Author's Notes: Okay, so I am a lying liar who lies. I said this was going to be a separate chapter posted on Christmas, and it's not.

But hopefully you will so moved and captivated by my writing that you will forgive me, maybe? I mean I'm only a month and half late. :(

Chapter 17.

Peggy sat patiently at her desk. Her eyes were filled with teasing mirth, and her mouth wore a knowing smile. Every once in a while she took a sip of her tea as she watched her visitor nervously pace. A good five minutes had passed in this manner with him rambling on and on, his tone low and his words so lightning fast that the brunette could only catch every forth or fifth word. But it was enough to deduce what he was asking of her.

'You want my blessing to ask Gail to marry you, right?'

The man stopped in his tracks, and stared at her in wide-eyed wonder.

'I . . . yeah. You're the closest thing she has to family. It just seemed like the right thing to do.'

He was stunned that she had been able to make sense out of his ramblings. He knew his words were a muttered mess of nonsense and incoherency. And he knew it was probably silly to ask Peggy for her blessings, but she was Gail's best friend and they were practically sisters. If anyone could gauge how she would react to a proposal, it would be the brunette.

'So, let's see the ring,' Peggy commanded with hand held out.

He scrambled to the desk nearly dropping the box as he fumbled to open it, but finally he succeed. Peggy took the box and made a great show of of studying the band, and the stone. There was mischief in her eyes as she made appraising noises, and the poor man was practically drowning in a nervous sweat.

'So? What do you think, Peggy?'

'Well . . .'

'Peggy, you're killing me.'

'All right, all right,' the brunette said before expression changed, her expression going from mischief to gentle. She then handed the box back. 'It's a beautiful ring.'

The man gave a large sigh before he snapped closed the ring box and stuffed it into his coat pocket. Jonathon "Johnie" Barton was just shy of the six foot mark, with piercing blue eyes and a military cut dark blonde hair. He was 32, but he looked closer to 45: there was something in the way he carried himself, the lines etched in his face that suggested a lot of hard living.

'Thanks, I don't think I've ever been this nervous in my life. I still can't believe my luck sometimes.'

'Well believe it. She loves you, and you love her and that's the best way to start any marriage.'

'So I have your blessings?'

'You do. And you also also get a warning. If you harm her, or disrespect her, or cause her any kind of heartache because you were a scoundrel, I will find you, I will kill you, and they will never find your body. Is that understood?'

If this had been anyone else, Johnie would have laughed thinking it were just a bunch of overprotective hyperbole. But something in the brunette's eyes gave him pause, there was a steely coldness in them that sent a shiver down his spine. He knew down to the marrow of his bones that she was not joking in the least.

'Yes, ma'am,' the blond said, and he had to fight the urge to stand at attention and give a salute.

'Good. I'm glad we got that settled,' Peggy said. And her eyes were back to a warm brown. 'Tea?'

With a nod of his head, Johnie slumped into the seat across from the brunette. It was only after his first sip of tea that he looked around the bullpen. It was lunchtime, so the desks were empty, something he had been counting on when he had asked for this audience.

'So where's your little shadow?'

'Natasha's with her Aunt Gail. She somehow managed to procure enough money to buy Christmas gifts. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?'

'I'm sure I have no idea.'

'Really?' Peggy questioned, she gave Johnie a pointed look causing him to squirm a bit. 'You mean you and her uncles haven't been teaching a five-year-old how to play poker.'

'Uh . . . What? Me? No! What are you saying? No! That's crazy!'

'Is it?'

'Well . . . Yes. I mean . . . That is . . . Hey, look at the time. I have to go somewhere that isn't here,' Johnie said. He placed his cup on Peggy's desk and then awkwardly but quickly made his way out the door, nearly tripping several times in the process.

Once the door was closed Peggy allowed herself a good laugh before getting back to work. Thanks to her extra training sessions with the Sargent, she was behind on her paperwork. But it was worth it, the sweat, and achy muscles, and bruises in places she didn't realize she could bruise. Because in the end, it meant that she would be that much more able to protect her little Natasha.

After a few moments passed a shiver went up her spine as if someone were staring at her. She looked up and around finally catching sight of one of the new guards in the doorway.

'Sargent Paterson,' she acknowledged. Peggy plastered on her best fake smile, even as the words of her daughter played in mind. 'Shouldn't you be at lunch with the others?'

'I could ask the same of you. Even spies need to eat.'

The Sargent's voice was flat, it held no discernible accent, or at least not one that Peggy could place. As a matter of fact, that was true for both guards.

'Unless there's paperwork to be done. I need to get this to the colonel before the end of the day, or no Christmas party for me tomorrow. You?'

'I saw the light, I thought someone left it on in their haste to get to the mess-hall.'

Peggy chuckled. 'Have you tasted the food? No one in their right mind is in any hurry to get to that.'

Paterson's returning smile was thin and forced. Peggy suspected his visit wasn't as innocent as he would like her to believe.

After a few more moments of terse, awkward small talk, the guard left. The brunette immediately got on the phone to the colonel and told him what went down, and what she suspected he was doing in the bullpen.

Concentrating on her paperwork was hard after that. There was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind, and her instincts were screaming to not let those two out of her sights. There was less than a week until the base was officially shutdown, if those guards have anything planned it would have to happen soon.

-###########-

The sun was beginning its slow ascent over the camp when Peggy awoke at her usual hour. Heavy snowflakes were visible through the crack in the curtain, and a feeling of calm washed over the brunette.

For the moment at least all was right with the world, all was peaceful. There was no megalomaniacs trying to conquer the world. There was no alien artifacts that needed to be contained, and hidden.

It had been a long time since she genuinely looked forward to celebrating Christmas. It had been a long time since she looked forward to the festivities, and camaraderie that the holiday offered.

Christmas just hadn't been the same without Steve and Bucky and their godawful singing of Christmas carols, which she still to this day suspected they did on purpose. And of course, Steve would have to defend some poor woman's honor, and more often then not the three of them with the rest of the Howling Commandos would end up in bar brawl. This ended with all of them being tossed out on their rears, and being banned from ever returning.

Peggy chuckled to herself before burrowing deeper into her pillow.

Usually, she would be up and starting her morning rituals, but it was a holiday. A few moments more in bed wouldn't hurt.

Besides, it was just a matter a time before Natasha made her presence known.

And as if on cue, Peggy could feel a dip in her bed where a certain little redhead was. She felt her hair being pulled aside as well as a tiny breath on her ear.

'Mommy are you awake?' Natasha stage-whispered.

Peggy turned so that she was facing the redhead.

'No, sweetheart, I'm sound asleep.' And to prove her point, Peggy made loud obnoxious snoring noises even as her eyes were wide open.

It was worth it to see her daughter's face go from disappointed to accusatory.

'Hey! Wait a minute, how can you talk if you're asleep?'

'You got me sweetheart,' Peggy laughed. She then got up and gathered her daughter onto her lap where she peppered the little redhead's cheeks with kisses for several seconds. 'Did you check your stocking yet?'

Natasha gave a nervous little shake of her head. What if Santa hadn't come? The redhead hadn't heard him, and she had stayed up as long as she could with every one of her senses stretched to the max. Surely a man that big would have made some kind of sound, or left some kind of sent behind. Not to mention his flying reindeer, there was no way you could hide them.

But there had been nothing, and now Natasha was nervous, and just wanted her mother to make everything better.

'Oh sweetie. Come on, lets go look together.'

Peggy gathered the little girl into her arms, and the two went downstairs to the small waiting room. Natasha hid her head in the crook of her mother's shoulder, too nervous to look. There was a small table where cookies and milk had been laid out, both of which were empty. And hanging above it was a single stocking.

'Nattie, look, I promised you he'd come.'

Natasha raised her head, and her eyes widened in happy shock as she eagerly grabbed the overflowing stocking and hugged it close to her chest.

'He came! He came!' Natasha said as several emotions played across her face in succession. But in the end, she was smiling brightly and practically bouncing in her mother's arms.

'See? Didn't I tell you he would?' Peggy said with a quick kiss to her daughter's cheek. 'Now why don't we go back upstairs and see what you got.'

They quickly made their way back upstairs and into their room where they took seats on Natasha's bed. They were the only ones up, the others were taking advantage of the rare opportunity to sleep in a bit. This was just fine by Peggy, it meant that the two of them got to enjoy at least part of Natasha's first Christmas together privately. Once the afternoon and the party started, there would be too many people, too many sights and sounds, and too many activities vying for both their attention.

'Santa smells like Uncle James,' Natasha observed as proceed to tug various items out of her stocking. 'Do you think that grandma and grandpa liked the presents we sent them.? Oh, it's Raggedy Ann!'

'Wow, that's very neat.' Peggy said with a smile and small shake of her head. Three minutes ago Natasha was nervous, now she was full of her usual energy, talking a mile a minute, and bouncing from subject to subject.

'Look! It's the same kind of candies you gave me when we met. Do you remember?'

And sure enough Natasha had pried open a small tin of peppermint candies, and was holding one up for Peggy to take.

'Of course I remember. You were so tiny and scared, you didn't want to say a word to anyone the whole trip back to camp.'

'I was scared, mommy. I couldn't find anybody, and I hurted, and I thought I was all alone forever.'

Peggy tucked a stray lock of hair behind Natasha's ear, and pulled her close.

'So did I,' Peggy murmured and rested her head on top of the little redhead's head.

'But we're not alone anymore, mommy,' Natasha said. She pulled away so she could look the brunette in the eyes. 'We have each other and everyone else. So let's eat candy and be happy. It's Christmas!'

'Oh now I see, this was all a ploy to get to eat candy before breakfast!'

'No, but can I?'

Natasha was right, no more melancholy thoughts for today, Peggy thought as unwrapped her candy and popped it into her mouth, and watched her daughter do the same. She realized she was probably breaking all sorts of parenting rules, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

It was Christmas after all.