6850/1956: Meeting at the Memorial

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1956: Meeting at the Memorial
Date of Scene: 08 July 2021
Location: 1956: WWII Memorial, Battery Park, NYC
Synopsis: Peggy comes to meet Lucky at the memorial wall as is their VE day tradition. However, things are different this year. Her husband is dead and she has a baby in arms. But they don't let tradition fall.
Cast of Characters: Peggy Carter, Logan Howlett




Peggy Carter has posed:
A little later than their usual planned time, Logan might have started to wonder if she was going to show at all. But she makes it before sunset, which is the important part. That's the part they absolutely spend together. Part of the delay might be obvious, a baby bundled up against her shoulder. Otherwise, some things have changed. Her face is a little thinner than he's ever seen it, even during the war, and the rest of her looks a little haggard. Instead of her usual, elegant big waves of hair, she's got her dark hair in two twists down the side of her head and then pinned at the back of her neck. It's how she wore it when they were getting into messes during the war and there was no time for elegance.

She's in her old uniform, however. Even though the SSR is long dead and SHIELD now stands in its place, she'll show respect for tonight. It still fits, even if she can't quite button the jacket. Her high heels slightly sink into the grass as she walks across to the large wall framed by the Hudson Bay beyond, a faint smile on her features.

Logan Howlett has posed:
Logan was a patient man.

Or rather, he had -learned- to be a patient man. 90 years is a long time to learn how to wait for things, and, especially since the war ended, Logan has been a little bit more morose. He may have been 'lucky', but too damn many people weren't. He made it a habit, for two reasons, to make trips to the memorial to pay his respects to fallen friends. Dog tags he personally collected to ensure they were remembered. Peggy was a good bonus too, an old friend who, for some reason, never left him to the wolves or did him dirty.

Yet, anyway. Feels like there's always a 'yet'.

Cigar sitting in the corner of his mouth, he spots Peggy, but also the baby she carries with her as she walks. "See you did somethin' different with your hair, darlin'." That's Logan's classy greeting, but he's never been a classy person. "You doin' alright?" His eyes gently lower to her shoulder, where the baby remains bundled up.

"Hi there little one." Logan's always had a soft spot for kids.

Peggy Carter has posed:
The smile that crosses her ever-red lips is cracked, sad and tired in a way he's never really seen from her before. But it's still a smile. Probably the first earnest smile she's given anyone in months, but seeing him is enough to bring it to her features. Even all the way to her bloodshot eyes. She reaches one arm up and around him, never minding about the cigar. Just close enough to pull his muscled frame into a tight, breath crushing sort of hug, even if she's careful not to jostle the baby too much. She needed his hug.

When she finally settles back onto her heels and pulls away enough he can look at the little bundle, she shifts the dark eyed child in her arms around so that curious gaze can look up to his features. The baby already has a swath of dark hair, dark eyes. slightly more olive skin than her's but definitely her nose and chin. "...Daniel was... killed. A few months back. HYDRA, we...suspect. I'm managing." She murmurs, her voice with an edge of a rasp to it. "This is Michael. At least he got to meet his son... before it happened."

Logan Howlett has posed:
It took Logan a moment, but he saw the signs.

Bloodshot eyes. She hasn't been drinking, she's been crying her eyes out. Her face looks gaunt, she hasn't been eating and she's lost the fullness of her face. Her smile is sad, waned, and like she hasn't slept quite right in days. Before Logan can say anything to her, he's being pulled into a tight hug. "Ooh." He grunts out when she brings him in for that sternum-breaking hug, a little bit of breath escaping his lugs, but its a hug that he returns, even if its a hug filled with concern.

A hug is a hug, and Logan knows when he's needed.

When the contact finally ends, Logan looks at her, his gaze stern and hard. Anybody who hurts Peggy makes an instant enemy of Logan, and those fuckers are gonna pay. "What happened, kid?" Before he even knows it, the baby is lifted up to his gaze and he looks upon it with a curious eye. "Fuck." He mutters under his breath, the fate of Daniel reaching his ears and his eyes gently close. Not another one.

Dammit, not another one.

"I'm sorry, Peg." Logan sighs a little bit. "Michael...strong name. He'd be proud." Logan sighs, lifting a finger to the baby to see if the child grabs at it.

"We'll make them pay."

Peggy Carter has posed:
Michael's old enough to be curious, probably six months or so now, not a tiny, delicate bundle of a new born but chubby arms and cheeks with fat, curious hands that eagerly hooks a tiny fist around Logan's offered finger. A smile comes after that, happy for contact and incredibly interested in the person above him. It's probably no surprise that Peggy and Daniel have a smart, happy baby, too young to know the horrors of the world around. Peggy smiles a bit more to see the contact, turning her head to press a gentle kiss into that mess of dark hair. She's a good mum, if an exhausted woman.

"I'm working on it. Happened in LA at some hotel. Whatever files he was carrying are gone. But we've got a whole unit on it out there now. He's the first SHIELD agent we've ever lost. I should have known this would get more dirty before we finished cleaning it up. HYDRA's cut off at the knees, they're fighting like desperate animals." But animals that are still alive. She cannot entirely hide the hate behind her voice, the barely controlled rage at how it happened. She drags in a shaking breath to try and calm her heart a moment later.

"I'm... sorry. This was always a day of memories mixed with...celebration. I didn't mean to... I just... I wasn't going to lie. Fuck. I'm sorry." She's swallow back tightly, rebuilding that strong, in charge facade he's always known from her. Military straight back, red lips. Able to command entire units, even with a babe in her arms. "How are *you*?"

Logan Howlett has posed:
The curious child is not imperceptible to Logan. He can hear the child's steady heartbeat, the scent of a recently cleaned child fills his nose, the sensation of touch as the child grips a thick finger. "Heh, definitely yours." Not that it was ever in question, but some things just need to be triple checked for Logan.

He shakes his head. "While he was sleeping?" The mere thought of it fills him with rage he hasn't felt in some time. "Caged, clawing, scratching...they are just doing anything to survive. The war is over, the public one, but we still tend to running shadows, the sneaky fucks." Logan would spit on the ground, if it weren't hallowed. "It's a mistake we won't make again." 'We?'

"You need me, I'm there. Danny was my friend too." Logan tells her with some authority in his voice. Logan didn't have many friends and he fought like an enraged brood mother when his pack was threatened.

"It's okay Peg. You've been through a lot, and I've just been wandering. I'm doing...fine. Got a job fixin' up old cars, trying to lay low." He looks at the memorial. "I still can't sleep." The horrors keep him awake...this war and every war before it since the 1800's.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"No, no... Fortunately, I think. While he was going to make a handoff to one of Howard's men. Shot him three times in the back right next to the pool. No witnesses, of course, or not that are still breathing. I've had the whole hotel staff through interrogation twice." Her own rage is mixed with shame and an edge of hopelessness she dares not let herself indulge. It's enough fuss from her to prickle at Michael's own feelings, a little fussing starting and a hiccuping short cry as he grips tighter at Logan's finger. Peggy presses her eyes shut for a few heartbeats, swallowing back every edge of emotion she was feeling. The child didn't need to see it. Logan didn't need it either.

When her dark eyes reopen, she's calm again. The emotion, instead, is a gentle brush of worry for her old friend as he admits he can't sleep. "Still?... You know you *can* visit without it being VE day? I still have an apartment in the city. Hell, I've got a whole house out on Long Island." She smirks before he can even cut her off, "Yes, yes, I know, it's Long Island... that's how I know I'm getting old. But... come back with me? A few days, at least. Maybe we both can get some sleep and go over the files again together."

Logan Howlett has posed:
The news of how Daniel died is both relieving and enraging. They didn't even have the courage to shoot him in the chest. His eyes close firmly. He ain't gonna lose his temper in front of a baby, he's got more dignity than that, but she can see the animal within appear in his face for a brief moment, the elongated canine teeth shining a moment as he grunts and turns away.

"Fuck, Danny." Logan speaks those words in mourning, but he's lost people before and he'll raise a drink for him later. He's gotta be strong for Peg, ironically like she's being strong for him. As the baby begins to fuss, Logan's eyes, youthful, but with experience and weariness behind them, "Shhh...it's okay Mike, mom's okay." Logan tries to encourage the child, not that the kid would heed him, but worth the try.

To Peggy, he shakes his head. "Aghh, dammit Peg, you know it's a bad idea. I go somewhere and trouble follows, I dunno." Logan tries to ward off Peggy, in fear that she would be caught in the crossfire of whoever decides to get after him this time around. After a second of thinking about it, hand coming up to rub the back of his neck. "Shit." He murmerd. "A few days, fine." he finally relents.

He figures he can maul someone if they come knocking on Peggy's door looking for trouble.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Between Peggy's calming and Logan's reassuring words, the fussing actually begins to stop as soon as it started. Instead, Michael's gently pulling Logan's finger to stick in his mouth, which might not be the cleanest thing in the world but this is how a baby learns. He doesn't seem to care. Peggy looks down, realizing what is happening with a little laugh, "Michael, maybe don't... Oh, hell, never mind, life is short. Knock yourself out, my darling." She teases him lightly. At least she's still smiling.

That smile turns into a little bit of a flat smirk as Logan starts to protest coming back with her for those days. She's just *staring* at him, waiting to see if she needs to give every logical argument she has, including just how dangerous they *both* are. Fortunately, he talks himself out of his own stubborness within a minute and she gives a husky, tired, little laugh. "I'm glad I've got you trained well enough that I don't even need to *make* the arguments, you just know I'll win. About things that make sense, at least." She tosses him a teasing little wink.

"Besides, if someone tries to get in, I figure you will half maul them and I'll have five bullets in them before they're through the living room. I'm not too worried. It'll be nice to have someone to switch off sleeping with." Her smile softens, eyes flickering back to the list of names in front of them, "...just like the old days. Keeping watch."

Logan Howlett has posed:
Honestly, Logan's been a dad before, but his families are never alive for long. So when the baby is trying to eat his finger? Logan's survived worse, so he lets it happen. "Ow!" Logan is clearly not experiencing actual pain, but rather just being an amusement to the child to appease the young human's young instincts.

His finger probably tastes horrible though.

Logan couldn't help but to scoff at Peggy though. "Come on, bub, I've won a couple of them." in terms of Peggy having won 100 arguments and Logan 'winning' a measly 32. "Besides, I'm not so easily tameable." He states a bit more sternly, but it's not hostile at all.

He smirks. "Just like old times." He remembers watching her, and others, while he always took the first watch. Healing factor tends to help greatly, the man almost never -needs- to sleep until he absolutely must when he's trying to stay awake. Otherwise, his mind gets tired too. He looks to the wall. "Except ours doesn't end."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"No, no it doesn't. We have to keep the watch so their rest was worth it." Peggy murmurs quietly, staring down those names with him. She then reaches her free hand out, taking his other palm to give a quiet, reassuring squeeze. Her touch lingers just a few more heartbeats before letting go to stare at the wall. No more words.

She starts their slow walk, name past name. Each of them finding the fallen Howling Commandos, though she stops for his names as well. The ones he knew in other units when he wasn't fighting at their sides. By now, she knows his people by letters alone. She gives them their time. It's a good hour before they are finished the vigil, Michael having fallen asleep on her shoulder.

"...Let's go raise a glass to them. I've got some of the good stuff back home." She whispers quietly, coaxing him away from the wall and towards the city proper. Neither of them will sleep until the small hours, keeping watch with beer and old stories while entertaining the child. It's the first night Peggy hasn't felt alone since her husband's funeral.