InsaneJournal

Peggy was in the mess hall when her PADD beeped with a notification that a new traveler had arrived. Because the cake she was in the middle of was so sweet and moist, made from a fruit she'd never heard of before, she was slow to leave for the med bay. The last thing she wanted was to leave any piece of this cake uneaten. She didn't know when it might make the menu again. For this reason, she didn't take the time to read through the notification and instead, as soon as she'd finished the last bite, wiped her mouth with a napkin, and then hurried off to the room Dr. McCoy had set up adjacent to the med bay to serve as a traveler liaison office.

She arrived in a rush and was surprised to find the new arrival already waiting for her, standing in the office looking a little confused but also very, very familiar. "Steve?" The name was out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

Steve had been surprised to wake up in medical facility, seeing as he’d fairly recently left one. He had been even more surprised to find out that he was now in the future. Again. Only this time, he’d jumped a couple of centuries instead of several decades. From the reaction of the staff, Steve figured he’d probably handled that news better than some. At least he had experience in adjusting to new points in time.

After his check up and giving the doctor what Steve expected was one of the more interesting medical histories the good doctor had heard in awhile, Steve was shone into an office to wait for the “traveler liaison.” He was just looking around the place when he heard his name. His name, said in a familiar voice.

He turned, breath catching in his throat as he saw her. Peggy. But not the way he’d seen her last, not old and frail. No, this was Peggy like the one he’d left behind waiting on a dance, like time had rolled back just as it had rolled forward. “Peggy?”

Peggy blinked a few times, not sure if she was seeing things or if Steve was actually here in front of her. For a moment, until he said her name, she wondered if maybe he was just someone who looked exactly like Steve Rogers. She stared at him for a moment with her mouth hanging open quite unattractively. Then she shook her head as though to shake away her confusion and get back to business but when she opened her mouth to continue on with whatever speech she normally gave in these situations, she found herself well without the words.

She pressed the back of her hand to the side of her cheek. "What are you doing here?" she asked, almost laughing at herself. Maybe had Bucky not already shown up, this would have floored her even more, though she wasn't doing a very good at quelling the surprise. Bucky Barnes was one thing, but to see Steve Rogers in front of her. Finally, she smiled and crossed to him. "Wow," she said. "You're - here!"

Steve couldn’t help but grin when Peggy asked what he was doing there. His smiled widened as she came closer, and he reached out, gently resting his hands on her shoulders. “And you’re here...and I’d ask you the same thing about what you’re doing here, but I guess you ended up here like I did.” He paused, eyes taking in her face and hair. “Only from a lot earlier than I came from, I’d say.”

That confused her but only for a moment. "From a lot earlier?" she echoed, then cleared her throat. "Uh - 1948, actually, but you'd been dead for years, and I -" Peggy laughed a little nervously but looked up at him, that smile back on her face. "Are you all right? Healthy?" Her hand unclenched from her side and she pressed it against his chest. "Everything checks out just fine, I assume?"

Steve covered Peggy’s hand with his and smiled. “Clean bill of health,” he said. “And it turns out I wasn’t so much dead as...deep frozen. SHIELD found me and thawed me out in 2012.” He chuckled softly. “Which was a pretty big surprise, let me tell you. And that was a few years ago, for me. But it did mean that this--” he glanced around the room before looking back at Peggy. “--was not as big a surprise as it could have been.”

He smiled again, still half not believing this was actually happening anyway. “Must have been a huge surprise for you, though.”

2012. SHIELD. How foreign were both of those ideas. But that did explain how calm he seemed to be, such a drastic difference from some of the others and definitely from Bucky. "Frozen in ice," she repeated. "Well, that's certainly unexpected." The corner of her mouth twitched and she smiled up at him again, unable to wipe that smile off her face. She didn't move her hand out from under his either. "I've had a few weeks here already to get used to it, but yes, it was a big shock to discover that I was suddenly in the 23rd century."

“23rd century is a big leap,” Steve agreed. “And now here you are, in charge of helping other people get used to that same discovery.” Steve couldn’t think of anyone better for the job, and he smiled. “Anyone else we know come through?” he asked. If there were enough coming through to need a liaison, there could be a chance for that, he thought.

"I certainly couldn't just sit around and do nothing," she said. Peggy felt a little bit like their roles were reversed. Here Steve was, not all that shocked or upset about waking up hundreds of years in the future, and here she was, disbelief written across her face that Steve was even here in the first. Finally, she took a step back and wrung her hands together for a brief moment. "Uh - actually, yes. Bucky's here."

Steve’s brows knit slightly when Peggy began to wring her hands. Bucky was here? Steve took a deep breath. “When--what time did he come from?” That made a big difference. Especially when it came to Bucky. If Bucky had come from near the time Steve was searching for him...that was going to be rough, and “rough” was probably an understatement.

“...how is he?” he added softly, concern clear on his face.

“Later,” she said. “I guess - your time, in the future. Which makes sense now to me, seeing you here. He’s - different, than I remember him, but he’s fine. He’s been here a few weeks, keeps mostly to himself but - he’s fine.” Peggy’s temples began to ache lightly. It was one thing to see herself wake up in a distant future, but something else entire to rectify that with her friends, with Steve, being from such different time periods too.

He took a deep breath. That meant things were probably worse for Bucky than he would let on. “HYDRA put him through hell, Peggy. Brainwashed him. Used him. He didn’t know who he was…” And now he was here. And apparently did realize who he was, which was something, at least. “That would definitely explain him keeping to himself.”

She let out a breath. “So you knew him, from - whatever year it is you said you unfroze in. Good. I - I think he’ll want to see you.” Peggy smiled at him and then passed her fingers through her hair where it had come loose of the clip that held it back out of her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said with a nervous laugh. “I just can’t believe I walked in to find you here, Steve.”

“I...ran into him, yeah. It was a...complicated meeting.” Which was an understatement, but Peggy didn’t need to have to hear all that right now. He smiled when she laughed. “I can’t believe I turned around to find you here, like this,” he said. It was good to see her like this; it made him happy.

It made Peggy happy too, even though she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with that happiness just yet. "Well, let's get you set up with your room assignment and ID card and everything else you need, shall we?" After one step toward her desk, she stopped and turned back to Steve. Impulsively she wrapped her arms tightly around him and pressed her cheek against his chest. "I'm glad you're here, Steve. Truly."

Steve returned the embrace, smiling as he leaned his cheek against her hair. “I’m glad you’re here, Peggy. And I’m glad to have you around again.” He gave her a gentle squeeze after a moment and eased away. “So. Let’s get me settled in. Looking forward to having a look around this place.”