31 Plays in 31 Days, #26 - “Long Story”

[breakinglight11]

More fan fic from my ”Forever Captain” series. This follows directly after several other scenes from the challenge this year, #6 - History Book and #15 - Found Out. I think it moves a little too fast, eliding over important questions and moments this conversation would have before it gets to the point it arrives at. But I was trying to give it some kind of arc without, as is often the case for scenes drafted for 31P31D, knowing much about the structure of the theoretical larger piece.

I probably could get a half-decent installment of the fan fic, however, if I develop this idea and work it into prose.



Day #26 - Long Story
From Forever Captain
By Phoebe Roberts

Schenectady, New York, 1968

GRANT CARTER, formerly Captain America, now retired to the midcentury, 61
PEGGY CARTER, founder of SHIELD and married to Grant, 47
ELIZABETH CARTER, Grant and Peggy Carter’s daughter, 18
JAMIE CARTER, Grant and Peggy Carter’s son, 15
~~~

(The kitchen of the Carter home. Grant sits at the table, Peggy at his shoulder. Beth is slumped resentfully across from him, while Jamie leans in the corner.)

PEGGY: I can’t believe either of you. Talking to your father that way.

GRANT: Please, hon.

PEGGY: We raised you better than that.

ELIZABETH: Oh, yeah? Did you? By lying to us for our entire lives?

(Pause.)

PEGGY: Young lady—

GRANT: Peggy. Kid’s got a point.

ELIZABETH: How could you?

GRANT: It’s… very complicated.

ELIZABETH: Are you kidding?

GRANT: Not the reason— the story. We knew we needed to tell you. We just… didn’t know how to explain.

ELIZABETH: So when exactly were you planning on figuring out how to tell us?

PEGGY: As your father said. It’s very complicated.

ELIZABETH: Then start real slow. We’ll do our best to keep up.

(GRANT and PEGGY look at each other, then resign themselves.)

GRANT: I guess we’ll begin with… the easy part.

PEGGY: And what part would that be?

ELIZABETH: How about… is it true?

GRANT: Yeah, sweetie. It’s true.

JAMIE: No.

PEGGY: Yes, Jamie. This may be hard to understand—

JAMIE: I don’t understand! How can you… be him? He’s dead.

GRANT: I was. In a way. That’s certainly what everyone thought. What we wanted them to believe.

JAMIE: But he went down on a bomber. Crashed into the ice in the Arctic Ocean.

GRANT: Yeah. I did. There’s— more to it than that, but… they found me, and brought me back.

ELIZABETH: And you’ve been hiding it all this time?

PEGGY: So that we stood a chance of living a normal life.

JAMIE: But— they brought him back? How? How could he— how could you have possibly survived that?

ELIZABETH: Because he’s a super soldier.

(Pause.)

ELIZABETH: That’s it, isn’t it? That’s what was so special about him, wasn’t it? They did some kind of procedure on you, and made you… him. The first and only super soldier.

GRANT: First, yes. Maybe not only.

JAMIE: What? What does that mean?

GRANT: It means I can— I can show you if you want—

JAMIE: No. What about only?

PEGGY: That’s just it, love. It’s one of the reasons why it’s been so hard to tell you.

JAMIE: Why?

PEGGY: Because of what it might mean for the two of you.

JAMIE: You mean…

ELIZABETH: If our dad is Captain America… we might be super soldiers too.