[ a well-founded gamble, yes, but peggy can see the mechanics of it and there is no surprise that she finds herself feeling a touch belligerent. heeding the human element, such as it is, is precisely the crowning lesson she'd taken from her war career. and so far the pair of them have been doing a decent job of avoiding an inevitable clash over what amounts to a fundamental difference in how they cope with the issues presented to them. peggy chews over that difference now, trying to keep rip's human element in mind when the urge rises (once again) to speak off the cuff.

rather than comment on the quality of her family's character, peggy tries to pull herself back into the present conversation. her mouth opens, she thinks about explaining that sharon claims to be her brother's granddaughter, but soon second-guesses that instinct. it's childish to look for sympathy -- especially at crossroads like this one -- and the reality is simply that peggy is bone-tired of dead men turning out to be anything but. the novelty, the joy, the relief has all but worn off.

what's been left behind is a muddled confusion that she has done her best to compartmentalize. sharon is indelibly tangled into that confusion -- a great-niece that, by all accounts, shouldn't exist. peggy would rather not open that compartment and dump its contents into this one, the one housing her and rip's arrangement. ]

You're saying what I want to hear. [ which doesn't make it any less accurate, unfortunately. which makes it all the more difficult when she overcomes her anger just to glance at him and add, earnestly: ] Cheers.

Not that I'd even know how to mollycoddle her. It's -- been difficult to get along. I'm not what she expected.

[ the same could be said for tony except she knows how to navigate parts of tony thanks to a long-standing expertise in navigating tony's father. peggy has no edge with sharon; merely a chasm of unmet expectations. ]