbeat or two and trust leaning against him. Her eyes close, though her fingertips still warmly find a comfortable spot in Lili's scruff.

"I'll take job security with you and Steve here. Being director... Howard, he got married, had a family... Fury was never around. Those last few years... there were a lot of *people* in SHIELD but... it was very lonely." She whispers, the words absolutely only meant for him. "Almost made me miss the nights down in the bunkers, shoved into a closet because gods forbid you boys sleep in the same room as a woman."

James Barnes has posed:
Those elder days, and her heart so very clearly set on Steve, and his on her. Buck hasn't raised that subject in their few encounters, knowing it has to be enormously tender. But he'll take his comfort now where he can find it, in the touch of a friend.

"I bet. Yeah. I've met Howard's kid, a time or two." Poor Howard. Does anyone but him and a last few relics in HYDRA know how Howard died? At whose hand? In his darker hours, he's sure Fury, at least, has to. "I bet," he says, before he chuckles again. "Right? We had to watch our reputations, you know?"

Peggy Carter has posed:
A little laugh escapes her lips at that last part. Easier than thinking of Howard, or his son, which Peggy hasn't fond the courage to quite go bothering yet. She grins at the old memories. "Your reputations. Of course. A scarlet woman like myself, I'd clearly corrupt the entire lot of you exhausted boys who had just marched several dozen miles. Perish the thought." Peggy grins, a barely repressed chuckle behind her husky voice.

"...I'll give these days this... They aren't nearly so stuck on ceremony or how it might look to ... tradition. Just get the job done, that seems to be what matters, and let people live their lives. It's a hell of a lot nicer in that."

James Barnes has posed:
Now James laughs aloud, which makes Lili look up, almost indignant. "Right? I remember thinking that, when I was first in training. How happy you'd be in a situation where no one treated the ladies any different from the guys, and no one got the wrong idea about it." Still snickering. "Man, yeah. Twenty miles double-time and you coulda been Helen of Troy and we still wouldn't've looked twice." She's seen him sleep through the jolting of a two-ton truck down a pot-holed and shellpitted mountain road, he was so tired. Out like a light.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"...You did look very sweet drooling in the back of the convoy. I wouldn't have disturbed your rest even if I had wanted to." Peggy teases him, a grin across her ever-red painted lips as she tosses a look over her shoulder for a moment. Lili's indignation then gets a glance, another laugh following as she buries her fingertips into the dog's side for a good, deep scratching, "Oh goodness, Miss Lili, have we disturbed your beauty rest? How dare we interrupt such noble lounging, yes. Practically as elegant as one of the Queen's dogs, aren't you?"

James Barnes has posed:
"You couldn't've woken me up with an MG42," he says, ruefully. "I was so tired and hungry all the time then. Guess it was my body trying to build muscle and not getting enough to eat." James's certainly filled out - he's got to be much heavier than the boy toting the Tommy gun.

Lili grunts in pleasure, unladylike. "Isn't she great?" he enthuses. "Purebred - from one of the German working lines. I'm so glad to have her...."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Spoiled utterly rotten, I'm certain, and deserving every inch of it." Peggy admits with a wider grin, ruffingly at the dogs ears before curling her hand around one in that gentle, stroking motion all the way to ear tip, before she pets the other just as tenderly. "You got a good one...here..." Mid sentence, Peggy is caught by a yawn. The slump of her back against him is an echo of those tired days, when one has pushed rather too hard but doesn't really feel the option of giving in yet. She's fighting it, but she's exhausted.

James Barnes has posed:
"She really is spoiled. They got whole markets just for dogs, and I treat her like she's a little princess," he says. The yawn makes him clamp his lips together to suppress a grin. "Let's go in, Peg," he says. "We're both tired, and training and therapy start early." She even gets a pat on the back....then he's pushing himselfup, and offering her his hand.

Peggy Carter has posed:
A little groan of protest escapes her throat, the same one she used to give when someone would find her asleep at her desk. That even happened with the SSR a few times. Peggy stares at his hand, on the edge of protesting, but finally she slips her slender palm into his and lets him help her up to her feet. She's not exactly steady for a moment, it's been a long day after a long week, but she manages to get her heels under her and stretched out a bit. "I *suppose*... But I'm certain Lili would rather us sit here and lavish her with attention. But the morning does come early."

James Barnes has posed:
"We can do it tomorrow evening, too," he offers, with that sidelong little grin. "Triskelion's not going anywhere." Still holding her hand, as Lili settles in at his other side, ready to go. "Hell, neither am I." Only once he's certain she's steady does he turn for the door in off the grounds.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"...That... That'd be nice. Something to look forward to after all the PT. I think I'd quite like that." Peggy admits with a somewhat wider smile, almost shy about it. She's not had a standing engagement in her personal life in a long, long time. SHe gives his hand one last squeeze and then lets go, heading inside with him as she neatly smooths her hair back, putting herself back together to the prim, proper and poised director emeritus that everyone knows.