Back to You [An Endgame Continuation]

Long Nights

The following song is accurate for Peggy and Steve in quite the number of ways.. XD. Also, matching title haha 🤘🏻(Thanks for 1.5k!!) XxLauren_Luv

§Ｌｏｎｇ Ｎｉｇｈｔｓ§
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
p.o.v: Peggy

I rubbed at my eyes for the third time as I walked downtown to my apartment, the moon eclipsed by the clouds and barely giving any reflected sunlight. This was usually a time when I would be on high alert, but now all I could think about was how warm my bed was going to feel when I got home.

It was nearly midnight by the time we were all cleared to leave for the night. We had spent hours answering questions and authorizing articles to be released to different newspapers, all fighting over the breaking news that was sure to get to Washington by morning. The lie Howard had come up with seemed to sell quite well, and part of me wished that was the truth instead of what Steve had told us in the interrogation room. If what he said was true, we could possibly have an epidemic within SHIELD on our hands.

As the day wore on endlessly, I noticed the way Steve answered the questions with his head held up by his hand and his eyes frequently closing halfway in fatigue. When I asked him about it, he waved it off and blamed it on the long train ride, but a different reason tugged at my heart. Had my engagement truly wounded him to exhaustion?

"I can't imagine," I said to myself as I walked down the darkened sidewalk. He must think I moved on from him within a blink of an eye, and I yearned to tell him just the opposite was true.

The last stage of grief took the longest. I kept imagining similar circumstances like this, where he would show up back in my life and things would pick up just as we'd left them. We'd go to the Stork Club at 8:00 on the dot just like he promised; we'd resume our relationship, this time without the burden of war. But it never happened. The dreams I had of him in my sleep never turned out to be real, and I eventually accepted that they would only ever be that. Dreams.

So why would it be, after I moved on, that this would happen? Maybe it was a punishment for moving on in the first place. Was I wrong to do so? I sighed as my mind ran in circles. I was surprised I was still standing as overwhelmed as I was.

I fished around for my keys in my purse, habitually checking around me before looking down. The stairs leading up to my apartment almost did it in for me, so when I entered the cool dim apartment, I threw my purse and keys on the table to try to rid myself of the extra weight. I reached up to grab a glass and was filling it with water from the sink when someone grabbed me from behind.

"Boo!" I heard in my ear as I jumped out of my skin, nearly throwing the water behind me. "'Bout time you're home."

Arms tightened around my waist, and I smelled the familiar aftershave. "Oh my God, do you really think it's wise to come up behind someone like that?" When he chuckled into my neck, my nose scrunched at the alcohol on his breath. "What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be back this soon."

"What, a man can't come see his fiancé?" He asked in bewilderment as he swayed me from side to side. "I got back early so I came here, waiting for you to come home so I could..." He moved my hair to the side and began planting little kisses on my neck.

"Dan- Daniel," I said as he held me. "I've had a very long day."

"Really," he said onto my skin. "Well you can tell me all about it afterwards."

My eyes looked to the ceiling as he played this joke again. I detached myself from him and turned around. "I'm serious. Besides, you know we can't-"

"I know," he interrupted honestly, a smile forming on his face. His short black hair was in disheveled curls. "I just like talking like we can." He took in my face, and became alarmed at the intense tiredness that plagued my features. "Geez, you weren't kiddin' about that long day, huh?"