Chapter Text
The next few days go by quickly for Peggy. She does her morning workouts, avoids Angie, talks to everyone she can, and runs through all she learns each night.
Although avoiding Angie could be easier. She had thought the young woman had given up after they had, literally, butted heads outside her tent. Instead what she found was that the young woman seemed hellbent on becoming her friend. She offered to help Peggy with her act, was always walking up on her while she stretched out in the mornings, and spent more time on the morning fruit cutting station than was even remotely close to necessary.
Peggy politely turned her down each time she offered help, but the woman seemed to look a little more hurt, and yet a little more determined with every rebuff.
She was walking towards the camp showers at the end of their first full week with the camp when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Shifting her shower bag to her left hand, she pulled the phone out of the pocket on her dress and swiped the screen to see the message from Sousa.
'source gave more intel. meet at bar in 2hrs'
With a sigh she turned around from the much looked forward to shower, and headed towards Thompson's tent.
Over the past few days she had been slowly building her case on Dottie, but it wasn't ready yet. She had nothing concrete. Just some weird eating habits, and a coded diary. That diary was the key. She knew it.
She had found the diary 2 days before and had snapped a few pics of the first few pages before returning it to its spot.
Just like during their first show, Peggy was using the quiet of the empty camp to go through tents. Her first stop: Dottie.
Dottie shared a tent with Sarah, the mute clown. Not sure which side was whose Peggy started with the right side. Nothing seemed to point at who at the habitant was until she found a shoe box under the bed. Inside were a few photos of what looked like a young Sarah.
She went through box quickly but found nothing of importance. Off in the distance, towards the slight smell of popcorn and too many people, she could hear the crowd go wild, Angie was in the middle of her act. That gave her about ten minutes to get back.
Throwing herself into the other side of the tent, she discovered nothing until she reached the very back of the bed. There she found a small lock box hidden away in a larger cardboard box. She didn't have the time to pick the lock, so she went though the rest of the larger box. Hidden underneath the random junk in the box, was a small, unadorned, black diary.
Feeling a bit more like a nosy mother than a secret agent, Peggy flipped it open. Inside she didn't find words, or even numbers. She found random symbols, drawn at what seemed to be random intervals on the pages. She had done quite a bit of work as a code breaker, but had never seen anything quite like this. She snapped a few pics really quick with her phone, and listened for the crowd.
It sounded like Angie was finishing up, meaning Gloria and her dogs were about to go on. That gave her 6 minutes to pack this box up and get back to do her show.
Snapping out of her memory, Peggy pushed into Thompson's tent. The camp was winding down after a good show, so she wasn't surprised to see Stark wasn't in yet. Probably off with some summer stock girl.
She found Thompson pulling the leg of his pants down over an ankle holster, “Get the text, Carter?”
“Yes. Meet you at the car in an hour?” She didn't want to have to spend more time with the blond than was strictly necessary. Her mental health required it.
He shrugged into a light coat, “Sounds good.”
“Is the mission interrupting your social plans for the night, Agent Thompson?” she asked, watching him touch up the coif of his hair in a small hand mirror.
After he smoothed the hair into place, he looked up at her though the mirror, “I'm meeting up with Stark for a minute before we leave. Maybe he'll let more drop once he has a drink or two in him.”
That got Peggy thinking, perhaps she could do the same with Dottie. If she was what she claimed to be, Peggy doubted she could hold her alcohol. If she was of a more nefarious nature then she wouldn't get drunk very fast, most likely. “Do you happen to know who else will be there?”
“The whole camp I expect. Including that contortionist you're hot on.”
“I am not- I don't know what you're talking about. I'll see you in an hour. Don't be late.”
XXX
“Come on, Ang! You have to come!” Gloria said, as she touched up her make up in a small mirror, “Fry hardly ever lets us party, you can't skip out!”
Pulling a brush through her hair, Angie watched the younger girl as she fussed over the point of her winged eyeliner, “So that I can watch you stare at Carol? No, thanks.”
Normally Angie was all over these parties, even helped plan them, but this one she wasn't feeling. It wasn't even just that Peggy had been avoiding her since that night under the stars, okay maybe that was most of it, but not all of it. Her mother wanted her to quit the circus, to come home and help out with the restaurant her uncle owned.
She loved her mother, loved her blood family, but this circus had become her family too. How was she supposed to choose between them?
“Pleeeeeeease,” Gloria drew out.
Sighing, Angie turned to put her brush down on the small table at the foot of her bed. She grabbed a hair tie and made a point of taking a long time to pull her hair back, before turning to look at her roommate, “Fine. But the minute you run off to spend time with Carol, I'm out.”
Gloria jumped up and wrapped her arms around Angie's neck, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
Wrapping the girl up in a tight hug, she picked her and and spun her around, listening to the younger girl giggle, “Your right eye is a little higher than your left.”
Breaking out of the hug Gloria quickly grabbed her mirror, checking her eyeliner, “It is not!”
XXX
After dropping off her shower things, Peggy made her way towards the dinning area, where there seemed to be a large crowd gathered.
Upon her arrival, she had a drink immediately shoved into her hand by an unidentified person, and found herself quickly in the middle of the the bouncing crowd. Music came from the opposite side of where the kitchen was located, a makeshift stage was holding a few of the musically talented carnies. Carol was strumming away on a beat up acoustic guitar, Sarah was blowing into a harmonica, and Howard was attempting to sing. If Peggy had to guess he was only up there due to his level of intoxication, far higher than it should be this early into the night.
Colleen grabbed her hand and pulled her to the edge of the camp, and yelled above the sound, “You looked a little shell shocked!”
Giving her a grateful smile and a nod, Peggy shouted, “Not really my usual scene!”
The vet smiled knowingly and glanced around the rapidly growing party. Peggy followed her glance and saw Angie standing with Gloria, who was staring up at the stage with a big smile. Angie didn't seem quite as happy. Their eyes met and Angie gave her her usual big smile, Peggy gave a small one of her own in return.
She watched as Angie tapped Gloria's arm and whispered something in her ear, before the contortionist started making her way through the crowd. Peggy felt her eyes widen in fear as she tired to slow her heart down. The dark blonde curls of the woman she had spent the last five days avoiding bounced in the ponytail they had been restricted to for the night. She was wearing a light blue linen dress that fell just above her knees, and Peggy could feel her resolve melting. That light blue would look great next to the plum dress she was wearing, not that Peggy would ever admit to thinking about how good they would look together.
Angie stopped in front of her, with shoulders squared and a determined glint in her eye, “Hey there, English.”
Peggy looked for Colleen, hoping that the vet would be able to save her, but she had slipped away while the agent had watched Angie cross the dance floor. “Hi. Angie, how are you?”
She practically flinched at how awkward she sounded.
The contortionist gave her a small smile, “I've been better.”
They stood in awkward silence. Peggy looked over the crowed, trying to distract herself from the woman. She could see Dottie sitting off to the side, talking quietly to Colleen. They laughed and Colleen made her way off to grab a new drink, while Dottie looked up and caught her staring. They both gave each other big smiles, before Angie spoke up, “Wanna dance, English?”
Breaking her eye contact with Dottie she stuttered out, “I-I um really shouldn't.”
“Nonsense. Come on, English, just one dance.”
Angie really could be quite persistent, Peggy could felt their hands linking together as Angie pulled her out towards the crowd, “Really, Angie. I shouldn't.”
With a huff Angie stopped and looked towards her with her hands on her hips, “What is it? We were getting on just fine and now you keep pushing me away.”
Peggy couldn't meet her eye, “I'm afraid I wouldn't make a very good friend, Angie. I'm sorry.” She turned to walk away, but felt a small hand slip into hers, pulling her back.
“Why don't you let me make that decision, Pegs?”
With a gulp she looked back at Angie. One dance. She could do that. “One dance.”
You could have powered all of New York state with the smile that Angie gave her, and maybe some of New Jersey as well!
Angie pulled her to the edge of the crowd just as a slow song started, “You okay with slow, English?”
Peggy just nodded and placed a hand on Angie's waist, the other meeting Angie's at shoulder height. Angie settled her other hand on Peggy's shoulder and they settled into an easy box step.
It didn't take long for Angie to start spinning them in more complex patterns. Peggy did her best to keep a clear head, but she could feel every inch of the girl as she sharply changed their direction. In an effort to get the smell of daisies and sage out of her nose, Peggy dropped her hand on Angie's waist and gave her a quick spin. Which was a huge mistake, because as great as she smelled, her laugh was even better.
She wasn't even paying attention to the music anymore, her mind was full of Angie. Her smile, her laugh, her smell, the way her small frame fit so easily against her own larger body. When the tempo of the bodies around them became faster they naturally transitioned, still gripping each other tight. Hips swayed together, arms wrapped around bodies, breath mingling.
Angie guided her though the dance floor with practiced easy, changing their speed with each song that went by. They got a little closer with each song, until they were pressed tight together, eyes closed, swaying slightly to the quiet sound of just an acoustic guitar and a fiddle. Angie had her arms tight around Peggy's neck, who had her arms wrapped around the smaller woman's waist. The blonde’s head rested right over her heart, Peggy's darker curls falling in stark contrast from where she rested her head against the younger girl's.
And then it was all gone. With just a tap to the shoulder, Thompson pulled her out of the small world that was just her and Angie, and back into the real world. The world where dancing with this woman was going to send the wrong message.
Pulling away quickly, Peggy cleared her throat. “Thank you for the dance, Angie. I really must be going though.”
XXX
Angie was feeling an extreme case of emotional whiplash. One second she was spinning around the dance floor with Peggy, who was a fantastic dancer, and the next she was standing with empty arms as she marched off with her cousin, without an explanation.
Deciding to go on with the good mood she tried not to wonder about Peggy's abrupt departure. She found Gloria and pushed her towards Carol, “I danced with Peggy, now you dance with Carol.”
She watched as Gloria and Carol hit the dance floor before grabbing a drink for herself.
Peggy had danced with her. Like really danced with her. She wasn't even sure how long they had been out there, at least a half hour she guessed. When they were able to close out the rest of the world things just seemed to come easy, Angie had even forgotten about her uncle's restaurant for awhile. It was the moment the outside world decided to butt it's ugly head in that Peggy began to pull back. For the life of her her she couldn't figure out why. The Englishwoman seemed to be interested in her.
Deciding not to spoil her evening Angie found herself a new dance partner in the form of Jarvis, or Mr. Fancy as she liked to call him. He wasn't as loose with his movements as Peggy, but at least he kept his hands at a respectable height, unlike his friend Howard.
XXX
They pulled up to the bar with just a few minutes to spare. Thompson had spend a fair amount of the ride teasing Peggy over getting distracted from their meeting. She tried to play it off as gathering intel, but couldn't come up with a believable piece of info when questioned about why she had spent over half an hour on the dance floor with someone who wasn't even a suspect.
Peggy pushed out of the car and walked into the bar without waiting on the pompous prick that was her partner. She quickly spotted Sousa in the corner and made her way over, slipping into the side of the booth across from him. Thompson joined Sousa in his side of the booth, and threw and arm across the back of the seat, “So what's this urgent intel?”
She settled into her seat and looked expectantly at Sousa. His curls were hanging lose and limp, he had dark rings around his eyes, and his clothing was wrinkled. It was obvious he had been working long hours, making sure they were safe inside the circus, and gathering what information he could from the criminal network in the area.
Running a hand through his unkempt hair, Sousa sighed, “It looks like there is a shipment coming in soon. My source wasn't entirely sure when, but within the next few days, before you pack up to move on to your next town.”
“Do we know what's coming in?” Thompson asked.
The dark haired man shook his head and settled more into the booth. Peggy could practically feel the exhaustion radiating off of him.
“We know it's big. Possibly Russian, so I'd expect at the very least AK-47's.”
They sat in silence as the two field agents digested the information. A large shipment of illegal Russian guns was never a good thing, it pointed towards possible gang wars, which were always bloody and hurt the community.
Nothing in camp had pointed towards anyone having any affiliation with the Russians. Peggy was certain the best clue they had were the pictures she had taken of Dottie's diary. She pulled out her phone and opened up to the first page of the diary, before sliding the phone across to Sousa, “I found this hidden in the tent of the woman I suspect. I'm not sure what the code is yet, but I'm working on it.”
Sousa flipped through the first few pages worth of the diary before pulling out his own phone and transferring the files between the phones, “I'll pass it on to the code breakers back in New York, see what they come up with. I'll keep you posted.”
Thompson grabbed her phone and turned it all around, looking at the pictures from several angles before shrugging and handing the phone back to Peggy, “Code breaking isn't my thing. I still say Stark is involved in this. Once he got drunk tonight, I managed to get a few answers out of him. He claims that he 'can hook a man like me up with some prime work.' I couldn't get him to focus enough to find out what he meant, but I'll approach him tomorrow, see what he had in mind.”
Even Peggy had to admit something like that was a bit on the suspicious side, even more so than a diary that may or may not be full of a code. Something about it didn't feel right though. Sure Howard was a right prat, but he didn't feel like a criminal mastermind. Though she knew better than to underestimate someone.
They sat around the table, throwing out theories and discussing strategies for intercepting the weapons shipment. Thompson managed to keep professional though the discussion, and even seemed impressed at the plan Peggy suggested if Stark did end up being their perp. They certainly wouldn't become best friends anytime soon, but they were at least able to keep civil.
About an hour into their discussion Sousa had leaned back into his seat, his eyes fluttering shut not long after. They let him sleep, lowering their discussion to a murmur as the agent slept. It wasn't until he fell to the side, right into Thompson, that the blond man decided they should wake him and head out. It took everything in her not to tease him about the light pink blush spreading across his cheeks, and even more not to tease Daniel for the sleepy way he hid his face in Thompson's shoulder when they tried to wake him.