6855/The Framework: An Old Familiar Feeling

The Framework: An Old Familiar Feeling
Date of Scene:	09 July 2021
Location:	The Framework, Playground
Synopsis:	Daniel and Peggy take advantage of a quiet night in the Framework's Playground to talk.
Cast of Characters:	Peggy Carter, Daniel Sousa

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Peggy Carter has posed:
Peggy left Daniel with Michael, who had been recently fed and was blissfully asleep, as she mentioned quietly she just needed to take a walk. The girls were asleep, watched over by May, Dottie, and a whole revolving door of aunts and uncles that seem rather over protective of the young ones. She felt safe enough to walk away and get some air. The walk just happens to take her down too-familiar corridors, places she's not walked in fifty years and yet, somehow, there's parts of her who feel like she's been here yesterday. She doesn't even need to look up the path to her old office.

It's clearly being used by SHIELD now. A mess of papers on the desk, some extra chairs pulled in. But it's not locked and no one's name is on the door, though one can see 'Chief Carter' in gold flake faintly on the frosted glass door still. From when this place was the SSR's, just as they were building SHIELD. It's strange to see it again. She walks through, touching on the old furniture with slightly trembling hands. She takes a slow, deep breath, just staring at the place. It felt so familiar.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
It didn't take much to guess where Peggy might have gone, after Gonzales visited to check in and get a report on what happened at the Triskelion, Daniel, with Michael still in arms slipped out of the common area and went to find Peggy's old office. Daniel moves quietly enough but Michael's fussing gives Peggy plenty of warning that she's not alone. When Daniel arrives, he leans in the doorway, Michael chewing on his collar."Mind if I join you or do you want a bit of time alone?" he asks.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"No, I mean... alone with what? This hasn't been my office for... God, 70 years now? I'm probably intruding on someone's private space, but the door was open." Peggy admits with a bittersweet smile, looking back to him instead of staring at her old desk. They hadn't even gotten rid of any of the furniture. Some of her old books still had too much dust on them from shelves never being used.

She forces her eyes away from her things and steps towards the door, a small smile on her lips as she watches Michael gnaw at Daniel's collar. "I... think one of the teething rings made it in the bag. We packed so fast."

Daniel Sousa has posed:
"Still your office," Daniel says. "At least I've never heard Gonzales call it /his/ office, just /the/ office and your name is still on the door," he says with a nod to the fading gold paint. "I think he liked the sense of continuity, SHIELD wasn't broken we're just carrying on the same old traditions even if we're doing it from the shadows."

His eyes slip closed and his brows furrow, "Which is funny to say because part of me hasn't met these people before today, but the other part tells me they've been my friends for a long while now."

Happily changing the subject to Michael, he says, "I'll check later, oddly, this feels sort of right," he says nodding to his son chewing on his collar. "I've missed this."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Well, that's what you get for supposedly dying for a few days. I'm certain he missed you too." Peggy confesses, her smile softening a bit more as she leans against her desk and just watches the two of them. She could watch them like this all day, especially as Michael seems perfectly content to be soaking through Daniel's collar, the fussing done now that he's found a good thing to chew on.

Peggy lets out a slow breath, running her fingertips along the top of the desk where there's not papers piled. She still remembers the familiar wood grain. Her nails trace through a divot that came one time she slammed a coffee cup down in an argument with Phillips. "Still...stuck in all those memories, hmm? Here and... there? Where you're supposedly from?" She asks him softly.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
"Guess so, glad it was only a couple of days," the this time goes unsaid but it's there, along with weight of loss from his other life. Still he manages to smile faintly as he looks at his son, his hand gently stroking the dark hair on the back of his head, eyes slipping closed as he soaks in this moment.

Daniel's eyes open at the question and he nods moving to the couch in the office and managing to sit without overly disturbing Michael in his arms. "Yeah," he confirms, his dark eyes looking up at her. "It's a mess in my head right now, but I am glad I remember our life here, our kids," a small but proud smile crossing his lips. "They're amazing."

Peggy Carter has posed:
As he moves over to the big couch, Peggy smiles a bit wider and slowly trails after to join him. She sinks down onto the cushions next to them both, her thigh and hip pressing against his and her head sinking to the side to rest on the crest of his shoulder. "I remember this couch. It was only once or twice but... We did things on this couch. Phillips would have *died* if he realized, but I was already setting up SHIELD and I knew I was going. Might as well use my office one last time." She chuckles huskily, echoing the words she said on that day she first got him back across the country.

Then her hand comes up, idly tracing across Michael's shoulders as Daniel holds him. Her smile grows a bit more sad. "They are amazing. I...can't imagine life without them. I truly can't. Even if some of this feels... too familiar. I feel like I've been in this room... recently. Not decades ago. But... I can't think of this world without them. They *are* my world."

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Smiling at the memory Daniel looks to Michael. "Forget you heard all that, your parents were saints and you and your sisters were delivered by stork," he says with a wink to Peggy. It's not as though the child understands any of that. "And I do remember that, Phillips would have been horrified and Howard would have been proud," his smile becomes a grin and shakes his head. He'd come to love Howard like a brother over the years even if he did still roll his eyes to think of some of the things the man got up to.

The grin fades to narrow line on his lips as they consider their kids, "I know, hell they mean the world to me too. I remember all of it, the days they were born, their first words, how sweet Melly was with Lily and how sweet Lily was with Michael, and I know how much you gave up for them, how much you wanted to fight back against HYDRA but couldn't because they needed you," he shifts Michael to hold him one handed and offers his other to Peggy. "I really don't know what to do about the other world, but I know I am not just going to abandon these kids. They're ours and I don't think I could live in any world where I left them alone in this hell."

Peggy Carter has posed:
Peg shifts just enough she can comfortably hold his hand. She kicks her legs up instead, draping them across his lap as her back rests against the arm of the davenport. It means he can shift Michael into the crook of his arm and resting on top of Peggy's legs, if he's getting tired. The child will still fuss at his shirt, just a little lower down. His eyes are wide and curious, watching his father and even giving a bit of an open mouthed smile as he's spoken directly to, even if he has no clue what Daniel is saying about their love life.

As he makes the promise that he's not going to leave these kids alone, some breath Peggy had been holding eases. She squeezes his hand a bit tighter, securing that promise, a shaking breath drawn in through her nose. "I can't either. If... if that means we stay, when everyone else goes? We stay. I'd rather live here with them than know I left everything behind. Again. I did that when I left SHIELD once. For them. I'll do it again and god, Daniel, I need you at my side. When I thought you were dead..." She shakes her head slowly, throat tightening at just the memory.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel lifts Michael to give Peggy's legs room to settle before he sits him on her legs and balances him in the crook of his arm, it was all familiar in both sets of memories. The wide smile gets one in return before Daniel leans forward and kisses Michael's brow, laughing as Michael makes another grab for his collar, before trying to suck on one of his shirt buttons instead.

Daniel gives Peggy a look as if to say, 'what can you do?' before they move to the more serious topic at hand. Daniel listens and as he does his internal struggle shows on his face, duty vs desire, before he takes a breath and his face settles. "If you stay, I'm staying too. I don't want to keep losing you and our family Peg, twice is enough."

Peggy Carter has posed:
A little laugh escapes her throat, slightly cracked and tired, but honest as she sees Daniel's predicament with the button. "That poor shirt. And I think you have... One more in that bag? It's his now. You're going to be soaked before this is all over." But Peggy's smiling to see it. Her free hand comes up, gently smoothing fingernails through that shock of dark hair on his head, touch so light against those silky, baby soft locks. "He looks... so much like you." She whispers softly. She'd rather think of the good things about their family than what she might be leaving behind.

But He does make that promise. Her hand tightens, a sad resolve on her features. she gives him a small nod, "I'm staying, Daniel. As long as these kids are here, I'm staying. They... They need us. They are real, and alive, and need both of their parents for whatever mess this world turns into."

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel's shoulders shake with warm laughter the sort she's likely not seen from him in years. "On the bright side, I guess we don't have to go looking for his soother. And I'll see if Trip or Ward have any spares," he says looking down at his son. "Don't swallow that okay?" he warns him though he keeps a close eye on him all the same.

He takes a look at his son, and a barely contained smile ruins the somber expression he tries to put on, "Poor kid," he laments before looking to Michael and saying "Sorry about the ears when your Melly's age, but trust me you'll grow into them eventually," he says before giving Michael another kiss on his forehead.

He lifts his eyes then squeezing Peggy's hand back in return. "Then we'll need to make sure before the others go AIDA is down for good, she's not going to rest until everyone here is goose stepping to her tune and she's able to get at the kids heads like Melly. Plus with her gone, the Triskelion in ruins, and Daisy's message, Gonzales and the others have a shot at winning and making this place safer for all of us."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"It'd be... nice. To go back to work for SHIELD. Not hiding like it's something to be ashamed of, but doing the work we always said we'd do. It almost feels like too good a dream, to be able to have SHIELD and them. But... I can dream it. Can't I? We... god, Daniel, we've been through such hell. Don't we deserve this? You get to have time with your son. We... deserve to watch our children grow up." Peggy's voice insists, like there is some deep fear in her she knows he won't get it. Or didn't get it. Even if he did here, he's barely been gone, there's some strange terror itching in the back of her head. "You deserve this. You're a damn good father. Even if you didn't... tell me. I knew. I wasn't going to make you lie to me. I knew."