Chapter 28 Sand and Rock

, "I love you, Peggy.".

Peggy looked up at him contentedly, "I love you too, Steve.", before yawning and falling asleep, resting her head over his chest, and Steve watched her for a little bit before remembering what

Peggy said back when he asked her what she wanted for Christmas...

He figured that it was the emotions of the moment, but somehow, wanting him to be part of her life forever...it would mean marriage...

After all, they are lovers, boyfriend and girlfriend, a power couple, partners...'Steve Carter'...

He liked the sound of that, though he wonders if Peggy would consider to be a Rogers instead...And then there's children in the future.

He smiles at the thought of blonde-haired children with beautiful brown eyes or brown-haired children with deep blue eyes...

Perhaps one day...

After all, she would be a wonderful mother, especially after seeing Peggy interact with so many Italian children, wishing to jump off her hand into the water...

Steve himself is terrified of being a good father since his own father died when he was a baby, but if Peggy's with him, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad...

Yes, one day, he will see to propose to her one day, or heck, maybe Peggy would propose to him instead...

He smiles at the warm thought, and with a deep sigh, he falls asleep, unknowing of the incredible secret within Peggy right now.

Peggy was sharing the same feelings too as she tried to relax and fall back asleep, before she felt a chill and then suddenly remembered that they were naked.

"Uh, Steve... clothes?", she reminded.

"Oh, right, almost forgot. Wouldn't want any locals to find us indecent.

That might cause some issues with our allies.", Steve gave a nervous chuckle.

Peggy turned her fire power on to dry herself and Steve off from their sweat, and then turned it off, grabbing her shirt and trousers to put on, and

Steve put on his shirt and trousers, foregoing their undergarments, putting them under their blanket which was actually crocheted old blankets altogether as one,

as they were planning to put their swim clothes this afternoon in the warm waters.

Steve then cuddled Peggy, "Thank you, my queen.", kissing her on the lips with a smile before finally going to take back some of his sleep, and

Peggy smiled, whispering, "Naturally, luv.", before closing her eyes as she then went back to sleep, resting on his chest once more.

They enjoyed the rest of the brief break up to New Year's Eve where Steve finally found his X-Gene power by accident. It was another beach day.

Peggy is making waves for Bucky who wanted to surf somehow, and Steve was on the beach, sketching in the sand as he sat on the ridgeline when he saw a kid trying to save a sand sculpture of a dog, but failed,

crying as his parents tried to reassure him in Italian.

Steve felt sad for the kid, and wished to cheer him up, as he did a good job of making that sand sculpture dog when

Steve glanced down, realizing that his drawings in the sand is moving, becoming 3-D, yet still made of sand and alive.

The puppy yapped, the horse burred, and the bird chirped, all

kid-size, attracting the Italians' attention at once, and the sand animals happily came down, playing and hopping around, licking kids' faces and nuzzling kids' faces.

"Steve, what's the matter?", Peggy asked as she called out from the water as he looked back to her.

"Uh, you might want to check this out... I think I took 'bringing art to life' to a literal way.",

Steve called back as she made her way back to the shore because she had to see this. Once she got close, she could see what Steve had done.

"You weren't kidding...", Peggy admitted as Steve chuckled.

"I think my power is different from yours... you get fire powers, and I can simply make a drawing breath.", he chuckled as he felt a bit jealous at her amazing gift.

Peggy replied, "Maybe it's more attributes. Try the water.

Sketch something in the water.", and Steve looked at her, and blinked thoughtfully before reaching into the water, sketching an animal with his finger, but nothing.

"Nothing.", Steve shook his head, and Peggy looked thoughtfully, "Try the boulder next to you.", and

Steve glanced at the boulder, and dipped his finger in the water before going to touch the boulder, making a water outline, sketching a cat, and then the cat came to life,

but this time, made of boulder, alive as it's meowing as it is kid-size, sunbathing next to kids who is petting it.

Peggy widened her eyes, "Whoa. I think it is earth based.

I mean, back then, you sketched on paper which came from trees, and trees are part of earth.

So, I bet besides sand and rock, you could possibly do wood and all kinds of ground.".

"Well, that's certainly interesting... but I'm a little confused on how exactly this does work. I mean, in terms of powers and all.

Do you think it has something to do with the Qua-... you know what?",

Steve was quick to watch his tongue there as he didn't want to slip classified information.

Peggy shrugged lightly, "Well, it turns on when you have an intent to do it, but it's off the rest of the time.

So, if you practice, then maybe, with careful planning, we might just give Eris more wounds to worry about, with both of our powers.

After all, stone animals, like maybe a rhino or something,

that would perhaps really injury her if she falls to tiplines again, and perhaps I could do like fire swords or something...

And yeah, it's possible that those powers of ours are related to the you know what.", with a wink.

Steve nodded, "Especially when we're heading back to work within the new year, taking on missions once more.".

Peggy grinned, "This will be interesting, and if I know Colonel Phillips and the others, we will be quite busy.".