Owner Pose
Peggy Carter While it's a bit of a trek all the way out to Long Island and Bucky would probably call her a traitor of Brooklyn for ever living all the way out there, but it's a nice little slice of what life used to be. Still decked out from th 1950s, other than a modern computer, lightbulbs, and their phones, walking into the Carter-Sousa residence is like walking back in time.

Peggy generally doesn't cook. In past times, she's been an AWFUL cook, but her husband has also been doing his best to teach her some things. He might have also left the casserole for them, and all she had to do was heat it up. She's in a more casual dress -- a wool tartan with a belt cinched at her waist. It's a cut that comfortably accommmodates the fact that Peggy is definitely looking rather soft around the edges these days. Maybe she's letting herself go in her old age? She smiles as she catches James at the door, "Bucky! Come in, come in... I hope the drive wasn't awful." The house smells like eggs, cheese, and fresh coffee.
James Barnes To be fair, the concept of 'Sunday brunch' is still kind of new to Bucky. It's not that he doesn't understand the concept, it's just that he doesn't really have the capacity to sleep in long enough into the day that 'brunch' would be a thing. But when Peggy invites you for brunch, you ... sneak in a bowl of cereal early and then make your way over.

He parks his truck across the street and, caught as he's coming up the steps to her stoop, he smiles at her. "Hey, Peg." He's in a pair of jeans, boots, and a nice jacket; both hands have gloves because wearing just one glove is somehow more conspicuous than having a metal hand. "Drive was fine." Taciturn, but somewhat relaxed compared to how he is around most people. "How's Daniel?"
Peggy Carter "Managing supply runs into the city today. We try to have some hands on deck every day, so it's just you and I. But he sends his best wishes -- and his best breakfast casserole. He said you're too good a friend to be poisoned by my cooking." Peggy smirks to him, ushering him into her time jump of an old house. It has photos up all over the walls from she and Daniel's wedding, their first child, the opening of SHIELD, and even several framed black and white Howling Commando photos. There's also that infamous jar of bullet shells up on the fire place.

Once he's inside, she tugs him into a tight, immediate hug. She doesn't shy away from that metal arm or treat him any differently than she did back in the day. Well, maybe this is a bit more warm and the professional curtness on the battle field. "Coffee? Water? Whiskey?" She asks once she's let him go. "How are *you* holding up?"
James Barnes Bucky's already clocked everything: the pictures, the jar of bullets, the decor, any structural problems the house probably has, how to exploit them in combat situation, what's being cooked, if there's anyone else making noises in the house... it's all instinct, now; but it melts away when she hugs him, and he returns it, smiling a little.

"Coffee, I think." Like with brunch, he has yet to really grasp the idea of midday mimosas, much less just shooting back a tumbler in the middle of what amounts to breakfast. "Busy man, Danny." His smile is tight-lipped, but warm. "I'm fine." It's no secret he's been hanging out with Wanda Maximoff a lot. Hell, Peggy might be _extra_ aware, seeing as how the pair aren't exactly great when it comes to the scale of volatility. "Mostly trying to relax while there aren't any missions."
Peggy Carter "I think Daniel's just happy to be fully an agent again, and with a leg that functions as good as his real one did. Modern prostethics are a dream for him, compared to that old wooden thing he had. Besides, none of us are very good at taking time off. Yourself included. Usually." Peggy gives him a curious, sideways look. She has heard rumors about Wanda and she is now DEFINITELY interested in what is going on. She motions him in through the mid-century-modern living room and through to the cozy, old fashioned kitchen. She even still makes coffee in a percolator.

"And... I hear you and Ms. Maximoff have been spending a rather... good amount of time together. How is *that* going, hm?" There is clear implication in Peggy's features. A little hopefullness for romance. Or, at least, a firm friendship. She pours him out a tall mug of coffee, sliding it over and nodding towards the cream and sugar. If he wants it, he can add them himeself. He's a big boy.
James Barnes Bucky follows Peggy along until he's got a seat to plant himself in. He looks at her when she talks about Daniel's leg. "We can just go back to Russia and I can shake the doctors until they make him a leg like my arm."

For a very long moment, Peggy is looking at the Winter Soldier, not Bucky Barnes. At least, it's the same deadly serious, cold, unemotional stare that many of the people that have faced off against his brainwashed alter ego have come to know (or reported).

And then Bucky grins at her. "Kidding." He doesn't take cream or sugar, though. Bucky takes his coffee black. He's sipping when she mentions Wanda and he sputters a bit, clearing his throat. This time, there's emotion in the stare he gives her, and eventually he seems to have gauged all responses he could give and come to the conclusion that lying (or obscuring truth) is probably not a great idea. So.

"It's going well. She's a good woman." Not the kind of thing a man from their times says about a _friend_.
Peggy Carter As he lets that long moment hang in the air, Peggy just *stares* at him. She might be staring at the Winter Soldier -- the man who tried to kill her twice and practically succeeded once -- but there is no fear in her eyes. She rests her hands on her hips, a smirk decorating her ever-red lips. Then the grin, the one she expected, comes. She smirks hard to him and leans over, ruffling that mop of too-long hair. "I ceased being scared of you, Barnes, when I saw you drooling in your sleep on the back of a convoy. That old look doesn't work on me." She grins.

Then he's sputtering and she's even MORE interested. She steps over to him, arms folding curiously across her chest as a single brow climbs up her forehead. Her grin only grows because of his words. "A good *woman*? Hmm... Not something people our age say about a simple friend. You might have to bring her 'round the house, at this rate. She's... taking care of you? Come on, Buck. I need all the details here. I'm an old lady, gossip keeps me alive." She winks at him and then goes to start serving the food.
James Barnes "I'm pretty sure a certain serum keeps _you_ as alive as you are," Bucky shoots back with a smirk. Mostly because he can't criticize her for it without being an absolute ginormous hypocrite and that's just not Bucky. He's a lot of things, many of them horrible, but not a hypocrite.

He takes another sip of his coffee and then sighs, leaning back and slouching a little. "Do you remember -- god, what year was it, was it '44? I think it was '44, do you remember '44, when we had to drive to Poland but we had to detour south through Austria and Slovakia, and we stopped in that town and we were stuck there for _two weeks_ because of patrols?" If she does remember, she'll remember Bucky met a girl, hit it off, and more than a few times said that after the war he might just come back and stay in that little town, or at least see if she wanted to leave it with him. Back then, seeing Bucky that smitten was a strange and eldritch thing; Steve had been completely baffled.

"It's like that, except I've had more than two weeks."
Peggy Carter "Actually... the serum isn't in me any more. When they tried to kill me again several months back, the only way to get me back to fully normal was to, oh hell, Jemma would explain it better, basically reset my genetic code back to what it was in 1949. It had some unexpected... Side effects." From the slight twist of amusement in her lips, the side effects weren't BAD. In fact, she might be a little delighted by them, but it also explains why she does look barely 30 years old and as fresh faced as she did when they first met in the SSR. "But... serums aside. Let's talk women."

A plate of delicious, cheesy egg casserole on a flaky pastry crust with Portuguese sausage dotting it is slid before Bucky before Peggy takes one for herself. She could pull him into the dining room, but that felt so formal and the little breakfast table in the kitchen was simply more comfortable. She comes to settle down across from him with her own cup of tea. "...How could I forget being stuck in Poland for *two weeks*? It was lmoast a vacation. Oh... and you had that little lady there. Maja, was it?" Peggy's smile only widens, curious and eager for him at the same moment. She looks like a proud older sister. "And, I suspect, you will have it for far longer if you want to. Wanda has been... well, she's steady. She's getting better every passing month. As are you. You two would be... good for each other. Clearly *are* good for each other."
James Barnes "Right," Bucky says, regarding the serum. "Right, right. Memory..." He makes a little gesture next to his head.

"She's been helping me with the code words. Triggers." Whatever they want to call them. "Helping me dig deep, figure them out, see what can be deprogrammed. Turns out magic is really handy for that sort of thing, so. But the side-effect is sometimes I get gaps and need to be reminded of things." Not really any different than normal; it might not even actually be a side-effect of the work Wanda and he have been doing.

"But yeah." He sips his coffee. "It helps that she can shut me off with a snap of her fingers." For someone as dangerous as him --and with a history of not being in control-- being in a relationship with someone that overpowers him relatively easily is, probably, a relief.
Peggy Carter "Trauma... does that to brains. And god knows you've been through enough, not to mention that HYDRA mucked up in there long enough. I'm very glad you have someone you *trust* who can start helping you... sift through it all. If some gaps are all that you get, that's... really lucky." Peggy's expression softens a bit more, pausing over her food to watch his eyes. Her smile is earnest. A little more relieved. "And you're letting her help. That's a god damned miracle, frankly. I'm... happy for you. Happy for both of you, really." Peggy reaches a hand over, resting over the back of his flesh and blood arm for just a moment, giving him a little squeeze.
James Barnes "Figured someone had to go in there and route around," Bucky says, turning his hand and squeezing Peggy's back. "Eventually. Might as well be the girl who can turn reality inside out and come out on top. If I can trust someone like that to sleep next to me, I figure if she wanted to do bad stuff in my head, she'd've done it by now." He smirks. "Most people of that type don't have a lot of patience. They just dive right in."
Peggy Carter "If anyone knows that bloody... awful shite that HYDRA has done, it's you and her. I'm glad you both found each other. Truly." Peggy gives his hand one more squeeze and, while she looked a little exhausted and haunted behind the eyes when he first arrived, she's more relaxed now. Genuinely happier seeming just for getting this news about him. She needed some good news with the mess in New York. She then lets go of his palm so she can reach back for her food, taking a hungry, big bite. At least she still has an appetite, despite the stress.

"I still expect you to bring her 'round soon. Understood. And you should meet Daniel properly anyway."
James Barnes Bucky digs into the food too, apparently having some appreciation for Daniel's cooking. "You know, when you invited me for 'brunch' I expected just MRE rations and moonshine, but you can tell Daniel this is great," he teases, grinning up at her.

At the notion of bringing Wanda around, he takes a deep breath and then bobs his head. "All right. I'll tell you what, Peg, you give us a date, we'll come around. She might feel a bit out of place on a double-date with three geezers..."
Peggy Carter As he promises to bring Wanda around, Peggy's smile only grows. Though it's been a HELL of a few weeks, this is some of the best news she's had in a while. "Excellent. Maybe next weekend. I'll make certain neither of us is on supply duties, though, I am trying to talk him into my going onto the front lines with the mess in Manhattan a bit more. But I'll get off the front lines for YOU and your new woman there."

Peg takes another bite of her eggs, shaking her head at the thought of MREs, "Oh god, no MREs in this house. Daniel is one of the best cooks around, learned everything from his mother, and now that I've mostly got my appetite back, well... There's always food in the house. We're not at war any more. We get to enjoy ourselves between life threatening fights and assassination attempts." Peggy winks at him.
James Barnes "I'm not really involved in that whole angels thing," Bucky admits. "It's so beyond my ken that I can't imagine really being able to help at this point. I just patrol the streets and help when I can there, if there's any debris or humanitarian efforts." He sighs, then goes back to eating, because that's better than thinking about this whole angelic host invasion thing.

"I'll admit, sometimes it still feels like war." He frowns for a moment. "But then I sleep the entire night through without any shells going off in the distance and I realize that's not the same at all."
Peggy Carter "I know. There are days I wake up and think this... This is the dream. That we're going to wake up back in the war, or... years ago, when you were still trying to kill me and Daniel was long dead. Somedays this all feels too... good." Peggy admits softly, her smile genuine, but thoughtful. She takes a long sip of her own tea, sinking back into the chair she's in, her long legs crossing.

"Daniel and I are... expecting. It's why I haven't been going much out into the field. We're trying to be careful. As... careful as we can be in this business, you know. And dammit, Buck, we all deserve a bit of a happy ending. *All* of us. After the shit you've been through? The shit we have? This... it's good. It's hard to trust us to be happy, but... we need to. I know we're working on it. Remembering this is real. I'm glad you are too."