"Aislin! Turn on your transponder, Stark can track you - "

“I’m sorry, Peg. Not this time. Tell you what though, if I make it, I’ll take you dancing.”

"You better. Next Saturday at the Stork Club. Eight o' clock sharp. Don't you dare be late."

“We’ll get them to play something up beat. I’ll swing you around,” Aislin laughed. Maybe a little weakly. 

The ticking stops. Aislin tightens the field. 

"Aislin - " she says, choking.

-- the world freezes around Aislin, the explosion centimetres from consuming her.

Aislin keeps her hands up for a moment, thinking that maybe she was somehow doing this-

-but then she sees the fox. She frowns. "Okay..." She spins on the spot. The flames of the explosion are incredibly close but not coming any closer. And she seems to be the only thing in the room moving. "Peggy?" She calls to the radio, not really able to see if it was intact.

"You can keep trying, if you want. Not going to do much. Also, I'm a jackal. So much cuter than a fox."

"Particular about that, are you?" Aislin stares the little creature down. She refuses to be intimidated by a talking jackal. Not when she is everything that she is. "Why have you frozen time around me?"

"Would you rather be dead instead?"

"I think you'll find I expected to be dead. This is unusual." 

"Unusual times for unusual people. You are very unusual. Interesting too."

"You say that like you've never seen a girl blessed with incredible power working for the US Military."

"Maybe I'm new. Maybe I was travelling the multiverse and came across you and was like 'Oh, that's neat.'"

"Multiverse." Aislin scoffs. 

"And now you've saved me, momentarily. What's your next move? Confuse me to death? The bombs would do a quicker job."

"That's not really my style. Not in this continuity, anyway. I was more thinking of pushing the plot forward a little bit. Maybe around... sixty-ish years?"

"What plot? What the fuck are you talking about?"

Aislin lost one of the loves of her life, and her other one just listened to her die over the radio. Or nearly die, whatever. This was beginning to make her want to tear her hair out.

"Just imagine you're a character in a play. Either your story can end here... or you could jump ship into another one altogether. Is that clear enough for you?"

"You can't just...I don't know, jump me back to London? Or Brooklyn?"

"That's really not how this works. Not really narratively pleasing either."

"What's not narratively pleasing about reuniting a girl with the woman she loves?"

"Boring. Not enough drama and angst for me. And don't you want to be reunited with -- oh. That's spoilers. Don't want to ruin the big twist."

"So this is what you do? Jumping around between people's lives, deciding to help only when it interests you? And then you put conditions on that help?"

"Who said there were any conditions? I'm only offering you what I can offer. I'm not all-powerful."

Aislin was quiet for a moment, and lowered her head. 

"So, I'm saved from the explosion, but I lose 60 years."

"You're not really losing. You're gaining it, if anything."

Despite everything, she did want to live. She'd already said goodbye to Peggy, she supposed. It wouldn't really make a difference if she was dead or further ahead in time.

There was just- there were things Aislin knew she still had left to do. 

"I'll just-"

A swirl of bright light, and then a smaller, sicklier version of Aislin stood there.

"All right."

A large gold portal appears beside her, inside it is a swirl of inky blackness. Shining stars. Exploding suns.

"Punch my sibling in the face for me, won't you?"

-- and a sudden force sucks her in, blacking out her senses, spinning her around and around and --

Aislin barely manages to find her feet, once the 'force' spat her out. 

Christ. What the fuck was that?

" - Aislin?"

They're in a room. Creamy golden walls, soft sunlight filtering through light curtains, black binders with esoteric labels on bookcases, a desk piled with papers that Peggy is standing up from behind.

!!!

"Peggy!?"

She flashes into her magical girl raiment - not too different from the army uniform for women - and senses -

"It's you, it's been sixty years - " She leaps over the desk to wrap Aislin in a hug. "What happened?"

"God, I don't even know where to start." Aislin hugs Peggy as hard as her skinny, non-magical body can. "I was just in the plane, Peg."

Hugs! Healing exists if Aislin gets bruised. Which she probably will.

"You cut off in the explosion - we never found a body - "

"That's because a talking jackal shot me through 60 years, to this exact moment. You never found a body because I never died."

"A talking jackal - there's been strange things I've heard of, but not that exact one..."

"It said it wanted to send me forward in time because that would be narratively interesting."

"So another asshole alien."

"Up to our tits in them, apparently."

"Like you wouldn't believe."

An older woman steps into the room and pauses.

"...is this a bad time? Did I miss something?"

"Angie - this is Aislin - she just reappeared - Aislin, this is Angie, my, well..."

It is a shock, certainly. For Aislin, it has been seconds since Peggy was begging her to find another way. 

But she is so, so happy for her. "Peg, you found love again?"

"Guess it depends on how you define love, I guess."

"Each of you is different. It - I love you both so much."

"Peggy-"

Aislin wraps her into her arms again.

Hugs!

"She has been taking care of you, right?" Aislin says, with very little heat, turning her head to smile at Angie.

A laugh, and, "She has. I'd only hope to return the favor."

"Could use a little more love and attention. But I'm old and I walk with a little limp. Pity me."

"You look like a woman to be feared, not pitied."

"Only when I'm hungry."

"Well, that sounds familiar." 

Aislin grins at Peggy. "You really can pick them, huh?"

"I," she says, "have excellent taste."

"If not particularly punctual ones."

"You got here eventually."

"I did, didn't I?"

Tighter hugs! "I'm going to have to get you caught up - so much has happened - you'll be so mad at some of it, so proud at others..."

"Peg, you've been teaching me shit since the day we met. I can't wait to hear everything."

She laughs. "So long as I can throw you to glare at some senators..."

"Oh, I am always up for yelling at politicians. You know me, fought like hell even before I could-"

A flash of light.

"-actually throw a punch."

"They won't know what's hit them."

Aislin flashed back to her smaller self. "Yeah, well, I wouldn't expect someone sixty years dead to punch me, either."

"Heh. Though getting you declared alive will be a headache... I'm tempted to keep you to myself for a while."

"You'll find me severely lacking in argument to that. For once."

"A day or three, maybe. I can take the time off. And then - we can face the world."

"That actually sounds really good. It's kind of hitting me now that I've...I've just come from the attack on HYDRA HQ."

"...I'll get the beer."

"Come on, sit down - let's get you comfortable."

Aislin gratefully sits down, feeling a weariness in her bones that probably comes from narrowly surviving death. 

She puts on soft music. Old music. That Aislin should know.

Aislin smiles softly. "I promised you something upbeat, didn't I?"

"We'll find a dance hall and do the lindy hop."

Aislin laughs. "I'll make sure I'm Cap for that. I don't think I'll be able to swing you around with these tiny arms."

"I'm sure you'll sweep me off my feet."

Aislin takes her hand. "It's pretty much all I ever wanted to do. You and-" 

"...Yeah." Squeeze. "God, it hasn't been long for you at all, has it?"

"Since the train? Two weeks."

Very tight hug.

Aislin leans into it gratefully. "But, hey! You got one of us back, at least."

" - I'd punch a god if it'd get me the both of you."

"Now you're definitely flirting with me."

"Heavens forbid I flirt with my girl."

"Mmm, a very serious crime, that." Aislin grins.

"Not anymore, actually. A lot's better."

"Wait, really?"

"I could kiss you on the sidewalk and not get in a lick of trouble."

Aislin laughs.

"Golly gosh, what are we waiting for, then?"

"Journalists have gotten a lot more annoying, but if you want a way to announce your return to the world..."

"Captain America returns to life, announces it by kissing her girl on the street? Can't think of a better way, frankly."

"I'll have to find a way to marry both of you."

For a moment, Aislin wants her back so badly, Peggy's idea putting that thought in her head so badly it aches-

But she shrugs it off, to grin at Peggy instead. "It's the future. Anything should be possible. Hell, I got saved by a talking jackal."

"Maybe jackals officiate marriages."

"Stranger things have happened. I imagine any wedding he officiates is space-legal too."

"That'd be something."

"Legally getting married here is incredible enough. Being space legal..."

"There's aliens, you know." She laughs.

Aislin laughs. "Of course there is! Just when I thought the weirdest thing was us."

"I'll get you read in on all that's been going on."

"It is going to be a change. But a good one, and I didn't leave anything behind that I'll miss."

Snuggly hug.

There's footsteps and the sound of someone stopping suddenly.

....Whoops forgot to mention the kid.

"Anwen, honey, this is Aislin. Aislin, my and Angie's daughter, Anwen."

...yeah she totally forgot to mention the kid thing, didn't she.

"Captain America?"

"Yeah. She - reappeared."

“Aw, Peg. You really have had a life, haven’t you?” She takes Peggy’s hand. “I’m sorry I’ve missed so much.”

She waves at Anwen. “Hi! It’s really good to meet you, Anwen.”

Anwen looks down at her, not really expressing much emotion beyond unimpressed.

"Mmm."

Angie comes in behind Anwen and rests a hand on her shoulder.

"She came this way. In all her glare-y and bean-pole ways. It gets charming eventually."

“I’ve always respected the power of a good glare,” Aislin laughs. 

"Anwen is a champion at it."

“Oh, I can definitely see that,” Aislin agrees, smiling at Anwen. 

To Peggy: "May I be excused?"

"Of course. We'll talk later, okay?"

Anwen nods, something peeking through -- fear, sadness, curiosity? -- and quietly leaves.

Oh. She was disrupting them. Disrupting Anwen's life. Guilt like cold ice crept into Aislin's stomach. 

"I didn't mean to upset her."

"I know you didn't. Angie and I will talk to her. See if we can't reassure her."

Aislin smiled a little grimly. "I can't imagine it's an easy thing to see, your mother's dead girlfriend turning up out of the blue."

"Yeah. We also... Haven't really had a third. Not while we've had her. There've been flings, but... Not anyone Anwen's expected to interact with."

"It's not to see that person as an interloper, if you're not ready."

"You're definitely not that, Aislin. I'm so glad you're here. Alive."

Probably more generous than Aislin deserves, but she wasn't going to argue.

She didn't exactly have much of a choice but to trust the jackal, after all. 

"Thank you, Angie. For that, and being here for Peg."

"I'm good for that, at least."

"You're good for a lot, Ang."

"Flatterer. Keep them coming. My ego can take it."

"I'm loathe to make your lovely head any bigger."

"Pretty sure that's impossible, love."

"Then I suppose telling you how wonderful you are won't worsen anything."

And she's blushing! Such blush.

Aislin smiles, tucking her knees under her chin.

"It appears I have excellent taste in girlfriends. Both of them."

"Never doubted your taste for a second. Laney and I were both definite catches."

Wow. The first time she's said her name in...well. Time is relative now, she supposes.

"You both really were." Tight sideways hug.

Aislin drops her head onto Peg's shoulder. 

"Not to sound terribly out of character, but I could use some sleep. I have just come from exploding a plane."

"Yeah. Let's get you set up."

"Thanks, Peg," she says on a sigh.

Peggy gets her into Peggy and Angie's own bedroom. "There's some things I should do to prepare the world for your return... But I can stay with you for a bit, if you'd like."

Aislin lays on the bed, smiling to herself. "I can remember having to wake up, or wake you two up, so that we'd be back in our own beds before someone saw. I'm glad that's not the case anymore."

She closes her eyes. "I won't keep you, if you need to do your work. But I won't say not to a big spoon."

"I can manage a lot from bed, nowadays." She goes to get her tablet, then curls around Aislin.

"...when I'm awake and functioning on more brain power, I am going to ask what that glowing rectangle is."

Snuggle. "I can probably even explain how it works."

She cuddles back into Peggy. "Later...when...brain," she says sleepily, waving a hand. 

Soft kiss on her head, and then quiet cuddle time.

Aislin's breaths even out, and even with the slight wheeze from her shitty lungs, she seems to be peacefully sleeping.

And Peggy gets to work on alerting and preparing SHIELD (and telling them to leave her alone until she alerts them otherwise).

Not much changes in Aislin before she wakes up. In fact, anyone who hadn't slept beside her wouldn't notice. 

But, her breathing wheezes harder, and there is a strong uptick in her pulse, and when she does open her eyes, she's frantically taking in the room. 

And Peggy's there, taking calmly to her. Helping ground her.

“Peg-“ Aislin says, and she sounds terrified.

"You're alive. You're here. I'm alive. Can you breathe with me?"

Aislin shudders against Peggy. "God....the things.....the things we did- saw- Laney-"

Tight hug. 

Her breath starts to catch, her lungs wheeze- asthma attack-

She shifts-

-and then Peggy’s arms are full of taller Aislin, and her breathing no longer hurts. 

She adjusts neatly to the change in cuddle angle. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asks, "Or find some kind of distraction?"

Aislin sighs, sadly. "I- I don't even know where to start. When everything was over, how did you-? I mean, did you? Talk?"

"You would've hated it. The war ended, and we shoved ourselves back into our little boxes, bottled everything up... I talked to Angie, eventually, but for a while I was - I didn't have anyone I trusted to talk to."

"No, how could you. No one would understand." She sighs into Peggy's collarbone. "I'm sorry. I tried to- the jackal wouldn't send me back. Like, a little."

Hug. "I know you tried, darling. I don't know if I should be mad at that jackal for separating us, or thankful he saved you..."

“Considering it was both- god. Pegs, yesterday we were saying goodbye, and now...now it’s been years.”

"It has." Cuddles. "We'll get through this, though, darling. We always have."

Aislin cuddles in close, just letting herself breathe. 

“So, uh. Does this future world have room for the former Captain America?” She jokes, weakly. 

"I always do. And people could use you still - there's so many fights still to have, politically or otherwise. You'd mean a lot at the head of a march."

"I'd feel a little bit like a war-time relic, being out in a march. Like a bayonet from the Civil War. They have you still doing missions?"

"Coordinating them, running intelligence, telling field agents what to do, mostly. Honestly, some civil rights thing or another would feel like a welcome break if my public relations agent wouldn't have a hissy fit."