"You're telling me that you got Captain America-the War Hero, Steve Rogers-to become best friends with a thirteen-year-old kid? What, is this supposed to slowly introduce him to how irritating Generation Z is? Project Training Wheels or something?"
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Thursday, Lizzie's only break of the week, ended up becoming the day that she braved up and had Sharon drop her off at Sunrise Senior Living retirement home. They had yet to stop and see their Aunt Peggy since moving, aside from when they arrived in D.C. and helped her rearrange her new room to her liking. From then on, the Carter girls stayed away. Not purposefully, but every attempt they made to go see her ended up with something else jumping in the way instead. Lizzie hated herself for it, but what she hated even more was the guilt in not wanting to step into the room at all. She was dreading the moment she would have to walk in see her aunt laying there in such a vulnerable state. Peggy Carter did not give up, and Lizzie wasn't ready to see her in a position that forced her to.
There was a nurse at the front who helped sign her in, and she quietly muttered the name of her aunt as not to disturb the group of senior citizens playing chess in the corner. Everyone had yet to figure out the reason why Aunt Peggy was insistent on being close to the HQ of S.H.I.E.L.D. so far away from the strains of her family spread out across different continents. She could have found a place in New York, or London, or anywhere but here. Lizzie had bets that it was her hoping Steve would come see her. As far as she knew, he still hadn't come face-to-face with her yet.
Aunt Peggy never pushed him after his return. None of the Howling Commandoes did. Lizzie had been there the day that Sharon came home with her last year when word of Captain America's survival was all over the news. By that point, the Alzheimer's had reached its first stage and she had to quit working. That didn't stop her from rushing to figure out everything she could about his return. Through everything, though, she never once overstepped the boundary of reaching out to him first. That was something Lizzie would always admire her for.
Walking into her aunt's room on that Thursday morning, she found that that admiration did not die one bit. It did, however, morph into a sick feeling when she saw how frail Aunt Peggy looked laying in the facility's bed. Lizzie felt oddly frustrated, knowing that she did not deserve to be in a place like this―she was Peggy Carter. Through the wide range of emotions that hit her upon entrance into the room, the one that stuck was a growing happiness. She missed her aunt. There was so much she didn't realize she wanted to talk to her about until then.
