(no subject)

[shootingshields]

Peggy shuts the door behind her with a sigh, leaning against it with mild fatigue but she’s smiling gently. “Josephine finally fell asleep. It took the German, French and English rendition of ‘Three Blind Mice, but she’s sleeping soundly.”

She pushes away from the door and walks over to the bed where Steve is perched at the edge, a book idly in hand. She pauses to read the title, and then lifts it from his hands, setting it on the nightstand before coming back over. “You’ve read it already,” she says lightly, sliding off her robe and laying it neatly over the back of a chair, leaving her in a simple nightgown.

She sits beside him and takes his hand in hers, dropping her head against his shoulder. “I hope Sarah and Rose weren’t much trouble.” There may or may not be an implication on how deeply they were sleeping.

Comments

[usavatar]

Steve sits down on Sarah's other side, Josephine in his lap. He tangles his fingers in Rosalie's hair gently, keeping Josephine in place with his other hand.

"I promise you, sweetheart, whatever it is, you won't scare us by telling."

Rosalie shifts to nest her cheek against Peggy's side. "I don't want to."

"Sometimes talking about it makes it less scary." He lifts Josephine over his head one-handed until she squeals, before settling her back into his lap.

[shootingshields]

"Everyone has bad dreams, love," Peggy says gently, leaning down to kiss the top of her head once again, then hunching over to look her daughter in the eye. "Your father and I talk about ours quite often."

They're of a different caliber, but they do.

Sarah moves to whisper in her sister's ear, expecting no one can hear her, but it's still audible to both Steve and Peggy. "I promise you'll be okay, Rose. Mama and Papa will protect you, and I will, too."

Rosalie keeps her face and body pressed tightly against Peggy, but she takes a quiet, tentative look around at her parents and sister. Josephine starts to babble, but it's a little less exuberant than normal; she reaches over and lightly bops Rosalie on the head twice, then coos.

[usavatar]

"You disappeared," she finally says. Rosalie rests her cheek against Peggy again, reaching out blindly with one hand until Steve wraps and arm around Sarah to take Rose's fingers gently in his own. "You were gone. You were both in that plane, the one that Uncle Howard found daddy in, but he didn't find you, and it was me and Sarah and Jo, and you were gone."

Tightness presses in around Steve's lungs. He's had enough dreams like that himself, waking up with a cry kept silent so his daughters won't hear it, pressing close to Peggy until the chill he still sometimes recalls fades from his bones.

"We're right here," he says, and is glad public speaking has trained him into controlling his voice, when he tries. He gives her hand the tiniest, gentlest squeeze. "We're not going anywhere."

"But you could." It's not an accusation, even coming from a four year old. "You could go on a mission and not come back."