Imagine Agent Carter

It's not so much that Colonel Phillips can't handle the Commandos as it is that they don't want him to.

The decision to grant her field command is an easy one for him. She's grieving and needs something to do, and so are they. And they respect her.

And she gives the best pep talks.

"All right, boys," she says briskly, rolling up her map. "Objective: explosions. Make some things blow up. Important things. I expect you lot will be good at it. Any questions?"

"No ma'am," grins Falsworth, saluting her. He looks like a child in a candy shop.

Things are busy for a long, long time after SHIELD falls. Sharon has to leave her apartment in DC - it's not safe anymore, not since it was on SHIELD's records. 

It's months later when she finally knocks on Steve's door. She's exhausted - hunting down the remnants of HYDRA is hard work - but she'd heard he was in the area, and she's planning to be here for a while.

"Hey," she says when he opens the door, brushing her hair out of her eyes. She really could use a shower, but it's too late for that. She knows there's dirt all over her face.

"Sharon," Steve says, surprised. "Hey, it's been a while. Are you okay? What brings you here?"

"I'm fine," she tells him, brushing off the concern. "I was just wondering - about that cup of coffee you offered me?"

He grins at her. "What's that gonna cost me this time?" he asks.

She pretends to consider it.

"The use of your shower," she tells him, giggling.

She runs her hands up and down the smooth mahogany of her desk in the director's office and takes a deep breath in.

"What's that I smell?" she remarks idly to Howard, who is tinkering with her computer system. He straightens up and inhales, frowning.

"I don't smell anything," he tells her. She smiles broadly at him.

"Respect," she says, taking a swig of her coffee. "Nothing like the smell of respect first thing in the morning. It's a nice change."

"Those boys at the SSR didn't know what they were missing," Howard says, chuckling.

Sharon’s classmates loved to hear her stories. The teachers, of course, never believed her. They would chastise her when they overheard stories of Aunt Peggy fighting with Captain America, and the Howling Commandoes getting up to no good in the camp. Telling not to make up lies, that people died for our freedom, not to make up stories to be popular.

Not that it stopped her.

She knew she was telling the truth. And all the teachers could take a hike if they didn’t believe her.

Wednesdays were show and tell. One of Sharon’s favourite days. This week, she had a surprise for everyone.

“And that is why Alice in Wonderland is my favourite book.”

“Thank you, Dylan,” Mrs Jones praised, “that was lovely.” Dylan sat back in his spot on the floor, clutching his well-loved copy of Alice in Wonderland to his chest.

Before Mrs Jones could say anything else, a knock on the classroom door interrupted her. A brunette woman, with red lipstick peered her head through the door, “sorry to interrupt,” her British accent sounded, “But, I’m here for show and tell.”

Mrs Jones, stunned into silence nodded her head, slowly.

The woman made her way to, sit on one of the tiny elementary school chairs at the side of where the children were gathered. Initial shock over, Mrs Jones cleared her throat and “so, who’s next?” Sharon’s hand was in the air faster than the speed of light, “Okay, Sharon.”

Sharon stood and proudly made her way to where Dylan had previously stood, smile on her face, “For my show and tell, I brought someone very special to me. This is my Aunt Peggy.”

Christmas day was one of Sharon’s favourite days of the year. Not for Santa, but because she would usually spend the day with her parents, Peggy and her kids.

When Sharon was younger, she had a fascination with Disney movies. The Jungle Book was her favourite, which Peggy bought her. Sharon would open a new Disney movie from Peggy, straight after Christmas dinner, everyone would sit in front of the TV to watch it.

Then came the board games. Monopoly, Game of Life, Mouse Trap. Sharon had all the classics.

One year, Sharon announced she wanted to be a doctor. In response, Peggy bought her a little doctor’s kit, complete with a stethoscope, blood pressure monitor, thermometer, reflex hammer, otoscope, even an eye drop bottle and little white coat.

As Sharon grew up, she learned more about Captain America and Peggy’s work for SHIELD and the SSR. This was when her fascination for Captain America and “secret agent stuff”, as Sharon put it, set in. Her first gift after this was an Action Man figure.

Sharon’s fascination never ended, though. As the years went on, Peggy bought her more and more to help her dream.

Martial arts lessons, shooting lessons, visits to army and SHIELD bases, fencing lessons.

Then came Sharon’s most prized possession.

Sharon never told Peggy she was joining SHIELD until after she had passed her training.

December 2007. A few days before Christmas was Sharon’s ceremony, celebrating her and her fellow trainees passing out.

Peggy looked on with pride lighting up her face. She gently rubbed a small engraved box in her hands.

She waited until the end of the day, once Sharon’s friends and family had left before she gave her the box.

Sharon carefully lifted the lift, tears welling in her eyes when she saw what was inside.

Peggy’s stripes, service medals, Sharon’s favourite drawings Steve Rogers had drawn, and Peggy’s SHIELD badge.

Sharon didn’t want to go on this date, but she promised Natasha. “He’s a great guy, you’ll love him,” she said. Her aunt was Peggy Carter, and she lived next door to him for months, of course she knew he was a great guy. She just wasn’t interested.

Who knows? Maybe things would change when they were out? Maybe they would hit it off? “Unlikely,” she muttered to herself, as she applied the last of her mascara.

Natasha had organised a picnic for her and Steve in Anacostia Park. She had told her the picnic will be ready for them at 13.00, under a tree by the river.

She checked her appearance in the floor length mirror one last time. She wore a pair of dark blue jeans with a white blouse, wedged heels, straightened hair, make up simple, yet elegant. She might not want to go, but this is the first date she’s had in a while. Might as well enjoy herself.

Training came a little easier to Sharon than most others. Growing up, Peggy had taught her how to fight, how to shoot, the basics of surveillance, how to act, questioning techniques. But, still, nerves filled her everyday. The thought of people finding out she was Peggy Carter’s niece made her worry.

Would people still accept her if they found her? Would they think she was only there because of her aunt?

So, she kept it quiet. Only Nick Fury knew.

As the weeks past, things remained the same. Up at six, train for most of the day, a few breaks in between, then dinner in the cafeteria, before relaxing in her room.

She would eat with people she was training with, chatting about who they thought was cute, what their training, families and friends back home, places they’ve been. Sharon would take part, of course, just never mentioning Peggy.

Time went on, and day by day, she questioned herself more about why she was keeping it a secret.

Sharon had worked just as hard as everyone else to get to where she was. She had to work even harder if she was going to stay in SHIELD and get the job she wants. Why should she keep her family a secret? Peggy didn’t just inspire her to join SHIELD, she inspired her to be a good person. The kind her Aunt Peggy and Captain America would be proud of.

They don’t actually make it on the way home from dropping Steve in the middle of an active war zone.

It’s not, in fact, until well after the war, after Howard has gotten Peggy to join him at SHIELD, that, at the end of a particularly grueling mission in western Germany, Howard surprises her at the airport to suggest a little detour.

Peggy is surprised a second time when, contrary to Howard’s usual panache, they end up paused outside a tiny hole in the wall restaurant accessible only via an entrance in a side alley far from the center of town.

"It may not look like much, but they have the best melted cheese in all of western Europe."

"Well, I should hope so."

He opens the door and a sweeping arm gestures for her to enter.  “Shall we?”

She graciously steps inside, and as they’re quickly seated at a corner table, Howard doesn’t even glance at the menu before immediately ordering two bowls of fondue and a bottle of their best red wine.

when you grow up going to american public school, the lingering question, the one everyone asks you from a very young age, is “what do you want to do when you grow up?”

they ask you when you start kindergarten and are learning about jobs. most of your classmates say they want to be a firefighter, or a doctor, or train horses, or dance in the ballet.

sharon says, “i want to be aunt peggy when i grow up.”

her teachers tell her that’s not a job, so she says, “then i want to do what my aunt peggy does. she keeps people safe.”

the answer doesn’t change for a long time. sharon’s grown up with aunt peggy as this awesome, larger than life character, and she unquestionably wants to be just like her when she gets older.

when sharon’s in high school, that changes. she starts to see her aunt as a human being, not a character in one of her stories - her aunt peggy isn’t perfect, and sometimes her job means she makes hard decisions. sharon’s not sure that’s for her, anymore. she wants to help people, but is that the way she wants to do it? she doesn’t know. she spends all of her career exploration papers researching things like being a doctor, even though she’s squeamish, or a firefighter, or a social worker. she wants to do something to make the world better and helping people seems like a good place to start.

when senior year rolls around and she has to decide whether or not she’s going to college, she has a long talk with her aunt peggy.

"sharon," peggy says as they sit on her porch sipping iced tea. "i can’t tell you what to do. you’re the only one who can decide what’s right for you. your concerns about shield are valid and it’s a hard job." she pauses. "but i can tell you, that if you were going to enroll, you’d be a fine shield agent." she smiles. "were i the director, i’d be proud to have you."

sharon lays awake all night, thinking it over.

she graduates from high school and gets a job working at the local hardware store. she passes two years like that, thinking about where to go from here. as the months drag by, she realizes what she’s really known since she was five: she looks at aunt peggy and sees the kind of person she wants to be someday. she’s been thinking that shield wasn’t for her, but one day she says to herself, “why not?”

if that’s the kind of person she wants to be, then what’s stopping her from becoming that?

imagine them going out to breakfast after a sleepover and getting pancakes stacked high and slathered with maple syrup to split.

imagine peggy pushing sharon on the swingest.

imagine peggy and sharon painting each others' nails as they watch all of sharon's favorite movies for what must be the fifth time.

imagine them making ice cream sundaes at two o clock in the afternoon just because they can.

imagine peggy taking sharon to the park and teaching her how to safely feed the ducks.

imagine sharon calling her aunt peggy every week when she moves away to school for the first time.

"exams are over," sharon declares, tugging on maria's arm. "you know what that means!" she's much more excited than a person should be after their last exam; she should be exhausted, but she's bouncing enthusiastically. it's almost more than maria can take.

"it means i get to sleep in tomorrow," grumbles maria, rubbing her eyes. sharon might be excited, but she's exhausted.

"take a nap," sharon tells her, "then come to my room. we have celebrating to do."

sharon and maria have two kinds of girls nights:

1) they stay in and watch movies and eat junk food. this usually ends in them up at three in the morning either crying or laughing because they've reached the point in the night where everything is funny. sometimes there are fruity little mixed drinks to go with it, sometimes not.

2) they dress up and go out and drink long island iced teas until they're out of money, then crash on the couch in one of their rooms and talk until they fall asleep.

this is finals week, so maria's pretty sure sharon has a #2 in mind. it's customary, after all - they've conquered another round of exams, and that calls for celebration.

if there's one thing sharon has learned in her time as a shield agent, it's that most things are worth trying at least once.

okay, maybe the first thing on that list should be that if someone is shooting at you, you should duck. but really, the first lesson is pretty valuable, too.

when she's abroad on assignment, she often doesn't have the change to really experience the local food if it's not convenient for her cover. so she makes it her mission to try as many restaurants as she can when she does get the chance, and luckily for her, dc is full of exciting restaurants.

"come on," she says to steve, tugging on his arm. "it'll be fun, and if t's not, i promise we'll never eat there again."

When she resolves to do it, she does it right.

She researches the best artists in DC (even looks into a few worldwide… just to be thorough) and considers for months what type of design she wants and where she’d like it (fortunately SHIELD regulations help her limit the options on the latter).

In the end, she settles on a watercolor design and finds a great artist in New York (a couple of her friends try to insist there has to be someone just as good in DC, but Sharon’s mind is more than made up).