uprightness | ɪᴄ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀᴄᴛ

[ -- he's too sweet, she decides. too obliging. and when she tears the paper (despite its care and artistry) she does so knowing that whatever's inside this box will be something chosen -- or made -- with just as much care. indeed, she can tell immediately that the flowers are his handiwork.

balancing the box against the flat of her palm, she touches the tips of two fingers to her lips. ] Steve, [ she says his name with feeling. almost as though she's about to scold him for the lengths he's taken. ]

They're beautiful.

[ and this is why she'd wanted to leave her gift and flee. she isn't good at this part -- the part where she's overwhelmed with feelings. ]

[ it's all that much easier when one can shop for presents but steve actually prefers putting work into his, making it into a project of a sort. He watches her expression, the press of fingers to lips. His voice softens, his words are quiet, kept between them. ]

Happy Christmas, Peggy.

-- They almost look too fine to use.

[ almost. except peggy isn't the kind of woman who puts china up on the shelf and refuses to touch it. things exist to be used, not to be treasured into redundancy. she steps past him and sets the box on the foot of her bed so she can pluck one single cup from where it's nestled. ]

Luckily, only almost.

[ he gestures towards the cup that's currently being held between her fingers. ]

Christmas breakfast tea?

Depends. [ a clearing of her throat. ] Are you planning to make the breakfast, too?

[ because peggy doesn't cook. ]

[ one thing he did learn, there is only one right answer to question like these, ]

Well, we got enough stuff from the hotel to make sure it won't be the usual sort.

[ meaning, protein in different shapes and acquired tastes. ]

At least it takes some of the sting from being less a cook, now.

I admit, I bought as much food as the fridge could take. Maybe some of it will last after we leave this place - it'll make up for us not having a cook.

[ though his frown indicates that he's nearing the point of saying 'to hell with it' and taking the duty onto himself. ]

[ she sees that look on steve's face. her head tilts -- almost shakes. as though she's prepared to use captain privileges and put her foot down. it doesn't quite occur to to ask whether he'd enjoy that duty. after all, it's not as though tending the starstruck's security is a 24/7 responsibility. ]

No. [ she hesitates. ] I can see your thoughts as plain as day on your face, Steve.

Having one person in charge of the kitchen will at least make sure all the supplies are kept in check, it makes sense.

[ evidently, the first strategy is reasoning with her on that front. ]

It makes tremendous sense. [ but she still appears unyielding. if only because it's an inefficient assignment. steve's handy enough in the kitchen, but he already has his occupation on the starstruck. and unlike others, he isn't quite so in desperate need of a distraction.

coolly: ] Talk to Wanda. See if she's interested. She could use a diversion.

Wanda.

[ he nods, looks aside for a moment. of everything that's been happening, Wanda worries him the most. ]

We're not really on the same page as we used to be, anymore.

[ or else, they're exactly on the same place as they've been when they took her away from Sokovia. Only, so much time has passed since then. Time which seems to have been entirely forgotten. ]

[ with christmas duties dispensed with, peggy allows a more business-like tone to take over her voice. ]

I can speak to her, if you like. I've never been on anyone's same page. [ save for howard during his brief stay. ]

It's not her fault. I think they did something.

[ he moves a hand back, gestures to his augment. ]

I think they might have done something to her memories. It's - she's one been one way and suddenly it's all seems to be -

[ gone. ]

[ a puff of her cheeks. peggy nods. ]

Have they removed some? She doesn't look much younger. [ in her experience, 'younger' has always been the most common adjustment. ]

More than a few.

[ he admits. it's unsettling, how simple it all seems to be, taking away memories and experiences. ]

She's not really much of an Avenger as far as remembers. She forgot - we're still.

[ but then, he never really told her, has he? ]

She spent some time fighting against the Avengers. She's not there but she's not - it's a truce.

[ not a friendship. ]

[ a shake of her head. a wave of her hand. steve doesn't have to tell her, because wanda had already done much of the telling. peggy sucks in a deep breath and asks the question he's avoiding answering: ] HYDRA?

HYDRA created Wanda's powers but I doubt if they could touch her again. Her powers are - very few of us can hold our own against her. HYDRA's people wouldn't have been able to come near her. Maybe they thought it'll be interesting. They already turned Bucky against us all once, why not Wanda.

[ it's a good thing she wasn't in a hostile mood. The Winter Soldier can wreck havoc but Wanda Maximoff is a whole other thing. ]

A good thing it hasn't worked. She may not be a friend but she's not an enemy.

Not unless the Atroma wants her to be. [ a stern reminder. bucky might have had a convenient switch inside his programming -- easily toggled, compared to the rest of them. but that doesn't disqualify any of them from being used in that fashion. not wanda. not peggy. not steve himself.

peggy wonders if he realizes it. ]

If they wanted her to attack us, she already would have done it and very few would have seen her coming.

[ the nightmares are a part of Wanda's powers that she stopped using after Sokovia. Her training has never included that particularly skill for a reason. All the Avengers were shaken by it and truthfully, Steve hoped never to see it used against another person again. ]

She took down most of our team without so much as breaking a sweat.

-- How?

[ christmas bloody morning be damned. peggy carter sets her personal self aside. she would never approach wanda herself with such an abrupt interrogation. certainly not about her own powers. but she spares steve the kid gloves. ]

Her powers. She can move things with her eyes but there was more to them. She could make people see things. I don't really understand it.

[ it hit them far worse than they imagined it would, back in the day. ]

I'd call them dreams. She could plant them in people's heads. One moment you'd be once place and the next.

[ a whole other. Truth was, none of them had spoken about it since that day. ]

She can see them, too. Made it easier for her to understand people's weakness, I guess. Their fears.

[ good lord. she knew about the telekinesis. the manipulation of forces all around her. but this is a new dimension to those powers. it reminds her of the calibration rooms, months and months ago. it had been in those dreams (or nightmares) where she first realized she and wanda knew the same man. ]

It takes a great deal of trust to work on a team with someone with those sorts of abilities.

Sometimes I think Wanda is the most powerful of us all.

[ and probably she is, if she managed to take down Thor. There's Vision, of course and Steve can't guess the balance of powers between them but as for the rest. ]

The things she can do with her mind, none of us can really come close but for all those powers, she's a kid. She's just scared.

[ especially now. ]

I'll ask her. You're right. It'll be good for her. I've no idea what they did with her memories or what they want to achieve with it but we'll just have to make new ones.

-- Having the kitchen to focus on might be good for her. [ ... ] I've caught her cooking in there, before. Meals from home. Maybe something relaxing like that will help her with her memories.