Who: Steve and Peggy What: A Proposal When: Christmas Day Where: Their house Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Christmas was a joyous time of year, and Steve felt that he had more to celebrate this year than he ever had before in his life. He'd pulled Peggy's parents aside the day before in order to ask them if they approved of him asking Peggy to marry him. He assured them that even if she hadn't been pregnant he would've asked, he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her regardless and in his mind they'd been given a second chance at a life together.
They'd been denied that in the dreams, and every morning he was thankful to wake up next to her. They'd given their blessing, and her mother just had to take a peek at the ring he'd picked out for Peggy. Steve had obliged and pulled out the baby blue Tiffany box and nestled inside was a three stone ring.
Christmas morning came, and Steve was up before everyone else, down in the kitchen making a pot of coffee while Cinnamon Rolls cooked in the oven. The ring box was tucked into the pocket of his jeans that he'd thrown on, just waiting for the right moment to make an appearance. He heard shuffling behind him, and he turned to look over his shoulder at Peggy, a bright smile tugging up the corners of his lips. "Good morning, beautiful. You sleep well?"
While Christmas was a joyous time it was also a stressful time for someone who was trying very hard not to be stressed. It started when her parents decided that they were coming to visit for the holidays because they wanted to see Peggy due to the pregnancy announcement,. Thankfully they had managed to get everything from moving sorted, so there was actually room.. Moving in with Steve had gone well and the place was certainly feeling like home and they had been converting the spare bedroom into a nursery, which her dad seemed keen to help out with while here on holiday.
Waking up on Christmas morning seemed a bit surreal. How was she living this life? Her and Steve were living together and they were having a child. Something they never got to have in their Dream life and she had lived this part of her life, but with another man. Giving up on Steve had been hard for her, which only made her revel in being with him here more. The baby had woken her up and she let out a groan at how early it was, but she wasn’t going to let that damper the day. She threw a robe on over her tank top and stretchy pants as she padded down to the kitchen. Once in sight of the kitchen she took a moment to appreciate how good Steve looked in the kitchen before he turned to look at her. A happy smile appeared on her face as she stepped forward to join him, “Morning and slept decently well until your daughter started rolling around and woke me up.”
With a chuckle, Steve turned and moved over to where she stood. He placed a hand on her stomach and shook his head, "She's just excited about it being Christmas morning." Really he couldn't wait until she was jumping on the bed telling them that it was Christmas morning, and that Santa had eaten all of the cookies that she'd left out.
Steve figured he might regret that eventually, since it seemed like kids grew up far too quickly. Steve removed his hand from her stomach, and wrapped his arms around her to press a quick kiss to her lips. "Merry Christmas." He offered with a smile, and then he dropped his arms from around her. Nerves curled around the pit of his stomach, making him slightly nauseated but he could do it.
"I do have a present that I'd like to give you now." He offered her a smile, and then reached down into his pocket. Steve took a step back, and knelt down on one knee, and with a flick of his fingers he opened up the box. "I couldn't imagine my life without you. I've had to live through it in another time and another place, and I know you did too. I don't want that here. I want to wake up next to you every morning, and come home to you every night. I want to make sure you know you're loved every single day, and I want to get the chance to live our life here as we should've in our dreams. I love you, Peggy. Will you marry me?" It might not have been the most romantic place there in their kitchen, but he thought that it was as good of time as any.
“She must know that her Mum is going to eat some cookies and drink un-spiked eggnog,” Peggy commented with a laugh as she placed her hand lightly over his. It would be quite interesting next Christmas when there would be a live baby in their arms celebrating their first official Christmas. She was sure their lives would be completely changed by then and hopefully in good ways and not as many bad ways.
The kiss was accepted with a reply and a smile, “Happy Christmas.” If she could wake up every day like this then she would be in a perfect world. Steve was wholesome and goodness personified and while she (and many others) teased him about it she couldn’t help but love every ounce of it. Her eyes lit up in a question when he commented that he had a present he wanted to give her now and before she could get a question out about it he was suddenly down on one knee. Was this truly happening? Her lips formed a perfect O shape as she stared at him in surprise.
It was a good thing he waited this long to ask her because if he had asked her when she first found out she was pregnant she would have told him no. She didn’t want a pity proposal; one that he thought was needed out of necessity. But they had spent more time together now, had moved in together, and she agreed with him that they deserved this chance. It was their own chance to change their story and she couldn’t imagine be with anyone else at the end of the day. Just thinking about that made her eyes well up with tears and she couldn’t help but hiccup as she tried to keep herself from crying. Hormones. “Damn it, Steve,” she replied as she lifted a hand up to brush the tears away, “I didn’t want to cry this early in the day. I love you too, so yes. Yes, I will marry you.” She couldn’t fight the tears any longer as she nodded her consent to the proposal.
He willed his nerves to settle, he'd been through a lot in this life and in his dream life, and had only had a few moments where he'd been nervous in them. This? God, this was the most nervous he'd could ever recall being while he waited on her answer. Steve had figured that there would be some tears shed, heck, even he had them brimming in his eyes as he saw her starting to tear up. A goofy grin pulled up the corners of his lips as she said yes, and with a shaking hand he pulled the ring from the box and slipped it onto her ring finger.
In one smooth motion he stood, reaching up to brush away one of her tears with the pad of his thumb, "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry." He leaned in, kissing her deeply.
The ring slipped neatly onto her finger and it almost felt like it was heavy. It carried the weight of so much and she hoped that she could live up to all his expectations and they would make this work. It was a reminder that this was their second chance to get things right. The Dreams be damned because they were going to embrace this and make the most of it. They were starting their own family and now she finally had the person she wanted to be with beside her.
A small laugh bubbled up at his comment before he kissed her back. Body weight shifted to her tip-toes as she pressed against her tall super hero. Once the kiss broke she rested her head against his shoulder, “I cry a lot lately, so don’t worry about it. But I’m so happy right now, this is amazing, Steve.”
Gently Steve wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him. He wouldn't trade this moment for anything in the world, and wished that time would stop, even if just for a few moments. Wishes were dangerous in the OC though, he'd seen enough on the network to know that he should be careful what he wished for here. Instead he settled for savoring the moment, her lips and boy pressed against his enough for the moment.
He smoothed a hand over her back, "I know, but still…" He leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head as he held onto her. "I'm glad you're happy. I love you, Peggy." He wanted to make her happy every single day of their lives together, and he wasn't even thinking about the long term effects of the serum on himself or anything like that. Right now, Steve was just focusing on what was currently in front of them. "Breakfast will be done soon. You want a cup of coffee, or something else?"
Being in Steve’s arms made her feel safe and warm and that she could take on the world. She usually didn’t need to feel like that because she was her own person, but there was something about Steve that just brightened up her life more than usual. They were going to be their own little family and she still couldn’t believe that it was happening most days. Her parents would be thrilled when they discovered the new piece of jewelry on Peggy’s finger and gaining Steve was a son-in-law because they were smitten with him. A content sigh escaped as she snuggled up to him a little, “Mmm, just a small cup. Can’t have too much and I don’t really need to wake up anymore. But I’m certainly going to sip it while watching you cook breakfast because you’re so attractive in the kitchen.”
Steve honestly didn't want to let her go, but breakfast wasn't going to cook itself. He held onto her a little tighter, head tilting down as he breathed in the scent of her shampoo. "That can be done." He was still learning as he went along about what she could and couldn't have, there were some days when Steve worried about everything that could go wrong instead of focusing on the things that were going right. Not that he'd ever admit that to Peggy, but he was fairly certain that she knew he was worried on the days he hovered over her like a mother hen. Laughing, he pulled back a little bit, "I'm glad you think so." He pressed a soft kiss to her lips, and then finally released her. "Did you sleep well?" He asked as he went to go grab one of their smaller coffee cups, pouring it for her and bringing it back over.
It was quite obvious when he was being a mother hen. Peggy was completely used to it now, so it wasn’t that big of a deal any longer. She had hoped that she would prove to him that she was quite fine, but she realized that was a losing battle when it came to something like this. It was just better to allow him to feel what he felt and they could talk about it later. The kiss was returned before she watched him grab the coffee. “As well as can be. It’s getting a bit uncomfortable with this belly, but I’m dealing with it. Not too big of a deal,” she explained as she lifted the cup to her lips and took a long drink, “When you’re done with breakfast let’s cuddle on the couch and get a bit of alone time before my parents wake up.” It would be nice to just relax and savor as much of this post engagement feeling as she could. It still felt quite surreal.
Steve gave a nod, it was understandable that she was starting to feel uncomfortable. He knew, or at least, he'd read that during the later months it was often hard for expecting mothers to sleep comfortably. "Sounds like a good deal to me, babe." Steve smiled softly over in her direction, more than happy to spend a few quiet moments with her before the craziness of the holiday set in.