“hi, daddy!” little peggy is surprisingly calm for the near-death encounter she just had with a red dodge charger on the street in front of her house. in her hands, she’s holding the rainbow kickball that she chased out here, smiles up at steve with a confident, gap-toothed grin as the driver exits, tripping over apologies and concern for the little girl. peggy raises her arms to be lifted up, kisses steve’s cheek reassuringly. “it’s okay, daddy. i stopped it!”
WELL, THIS IS ONE WAY TO DISCOVER A MUTATION.
steve just wishes that this hadn’t been the way. he wishes he hadn’t just lost several years of his life witnessing his daughter very nearly get hit by a car, can’t help but feel an incredible sense of guilt for allowing it to happen ( how could he possibly explain this to his husband ? say, babe, our kid might have super strength ! i let her run in front of a car, and she just stopped it in its tracks ! )
and even then, he still wishes that bucky were home, because he’s about a hot second away from a panic attack and he’s certain the last thing this driver needs is to witness the retired former captain america getting ready to cry over his super strong daughter.
he tries not to look so pained ( like he’s the guy behind the wheel ) as he picks peggy up into his arms, holds her closer than he’s ever held her before, because next time he might not be so lucky. next time he’ll blink and something worse will happen to her.
her middle name is sarah, for his mother, and it’s fitting. peggy is just like steve, almost cut from the same cloth even if they aren’t related by blood ; and steve has always been just like his mother, and she was one of the strongest people he’d known before tuberculosis took her from him.
a few years down the road, steve knows this means she’ll want to make a bigger difference in the world. she’ll want to stand up against the bullies, too, even if the bullies are aliens from an entirely different galaxy, or bad people from a different dimension.
his and bucky’s nurturing have raised a girl who is exactly like the both of them, and by extension she’s just like his mother, and that means that steve knows he won’t be able to stop her. he would be a hypocrite if he did.
he holds her that much tighter because it hits him that she’s going to grow up and get thrown into a world where she could very much get hurt, and he wishes desperately that the three of them could stay this way, this age, forever.
“ —— you did ! ” he finally musters the strength to say, presses a careful kiss to her temple. he shoos the driver away after the umpteenth apology, doesn’t have the emotional strength to hear it one more time, hardly has enough to assure him for the umpteenth time that he’s the one who’s sorry, and did the car sustain any damage ?
for almost hitting a child, though, that driver was right to decide to cut and run.
“ i’m so glad you’re safe, honey, ” steve continues once the driver has driven away, is quiet, almost sounds tired, like the way he’d sound after crying, even though he’s still withholding his tears. “ next time, make sure you look both ways across the street, okay ? we don’t want the drivers to get hurt, either. ”
he turns, makes way for their house, carries little peggy’s ball beneath his other arm.
“ let’s go and get you cleaned up, okay ? dad will be home soon. ” @nevertame