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They called Daniel Sousa but hours after Peggy and several other replaced agents were recovered. It was another several hours while the scientists worked on a safe way to deactivate those strange stasis pods the captives had been kept in. But now it was just waiting. No one was really awake yet, even if vital signs read mostly normal. A touch depressed, but normal. Perhaps they were drugged before going into those pods? Peggy is now stretched out on a medical bed in one of the side labs, hooked up to a few machines to keep herself, and the child, both properly monitored. There is nothing else to do but wait, though. At least SHIELD has been more than understanding about letting her husband back in to watch and wait as well.
*
Mickey threw a fit when she couldn't come, even though Daniel assured her that they would call so she could talk to her mother. While he was allowed in the SHIELD labs, he doubted an almost-six year old would be. He made sure to call the nanny and speak to Mickey every hour while the girl was awake but he didn't bother her after bedtime. Pity the nanny who had to put the child to sleep that night.
A chair was set up next to Peggy's bed and Daniel was up and down…pacing, dozing, calling into the deparment and taking care of what business he can focus on. When he feels satisfied that the business is taken care of, he settles back at her side. Waiting.
He'll wait as long as he needs to.
*
It's a bit strange, Peggy doesn't look *quite* so ridiculously pregnant as she should. At this point, she should be big as a house, but it's like barely a few weeks have gone by, not two months. Still, the doctors did give quiet reassurances that everything seemed fine, other than the fact that the captives were still asleep. Maybe it was a strange blessing — she wasn't kept starving or half maddened in a cell where she could be fighting to get out every day. Those stasis chambers had been oddly peaceful, as captivity goes.
It's well into the middle of the night, when most of the staff has gone home and left instructions to call if Sousa needs anything, when the faint sound of her slow breath alters in the room. Not quite wide awake yet, but breathing a touch quicker, her head beginning to stir.
*
Sousa has been pestering the doctors and nurses about Peggy's and the child's state of health and they've been reassuring him…but it hasn't let him relax. He's nearly asleep when the sound of Peggy's breathing picks up and she begins to move. Startling awake, he scoots his chair closer to the bed and reaches out to take Peggy's limp hand. He doesn't say anything to try and wake her up…he doesn't want to rush anything and put her in danger.
*
The feel of his familiar, strong palm around her slightly smaller, cooler fingertips, that's enough to make her stir more. And the scent of his cologne, or aftershave, whatever was that distant, faint, ever so very much him scent. Peggy could almost cry. Surely she was dreaming. Her fingertips tighten on his and she turns her head, tired eyes fluttering open to look up to him, staring quietly. It couldn't be real. He couldn't be here. "…N-no… no… they didn't get you too… did they? No… why are you here?" She asks, her voice strained, half frantic. Suddenly, several monitors are quite unhappy, for the spike of panic alone.
*
Sousa lurches up from his chair and stumbles closer to the bed. "Peggy….Shhh….Peggy, you're home. They found you…and you're home." He's trying so hard to stay strong for her, but it's been three months! They beat the odds on this one. This time. "You're safe. Breathe…please calm down." He looks to the door to see if any medical personnell are coming to check on the monitor noises.
*
It's late enough and most of the medical personnel are far enough that they aren't rushing in immediately. The brush of his fingeritps through her hair and his reassuring, strong words, they are enough to kill some of that panic which initially rose in her. Dark eyes flicker away from him towards the corners of the night-dimmed room. SHIELD. She'd recognize the base she helped build anywhere. Home. She was actually, probably home. She forces herself to take another deep breath, looking back to him…"Anne… Weaver… did they get Weaver back too?… last I remember, she… she was there. Something looked like her… If Anne Weaver has been around, she needs taken in, now. SHe's not who she says she is…"
*
Sousa sits on the edge of the bed rather than back in the chair. He's closer to her that way, at least, and he might be blocking the view into the hallway on purpose. "Anne Weaver? I don't know. Honestly, Peg, all I cared about was you. You've been gone for three months! I had to start…" and he can't finish that for a moment as a lump comes into his throat. Even as he continues, his voice is hoarse and he's blinking back tears, "…had to start thinking you might never come back…"
*
"…Three months…" Peggy suddenly goes quiet, hearing that, her eyes shooting a bit too wide. That is genuine shock on her face, and Peggy is not a woman who is normally shocked. For once, her mind isn't running ahead about them needing to arrest the fake Anne Weaver, or how to escape where she's clearly been saved from. She's just processing that time. "…No, it… it can't be that long. A week… maybe two. I was just in Geneva…" She went to Geneva the second week of November. Apparently, that was probably where the switch was made.
*
"It's nearly the end of January," Sousa explains quietly. "You went to Geneva three months ago. Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone. Mickey has her dog…" he had to. Without Peggy there, he had to do -something-. "She named him 'Cookie'." A hand lifts to brush some hair from her forehead, "But you're home now. You have to rest though because I guess you were sort of…frozen or something." Now she and Steve Rogers have something else in common.
*
Fitz leaves, heading towards SHIELD HQ [O].
*
Fitz has left.
*
She tilts her head, just slightly, into the brush of his fingertips across her forehead. Peggy's eyes flicker shut, breathing out slow, trying to still calm herself from the panic of waking up like this, reassure herself that she's not dreaming. This is all real. Her hand with the least wires comes up, wrapping across her still rather round stomach. Protective, firm. "…F-fine… I feel… I'm fine. God, Daniel… I… I'm so sorry. I didn't… I can't believe I missed the holidays. I'm so sorry…" She whispers quietly, guilt heavy behind her voice.
*
Sousa shakes his head and gives a little smile, "Of all the things, Peggy…I'm just glad you're home. And you and the baby are okay. We saved all your presents and froze some cookies." Hoping. Always hoping. "Inez and the boys came down…Pai came with them. We made sure to take a lot of pictures," so it won't be as if she missed a thing. "It wasn't your fault. You have nothing to apologize for…" now that he knows she was kidnapped by aliens.
*
Just another inch or so to turn her head and she tilts her lips up, kissing against his wrist. Loving. Completely unaware of the fight, his resignation, anything that happened except for the fact that she's been missing. It would be perfectly natural that he is here in SHIELD, so she doesn't even think to ask. "…I'm still sorry. I should have seen the signs sooner… Anne Weaver was… odd. Her pushing for that damned prison. I… I should have realized. Never went into that elevator with her. Fought harder. I… I don't know. I'm just sorry and I don't know how… how to fix this."
*
"I'm the one who should apologize. I should have realized that it wasn't you sooner. When -you- pushed for that prison, and then our fight…" but she doesn't need to know all the details right now. "I knew it wasn't you when you went a week without seeing Mickey." Or that something was up. When Peggy didn't talk to him at all in that time, his suspicions were increased. "It's not your's to fix. You just have to rest and get your strength up and then you can go back to work. Agent Coulson has been running things…let him continue while you rest." He leans in then for a light kiss. He's showing incredible emotional restraing as SHIELD isn't a place to let his feelings out. Not now.
*
A softer smile betrays her pale, lacking make up features. Peggy Carter never went out without lipstick, it was like her battle armor, so laying there unpainted and cool to the touch, she looks like she's far closer to death than she'd been in a while. SHe returns the kiss tenderly, though, letting it linger for another few moments. "…God, poor Mickey. Come. Help me up. I need to get out of here, go home with you… You said the doctors said I was fine, yes? Help me get these things off." Peggy mutters, motioning towards the wires and monitors on her.
*
Sousa gently tries to push her down, "Not a chance. You're awake and you're alive and that's 'fine' right now. I don't know what they might have done to you and we need to make sure that you and the baby are fine. I wanted them to take you to a Hospital, but they insisted you were fine here and I can't argue anymore." Not with that. "I only have so much clout I can pull as your husband." He isn't going to let her get up if he has to stay in her little room with her. "Mickey will be here in the morning to see you."
*
Peggy stares up at him, looking very much like she would want to argue, but she's not certain she really has a foot to stand on right now. She sighs quietly, leaning her head into his touch once more, "…I… just want my bed, Daniel. I want to go home and go to bed with you… and wake up, get breakfast with Mickey. I… I just want my life back. I feel fine. Trapped. Tired. Stir crazy, but fine. Please… if the doctor says I can go, let's go home?" Peggy apparently isn't going to *argue* tonight, she's going to plea.
*
"-If- the doctors say you can, then fine. But I'm betting they're going to want to keep you here for a little bit. And even if you come home, you are -resting-. Not coming back to work until the doctors say you can." Because he knows his wife, Sousa is going to lay down ground rules. "Peggy, you know that even if you were missing an arm and a leg, if you could, you'd say that you felt 'fine' and would get up and continue. Sorry, madame, but I don't believe you." It is said with a smile, at least, as if he was expecting this sort of reaction. In fact, he's rather relieved by it. -This- is HIS Peggy.
*
The dark haired woman gives him a little huff, a mocking, loving glare as he tries to lay down those rules. "Well, I'm *not* missing an arm and leg. I'm stiff from laying down god knows how long, I miss my bed, and I'm hormonal. I think that all deserves a ride in a car and curling up in my own damn bed, thank you very much." Yes, it's definitely his Peggy, and she's getting ready to stubborn up as much as she needs until she gets her way.
*
"You," Sousa counters as he goes to tuck Peggy into the bed a little better, "Are a woman who is eight months pregnant…or should be…" he glances at her belly, "And has been in some sort of frozen stasis for the last three months. We don't know how or if you've eaten or had anything to drink…we don't know what it did to the baby. So no, until they say it's fine, you're not going home, Peggy. I'm sorry."
*
Definitely not 8 months pregnant by the look of her. She might be a touch larger than when she disappeared, but no where near what she should be. But then, the pods did have their vital signs completely still. This is why the scientists were so wary about waking them, not wanting to end up with dead bodies, or bodies in shock. It seems they did it fine, but the pods may have been some sort of true stasis. "…And it's not been *three* months. If it's late January…it's been two. Two and a half, really… not three. Nor…do I think I'm quite eight months along, dear… The last I remember, this is how I looked.. just going on six." PEggy gives a bit of a smirk, "Not that I would complain about having slept through two months, if that was possible…"
*
"It was still too long and you should be going on eight." He remembers how big she was when they fought and this isn't too different. "If everything was paused, you're going to be pregnant longer…" which does concern him. Could it have hurt the baby? She seems fine, but no idea about the unborn child. Sousa settles back into his chair, "I'll stay here all night so both of us will be uncomfortable. How about that?"
*
A touch of a huff there, one hand coming up to rub gently over her eyes, even if she has to be careful not to jar too many wires. "…I hate this. I feel like Frankenstein's monster…" Peggy mutters quietly, but she at least isn't putting up a fight about getting out of here any longer. "And…is it really being pregnant longer if I don't really…Remember any of that time? From everything I recall, I'm…exactly as I should be. Just in this damned bed and not my home." Yes, she's going to be grumpy about that all night.
*
"Considering that the baby is due in March and might be born now in May? I think that's for longer even if you don't remember it." Sousa moves the chair even closer to the bed so that he can have physical contact with his wife while she sleeps. "Well, I'm in this 'damned chair' and not our home, so we're even. At least Mickey will be getting good sleep." He leans over to place a kiss on her hand, "Rest up, Grumpy. Maybe you can sweet-talk the doctors better than you could me." Oh, he missed this. The last conversation he had with the woman he believed to be his wife was that blow-up fight, and that just didn't sit right. This does. Even with everything, this feels right.
*
A little groan escapes her lips as he comments about May. "No…I refuse. I'll serve an eviction notice." Peggy grumbles towards her stomach. May seemed so long off in compare, even if she didn't have memories of the last few months. She turns her head once more, leaning up to try and steal a kiss from the corner of his mouth, something about her softening at that motion alone. She had missed him too. "…I want you here but… one of us should get a good night's sleep. Mickey shouldn't be alone. Go… go home. I'll be along as soon as they allow me…" She whispers against the scruff of his jaw.
*
Sousa isn't going to disallow that kiss. Not at all. She gets kisses whenever she wants right now. He's just so relieved that she's beaten the odds. "You can't get rid of me that easy, Mrs. Sousa," it felt so nice to say that to her. "She has the nanny staying with her overnight. Work knows where I am if they need me," and he was given permission to give them a number to call to reach him, "and the Nanny will be bringing Mickey by in the morning to visit. We're fine."
*
A slight sigh escapes her lips and, while she wants to be stubborn about it all, she's tired and she doesn't want him gone. So, finally, Peggy just nods gently to him. "fine… fine. Now… I shouldn't be tired, but I am. We both are. Here… I'm not that big yet, crawl in. I'll take anyone's head who complains…" Peggy shifts slightly to the side, trying to make just enough room for him in the bed. Even if it meant they'd be curled around each other, it would help
*
There's a dubious look as Peggy tries to make room for him in the small bed…one of them may end up on the floor and it will probably be him. But it -has- been almost three months and he certainly wouldn't mind being able to finally hold her "Promise not to strangle me with those lines?" he's familiar with hospital beds even though it's been a while. Getting to his feet, he limps over to get on the bed and slide into the narrow space next to her. "I'd be more worried about blackmail material."
*
"…Sod them all. Every person in this building would know better than to blackmail me. I'd be able to get so much on them in the blink of an eye." Peggy grumbles quietly, though her voice is already getting tired as well. It's clear she's still drained, the pressure of just waking up after so long has been an exhausting experience. SHe shifts her arm up so he can get into the bed without pressing any wires, and then lets her limb sink down to rest around his shoulders so he can curl up against her in the small bed. It was tight, but they'd make do. She turns her head, pressing one last kiss to his temple. "…I love you. I… I'm sorry, again."
*
It might not be so comfortable for either of them, but Sousa isn't going to fight too much about this. It's not a battle he needs right now. He's also exhausted, having waited and waited and waited for this moment. Wrapping his arm carefully about Peggy's baby-wide waist, he rests his cheek against her hair, "I love you too. And I'm sorry we couldn't find you sooner. I tried…"
*
"I…I can't believe you found me at all. It happened. I'm back. I'm fine. That's…that's all that matters, now. Let's try to forget it ever happened…" Peggy whispers quietly, turning her head to tuck in against his throat. SHe sinks her arm over his and allows her eyes to close. It won't be too much longer before her breath evens out again, tucked as close and warm against him as possible.