[ as it happens, peggy is quite pleased with this arrangement. perhaps it's easier to speak to natasha indirectly -- to signal things, and crumbs of knowledge, without having to confront her directly with such experiences. filtering them through steve, it will allow the other spy time and space to broach the topic under her own steam. a less aggressive strategy, she'd decided.

so: ] The facility is quite secure. Barring, perhaps, an inside job. [ but that's a different sort of notion. ] Dottie Underwood won't be going anywhere soon. Not that that is anywhere near her real name. [ ... ] I suspect the organization who raised her took her real name away when they started handcuffing her to her bedpost at night.

[ not even a glance at natasha, this time. but beneath the casual tone she takes with steve, there's certainly a lot of subtext left behind for her. ]