[ it's...brave, really. for either of them to trust their happiness with someone whose path they were thrust into because of someone else's schemes and machinations. although peggy wonders whether trust remains too strong a word for it, given the pain and the structural damage the relationship has received. the first word remains the best word: healing.

her fingers lace briefly with jane's. and the corners of her mouth lift into a smile -- one that stays, half-cocked, even as she frees her hand to better look at a tattoo she's only glimpsed corners of under sleeveless shirts jane might have worn around the room. ]

It's a reliability that thrives beyond romance. [ and it might be the closest thing to a compliment she might ever pay to kurt weller for a long long time. ] I suppose we can't choose how we meet the important people in our lives. But we can, ideally, decide what to make of those meetings.

[ is her deep-set love for steve rogers at all diminished because he'd been something of a project to her, first? hardly. she'd known the man's personnel file long before she knew his eyes -- eyes that had stayed the same, she'd noted, before and after the serum.

peggy's chin dips. ]

You know, I'm not certain I'd handle it with half as much grace. [ she taps the device, inadvertently zooming in. ] Having some man's name tattooed on my skin. No matter how much I might care for him.

[ but she will (perhaps) name an agency in his honour. ]