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Chapter Text

It was exactly 6:58 a.m.

Peggy had been awake for approximately ten minutes, but she was still laying in bed just staring at the glowing face of her alarm clock as the red numbers changed to 6:59.

It still didn’t feel real to her. This time tomorrow she would be sharing an apartment, a bed, a last name with the love of her life. She had been waiting for this day since for years and she was determined to make it last for as long as possible. And if that meant staying in bed for an extra few minutes before her alarm went off, then so be it.

Peggy sucked in a breath as the numbers changed again. 7:00. The alarm started blaring and Peggy shot up to slap it off, the blanket sliding off her shoulder with the motion.

She sat there for a moment, her face splitting into a huge grin. She fell back against the pillows and giggled to herself before rolling out of bed to get ready. She had had her schedule for the day mentally planned out for weeks and she didn’t have a second to waste.

In less than twelve hours, she was going to be married.

“I’d like it to say ‘Yes, I’m sorry he’s dead, but he was a dog and you shouldn’t have loved him more than me.’ Do you think you can do that?”

“I’m sorry, you want what?” Angie asked. She had only been half-listening to the woman on the other side of the counter, but she was pretty sure that whatever this lady wanted was a little bit outside of Angie’s usual repertoire.

“You know what? I think I’ll just take a half-dozen red velvet cupcakes instead,” the woman said, pointing at the cupcake tray in the display case.

“Alright, that’ll be $19.50.” Angie grabbed a purple box from the back counter and started filling it with cupcakes. She handed it to the lady and took the cash. “Thanks. Have a good day,” she said, shooting the woman the thousand-watt smile she reserved for particularly rude or strange customers. It was the kind of smile that pretty clearly said ‘I appreciate your money, but please don’t come back.’

Once the woman left, Angie took off her apron, flipped the sign in the window to ‘closed,’ and headed into the kitchen. There were several stacks of large purple boxes waiting for her on the counter and there was a blue sticky note stuck to the top of one. There was an address scrawled on it and Angie grabbed it as she continued on to the back door. Her car was already parked outside, ready and waiting to be loaded with seventeen dozen cupcakes for some couple’s wedding.

She heard footsteps rushing across the gravel parking lot and turned to find her friend Dottie racing towards her.

“Hey, sorry. I meant to be here earlier, but I was having car trouble and I had to take the bus, but I got off at the wrong stop and—“

“Morning, Iowa. It’s nice to see you too,” Angie said with a genuine smile. “You feel like helping me load seventeen boxes of cupcakes in here?”

“Whatever you need,” Dottie said. She ran a hand through her hair and followed Angie into the kitchen. “How’s the couple?”

“Haven’t met them,” Angie replied. “A friend of the bride was the one that placed the order. I don’t even know their names.”

“Well that’s an interesting twist. Usually a girl’s wedding is all about the mother.”

“You’re telling me. I’m not even in a relationship, but I’m pretty sure my mother already has my wedding all planned out down to the stitching on my dress.”

They both grabbed a few boxes and started carrying them out to the car. Angie set her boxes in the backseat first and when she moved out of the way, Dottie casually bumped her hip against Angie’s.

“So do you think there’ll be a lot of cute bridesmaids there?” Dottie asked.

“This is the biggest order I’ve ever gotten and that’s what you’re worried about? Whether or not I’m going to score a date out of the deal?” Angie scoffed.

“Well, I’m worried about you and your love life too for that matter.” Dottie set her own stacks of boxes in the car and straightened back up in time to see Angie roll her eyes.

“I don’t need a love life. I have a like life and that suits me just fine, thanks.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Are you gonna help me with these boxes or are you just gonna stand there and talk?” Angie asked.

“Yeah, I’m coming,” Dottie said. She crossed her arms and followed Angie back into the kitchen.

Even an hour before the wedding was due to start, there were already close to a hundred people milling around the churchyard when Angie pulled up. She managed to find a parking spot in the shade near the reception area and got out to go look for the happy couple.

There was a tall man with blonde hair and shiny blue eyes wearing a tux and shaking hands with everyone that crossed his path.

Angie waited until he turned her way and smiled brightly at him as she stuck out her hand.

“Hi. You must be the groom, right? I’m Angie. I did your cupcakes.”

The man returned her smile and shook her hand. “Hi, yeah. I’m Steve. Nice to meet you, Angie. I look forward to trying those cupcakes.”

“Well, they’re pretty good,” Angie said. Her hand fell awkwardly next to her side as she tried to think of something else to say. Before she could, though, another man—this one shorter and skinnier with dark hair and a neatly-trimmed mustache—seemed to appear out of nowhere next to Steve.

“Rogers, how could you?” he asked. “There’s a beautiful woman standing right in front of you and you didn’t even think to introduce me.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Howard, this is Angie. She made the cupcakes. Angie, this is Howard. He makes women run away in fear.”

Angie nodded thoughtfully and held out her hand again.

“Nice to meet you, Howard.”

Rather than shaking her hand, Howard swept it up higher and kissed her knuckles. When he let go of her hand, he shot her a mischievous smirk. “The pleasure’s all mine. And while I’m sure you’re upset that Steve here is going to be officially off the market in just a little while, I think you should know that I am very much single.”

“Tempting offer, but I think I’ll pass,” Angie said.

Steve bit back a laugh and Howard looked like he was about to say something else, but they were interrupted when a small boy who looked to be about seven years old came running up to them shouting, “Steve!”

“Hey, Tony,” Steve said. He bent down and ruffled the boy’s dark, already-messy hair. “Have you seen Peggy yet?”

The boy—Tony—nodded quickly. “We helped her get ready and Dad’s riding in the limo with her. She looks like a meringue, but I guess that’s what she wanted ‘cause she said she liked it.”

“That’s good to hear,” Steve said.

As Steve straightened up, Angie watched Howard slip away to chat up a thin blonde woman near the church doors. She almost wished she could say she was sad to see him go.

“Tony, dear, come over here and leave Steve alone.” A short woman with curly blonde hair and sparkling green eyes came rushing over to them and grabbed Tony’s hand. “I told you that you could say hello, but we’re not going to bother him right now.”

“Don’t worry about it, Anna. I don’t mind,” Steve said.

“Hear that, Mom? He doesn’t mind,” Tony said. Before Anna could say anything else, Tony turned back to Steve and said, “Did you know that there’s a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy and it contains the massive of two and a half million suns?”

“That’s pretty cool,” Steve said. “Where’d you learn that?”

“From my space book. It’s got tons of cool facts and questions and stuff. What do you think would happen if an unstoppable force met an immovable object?”

“It’s not possible,” Angie said. Steve, Anna, and Tony all turned to look at her as though they had completely forgotten she was there. None of them said anything though, so Angie took that as her cue to keep talking. “If there’s a thing out there that can’t be stopped, then there can’t be anything that can’t be moved and vice versa. It’s a trick question.”

“She’s right,” Tony said. “What’s your name?”

“Angie.”

“I like you, Angie. Mom, can she sit by me?”

“Darling, we should really go find Peggy and your father and I don’t think we should bother Angie any longer.”

“Oh, it’s not a problem. I can bring him inside and watch him for a few minutes if you want. I’ve got four younger siblings, so this is kind of old hat for me.”

“Are you sure?” Anna asked. Her accent was distinctly British, but there was something else tingeing it that Angie couldn’t name, but whatever it was, it was nice. “I wouldn’t want him to be a bother.”

“It’s fine,” Angie said. “I’ll just take him inside and we can sit down until you get back.”

Anna started to open her mouth, but then a black limousine pulled up to the curb and she sighed. “All right. Tony, you be good for her now and don’t go running off anywhere.”

Tony nodded and Anna hurried off the limo.

“I should probably get inside,” Steve said. “I’ll walk you two in?”

“Lead the way,” Angie replied. She grabbed Tony’s outstretched hand and followed Steve up the front steps into the church.

It was huge and bright inside with sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows and flowers hanging from the ends of the pews. The alter was decked out in colorful array of blooms and there was a white carpet running the length of the aisle.

Angie subtly snapped a few pictures. Her mother would go nuts when she saw it.

Tony pulled Angie into a pew about halfway down the aisle and Steve waved at them, but he kept walking all the way down the aisle and into the little room off to the side of the alter.  

Tony was bouncing his legs in his seat and kept telling Angie all about the space facts he had learned from some book his parents had gotten him for Christmas and though Angie nodded and made little noises of acknowledgement, she was only half-listening.

Pretty soon the bells were ringing and Steve, Howard, and the priest all came out to stand at the alter. The organ music started up, soft at first as  people filed into their seats, and then louder as the doors opened and the wedding procession lined up.

Anna hurried over and slid into the pew on Tony’s other side and Angie figured that was her cue to leave.

“Hey, kid, I’ve gotta go set up for the reception. I’ll see you later?” she whispered to Tony. He grinned and nodded and Angie slipped out into the side aisle.

The procession began and Angie started to walk out, but then she heard the music shift. ‘Here Comes the Bride’ echoed through the church and she stopped, her natural curiosity getting the best of her as she craned her neck to try to get a glimpse of the bride.

The man walking her down the aisle looked nowhere near old enough to be a father to anyone getting married in the near future, but he was smiling and he leaned over to whisper something in the bride’s ear. The pair had almost passed by when suddenly the bride turned and looked directly at Angie.

Angie had never in life felt the need to use a word more powerful than beautiful or gorgeous to describe a woman, but this woman broke that streak. She had warm brown eyes and brown hair that curled softly around her face. She was smiling and Angie noticed dimples in her cheeks.

Just as quickly as she had turned, the bride looked away again and Angie quickened her pace until she reached the side door. When she got outside, she stood there for a moment, breathing hard and pressing the back of her hand against her cheeks to try to stave off the blush she knew was rising there.

Breathe, Angie. You can have a gay meltdown in a churchyard or you can get paid. Breathe  

She leaned against the brick wall of the church for another minute and finally managed to collect herself enough to walk to the reception area. After all, two hundred and four cupcakes weren’t going to arrange themselves.

The reception was long and loud, but the food was good, which meant it was a total win in Angie’s book.

After the ceremony was over and the pictures had been taken, people started wandering over one at a time and then suddenly there were almost two hundred people that Angie had never met before laughing and talking and dancing. Angie hung mostly on the fringes of the celebration until Tony spotted her and practically pulled her onto the dance floor. He didn’t let her leave for three songs and even then, it was only when Anna came over to pull him away to eat.

Without Tony around to distract her, Angie spent a little longer than she’d like to admit just staring at the bride whose name she had finally learned. Peggy was stunning in every sense of the word and she and Steve were smiling and laughing the entire time.

When it came time for dessert, the waiters brought the cupcakes to the tables and Steve and Peggy each grabbed one. Steve held his out and let Peggy take a bite of it, but rather than do the same, Peggy smushed her cupcake against Steve’s face.

The guests all started to laugh as Steve pulled Peggy close and pressed a messy, frosting-covered kiss to her cheek. Peggy was squealing and trying to get away, but Steve just kept kissing her again and again until they were both covered in frosting and bits of vanilla cupcake.

Angie laughed and leaned against the food table. A few minutes later, after everyone had finished, the music started up again and Tony came back to dance with Angie again. This time he seemed even more energetic than before and Angie couldn’t help but notice the pick smudges of frosting around his mouth.

After only one song, Tony set off to find Steve and Angie was able to duck away to the punch bowl.

She was watching the dance floor the whole time, trying to make sure that Tony found his way all right and by the time she actually turned to look where she was going, she was barely able to avoid a collision with the woman of the hour.

Peggy turned around quickly with her hands behind her back and smiled a little too widely at Angie. “Hi,” she said. She had a British accent and Angie felt her knees go weak. “Can I help you?”

“I was actually just coming over to get some punch.” Angie tried to reach around Peggy to grab the ladle, but Peggy stopped her.

“Oh, you don’t want this punch. It’s not that good,” Peggy said quickly. There was a pink flush creeping up her now-frosting-less cheeks and she kept her left hand behind her back.

“Is everything okay? You seem…nervous,” Angie said. “I figured since the big part’s over you’d just be celebrating.”

“Yes, I was. And I will. I just have to…um…well, you see, I was going to get some punch myself, but we haven’t had time to get the ring adjusted yet and—“

Angie did her best to bite back a laugh. “Did you drop your wedding ring in the punch?”

Peggy looked down at her skirt and nodded. “I was trying to fish it out with the ladle, but it’s not working and I can’t just reach in there or I’ll ruin the dress.”

“Move,” Angie said.

“I’m sorry?”

“You heard me, English, let me fish it out for you. Oh, and you’ve still got frosting on the side of your nose.”

Peggy blushed and stepped to the side, swiping a finger at the side of her nose to try to wipe off the frosting. Angie stepped up to the punch bowl, rolled up her sleeve, and plunged her arm into the cold juice. “Cover me,” she hissed as she noticed a guest walking towards them.

Peggy did as she was told and her dress provided enough cover for Angie to grope around at the bottom of the bowl until her fingers brushed the solid metal of a ring.

She could hear Peggy start up a conversation with the guest that had come over and rather than interrupt, Angie just tapped Peggy’s shoulder and Peggy stuck up her ring finger so Angie could slide the ring on. She hurried away before anyone else could notice. Luckily, Tony was looking for her again and she had an excuse to slip back out to the dance floor and blend into the crowd.

After the song ended, the distinct sound of metal against glass echoed throughout the tent and everyone stopped talking and turned their attention to the front table.

Peggy and Steve were sitting next to each other and they looked a little surprised to see Howard standing up with a microphone in his hand. He was swaying a little and Angie hid a grin behind her hand.

“You know,” Howard started. “These two have pretty much been a married couple for so long and it’s a relief they finally have the rings to prove it.”

Howard’s words were slow and slurred and Peggy whispered something to Steve before he stood up and grabbed the microphone.

“I think that, uh, what’s Howard’s trying to say is, um…” he trailed off and looked out over the crowd for a moment before Peggy finally stood up and took the mic for herself.

“Well, it’s not everyday a bride has to make a speech at her own wedding, but I guess there really is a first time for everything.”

The guests murmured amongst themselves, but it faded quickly and Peggy continued.

“I feel like I’ve known Steve all my life and I know I’ll know him for the rest of it. He’s my best friend and he makes me so happy and I love every second I get to spend with him.”

She paused and looked down at Steve who had already retaken his seat. They smiled at each other and Peggy looked back up.

“They say that fairy tales always have happy endings even though the passage can be rough, but with Steve and I, it’s been smooth all the way. Maybe that’s a better type of fairy tale. Now, I’ve never been a big fan of toasts, but maybe if you all could…wish us luck?”

The guests raised their glasses and there was a resounding, “Good luck!”

Angie pulled her keys out of her pocket, and headed back out to her car. She had probably long since overstayed her welcome and she had no less than thirty texts from Dottie asking for details, pictures, and Angie’s relationship status. Angie was halfway to her car before she realized she still had a half-full cup of punch in her hand.

She turned back to the tent which was still lit up and loud, and raised her cup.

“Good luck,” she whispered.

She downed what was left of the punch, tossed the plastic cup in the garbage can next to her, and turned back towards her car, leaving the music, the voices, and the celebration behind.

Chapter Text

Angie didn’t sleep very much that night.

She couldn’t get Peggy out of her mind. Every time she tried to close her eyes she saw Peggy’s in front of her and she could still hear that rich, bell-like laughter ringing in her ears which was absolutely ridiculous because she didn’t even know this woman.

Around two o’clock in the morning, Angie finally fell asleep, but it was useless. When her alarm went off at seven, she was almost as tired as if she hadn’t slept at all.

After two cups of coffee and a bowl of slightly soggy Cocoa Puffs, Angie finally felt alert enough to go to work.

That was probably her first mistake of the day.

She flipped the sign in the bakery window to ‘open’ and leaned on the counter with a book of word searches and a blue highlighter. She had found it was not only a pretty good way to pass the time when business was slow, but it also helped her relieve stress after serving particularly difficult customers. Plus she had a tendency to doodle on her skin when she got bored and the highlighter washed off a lot easier than pen.

The first customer of the day came in around eight thirty. He was a short, round man with a red face a defined bald spot.

“I need a half dozen red velvet cupcakes,” he said quickly. “It’s my last chance to win my girlfriend back.”

Angie couldn’t help but think that if anything, red velvet would drive this poor girlfriend even further away, but she didn’t say anything. She just grabbed a box, filled it with the cupcakes, and took the man’s money with a forced smile.

“Wish me luck,” he said as he took the box.

“Good luck,” Angie replied.

The man smiled and nodded before hurrying out the door so quickly he almost walked into the woman coming in. He apologized quickly and the woman nodded as she stepped around him so she could get into the bakery. The minute Angie saw her face, she froze, her highlighter still poised above the word search.

“Peggy,” she said quietly.

“You remember me,” Peggy said with a smile as she walked up to the counter.

“Hard to forget the woman whose wedding ring you fish out of a punch bowl,” Angie said.

Peggy laughed and Angie was really glad the counter was there for her to lean on as her legs decided to suddenly go weak.

“I suppose it would be,” Peggy said. “Thank you for that, by the way. It could have been an absolute disaster.”

“Lucky I was there, I guess.”

“Very.” Peggy shook her head as if to clear it and smiled again. “That’s actually what I wanted to come here for, actually. Not the wedding ring and the punch, exactly, but I wanted to invite you to dinner as sort of a way of saying thank you for both the delicious cupcakes and for saving my ring.”

“Wait,” Angie blurted. “You just got married last night. Shouldn’t you be on vacation somewhere right now?”

Real smooth, Angie.

“Steve and I aren’t having a traditional honeymoon. He’s working on a book of travel sites around the world and we’re saving to go on that trip together.”

“Oh.”

“So how about dinner?” Peggy asked. “Tomorrow night at seven? Steve’s making shepherd’s pie.”

Peggy’s eyes widened ever so slightly and the look on her face was clearly hopeful. In a moment of weakness, Angie made her second mistake of the day 

She said yes.

“Is everything alright?” Steve asked.

“Of course, darling,” Peggy replied as she stalked down the next row of furniture. “Why do you ask?”

“You’re glaring at anyone who so much as looks at that leather sofa over there,” Steve said, gesturing to the sofa in question against the opposite wall of the auction house. As if on cue, a woman walked by, trailing her fingers across the armrest and Peggy shot her a death glare.

“They can’t have it,” she snapped. “It’s mine.”

“Ours,” Steve corrected.

“Ours.”

“And it’ll only be ours if it stays under the limit, remember? Four hundred dollars is as high as we’re going.”

“I don’t like limits,” Peggy said as she leaned down to inspect a wrought iron end table. “They’re so…limiting.”

“Yeah, well I like limits,” Steve replied. “Because if I don’t limit you, you’ll go crazy.”

Peggy stood back up and looked back at the sofa. “Damn right I will. It’s ours.”

“Uh huh.”

Steve set his hand on Peggy’s shoulder and steered over to the book display. As they walked, Peggy leaned her head on Steve’s shoulder.

“So I stopped by the bakery this morning,” she said absently.

“Oh really. What for?” Steve was flipping though antique copy of Great Expectations and pretty obviously only half-listening, but Peggy kept talking anyway.

“I invited Angie over for dinner tomorrow night. I thought it would be a nice way of thanking her for the cupcakes at the wedding.”

Steve hummed in agreement and set down the book. The auction was starting and he grabbed Peggy’s hand to lead her closer to the podium.

“Howard’s still single isn’t he?”

“Most of the time, yeah. Why?”

“Do you think he and Angie would get along?”

“I don’t think it would be a problem on Howard’s end. I think it would be the question of whether or not Angie can stand Howard. What lot number is the sofa again?”

“Three,” Peggy said. “And I don’t know, but I think they might hit it off given the right chance.”

“Our next lot up for auction is item number three: a beautiful leather sofa.” The auctioneer’s booming voice forced Peggy and Steve’s attention to the proceedings. “Let’s start the bidding at two hundred dollars. Do I have two hundred dollars?”

Steve started to raise his card, but Peggy gently pushed his hand back down.

“Not yet,” she murmured. “What would you say about inviting Howard over for dinner tomorrow too? It would give him and Angie a chance to get properly acquainted.”

The bids rose to three hundred dollars and Steve nodded.

“That sounds fine to me. Should we bid?”

“No, hold on a little longer,” Peggy said. She looked back across the room at the sofa and said, “Do you ever meet someone and you just sort of know you’re going to become friends? Almost like you’ve met them in some other life?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I think we just lost our sofa,” Steve said as a woman in the front row bid five hundred dollars.

Peggy’s head snapped back around and she grabbed the card out of Steve’s hand. “Like hell we did,” she snapped as she stood up and raised her hand. “Six hundred!”

“Six hundred going once, six hundred going twice, sold to bidder 42!” The auctioneer slammed his gavel on the podium and Peggy looked down to see Steve glaring pointedly at her.

“I won the sofa,” she said with a hesitant smile as she sat back down.

“Yeah, for two hundred dollars more than our limit.”

“Your limit,” Peggy said. She leaned closer and pressed her lips against Steve’s as she murmured, “Our sofa.”

“You’re late.” Peggy was lounging on the bed with a book in her hand when Steve walked in.

“Sorry. Fury held me up, but I’m here now,” Steve replied, leaning down to kiss Peggy’s forehead before heading over to the closet. “What time is Angie getting here again?”

“I told her seven.” Peggy closed her book and stood up. She stretched and walked into their en suite bathroom to brush her teeth. “She seems really nice and this’ll be a great chance to get to know her a little bit better.”

“What do you think?” Steve asked from the bedroom doorway.

Peggy stopped with the toothpaste tube inches above the head of her toothbrush. “Of her?”

“No. Of my shirt.”

Peggy turned around to find Steve wearing a dark blue t-shirt and jeans. “You look lovely, darling.”

“Good. I’ll go start dinner.”

“Wait.”

Peggy set her toothbrush down on the edge of the sink and walked over to where Steve was standing. She looped her arms around the back of his neck and stood on her toes to kiss him.

“All right,” she said, letting him go and dropping back to her flat feet. “Now you can go make dinner.”

“Yes ma’am,” Steve said. He gave her a fake salute and headed out of the bedroom.

At seven o’clock on the dot, the doorbell rang and Peggy hurried to answer it. Angie was waiting in the hallway outside with a purple bakery box in her hand and a nervous smile on her face.

“Oh, Angie, come in,” Peggy said, stepping out of the way and opening the door a little wider.

“Hey,” Angie said. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to bring anything, so I just brought over some cookies from the bakery. I hope you guys like chocolate chip.”

“Sounds delicious. Why don’t you make yourself comfortable and I’ll go check on dinner.” Peggy took the box of cookies and before Angie could say anything else, she was alone in the doorway.

Angie shut the door behind her and walked slowly over to the leather sofa. She sat down and let her eyes wander around the apartment. It was small, but cozy with framed photographs and watercolor paintings of beautiful landscapes decorating the walls. Angie was mostly zoned out and she jumped when Steve plopped down on the sofa next to her.

“Mind if I join you?” he asked. “Peggy kicked me out of the kitchen which means we should probably both be afraid.”

Angie’s lips twitched and she shook her head. “I don’t mind. You’ve got a nice place here.”

“Thanks. It was Peggy’s, but we decided to share it. No use in renting a more expensive place when we’ve got plenty of room here.”

“Makes, sense,” Angie said.

They sat in silence for a moment until Steve asked, “So obviously you know about our relationship status, but what about you? Are you married? Got a boyfriend? I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I’m just curious.”

“I’m not in a relationship right now, but seeing as how the laws just got changed, I’m hoping to get married one day,” Angie said. She really hoped her cheeks weren’t as red as they felt.

“What do you mean?” Steve asked.

“Well I’m gay.”

“Oh.” Steve raised his eyebrows and a blush started rising in his cheeks. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to assume, I just…”

“No, it’s okay,” Angie said, waving her hand dismissively. “I get it all the time.”

Before Steve could say anything else, there was a loud knock on the door and Steve got up a little too quickly. “I’m going to go get that.”

Angie nodded and rubbed her palms against her jeans as he walked away. She heard a voice that she was pretty sure belonged to the man from the wedding—Howard. She bit her lip to keep from groaning, but she smiled again when Peggy poked her head around the kitchen doorway.

“Dinner’s all ready if you’d like to come sit down,” she said.

Angie stood up and followed Peggy through the kitchen into the little dining room. There was a vase of lilies on the table between a steaming dish of shepherd’s pie and a bowl of sliced Italian bread. They both sat down and were soon joined by Howard and Steve.

Howard took the seat right next to Angie and grinned at her. Angie just barely managed to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

For the first few minutes, dinner was quiet, the silence only broken by the scraping of the serving spoon at the bottom of the casserole dish and the general sounds that came with eating. Howard was the first one to speak.

“Steve, this is absolutely delicious. Is this a family recipe?”

“Yeah,” Steve said, swallowing a mouthful of food. “It’s my mother’s recipe, thanks.”

“It’s a little dry,” Peggy said around a mouthful of potatoes.

“Well it’s a good thing you didn’t make it or we’d be scraping it out of the pan,” Steve quipped.

“Oh please. Give a little credit.”

“Cook something without setting off the fire alarm and maybe I’ll do that.”

Angie stuffed a piece of bread into her mouth to keep from laughing.

“So Howard, you’re single, aren’t you?” Peggy asked. The change of subject was so abrupt that Angie almost got whiplash.

“You know me, Peg. I’m not exactly a relationship type of guy.”

Steve snorted into his drink.

“What?” Howard asked. “There’s some gorgeous women in this city and I want to sleep with as many as I can. How else will I ever know if I’ve found a girl worth having a relationship with?”

“Well I’ve always thought that you have to give it time and you develop a relationship with a person and it feels so warm and comfortable that one day you realize that it must be love.” Peggy’s sentiment probably would have sounded nicer if she hadn’t been chewing a piece of bread as she spoke, but Angie got the idea.

“I disagree,” she said. “I think you know right away if you love a person or not and everything that happens from that point on just proves you were right all along. 

“I’m with her,” Howard said, gesturing at Angie with the tip of her fork. “You gotta have that spark. Otherwise what do you have?”

“What do you mean?” Peggy asked. Her voice was a little higher than normal and there was a fire burning behind her eyes. “Do you mean to say that you can’t love someone that you don’t fall for instantly? That that kind of warm, stable relationship isn’t as good as something else?”

“No, of course not,” Angie said quickly. “I just mean that sometimes you just click with people that love is an unstoppable force. It does what it will and if you feel that spark, there’s nothing you can do but go for it and trust that everything’ll work itself out in the end.”

Peggy opened her mouth, but Steve interrupted her before she could say anything.

“Peg, why don’t you go break open that box of cookies for us. Howard, you mind helping me clean up?”

“Not at all.” Howard stood up, grabbed his own dish, and started to reach for Angie, but she jerked out his reach and carried it into the kitchen herself.

“Too late,” she called over her shoulder. She could hear Peggy laugh at that and she breathed a small sigh of relief. She set her dishes in the sink and started to turn around, but her eyes fell on a doorway next to the refrigerator. She could see a small, spiral staircase leading straight up and she tipped her head to try to see where it led to.

“That goes up to the rooftop greenhouse,” Steve said.

“You guys have a rooftop greenhouse? That’s so cool!”

“Yeah, it is. You can go up and check it out if you want to.” Steve nudged her shoulder with his elbow as he set the mostly-empty casserole dish on the counter. He leaned down to get some plastic wrap out of a cabinet and Angie started climbing the staircase.

Sure enough, when she got to the top, she found herself in a glass room filled with all kinds of plants and flowers. It was raining outside, and the drops rolled down the glass walls and cast eerie shadows across the concrete floor. There was a door in the wall directly across from Angie and she couldn’t resist the urge to open it.

As soon as she did, she was assaulted with a chilly wind and rain drops that felt much too cold, even for early April. Nevertheless, her natural curiosity got the best of her and she walked right over to the ledge at the edge of the roof and looked out over the city.

New York was pretty at night anyway, but the rain turned the city lights into glowing spheres and it obscured the view just enough to make everything look hazy around the edges.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Angie jumped when she heard Peggy’s voice and she turned around to find Peggy standing in the greenhouse doorway with her arms crossed in front of her.

“It’s so pretty out here,” Angie said.

“It’s raining out here,” Peggy retorted. “Come back inside. You’ll catch your death out here.”

Angie reluctantly made her way back into the greenhouse and Peggy shut the door behind her.

“You’re soaked,” Peggy said. She shrugged out of her gray sweater and handed it to Angie. “Here, put this on.”

“I can’t take your sweater.”

“I’m not asking.”

Angie took the sweater and slipped it on. It was a size too big for her and the cuffs hung down over her hands, but it was warm and dry and it smelled like Peggy’s perfume.

“There,” Peggy said, taking Angie’s hands in her own and swinging them absently. “Isn’t that better?”

“Much,” Angie said.

They stayed there for a moment, just staring at each other as the rain pounded on the glass around them. Angie tried her hardest to keep her gaze on Peggy’s eyes, but she couldn’t help but notice how very red Peggy’s lips were and how nice it would look if that lipstick happened to smudge.

“Hey guys?”

Steve’s voice brought them both to back to reality and they turned to see him standing at the bottom of the staircase. “Howard wants to play either strip poker or strip Howard and I want him to go home.”

“Coming!” Peggy called back. She turned back to Angie and smiled before letting go of Angie’s hands and heading back down the staircase.

Angie followed and when they got back to the kitchen, Howard was there offering to give Angie a ride home with the excuse that it was far to cold and wet to walk home, even if ‘home’ was only a few blocks away. Angie reluctantly agreed and before she knew it, she was standing at the front door, smiling at Peggy and Steve.

“Thank you so much inviting me. Dinner was delicious.”

“It was our pleasure,” Peggy said.

“Of course. We’ll be seeing each other again soon, I’m sure,” Steve said. He reached out his hand and Angie shook it.

Peggy, however, didn’t go for a handshake. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Angie. The embrace was warm and Angie found herself paying particular attention to the way the strawberry scent of Peggy’s shampoo mixed with her flowery perfume and how very soft Peggy’s hair felt against her cheek.

The hug was over sooner than Angie had hoped and with a final smile, she followed Howard into the hallway and towards the elevator.

She was halfway out to Howard’s car before she realized she was still wearing Peggy’s sweater.

Chapter Text

Howard’s car smelled vaguely like pizza and whiskey, but it was cleaner that Angie had expected. At least, it was visibly cleaner, but Angie was half-tempted to shine a black light around the interior.

Howard grinned at and waggled his brows at her as she got in.

On second thought, she really didn’t want to know.

Her apartment was only a few blocks away and for most of the drive, the rain was the only sound.

“Turn left up ahead,” Angie said.

“Or,” Howard said. “Hear me out. We could just keep going straight and head back to my penthouse to see where the night takes us.”

“Yeah, or we not and you could just take me home. Turn left at the light.”

“Okay, how’s this? I’ll turn right instead and we can stop for coffee first. I’ll buy.”

“You want to buy me coffee,” Angie repeated.

“Well I want some and I’m offering some to you because believe it or not, beneath this ruggedly handsome exterior there is a sensitive soul.”

“No there’s not.”

“No there’s not.”

Howard made a right turn at the light and Angie immediately recognized the 24-hour diner he parked in front of. It was a small place lit by too-bright fluorescent lights, but the food was good and the coffee was better, so she just rolled her eyes and let Howard lead her inside.

They were the only two customers in the diner and it only took a few minutes before they were both sipping from steaming mugs of coffee.

“So,” Howard started. “Steve told me that you’re…you know, a vagitarian.”

Angie practically choked on her coffee.

“Wrong word?” Howard asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You could say that,” Angie replied. She grabbed her napkin and wiped it across her lips. “He told you?”

“To be fair, I asked,” Howard said. “I had my suspicions and to be quite honest I’m not interested in wasting my energy when there’s plenty of other girls out there for me.”

Angie rolled her eyes. “Keep telling yourself that.”

“I’ll have you know that most women out there view me as quite the catch,” Howard said.

“I’ll bet they do.”

“That was uncalled for, but I’ll let it slide if I can ask you a question.”

“Oh no,” Angie groaned.

“I’ll take that as an invitation to ask it then.” Howard set his mug down and laced his fingers together as he started Angie right in the eyes. “What happens if you fall absolutely head over heels in love with a girl, but she’s not into that?”

“What do mean?” Angie asked. “Do you mean she’s not attracted to girls at all or she’s in a relationship with a man or someone else or what?”

“Either, I guess.”

“Well,” Angie’s coffee was starting to go cold and she took a long sip before answering. “There’s this thing called bisexuality where people can be into both guys and girls, so that’s one thing, but if she’s in a relationship I’d never do it. You just don’t mess with other couples. If they’re happy, they’re happy and no matter how you feel, you have to let them be happy.”

“Huh.”

They finished their coffee in silence and Howard left a few crumpled bills on the table before they both headed back out to the car.

“Follow-up question,” Howard said suddenly as they waited for a traffic light to change. “Are you bisexual or…”

“Howard, I’m not sleeping with you,” Angie said. “Not now, not ever.”

“Aw come on,” Howard complained. “Anyone can change teams. I mean I wouldn’t, but you know.”

Angie rolled her eyes as he parked the car in front of her building. “Goodnight, Howard. Thanks for the ride.”

Before Howard could say anything else, Angie was out of the car and racing through the raindrops to get inside. Once she was safely in the lobby, she peeled Peggy’s now-thoroughly-soaked sweater off her shoulders and headed up to her own apartment.

It wasn’t until she was lying in bed that she realized she could still smell Peggy’s perfume on her skin.

“I think last night went really well.”

“Mmhm.”

“It was really nice getting to spend some actual time with Angie.”

“It sure was.”

“And I bet her and Howard got along wonderful on the ride home.”

Steve stopped walking right in the center of the grocery aisle and Peggy narrowly avoided slamming into his back.

“Darling, what’s wrong?” she asked. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, Peg, it’s just…about last night.” Steve rubbed his hand across the back of his neck and tried to avoid meeting Peggy’s eyes. “I really shouldn’t just tell you, but I think you kind of need to know, so—“

“Oh, Cocoa Puffs!” Peggy reached across the aisle and grabbed two boxes of cereal off the shelves before tossing them in the cart. She straightened back up and put her hands on her hips. “Sorry, I have a coupon for them. You were saying?”

“Yeah,” Steve said. “About Angie. She—“

“Hey! Fancy seeing you guys here.”

Steve and Peggy both turned when they heard the familiar voice at the other end of the aisle. Angie was standing there, leaning on her shopping cart with a tall blonde woman at her side.

“Angie, hi!” Peggy exclaimed with a bright smile. “It’s so funny; we were just talking about you.”

“Huh, what a coincidence,” Angie said. “All good things I hope?”

“Oh, of course,” Peggy said.

There was an awkward moment of silence while Angie and Peggy just smiled at each other and Steve whistled to himself as he scanned the oatmeal selection. Finally, it was the blonde girl who broke the tension.

“Well if you’re not going to introduce me,” she said, jabbing Angie’s side playfully. “I might as well do it myself. Hi, I’m Dottie Underwood. I’m another friend of Angie’s. I’m going to guess that you’re the Peggy I’ve heard so much about over the past few days.”

“That’s me,” Peggy said. “You’ve heard good things I hope?”

Dottie flashed Peggy a brilliant smile. “Of course.”

“Well, we should be going,” Angie said a little too quickly. “I’ll see you guys later. Dottie, come on.” She grabbed Dottie by the sleeve and practically pulled her out of the aisle.

“Well that was odd,” Peggy said.

“Yeah, look.” Steve ran a hand through his hair and looked pointedly down at the linoleum floor. He took a deep breath and finally met Peggy’s eyes. “Angie and Howard aren’t going to get together. She’s gay.”

“She’s…gay?” Peggy asked as though feeling the word on her tongue for the first time. Her jaw fell open and she glanced down at the air where Angie had just been standing. “Steve,” she said after a moment. “Do you think that other girl could have been her…”

“I don’t know, I mean, I don’t want to assume, but—“

“Yes, of course. You’re right. It’s none of our business.” Peggy shook her head and looked back down at the list in her hands. “Come on then. The baking aisle’s next.”

Peggy led the way and Steve knocked a box of Frosted Flakes into the cart when she wasn’t looking before hurrying to catch up with her.

They were just finishing up in the baking aisle when they heard an excited gasp behind them.

“Steve? Peggy? Oh, well isn’t this just the funniest thing?”

Peggy and Steve both turned around to see Angie and Dottie walking up behind them. This time it was Dottie pushing the cart, grinning as wide as ever as Angie tossed in a few bags of chocolate chips and shredded coconut.

“Oh, hello,” Peggy said. Her voice was about an octave too high and she was pretty sure her cheeks were turning red. “Fancy meeting you two again.”

“Yeah, that’s some coincidence,” Angie said.

Peggy could feel Steve’s hand on the small of her back as a warning to act natural and stop blushing already. To her own credit, she did try, but she couldn’t help the words that fell out of her mouth. “Dottie, are you gay?”

“Am I gay?”

The words hung in the air and Peggy felt her cheeks grow even hotter. She bit her lip and watched as Dottie’s smile returned. “Are you kidding? I’m ecstatic!”

Peggy laughed a little too loudly and Steve stepped a little closer, wrapping his arm around Peggy’s hip. It was a comforting gesture and one that told her she should probably shut up before she dug herself into an even deeper hole.

Unfortunately it wasn’t enough.

“So are you two…are you together then?” Peggy blurted.

Dottie wrapped one arm around Angie’s neck to pull her closer. “Unfortunately, no. I have tried and tried, but her heart belongs to another,” she said dramatically, her free hand clutching at her heart.

Angie’s cheeks were just as red as Peggy’s felt and she shrugged out of Dottie’s embrace.

“I’m sorry about my friend,” she said. “She’s got no chill.”

“That’s quite all right,” Peggy replied. “I’m sorry for asking in the first place. That was extremely inappropriate.”

“Nah, it’s cool.” Angie waved her hand dismissively and gave Peggy a small smile. “We should really be going, though. I’ve got to get back to the shop and I’m sure Dottie can find something to do for the rest of the day. I’m sure there are some pigeons that need scaring or something.”

“We should get going too,” Steve interjected. “We’ve got some stuff to do.”

“Yes. We’ll talk later?” Peggy asked.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily, English,” Angie replied with a wink so quick that Peggy almost didn’t notice it.

She did, though, and she smiled.

“Yes. Well, we’ll be off then. See you soon. Or later. Whenever. We’ll talk.”

Before she could embarrass herself anymore, Steve guided her out of the aisle and over to the registers.

“Was that bad?” she asked, once they were safely out of earshot.

“On a scale of one to ten?” Steve asked. Peggy nodded. “Yeah, that would have broken the scale. But on the bright side, she’s still talking to you, so that’s probably a positive.”

Peggy leaned against the cart and covered her face with her hands. “God, I made a bleeding idiot of myself, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you kind of did.” Steve was trying and failing to hold back his laughter. He bit his lip and covered his mouth with his hand. When Peggy looked up and saw him, she punched his shoulder roughly.

“Shut up! I sounded absolutely ridiculous. I can’t believe I said any of that. I don’t even know what came over me.”

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just check out and go home.”

Peggy nodded and followed Steve toward the register. It wasn’t until they got outside that she finally found it in her to smile.

“Angie, you made it!”

Angie whirled around when she heard Tony’s voice and she broke into a wide smile. Tony came racing up to her and skidded to a stop just before he collided with her legs.

“Hey, kid. Yeah, of course I came. I’ve been looking forward to it all week.”

“Me too. I’ve been working on it forever and Peggy even helped me paint my models.”

“That’s awesome, Tony. Are she and Steve coming?”

“Steve has to work, but Peggy’s coming and she promised to take pictures for him. Now come on! The show’s gonna start soon and you need to get good seats!” Tony grabbed Angie’s wrist and pulled her up the front steps into the school gymnasium.

Angie had been more than a little surprised to get a call from Anna Jarvis about how Tony couldn’t stop talking about her and how much he wanted her to come to his school science fair. He was doing a project about the solar system complete with a scale model and only the best Powerpoint transitions.

Naturally, Angie had not only said yes, but agreed to supply cookies on the house to Tony, his parents, and anyone else that showed up to support him.

And that was how she found herself staring face-to-face with Peggy Carter for the first time since the World’s Most Awkward Shopping Trip almost three weeks ago.

Peggy smiled and patted the empty folding chair next to her. Angie sat down and folded her hands in her lap.

“Hey,” she said quietly.

“Hi,” Peggy replied. “You know, I was almost worried you weren’t going to come. Actually, when I heard that Tony had invited you, I almost didn’t want to come seeing as I made such a complete arse of myself the last time we spoke.”

“Yeah. That was sure something.”

“I’m sorry about that. Honestly I was going to call and apologize or stop by the bakery, but I felt like an idiot and I didn’t know what to say and then I kept forgetting about it and I—“

“Hey, English, it’s okay,” Angie said. She reached over to hold Peggy’s hand in her own and stared into those deep brown eyes. “It’s not a big deal and if it’ll make you feel any better, I forgive you.”

Peggy opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but nothing came out. She glanced down at their joined hands, but before anything else could happen, Anna and Edwin suddenly slid into the empty seats net to Peggy and the lights dimmed as the presentations started.

Angie quickly pulled her hand away, but it was Peggy who didn’t want to let go. 

Angie’s phone was ringing.

Angie’s phone was ringing and she had just gotten out of the shower. She slipped across the tiled floor and into her bedroom where her cell phone was charging on the night stand. She didn’t recognize the number on the screen, but she was already dripping on the hardwood and clutching a towel to her chest, so she might as well answer it.

“Hello?”

There was no response.

Angie could only hear silence on the other end of the line and then suddenly the call was ended.

“Seriously?” she groaned. “I could have stayed in the shower for that.”

She tossed her phone on her bed and started to head back to the bathroom, but the instant she turned around, the phone started ringing again.

“Oh for the love of…” Angie spun around and reached towards her bed, but she only succeeded in slipping in the puddle she had left on the floor. She slipped forward and only just managed to catch herself on her mattress. One hand readjusted her towel while her feet scrambled for purchase on the slippery floor and her other hand was groping blindly for her phone.

Finally, she found it in the mound of tangled sheets and lifted it to her ear without even looking at the screen.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Angie. It’s Steve.”

“Oh, hey,” Angie said. She rolled over onto her back and ran a hand thorough her dripping hair. “What’s up?”

“I was actually hoping that I could ask a favor of you,” Steve said.

“Depends what it is, I guess.”

“Well, I got tickets to this game tomorrow and Peggy and I were going to go together, but something came up really last minute at work and I’m not going to be able to make it, so I was thinking maybe you’d like to go with her? You know, keep her out of trouble?”

“I, uh…yeah, sure. That sounds fun. I can do it. What time?”

“I have to check the tickets, but I’ll text you the details in a little while?”

“That’s fine, yeah.”

“Thanks, Angie, you’re a lifesaver. Talk to you later!”

“Yeah. Bye.”

Angie ended the call and just lay there on her bed for a long moment, not even caring how damp her sheets were getting.

Apparently she had plans tomorrow night.

Chapter Text

Angie wasn’t nervous.

She was standing in front of the entrance to Yankee freakin’ Stadium and scanning the income crowd for any sign of Peggy. After all, she was the one with the tickets. Angie shifted her weight from one foot to the other and picked absently at the chipped blue polish on her fingernails.

Okay, maybe she was little nervous.

“Angie?”

Angie whirled around at the sound of her name and saw Peggy hurrying over to her, waving the tickets in her hand. Angie smiled brightly and dropped her own hands to her sides as Peggy reached out an arm and pulled her in for a quick hug.

“I thought it was you, but from a distance I couldn’t be sure,” Peggy said breathlessly. “I’m so glad you could make it.”

“Yeah, me too,” Angie replied. “Hey, you mind if I take a picture real quick? My little brother’s a huge Yankees fan. He’ll flip when he finds out I’m here.”

“Oh, of course!” Peggy exclaimed. “Here, come on. We’ll take a selfie.”

Before Angie could protest, Peggy snaked her arm around Angie’s waist to pull her closer until their cheeks were practically touching. Peggy held up the tickets and made a face, but Angie felt like she was frozen to her spot.

“Well come on then, take the picture,” Peggy said.

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Angie pulled her hone out of her pocket and fumbled with it for a moment, but she managed to set it to the camera and snapped a quick picture. She wiggled out of Peggy’s grip and typed out a quick text to her brother before shoving her phone back in her pocket and following Peggy into the stadium.

Steve Rogers was a drug dealer.

At least, that was what Angie had decided. Okay, maybe a drug dealer was a bit of a stretch, but there was no way any normal guy could get tickets this good to a Yankees versus Red Sox game at Yankee freakin’ Stadium. She and Peggy were sitting right behind home plate with a perfect view of the action.

“So explain the point of this game to me again,” Peggy said. “Do the only get points for running around the field and not for hitting the ball?”

“What are you even talking about?” Angie asked. “They hit the ball and run around and every time a guy crosses home plate, the team gets another point.”

“I still don’t think I get it.”

Angie rolled her eyes in mock offense. “God, English, it’s a fine American tradition. Do I show up to your country and ask why you put beans on toast or something else dumb like that?”

“That’s hardly the same argument.”

“It’s close enough,” Angie insisted. “You hungry?”

“Maybe a little bit,” Peggy admitted.

“All right, hold on.” There was a man walking up and down the aisles selling hot dogs and bags of Cracker Jack. Angie flagged him down and held up two fingers. He handed her two hot dogs loaded with ketchup, mustard, onions, and relish and Angie passed him a couple of crumpled bills.

“So I’m taking a leap of faith here, but am I correct in assuming that you’ve lived in the states long enough to at least know how to eat a hot dog?”

Peggy sucked a bit of relish off her thumb and nodded.

“Then bon appetite,” Angie said. She took a huge bite out of her own hot dog and succeeded in dripping a considerable amount of various condiments down her chin. Peggy snorted when she looked over and completely forgot to pay attention to where her own hot dog was. When she turned her head again to take a bite, she managed to smear an orange glob of ketchup and mustard on the tip of her nose.

“Classy, English,” Angie teased around a mouth of food.

Peggy just stuck out her tongue and bumped her hip playfully against Angie’s.

They turned their attention back to the field as the batter at the plate--a Yankees player with a big number ‘9’ on the back of his uniform--missed the pitch. The umpire called a strike and the batter tapped the head of his bat against home plate as he readjusted his stance.

“Oh, look at him,” Angie said, nudging Peggy and gesturing at the batter with the end of her hot dog. “He’s getting angry. This is gonna be good.”

“What?” Peggy asked.

“Just watch.”

The pitcher threw out another pitch, this one a near perfect throw, but the batter swung and missed again. The crowd erupted in a chorus of mixed boos and some pretty colorful words.

“Everyone is so enthusiastic,” Peggy mumbled around a bite of hot dog.

“Of course,” Angie replied. “Heckling is a fine American tradition.”

“It seems there’s a lot of those involved with this.”

“Yup. And they’re all equally important.”

The batter struck out and smacked the bat against the plate again before stomping back to the dugout. The teams switched and the Red Sox came trotting in from the field to bat.

“You wanker!” Peggy screamed as the Yankee player shuffled towards the outfield.

“Not bad,” Angie said with an approving nod. “But you’re way too shrill. That’s a surefire way to end up losing your voice.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Peggy quipped. “I suppose there’s an American tradition pertaining to the art of screaming too?”

“Well it’s not so much a tradition as it’s just the best way to do it. Want me to teach you?”

“Am I really going to get  much of a choice in the matter?” Peggy replied teasingly.

“Course not,” Angie said. She finished the last few bites of her hot dog, crumpled the wrapper in her fist, and moved so that she was standing behind Peggy. “Okay,” she said. “First things first, you need to come at it nice and tight from your core.

Angie’s hands snaked slowly around Peggy’s waist and she she laced her fingers together over Peggy’s abdomen. Peggy tensed at first, but after a moment she relaxed a little bit. Her stomach was surprisingly toned under Angie’s fingers and Peggy tightened the muscles just the smallest bit.

“Good. Now you have to breathe really deeply,” Angie instructed. She moved her hands up just the tiniest bit and pressed lightly on the space just below Peggy’s ribs. “Your diaphragm’s right in here. You need to use it. Breathe real deep. Let your whole body expand as you breathe in.”

Peggy did as she was told and took a deep breath in. Her diaphragm expanded beneath Angie’s hands and Angie had to try her absolute hardest to ignore how close she was to Peggy and how good her hair smelled and how soft and beautiful the curves of her body were.

Breathe, Angie. Rein the gay back in.

Angie took a deep breath of her own and readjusted her hands over Peggy’s diaphragm.

“Perfect. Just like that. Now it all comes down to your mouth.” Angie cleared her throat before she spoke again. “The way I do it is just imagine the roof of your mouth like a cathedral. It’s a space thing. You gotta fill that space with sound and then just push it all out at once.”

“And that’s the American way to scream?” Peggy asked, turning her head so that Angie wouldn’t miss the glimmer of mischief in her eyes.

“That’s the American way to scream,” Angie confirmed with a short nod.

Peggy’s expression changed and she looked questioningly at Angie. “Show me?”

“Sure.” Angie pulled her hands back to her sides a little slower than was probably necessary. The warm air against her palms was almost a shock and she balled her hands into fists at her sides to try to compensate for the loss of contact. “Here, though. I want you to feel what I’m talking about.”

Angie took Peggy’s wrists and gently guided her hands towards her own abdomen. Once Peggy realized what Angie wanted, she quickly moved her hands there herself and leaned her head softly on Angie’s shoulder.

Angie could feel a not-entirely-unpleasant warmth spread from the top of her head to the very tips of her toes.

God, she was turning into a walking cliche.

The bases were loaded and the player at bat hit his first pitch into the outfield to a cacophony of screams and cheers from the crowd. The Yankees player from before--number nine--moved to catch it, but it bounced off the tip of his glove and hit the ground. The batter dropped the bat and trotted confidently toward first base.

The crowd was going crazy and Angie took a deep breath in before adding her own voice to the cacophony.

“YOU’RE A WANKER, NUMBER NINE!”

Peggy laughed that bright laugh, her breath tickling the shell of Angie’s ear. “Wanker?” she teased. “And here I thought we were learning American traditions.”

“Shut up, English,” Angie replied, casually shrugging out of Peggy’s grip. “Obviously I’ve just been spending way too much time with you.”

“Don’t tell me you’re growing tired of me,” Peggy said.

Angie rolled her eyes and bumped her shoulder against Peggy’s. “Only in your dreams.”

“I feel like dancing,” Peggy declared.

She and Angie  had just broken away from the crowd coming out of the stadium and they blinked hard against the light of the setting sun.

“Dancing?” Angie asked.

“Yeah,” Peggy said. “We don’t have to, but I think it would be fun.”

“Hmm.” Angie bit her lip and thought for a moment. “You know, what? I think I might know the perfect place.”

The place, as it turned out, was a small arcade nestled between a pizza place and an ice cream parlor, which led to an impromptu stop for dinner After probably too many slices of pizza, Angie led Peggy into the arcade and straight to the Dance Dance Revolution machine at the back wall.

The dance pad was old with a few cracks in the surface, but Angie had spent far more time in this arcade than she cared to admit. She knew first hand that it still worked.

“I have to admit, when I said I wanted to go dancing this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” Peggy said, eyeing the machine skeptically.

“What. You scared you’re gonna lose?” Angie asked.

Peggy scoffed. “Of course not.”

“Then I guess you wouldn’t be opposed to upping the stakes just a little bit?”

“Of course not,” Peggy said. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

“Nothing much,” Angie said. “Except for the loser has to pay for ice cream when we leave. And the winner gets eternal bragging rights.”

There was a fire in Peggy’s eyes and the smile she gave Angie was positively impish. “I’ll have you know that I’m a fan of a classic hot fudge sundae with as many sprinkles as possible.”

“Pretty confident there, English?”

“You have no idea.”

“Well for your information,” Angie said. “This machine here got installed my freshman year of high school. Me and a bunch of other kids used to come down here and pool our money to play a tournament, winner takes all. I don’t want to brag or nothing, but I was walking out of here with thirty bucks a week just from playing this game.”

“Well then prove it,” Peggy said.

“Gladly.”

Angie pulled a crisp dollar bill out of her pocket and slid it into the machine. The screen flashed to life and Angie gestured at the left-hand pad.

“Losers first,” she said. Peggy stuck out her tongue just the tiniest bit, but stepped grudgingly onto the pad. Angie hopped up onto the pad other pad and started scrolling through the list of songs. The greatest hits of the early 2000s sped across the screen until Angie finally settled on a song. Before Peggy could even see what it was, the music was starting.

The opening notes of Kelly Clarkson’s Since U Been Gone blasted out of the grainy speakers and Angie started dancing faster than the arrows could slide down the screen.

It was pretty obvious she hadn’t been lying about playing it before.

Peggy tried to keep up and she thought she was doing pretty well.

Or at least she did until she snuck a glance at Angie’s screen and noticed that Angie had almost double the points that she did. Peggy put even more energy into it, but she still wasn’t good enough to keep up. When the song finally ended, Peggy was breathing hard while Angie had barely even broken a sweat.

“Had enough yet?” Angie teased.

“You wish,” Peggy replied.

“Then how’s best two out of three sound?”

“Sounds like I’m going to beat you.” Peggy replied with unwarranted confidence. “Unless you’d rather just give up.”

“Course not. I could do this all night. You pick the song this time.”

Peggy bit her lip as she scrolled through the meager song selection list and tried to find the perfect one. When she finally found it, she hit the control with a little more force than she probably needed to use and got back into position, ready to dance.

Best two out of three quickly turned into three out of five and then seven out of ten and finally the manager came out from his office and informed them that the arcaded was closing in ten minutes. Naturally the ice cream parlor was closed up too, so Angie nudged Peggy’s shoulder.

“Looks like we’ll just have to this again some time seeing as you own me an ice cream.”

“Yeah, yeah, I lost. Big deal,” Peggy said. Her tone said ‘I don’t care’, but she still wasn’t looking Angie in the eye and Angie could have sworn she saw a hint of a blush dusting Peggy’s cheeks. “But you’re right. That was fun. We should do it again.”

“Yeah.”

Most of the three-block walk back to Peggy’s apartment was silent and broken only by the occasional car driving past. When they reached Peggy’s building, though, Angie finally spoke.

“I had a lot of fun tonight.”

“Me too,” Peggy said with a smile. “I’m so glad you could come, especially on such short notice.”

“It was no trouble. Besides, I can’t of many other ways to spend a Saturday that be better than hanging out with you.”

Angie practically cringed as she listened to herself speak. Her mouth seemed to be functioning independent of her brain and she pressed her lips shut before she had the chance to say anything else.

If Peggy was taken aback by Angie’s comment, though, she didn’t show it. She just smiled brightly.

They stood there on the front stoop of the apartment building, illuminated in the dim, hazy glow from the streetlamps above. Angie wasn’t quite sure whether or not she was imagining the tension between them.

At least not until she notice Peggy’s gaze dart down to her lips.

Angie took a half step closer and Peggy started to lean in. They were so close that Angie could feel Peggy’s breath against her lips and she had to steady herself with one hand against the brick wall next to her.

Just as she was about to close the gap, a beat up pickup truck drove past and for a brief instant, she and Peggy were illuminated in the headlights and Angie could see a sudden flash of doubt cross Peggy's face. 

That was when Peggy snapped her head back and took a half step back.

“Yes. Well. Thank you for a lovely evening. I’ll see you soon?”

Angie nodded. “Yeah, of course, English. You can’t get rid of me that easily. Besides, you still owe me an ice cream."

"That I do. I'll see you later!"

Peggy shot Angie a last smile before hurrying into her building, leaving Angie out on the stoop with nothing but the light of the streetlamps and the ghost of Peggy’s arms around her.

Chapter Text

Peggy had just polished her nails the day before, but apparently it had been for nothing.

In the span of a single morning, she had managed to pick most of the shiny red color off her right hand and she was making steady progress on her left. Tiny flakes of polish fell like snowflakes to her desk and she brushed them casually off onto the carpet.

There was a stack of paperwork in front of her waiting to be read through and signed—one of the joys of being a lawyer’s assistant—but she hadn’t touched any of it all morning.

“Hey, Peggy. Everything okay?”

Peggy’s head jerked up at the sound of Colleen’s voice and she forced a quick smile.

“Yes, of course. Why do you ask?”

“You just seem a little distracted is all,” Colleen said. There was a glint in her eyes that said she wasn’t buying Peggy’s excuse, but she didn’t press further. Instead, she just sat back down at her own desk and picked up her pen. “How’s Steve?”

“Steve’s good,” Peggy said. She started absently picking at her nails again.

“That’s good,” Colleen said. She booted up her computer and started typing.

Peggy cleared her throat and dropped her hands again. “Colleen, can I ask you something?”

Colleen stopped typing and furrowed her brows. “Yeah, Peg, what’s up?”

“Have you ever…I mean, I know this probably sounds more than a little ridiculous, but…have you ever fancied another girl?”

“You mean like a girl crush?”

“No. I mean like actually fancied her. Have you ever actually been in love with another woman?”

“I don’t think so,” Colleen said. She leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms out behind her, combing her fingers through her blonde hair. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” Peggy said. She turned on her own computer and started tapping away at the keyboard. She cleared her throat again, but didn’t even turn her head as she spoke again. “What about love at first sight?”

“Okay, seriously now. Where is this coming from?” Colleen asked. Her voice was light and soft and she was still smiling at Peggy.

“Nowhere. Just…do you believe in love at first sight? Like you can see someone across a room and lock eyes just for a second and you just know somehow that they’re the one?”

There was a long pause.

“No,” Colleen said, squinting slightly like she still didn’t quite understand the question. “Are you sure everything’s all right?”

“Yeah, of course,” Peggy said. “I just—“

The office door opened and their boss, Sousa, appeared suddenly in the doorway. “Hey Peggy, do you think you could get that paperwork done by the end of the day? I’ve got a meeting with the client first thing tomorrow and I’d like to be able to give her the information.”

“Yeah. Yes. I can get it done. No problem.”

“Great. Thanks.”

Sousa smiled and disappeared back into his office.

“So as I was saying,” Colleen said. “Are you sure everything’s fine?”

Peggy stood up a little too quickly as her chair rolled back and hit the wall behind her. “You know what?” she asked. “I think I’m going to go take an early lunch so I can focus on going through the paperwork when I get back. I’ll see you later.”

Before Colleen could say anything else, Peggy grabbed her coat and purse and hurried out of the office, leaving a thin trail of red flakes behind her.

Three days.

Angie hadn’t heard anything from Peggy in three whole days. Not since the almost-maybe-kiss they had shared outside Peggy’s apartment building the other night.

Of course, it wasn’t like Angie was going to even try to initiate any kind of conversation. How would she even start that off?

Hi. Sorry about being such a useless lesbian and almost kissing you the other night, but we can still be friends, right?

Angie rolled her eyes and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ears as she tapped the end of her pen against the countertop. It was a slow day and ordinarily on a slow day, she would open the kitchen doors and bake cookies or something, but she was still waiting on a delivery and that meant she was stuck at the counter.

She was working on some crossword puzzle or another, but it was doing nothing to keep her occupied and her mind kept wandering. She didn’t even notice until she looked down and realized that she had written Peggy’s name in one of the spaces.

A five letter word for love.

Angie tried to erase it, but she had written it in pen. She just huffed and scribbled out the letters before flipping to the answer key to find out the actual word.

Adore.

Of course.

Angie scribbled over the rest of the page and flipped to a fresh page. She hadn’t even finished reading the first clue when the bell above the door chimed. She closed the book quickly, set down her pen, and forced a too-cheery smile on her face before she looked up.

“Hi. Welcome to ‘For Goodness Cakes’. What can I get you this…?” It took a moment for Angie’s brain to actually process who exactly had just walked into her shop and when it did, she trailed off awkwardly, her smile fading slowly from her face. “Hey, Peggy.”

“Hi, Angie,” Peggy replied. She sounded breathless and her cheeks were red like she walked all the way to the bakery from wherever she had come from.

“Hey,” Angie repeated. She slipped her crossword book underneath the counter as though Peggy would have still been able to see her name there. “What’s up?”

“I can’t do this,” Peggy said simply.

“What are you talking about? What can’t you do?”

“This!” Peggy cried, gesturing at Angie. “This, us, me, whatever. I don’t even know anymore, but whatever it is, I can’t do it.”

“Calm down,” Angie said, stepping out from behind the counter. “You’re not making any sense. What’s going on?”

“Ever since the other night I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you and what we almost did that night was so wrong and I…” Peggy took a deep, somewhat shaky breath and looked Angie dead in the eyes. “You make me feel something that I absolutely cannot feel.”

Angie felt like the wind had just been knocked out of her, but she didn’t say anything. She just crossed her arms in front of her chest and nodded.

“Steve doesn’t deserve this,” Peggy said. “He’s done absolutely nothing wrong and he doesn’t deserve this.”

“I get it,” Angie said. She could feel hot tears pricking at the backs of her eyes, but she’d heard this conversation a dozen times before in a dozen different ways. This was a breakup talk. She had known it was coming since that almost-maybe-kiss, but damn if it still didn’t sting. “You two are good together. I hope it all works out.”

There was more venom in her words than Angie had intended and they hung in the air for a moment like bullets cutting through the tension.

Angie wished that she could see tears in Peggy’s eyes too, but there were none.

If Peggy wasn’t going to cry, then Angie sure as hell wasn’t going to either. She turned around and walked back behind the counter. By the time she turned around again, Peggy had already disappeared back outside.

Angie let out a shaky sigh as she pulled her crossword book back out and started tapping her pen against the counter again. She had been through all of this before and she should damn well have remembered what it felt like to get dumped. A few nights with some ice cream and her collection of Sandra Bullock movies and she’d be as good as new.

At least that was what she was planning on.

But her plans were derailed when the bell above the door chimed again and before Angie could even look up, there were strong hands on either side of her face and a pair of warm lips pressing hungrily against hers and Angie knew by the smell of that familiar lily-scented perfume that it was Peggy kissing her.

Peggy’s mouth tasted like coffee and lipstick and her hair brushed against Angie’s face as she pressed even closer despite the counter between them. One of Peggy’s hands made its way up to Angie’s hair and her fingers tangled in caramel curls.

Finally, Angie pulled away and straightened up. Peggy looked shocked and more than a little worried, her eyes wide as she scanned Angie’s face.

“Pegs, what the hell?” Angie asked breathlessly.

Peggy looked down at the counter and her cheeks started to turn pink. “I-I’m sorry, Angie. I don’t know what came over me. I just…I should go. I’ll go. I’m sorry.” She started to turn away, but Angie stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Wait. You don’t have to…I mean, that was…surprising, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little glad you came back.”

A flicker of confusion crossed Peggy’s face, but it disappeared when Angie rounded the counter and kissed Peggy again. It was a hard, bruising kiss that left Peggy’s lipstick smeared and both of them gasping for breath as Angie steered them into the back office.

There were piled of papers all over the desk that Dottie had spent the better part of a week organizing, but Angie brushed them all to the floor as she backed Peggy up against the desk. A Phantom of the Opera mug that was functioning as a pencil cup shattered on the floor and Peggy smiled against Angie’s lips.

“Maybe you should clean that up,” she murmured.

“It can wait,” Angie replied, her hands already reaching down to work Peggy’s pencil skirt up. “This, on the other hand, has been put on hold long enough.”

Peggy chuckled and started to trail a hand down Angie’s back when she suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Angie asked, furrowing her brows and pulling back just enough to get a good look at Peggy’s face.

“I think I heard something,” Peggy whispered.

The bell in the front of the shop chimed brightly and they both froze as they heard footsteps.

“Hello?”

It was Steve.

Peggy’s eyes widened in terror and Angie let go of her.

“Just a second!” she called. She checked her reflection in the glass of a picture frame on the wall and wiped a smudge of red lipstick off her lips. She patted her hair back into place, gave her clothes a quick once-over, and turned briefly back to Peggy. “Just stay here,” she said. “I’ll let you know when the coast is clear.”

Peggy nodded and Angie slipped back out into the shop, shutting her office door carefully behind her.

“Hey, Steve, how’s it going?” Angie asked. She could only hope that her voice wasn’t as breathless as it felt. “What can I get for ya today?”

“Actually I was sort of hoping for some advice.” Steve wasn’t smiling. In fact, he wasn’t even looking at her. He was twisting his hands together nervously and looking down at the floor like it would give him whatever answers he was looking for.

Angie was pretty sure she already knew where this was going and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Sure. What do you need to know?”

“I want to know what’s going on with Peggy,” Steve said.

“How so?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m just being paranoid or something, but I feel like she’s becoming…distant, you know? I don’t know what’s changed and I don’t know if this is something that just happens to couples after they get married, but I’m worried. We’ve been like best friends for so long and now it’s like I barely know her anymore. I was kind of wondering if maybe she said something to you the other night or if something happened?”

“Nothing’s really popping out at me,” Angie said, conveniently glossing over the fact that she had kind of just gotten to about second base with Peggy and the woman in question was probably eavesdropping on the conversation at that very moment.

“Well do you think there’s anything I could do? All I want to do is make her happy and I feel like I don’t even know how to do that anymore.”

“Try cannoli?” Angie suggested, gesturing awkwardly to a tray of the cream-filled pastries in the glass display case. Steve’s lips twitched slightly, but he shook his head.

“I don’t think desserts are gonna help all that much.”

“Why don’t you just ask her what’s wrong?” Angie asked.

“I couldn’t do that,” Steve said. “Just the idea of it is terrifying.”

“Why? Maybe you’re just being paranoid like you said. What if there’s really nothing wrong?”

Steve sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, pulling it just enough that it stood up in all directions. “Yeah, but what if there is?”

Angie wanted to say something, she really did, but the words caught in her throat. It wasn’t like words were going to do her any good in this situation. She could either tell Steve the truth—that before he had walked in, she had had every intention of banging his wife against a desk—or she could lie. Neither really seemed like an appealing option, so she just stayed quiet.

“I’m sorry,” Steve said. “I shouldn’t have come to you with this. I was just hoping she said something, but it’s ridiculous. I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah,” Angie said. “See ya around.”

Steve nodded and raised one hand in a weak goodbye. The bell chimed behind him as he walked back outside.

Once she was sure he was gone, Angie took a deep breath and headed back towards the office. She pushed the door open only to find Peggy on the other side of it, silent tears streaming down her face.

“This is probably going to be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever asked in my life, but are you okay?” Angie asked quietly.

“He’s a good person,” Peggy said. Her voice was slow and quiet like she didn’t quite recognize it. “He’s a really good person. He doesn’t deserve this.”

Angie started to open her mouth to say something, anything, but before she could, Peggy turned around and ducked out the back door that led out into the parking lot. Angie followed, crying Peggy’s name, but Peggy just started running. She didn’t stop until she reached the park almost three full blocks away an even then, it was only because she tripped over a tree root and fell to her knees.

“Peggy, wait,” Angie said, grabbing Peggy’s arm and helping her back to her feet. “Please just talk to me. Fifteen minutes ago you were shoving your tongue down my throat and now you’re running away and I just don’t get it.”

“I can’t do it,” Peggy cried. Her breath came in short gasps and there was still lipstick smudged all around her mouth and her tears were dragging mascara down her cheeks. “I thought I could do it. I thought maybe…I don’t even know what I thought anymore, I just know it was wrong. Steve loves me and he doesn’t deserve a woman who’s going to cheat on him so soon after our wedding and I don’t want to be that kind of woman and I just—“

She broke down then, the sobs that had been threatening to spill over tumbled out of her and she wrapped one arm protectively around herself and brought the other up to cover her mouth.

“If you want me to leave, all you have to do is say it,” Angie said, struggling not to cry herself. “Tell me you really don’t want me and I promise you’ll never see me again. I’ll leave you alone and you can have the life you always wanted with Steve. I just need to hear you say it.”

“I don’t know that I can,” Peggy said quietly.

“Peggy.”

“Fine.” Peggy drew in a shaky breath and her next words were so quick and jumbled that Angie almost couldn’t make out what she had said. Almost. “I don’t want to see you again.”

“Okay.” Angie dropped her hands to her sides and swallowed hard around the lump in her throat. “Okay then. I guess we’re done here.”

She turned around and there was a part of her that wished more than anything that Peggy would pull a stunt like the one in the bakery and just kiss her again, but she didn’t. All Angie could do was walk away.

“Angie?”

Angie’s head whipped around at the sound of Peggy’s voice. “Yeah?”

“Don’t forget me?”

The question was asked so softly and despite being taller than Angie, Peggy looked so small standing there with makeup smeared all over her face and tears in her eyes. There were grass stains on her nylons and she was wobbling unsteadily in her heels. She was twisting her wedding ring nervously around her finger, her eyes flicking back and forth from the ground to Angie’s face.

Angie might have just been imagining things, but she was pretty sure there was a note of longing in Peggy’s expression.

Angie stepped closer and reached out a hand to cup Peggy’s cheek. Peggy leaned into it and Angie could feel warm tears dripping down onto her palm. Peggy sniffled weakly and swiped at the dried tear tracks on her face, but only succeeded in smearing her makeup more. She looked like an absolute mess and Angie was pretty sure she could feel her own heart breaking just looking at her.

She set both her hands on Peggy’s shoulders and shifted to her tiptoes so that she could press a final soft kiss to Peggy’s forehead. Her response was barely whispered against Peggy’s skin, but Angie was sure that Peggy had heard it.

“I won’t remember anything else.”

Chapter Text

Twelve down. A six-letter word for a feeling of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over something that has happened or been done.

Angie chewed on the end of her pen and stared at the page. After another minute of blank frustration, she flipped to the answer key in the back.

Regret.

Angie dropped her pen on the desk and slammed the crossword book shut. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes for what felt like the tenth time in the two days since Peggy had walked away. She bit her lip hard and swiped her pinkies under her eyes.

She was not going to cry.

Her mascara was expensive, damn it.

The bell above the door jingled and a large, red-faced man walked into the bakery. Angie caught a whiff of beer and cigarettes as he approached the counter and she had to force herself not to grimace. Instead, she pasted her fake smile on her face and stood up a little straighter.

“Morning, sir. How can I help you?”

The guy leaned down and peered into the display case. “Yeah, I need something sweet for my girlfriend. She’s not really my girlfriend anymore, or at least she won’t be after tonight, but I figure softening the blow with a box of cookies’d be the way to go.”

“Aw, well I’m sorry about you and your girlfriend,” Angie said, already grabbing a box off the counter behind her.

“Don’t be. I forgot to take my ring off one night and she freaked out. Said she didn’t wanna mess around with a married man.”

Angie tightened her grip on the box so much that she left creases in the cardboard.

“Yeah, I already found a new girl, but I was with this one for so long that it doesn’t feel right to leave her with nothing. I’ve got dinner with the missus tonight, but then it’s over to her place for a last helping of dessert, you know?”

The guy shot Angie a yellow-toothed grin and Angie felt the box collapse under her grip.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help you,” she said. Her voice was already starting to waver.

“‘Scuse me?”

“I said I can’t help you. I want you to leave. I’m sure there’s a million other bakeries in the city that would be glad to help you ruin your marriage and string other girls along, but I don’t want to be a part of that. Please just go.”

Angie held her breath as the guy glared at her, but she just crossed her arms over her chest, steeled her gaze, and silently prayed that she wasn’t about to get punched.

To her relief, the guy just leered at her and left, muttering something that sounded like bitch under his breath.

Once he was gone, Angie breathed a shaky sigh of relief and rounded the counter and walked over to the door. She locked it and flipped the sign to ‘closed’ before all but collapsing on the nearest chair.

She dropped her head into her hands and for the first time since her confrontation with Peggy, she let herself sob.

It didn’t last long.

After a few minutes, the tears just stopped coming and Angie sat up.

She caught her reflection in the window pane and saw black streaks decorating her cheeks.

So much for saving the mascara.

She didn’t even bother trying to clean herself up. She’d probably just smudge it more if she did. Instead, she just got up, grabbed her coat and keys from behind the counter, and slipped out the back door of the bakery.

During a ten minute walk to her favorite diner, only two people gave her weird looks as she passed. That was one of the perks of living in New York City, she thought. Even if you looked like a trashy racoon, you still weren’t the strangest person on the street.

She checked the time on her phone as she walked into the diner. It was one o’clock. Right on time.

Angie pushed the door open and sure enough, there was Esther, Angie’s mother’s best friend and Angie’s pseudo-aunt, sitting in her normal booth by the window as she finished her lunch.

When she saw Angie, Esther’s face broke into a huge smile.

“Angela, sweetheart, what a surprise. Oh, dear, what happened? Come here and sit down. Tell me what happened.”

“Hey, Esther,” Angie said. “I’m sorry I crashed your lunch. I just kind of wanted to see a friendly face.”

Esther gestured for Angie to sit down and Angie did so with a long sigh.

“Whatever happened to get you in such a state?” Esther asked.

“Well,” Angie started. She blew a stray strand of hair out of her face and swiped at the tear tracks on her cheek. Sure enough all that accomplished was smearing the mascara ever more, so she gave up and folded her hands on the tabletop. “Well, I was kind of...I guess we were kind of seeing each other. This girl and I were getting really close, but she’s with someone else and she broke it off the other day.”

“Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry,” Esther said, reaching across the table to hold Angie’s hands. “Breakups are rough, I know, but I promise you that you’ll end up with the person you’re meant for eventually.”

“But I think she was the one,” Angie said. Her voice was wavering again and she had to swallow hard to keep herself from crying. “I really really loved her and I still love her and I don’t think it’s supposed to hurt this bad.”

“Does she love you?” Esther asked.

Angie shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. She’s with someone else, so it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Oh, dear, that’s all that matters. So I’m going to ask again: does she love you?”

“I think so.”

“Well then I’m sure everything’ll work itself out,” Esther said with a warm smile.

Angie sniffled and nodded. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“You have to trust the universe, dear. Everything will work out for the best if you take a deep breath and just have faith. Now you should go clean yourself up and get back to the bakery before lunch time’s over.”

Angie nodded again and stood up. “Thanks, Esther,” she said. “I needed that.”

“Any time, dear,” Esther replied with a laugh and a small wave.

Angie smiled and hurried out of the diner. She ran the two blocks to her apartment where she washed her face and reapplied her makeup 

Maybe Esther was right. Maybe the universe was on her side.

It was three o’clock on a Thursday afternoon and Peggy was sitting on the very expensive leather sofa in her apartment staring at the clock.

She hadn’t been back to work since her and Angie’s sort-of breakup in the park the other day. It wasn’t really a breakup since they weren’t really dating in the first place. Getting to second base in the back room of a bakery didn’t count as dating, but Peggy still wasn’t quite ready to face the outside world just yet.

She was sitting on the couch with a book open on her lap, but she wasn’t reading it. She hadn’t been reading it for the past few minutes

There were three mugs stained with coffee rings on the side table next to the couch, but Peggy’s eyelids had been growing heavier all afternoon.

She’d barely slept at all the past two nights. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see Angie’s face, her blue-green eyes filling with tears and her lower lip quivering as she tried not to cry. Peggy wished more than anything that she could just make it go away, but it wasn’t working, so she was just trying to keep herself awake. It wasn’t working out too well, though.

Or at least it wasn’t until she heard the sound of a key in the lock.

She froze and dropped her book on the couch, her eyes fixed firmly on the door.

The knob turned and Peggy felt a sudden rush of energy as every muscle in her body tensed. The door opened slowly and she breathed an audible sigh of relief when Steve came stumbling into the apartment.

“Darling, what on earth are you doing home?” Peggy asked. “I didn’t expect you back for another few hours.”

“I could ask you the same question,” Steve replied. His words were slow and almost slurred and the way he tossed his coat and keys on the floor told Peggy instantly that he was drunk.

“Oh, Steve, what happened?” Peggy asked, standing up and guiding him over to the couch so that he could lie down.

“Nothing. Just had a few drinks with Sam after lunch. ‘M fine.”

He all but fell facedown on the couch and Peggy had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Instead she perched on the armrest and started running her fingers absently through Steve’s hair.

“Darling?”

“Mmm?”

“There’s something I need to tell you and I only think I’ll be able to say it once, but you need to hear it.” Peggy took a deep breath and her next words came out in a rush. “I think I’ve been almost seeing someone recently and I think I have been ever since our wedding, but we had a talk today and it’s over, but I still think you need to know. You have a right to know. I guess I just…” Peggy trailed off and looked down at the back of Steve’s head. “You’re my best friend, you know that? And if that was enough before, it’ll be enough again.”

Steve just snored and shifted on the couch.

Peggy felt the sting of tears at the backs of her eyes and she stood up and hurried into the bedroom. Steve had fallen asleep on her and there was no way she’d be able to say all that again. She hadn’t even wanted to say it the first time. She shut the bedroom door behind her and sank down onto the bed.

She wasn’t in the living room to see Steve open his eyes.

The universe was definitely not on Angie’s side.

After her conversation with Esther, she cleaned herself up and went back to the bakery in considerably higher spirits. Quite a few customers came in after lunch time and for a while Angie was able to forget about everything that had happened recently.

Or at least, she could until the door opened and Howard stormed into the shop.

“Hey, Howard,” Angie said. “What’s up?”

“I can’t believe you,” Howard snapped. His voice was low and his eyes glittered with anger.

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh don’t play stupid with me. I put the pieces together and I know you were the one seeing Peggy. What the hell happened to ‘you don’t mess with another couple?’ I can’t believe you.”

Angie didn’t say anything for a moment. She felt her cheeks flush hot as the rest of her blood ran cold and she dropped her gaze to the countertop.

“Does Steve know?” she whispered.

“Not yet,” Howard replied. “I put the pieces together, but he hasn’t. He will though. You almost ruined his marriage. You better believe he’s going to find out.”

“What should I do?” Angie asked.

“Just stay the hell away from us. Stay away from me and Steve and stay away from Peggy.”

“She’s the one who broke it off, you know,” Angie said, finally looking up and meeting Howard’s gaze. “I can’t exactly ruin her marriage anymore if she doesn’t even want to see me.”

The tears were threatening to fall again, but Angie bit them back. She wasn’t going to give Howard the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

On the plus side, at least she wasn’t wearing mascara this time.

“You were the one who said you don’t mess with other couples no matter what,” Howard accused. “You told me that you would never break up another couple and what do you do? You go and try to break up a couple. You’re disgusting.”

“Thanks for reminding me,” Angie quipped. “Besides, you’re not gonna see me again. I’m done.”

“Go ruin someone else’s marriage.” Howard’s eyes were so cold it sent a chill down Angie’s spine. Before she could say anything else, though, he turned around and stalked out of the bakery, clamming the door so hard behind him that the little bell fell off its hook.

Angie rounded the counter and leaned down to pick it up. The metal was cold in her hand and the little ball inside rolled silently as she straightened up.

She didn’t realize she was crying until she saw the teardrop hit the bell.

“Happy birthday!”

Peggy barely had any warning before a small body slammed into her legs and she had to lean against the dining table to keep from falling over. She looked down and was met with Tony’s gap-toothed grin from where he was hugging her legs.

“Thank you, darling,” Peggy said, tousling his hair and smiling down at him. “I didn’t expect you to be here. I thought you were going to the science museum or something. Not that it’s not lovely to see you, of course, but I thought--”

“Angie was gonna take me, but she called last night and said she couldn’t. I think she’s going on vacation.”

“Hmm.” Peggy nodded and carefully stepped out of Tony’s embrace.

“Come on!” Tony exclaimed. He let go of Peggy’s legs, grabbed her hand, and started tugging her towards the doorway. “I want you to open my present first.”

“All right, all right, I’m coming,” Peggy said. She had to hurry to keep up with him as he raced down the long hallway toward the Jarvis’ living room.

Anna and Jarvis were already sitting on an overstuffed sofa near the window and there was a small stack of wrapped gifts next to a large cake covered in chocolate frosting that read ‘Happy Birthday Peggy’ in red icing.

“Tada!” Tony declared, sweeping his arms dramatically at the scene before them. “Do you like it?”

“Oh, darling, I love it!” Peggy exclaimed. She leaned down and hugged him until Tony was laughing and trying to squirm out of her grip. She straightened up and looked around, but her face fell when she noticed someone was missing.

“Where’s Steve?” she asked. “I thought he was coming.”

“You haven’t talked to him?” Anna asked, furrowing her brow.

“No. He left early this morning. I didn’t get a chance,” Peggy said.

“Well I’m sure he’ll be here soon,” Jarvis interjected. “In the meantime, why don’t we just open some presents and enjoy ourselves.”

Peggy nodded and let Tony drag her over to the squashy armchair in front of the coffee table. He handed her a box wrapped messily in newspaper and sat down on the floor so that he could watch her open it.

Tony’s present turned out to be a necklace with a homemade modeling clay dinosaur pendant. Peggy wasted no time in slipping it on and she hugged Tony as he passed her the next box.

From Anna, she got a collection of Jane Austen novels and Jarvis gave her a box of her favorite tea. Once the presents were all unwrapped, Tony declared it was time for cake. He grabbed the cake server off the coffee table and passed it to Peggy. She slid forward in her chair until she could reach the cake, but just as she was about to slice into it, they heard the front door open and then slam shut again.

Jarvis got up and peered into the hallway just as Steve swept into the room.

“Steve!” Tony cried excitedly. “You’re just in time for cake.”

“Hey, buddy,” Steve said absently.

Peggy stood up, the cake server still clutched in her fist. “You’re late,” she teased with a small smirk.

“Yeah and I’m sorry, but I’ve been doing some thinking.” Steve ran a hand through his hair and the smirk faded from Peggy’s face.

“Tony, why don’t you go run to the kitchen and get some plates for the cake,” Jarvis suggested. Tony rolled his eyes as he got up, but he left nonetheless and Steve and Peggy faced each other.

“What are you on about now?” Peggy asked. Her hands fell to her hips and she was trying her best to make her voice sound strong despite the doubt that flickered across her face.

“I think I knew it all along. I just didn’t want to believe it, but I get it now and I can’t keep going on like this and just pretend that everything’s okay when it’s not.”

“Steve, what on earth are you talking about?”

“I think I’m going to help Tony with those plates,” Anna said. “Edwin, would you like to come with me?”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Jarvis said. They both got up and hurried into the kitchen, leaving Peggy and Steve alone.

“I don’t understand,” Peggy said. “What’s happening?”

“You don’t love me,” Steve replied.

“What are talking about? Of course I love you.”

“No you don’t. We’re best friends and I love you with all my heart, but that’s no way to build a relationship. You might be okay with it, but I’m not and knowing that there’s someone else out there who would make you happier than me, I can’t keep doing this.”

“Steve.” Peggy’s eyes were starting to fill with tears.

“I heard everything you said.”

“So you’re leaving me?”

“Look. From the day we met, all I’ve wanted to do is make you happy. I wanted to be the cause of happiness in you, but most of all I want you to be happy and if someone else is going to make you happy, then you deserve them.”

“Steve, I--”

“Peggy, I don’t want to hear it. You’re in love with someone else and that’s not your fault, but what you’re feeling is an unstoppable voice, which means I have to move.”

Peggy was holding the cake server so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. She could hardly even hear what Steve was saying anymore, she was so shocked. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, but there was nothing left for her to say.

“I should get going,” Steve said, stuffing his hands in his coat pockets and looking awkwardly at the floor. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Peggy sank down into the armchair and nodded

Steve just turned and walked out of the room. The front door opened and closed again and he was gone.

Peggy wasn’t sure what to think. Her mind was racing in time with her heartbeat and she couldn’t tell if she wanted to laugh, cry, or throw up.

It was quiet for a long moment, but then a small voice broke the silence.

“Can we hurry up and have cake now?”

Chapter Text

“Tony, dear, let the cake go for a moment, all right?” Anna hissed. She stepped slowly back into the living room and placed a hand gently on Peggy’s shoulder. “Are you all right?”

“I don’t know,” Peggy replied. She seemed to just remember that she was holding the cake server and she dropped it onto her lap.

“What on earth was that about?” Jarvis asked, walking into the room with Tony following close behind.

“Long story,” Peggy replied. “You know what? I think cake sounds like a great idea.” She grabbed the server again and started to lean forward to cut into the cake, but she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

“Oh don’t try to deflect like this,” Anna said. Her voice was unusually stern. “What did Steve mean when he said you were in love with someone else?”

“Exactly what he said.” Peggy had set the server on the coffee table and was now twirling her wedding ring absently around her finger. “I’m in love with someone else.”

“Is it Howard?” Anna asked. “He’d shag an open wound given half a chance.”

Jarvis coughed suddenly and glanced from his wife to Tony and back again. Anna cleared her throat.

“Tony, darling, why don’t you go run outside for a little while,” she said, shooting Tony a look that warned him not to complain. He sighed and scuffed his feet, but he went nonetheless and when the door closed behind him, Anna and Jarvis both turned their attention back to Peggy.

“Now then, who is the lucky chap?” Jarvis asked. “What’s his name.”

Peggy swallowed and stared at her ring. “Her name is Angie.”

“Angie,” Anna repeated.

“Yes.”

“Who’s a woman.”

“Yes.”

“Like you’re a woman.”

“Yes.”

“So the two of you are…lesbifriends?”

Peggy sighed. “It doesn’t matter what you call it; it’s never going to happen. Not after all of this.”

“Could I say something?” Jarvis asked. He sat down on the sofa again so that he could face Peggy even though she was still refusing to make eye contact with either of them.

“When I first met Anna back in Budapest, I fell for her right from the start. And of course she decided she loved me back and we got married, but I felt for a quite a long time that I wasn’t quite up to par for her. We could say we loved each other all we wanted, but there was always a little voice in the back of my head telling me that she might one day meet someone better and she’d leave me in an instant.”

Peggy lifted her gaze and glanced at Anna who looked like she was about to cry herself.

“Of course I’ve since learned that that assumption was completely false," Jarvis shot a quick glance at Anna and they both smiled at each other. "but the point is that you need to listen to your heart and make the choice that feels best to you. Do you understand?”

“I think so,” Peggy said, cracking a small smile. “Do you think I could borrow your car?”

“I’ll drive,” Jarvis said. He stood up and held out a hand to pull Peggy to her feet. He turned to Anna grinned at her. “You coming, dear?”

Anna sighed and rolled her eyes, but she was smiling as she followed them out the door.

Tony was sitting on the front porch nudging a stone around with the toe of his sneaker. He looked up as Peggy and Jarvis raced past him. Anna was the one who stopped and looked down at him.

“You want to come too?”

Tony shook his head.

“When we get back, I think there’s something we need to talk about, all right?” Tony nodded and Anna leaned down to press a quick kiss to his forehead before hurrying off to join Jarvis and Peggy in the already-running car.

“I can’t thank you enough for this, Dot,” Angie said. “I know this is short notice and everything, but I-"

“It’s no trouble,” Dottie interjected. “Really, Ang, I know how to make everything and I’m sure I’ll be able to keep the shop in one piece until you get back.”

Angie nodded and hefted her bag on her shoulder. She felt the familiar tug of tears at the back of her eyes and she swallowed hard around the lump in her throat. She was not going to cry over this.

She and Dottie were standing just outside the bakery and Angie leaned against the door for some much-needed support.

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out,” Dottie said. “When do you think you’ll be back?”

Angie shrugged. “I just need some time away from the city. I’ll be back eventually. I mean all my stuff’s here.” Her lips twitched in a half smile, but Dottie still just looked concerned.

“All right, well take care of yourself,” she said, pulling Angie in for a hug. “I’ll miss you.”

“Miss you too. I’ll call you.”

“You better.”

When they broke apart, Angie took a last long look around the bakery as though she meant to sear every detail into her memory. Then she shot Dottie one last smile and started to walk away.

“Hey,” Dottie said suddenly. Angie turned back around. “I don’t think you did anything wrong.”

“Well I did,” Angie said. “But I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t do it again.”

Before Dottie could say anything else, Angie just stepped out on to the sidewalk and hailed a cab.

“Where to, hon?” the driver asked as she slid into the backseat.

“Airport,” she replied. “I’m getting out of here.”

“Ha! I knew I’d find you up here.”

Steve was sitting on the ground with his back pressed against the barrier of the roof when he looked up to see Tony coming out of the greenhouse. Steve stuck his pencil in between the pages of his sketchbook and closed it. He started to stand up, but Tony just sat down next to him.

“Are you still sad? We heard everything that happened and I didn’t know if you were okay or not,” Tony said.

“Yeah, Tony, I’m still sad,” Steve replied. “I tried to do the right thing, but I mean…if I had stayed with her, sure we’d be happy enough, but I’d always have that guilt and that’d be bad enough, but thinking of her being happy with someone else is…” Steve trailed off and looked back down at his sketchbook.

There was a pause and then Tony held out a small paper plate with a slightly squashed piece of chocolate cake wrapped in plastic wrap on it.

“I brought you some cake,” he said. “Apparently no one else was planning on eating it, so I thought maybe you’d want some.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem. You know, my math teacher says something whenever anyone’s sad in class. ‘No problem is insolvable given a big enough plastic bag.’”

“What is that even supposed to mean?” Steve asked.

“I have no idea.”

Tony laughed and Steve’s lips twitched with the barest hint of a smile.

“Okay, now not to be pushy or anything,” Tony said. “but can I please just have some cake already?”

“I have to say, this is rather exciting,” Jarvis said with a smile. "We're on the hunt for true love in a sense."

“Yes very exciting,” Peggy replied. “Now will you please keep your eyes on the road? It’s a left up ahead.”

Jarvis nodded and took the turn she pointed out. The bakery was just ahead and he slammed on the brakes as he pulled into an open space next to the curb.

Peggy practically jumped out of the car the second it stopped. She ran into the bakery and skidded to a stop in front of the counter. She was out of breath and she was pretty sure her hair was a mess and her eyes were probably still red from crying earlier, but she was there and she was pretty sure that was all that mattered.

Or at least she was until she looked directly into bright blue eyes that were most definitely not Angie’s.

Not-Angie—who Peggy quickly realized was Dottie from the grocery store—smiled brightly at her.

“Hi. Can I help you?”

“I’m looking for Angie,” Peggy said. “I need to take to her. Everything’s changed.”

“Oh.” Dottie’s eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. Almost, but Peggy still noticed it. “So it was you the whole time? You’re the one that broke her heart?”

“I’m sorry?” Peggy asked.

“I had my suspicions, but she never told me exactly who she was seeing. Said it wasn’t important unless it actually got serious. She’s gone. Left maybe fifteen minutes ago.”

“Do you know when she’ll be back?” Peggy asked.

“Probably when she’s had some time to move on from you,” Dottie replied. The venom in her voice was so strong it almost physically stung.

“Look, please, you have to understand,” Peggy said. “I left my husband. Or he left me. It doesn’t matter anymore. The point is, I want to make up with her and talk to her. Please.”

Dottie sighed and folded her arms, but when she spoke again, her voice was calmer and there was a hint of a smile on her face. “She took a taxi to JFK, but construction means rerouting and a lot of delays. You might still be able to catch her if you can go quick.”

“Thank you!” Peggy cried. She spun on her heel and raced back out to the car still idling at the curb.

“She went to the airport!” she cried. “I’ll try calling her, but we need to go!”

“We’ll take Broadway,” Anna suggested. “That’s normally the fastest way.”

“Yes, of course, I know,” Jarvis said. “Let’s go!” He pulled back out into traffic nearly cutting off the guy behind him, but the resulting honk didn’t throw him off at all.

Peggy’s hands were shaking so much that it took her three tries to hit Angie’s name in her contact list. She pressed her phone to her ear and took a deep breath as it started to ring. Angie picked up on the third ring.

“Hello?” Her voice was cold and gravelly. Apparently she had checked her caller ID before picking up.

“Hi, Angie. It’s Peggy.”

“I know. What do you want?”

There was someone singing on Angie’s side of the conversation. It got clearer for a brief moment, but then faded away again like the singer had passed by.

“Imagine me and you, I do
I think about you day and night, it’s only right
To think about the girl you love and hold her tight
So happy together”

Peggy ignored the singer and instead paid attention to Angie’s voice, even if it did sound bitter. “We need to talk. Everything’s changed. I—“

“I don’t want to hear it,” Angie said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you said it yourself, we have to be done. Goodbye.”

She hung up before Peggy could even come up with a halfway decent reply.

Peggy threw her phone angrily onto the seat and slid forward so that she could get a clearer view out of the windshield.

“No luck?” Anna asked.

“Nope,” Peggy replied. She tapped the back of Jarvis’ seat and pointed to the right. “There’s the turn. It should be fastest that way.”

The universe was definitely not on Peggy’s side.

As soon as Jarvis turned onto Broadway, they found themselves in stand-still traffic. Peggy huffed and leaned back in her seat.

“We’re never going to get there in time now. We might as well just head back.”

“Oh, don’t lose faith, dear,” Anna said. “We’ll find her.”

Peggy crossed her arms and worried her lip between her teeth. The car window was half open and she could hear the dull roar of the city outside.

Then suddenly, one sound cut through it all like a knife.

A man on a bright blue bicycle was pedaling along the side of the road and singing along to whatever song was playing through his earbuds.

“Me and you and you and me
No matter how they tossed the dice
It had to be
The only one for me is you
And you for me
So happy together”

“I know that singing,” Peggy said.

“What?” Jarvis asked.

“That singing. I heard it on the phone. It’s the same person. It's the same song. Angie’s close by!”

Before Anna and Jarvis even had a chance to process Peggy’s words or indeed before Peggy herself had processed what she was doing, she was out of the car. She scrambled up on top of the car and then she was standing upright, scanning the lines of traffic as though Angie would just appear between the cars.

Peggy was at a complete loss. She was vaguely aware of the cars all around her honking at her, but she tuned it all out. Finding Angie was the only thing that mattered.

The idea came to her suddenly and once it popped into her head, there was no way she was letting it go. It was maybe her last chance and she wasn’t going to just throw it away.

 She took a deep breath and let her hands fall to her abdomen. She felt the muscles move as she let out a shaky sigh before sucking in more air. She closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and…

“YOU’RE A WANKER, NUMBER NINE!”

Angie was leaning back against the seat, but she jolted upright when she heard the shout.

“The hell was that?” the taxi driver asked, adjusting his mirror and staring at Angie like she knew any more than he did.

Which she did, but that was beside the point.

It took her a few tries to get the cab door open, but once she did, she slid out and raced into the traffic, completely ignoring the driver’s cries about her unpaid fare.

She couldn’t see anything beyond the cars immediately around her, so used the tires as a step up to climb onto the roof of the taxi.

“Peggy?!” she called.

“Angie!” Peggy cried. She could see Angie balancing on a taxi about a dozen cars ahead of her.

As soon as she saw Peggy, Angie slid off the taxi and started weaving through the stationary cars. Peggy did the same, but she was slower and Angie managed to reach her right in front of Anna and Jarvis’ car.

“Steve left,” Peggy said before Angie could even open her mouth.

“And you’ve made up your mind then?” Angie asked.

Peggy nodded and before she could react, Angie’s hands were in her hair, pulling them closer until their lips were pressed together. The kiss was hard and passionate and Peggy was pretty sure her lips were going to end up bruised, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

For the moment, she was happy just to stand there in the middle of Broadway with her lips on Angie’s and her fingers tangled in caramel-colored curls. Everything else was just background noise and she tuned it out easily.

For the moment, this was perfect.

The aisle on the plane was so small that Steve had to actually walk sideways to make it to his seat. He set his backpack up in the luggage rack and sat down—in the aisle seat, thankfully—and opened up his sketchbook to try to do some drawing before the plane took off.

He was vaguely award of someone looking over his shoulder and he turned to see the guy in the seat next to him looking curiously at his sketchbook.

“Those are some really good drawings,” the guy said.

“Thanks,” Steve replied absently.

“You’re welcome. I’m James, by the way, but you can call me Bucky.”

“Steve,” Steve replied.

He flipped his sketchbook shut, stuck out his hand, and took his first good look at the man next to him: slightly mussed hair that made him look younger than the laugh lines around his blue eyes suggested. When he reached out to shake Steve’s hand, Steve couldn’t help but notice that is was with a prosthetic hand.

“Well, Steve, it’s a seven hour flight to London. Here’s hoping I can be better company than that guy.” Bucky used his free hand to gesture to the large, middle-aged man who had taken the window seat in their row and was already snoring against the glass.

For what felt like the first time in forever, Steve smiled.

The afternoon sun shone brightly down on Central Park, but the air was still cold for April. Angie and Peggy were sitting on a bench near the pond, watching the ducks as they drifted across the surface.

“I’m cold,” Peggy said, leaning into Angie’s side.

“You’re always cold,” Angie replied, but she didn’t move away. Instead she wrapped an arm around Peggy, being extra careful not to spill the cup of coffee she was holding in her free hand. “You know, I should really get back to work. I don’t want to leave Dottie alone there all day.”

“She’ll last five more minutes, I’m sure.”

“I guess.”

They sat there watching the ducks in silence for a moment, but then Peggy spoke.

“This is our fairy tale,” she murmured.

Angie giggled. “What are you talking about?”

“What I said at the wedding. Fairy tales and all that. You were there, you should remember.”

“I have fragments of memories from that night, but no, I remember absolutely nothing about fairy tales of any kind.”

“You don’t?” Peggy sat up so that she could actually look at Angie’s face and her expression was halfway between disbelief and laughter. “I made a whole speech about how love was like fairy tales or something like that and I—“

“Hey, English?” Angie interjected.

“Yes?”

“Shut up. You talk too much.”

Before Peggy could respond, Angie was kissing her. It was slow and soft and broken by smiles on both sides, but it was perfect.

It was all perfect.

In that moment, the universe was definitely on both of their sides.

Chapter Text

*Six Months Later*

“Come on, come on, come on and…yes!”

Angie jumped up from the couch and pumped her fists in her air, the wrist strap that she refused to wear dangling off the end of the controller that she refused to put in a steering wheel.

“So then it’s a race for second,” Steve said without even looking up from the book he was sketching in.

“Yeah, not really,” Bucky replied. “More like a race for someone to actually finish.”

“Shut up,” Peggy said through gritted teeth. Sure enough, though, Bucky’s prediction came true as his kart sailed across the line in second place and ‘Finish’ flashed across Peggy’s section of the screen. Her kart slid to a halt and Yoshi let out a moan of defeat.

“Wow,” Angie said. “I didn’t even know it was possible to come in last place so many times in a row.”

She was trying hard to hold back a smile, but when Peggy turned to glare at her, she couldn’t help but giggle.

A double date game night in her—and now Peggy’s—apartment above the bakery had been her idea from the start.

Well to be fair, it had started out as her and Peggy and Steve getting together on Friday nights for dinner and occasionally board games with whatever leftover cookies or cupcakes she had at the end of the day.

She and Peggy had given Steve some space for a while after the divorce, but Angie had made it a personal mission to make sure that Peggy and Steve remained on good terms.

She was not going to be the reason that a best friendship fell apart, thank you very much.

Once Steve officially announced that he and Bucky were seeing each other, the four of them had started spending game night together and after three straight Fridays of being beaten at Risk, Monopoly, and Clue—all of which Peggy was by far the best at—Angie had relished in the chance to finally pick a game that she was good at on the last game night before Steve and Bucky headed to Europe for the book they were working on.

That game was Mario Kart.

And Angie had been pleasantly surprised to find out that not only was she the best out of all four of them, but Peggy was apparently absolutely horrible at it.

“I quit,” Peggy declared. She dropped her controller dramatically in her lap and flopped back against the couch cushions.

“Oh come on, Carter, don’t be like that,” Bucky said. Steve got up to grab a cupcake out of the box on the coffee table, but when he passed the couch, Bucky just grabbed his hips and pulled him down between himself and Peggy.

“Yeah, English, come on,” Angie insisted. “One more round with all of us playing, winner take all.”

Peggy just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

“Pegs, come on,” Steve pleaded. “Bucky and I are leaving tomorrow morning and we won’t be back until Thanksgiving. One last round to send us off?” He held up her controller and shook it tantalizingly in front of her face.

Now Angie, Bucky, and Steve were all looking at her and Angie was really far too good at pulling doe eyes for Peggy’s good.

Peggy eyed the clock on the wall above the TV and let out a heavy sigh before she grabbed the controller from Steve’s hand.

“All right, but that book you two are working on had bloody well better be worth it.”

Angie grinned and set up the race before Peggy had a chance to change her mind. When the character selection screen popped up, she clicked on Toad first and dragged her finger through the frosting on top of one of the cupcakes and reached across Steve and Bucky to leave a pink glob on Peggy’s nose. Peggy swiped most of it off and blew a stray lock of hair out of her face as she scrolled through the character.

Bucky had already picked Donkey Kong and Steve had settled on Princess Peach. Peggy took her time looking at all the different characters, but she finally just settled on Yoshi again. Her track record was definitely broken, but there probably wasn’t any fixing it at this point.

It was Steve’s turn to pick the first track and Peggy could already tell this wasn’t going to go well.

Wario’s Gold Mine was a twisty track with long stretches where it was easier to get knocked off than it was to keep driving straight.

Peggy was gripping her plastic steering wheel so tight her knuckles were turning white and her eye were fixed firmly on her corner of the screen as Yoshi swerved from one side of the track to the other before finally getting knocked off the edge by one of the computer players.

Angie, on the other hand, was playing like it was a contact sport. She threw her whole body behind the turns and shrieked as she avoided a few close calls. She and Steve were elbowing each other in front of Bucky’s chest as they fought each other for first place. Bucky, for his part, was calmly cruising along in third.

The second race—Maple Treeway courtesy of Bucky—went much the same as the first as did Peggy’s pick of Mushroom Gorge.

Finally it was Angie’s turn to pick.

She scrolled right to Rainbow Road and Peggy stood up.

“Nope, I quit,” she declared.

“Aw, come on, Pegs,” Angie pleaded. Her thumb was hovering over the selection button and her blue-green eyes were so wide that Peggy couldn’t look at them.

“I’ve come in last on every single race. It’s not like I’m suddenly going to upset the balance by sitting out on the last race,” Peggy insisted. “Besides, I have to check on something in the kitchen. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“English—“

“Come on, Ang, let’s just play,” Steve said.

“Fine,” Angie huffed. She mashed the button with more force than was necessary and the game started up again with Yoshi just sitting there at the starting line.

Peggy stood up and made her way into the kitchen, fishing her phone out of the pocket of her jeans.

“Come on, Howard, where are you?” she muttered. There were no new texts and no missed calls and the screen read nine pm. He was supposed to have been here fifteen minutes ago.

She found his number and pressed the phone up to her ear. She didn’t realize she was pacing until she walked into the counter and she leaned against it as the call connected.

“I know, I should have called,” Howard said in lieu of a greeting.

“Where the bloody hell are you?” Peggy demanded in a sharp whisper.

“To make a long story short, Tony’s finally hit that point that all adopted kids hit where they want to know about their parents and all that and you know as well as I do that Jarvis doesn’t handle pressure well and Anna’s at her sister’s for the weekend, so she wasn’t there to help and Jarvis told Tony everything.”

“You’re kidding,” Peggy said. She moved her free hand to the counter to steady herself. “How did he take it?”

“Surprisingly well actually,” Howard said. “His first move when he found out I’m his dad was to call me and ask if I wanted to go to the science museum with him, so we did and then I too him out for dinner and I’m supposed to be dropping him off at home now, but I’m three minutes away from your building. Meet me outside and I can give you the thing before I do.”

“So what are you doing now? I mean—“

“Pegs, now’s not really the time to have this conversation. We’ve both got things we’ve gotta to take care of right now. I’ll see you in a couple minutes.”

Before Peggy could say anything else, the line went dead and she was left staring at her cell phone.

Suddenly Angie started cheering from the living room and Peggy couldn’t help but smile.

Then it dawned on her that she needed to stall.

She hurried back into the living room with a smile that she hoped looked more convincing then it felt.

“Who won?” she asked.

“Who do you think?” Bucky replied, jabbing his thumb at Angie who was dancing happily in her seat. He and Steve started to put their controllers down, but Peggy stopped them.

“Wait! You can’t leave just yet. You need to, um…”

Come on, Carter, think of something. Stall for five extra minutes.

“You should play a balloon battle first,” she said quickly, spying the option on the screen.

Angie fixed Peggy with a questioning look and it took every ounce of self-control Peggy had to keep from squirming under her gaze. She started to open her mouth to say something, but Bucky cut her off before she could even start.

“You know what? I think that’s a great idea. Carter, you playing?” he asked.

“Oh no, I think I left something downstairs in the bakery earlier. I’m just going to go check and I’ll be back to see the end,” Peggy said. Her lips twitched and she nodded a silent thanks.

Angie still looked a little bit skeptical, but she hit the button anyway and started to set up the battle.

Peggy smiled reassuringly before hurrying out the door.

Once she was safely out of the apartment, she took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves. It didn’t help very much and she had to clench her hands into fists to keep them from shaking as she made her way downstairs. When she finally got outside, she leaned against the bakery door and waited.

She half-wondered if Steve had been this nervous before he had proposed to her.

Howard finally pulled up to the curb after what felt like an eternity and Peggy hurried over to his car. He rolled down the window and handed her the blue velvet box.

“Thanks,” she said. “Where’s Tony?”

Howard pointed toward the backseat and Peggy turned to see Tony asleep with his cheek pressed up against the car window.

“So what happens now?” Peggy asked quietly.

Howard shrugged. “I mean, I’m in a better position than I was seven years ago, but I’m still not really father material and Anna and Jarvis are still his parents. It’s not like anything’s drastically going to change because he found out I wanted to give him a better chance than he’d have with me.”

Peggy wasn’t sure what to say. She wasn’t sure there was anything she could say, so she just nodded.

“Don’t you have something you’re supposed to be doing right now?” Howard asked.

Peggy shook her head to clear it and tightened her grip on the box in her hand. “Yes. Of course. Thanks for this. And good luck.”

“You too, pal,” Howard said.

Peggy stepped back from the curb and Howard gave her one last nod before rolling his window back up and driving away.

The jewelry box was like a weight in Peggy’s hand and she focused hard on keeping her breathing even as she headed back inside and upstairs.

She paused outside the apartment door for a moment. She could hear Angie, Steve, and Bucky laughing from inside and then suddenly Angie shrieked, “That’s not fair! That was my box!”

“Yeah, well better luck next time,” Steve replied. “And three…two…one, I win!”

Peggy slowly opened the door, hiding the box behind her back as she entered.

“Oh, hey, Peggy,” Steve said. “You’re just in time to see Angie learn what loosing feels like.”

“Um, actually there’s something I’d like to…erm, Angie, I need to…”

“Is everything okay, English?” Angie asked. She set down her controller and stood up, pressing her hand to Peggy’s cheek. “Are you feeling all right? Is something wrong?”

“No, everything’s fine,” Peggy said. Her mouth felt like it was full of cotton and she swallowed hard around the lump that was rising in her throat. “I just…Angie, there’s something I need to ask you and I felt it was rather fitting to do it tonight.”

Confusion flickered across Angie’s face, but when Peggy dropped down on one knee, it was replaced with a smile so bright it could outshine the sun.

“Peggy, are you…?”

“Truth be told, darling, I’ve been working on a speech for the last week, but I can’t for the life of me remember it right now, so I’m just going to ask you.” Peggy pulled the box out from behind her back and opened it. The delicate diamonds on the white gold band sparkled in the light and Angie’s hands flew up to her mouth. “Angie, darling, will you marry me?”

“Oh my God, Peggy, yes!” Angie squealed. She threw her arms around Peggy’s neck as Peggy stood up and their lips met before Peggy even had a chance to take the ring out of the box.

Finally after what felt like both a second and an eternity, Angie pulled back enough for Peggy to slip the ring on her trembling fingers.

“Pegs, this is perfect,” Angie breathed. There were tears in her eyes and when she finally took a step back, she looked over at Bucky and Steve. “Oh God, this is awkward, isn’t it.”

“Not at all,” Steve said. He grabbed his sketchbook off the coffee table and flipped it open to the page he had been sketching on earlier. It was a charcoal drawing of Peggy on one knee and Angie with a look of surprise and excitement on her face that near-perfectly matched her actual reaction. The word Congratulations was written across the top in elegant script.

“Wait a second. You knew?” Angie asked.

“Only since last week,” Bucky said. “She’s been a bit of a wreck ever since she decided she was going to ask you.”

“You’re kiddin’ me,” Angie said. She turned back to Peggy and kissed her hard again. “I can’t believe this! I love you so much!”

“I love you, too, darling. With all my heart.”

“I think we’ll get going. Let you two have your alone time,” Bucky said, lifting one eyebrow suggestively.

“Wait, hold on,” Angie said. She let go of Peggy and wrapped her arms around Bucky and Steve at the same time. “Thank you guys. Thank you so much.”

She finally stepped back and started fanning her face in an effort to keep from crying anymore.

“I need to go call my mom,” she said.

“You do that and I’ll walk them out,” Peggy said.

Angie nodded and raced off toward the bedroom.

Peggy exhaled fully for what felt like the first time all night and ushered Steve and Bucky through the door in front of her.

“I’m really happy for you guys,” Steve said as headed downstairs. “You finally found your fairy tale.”

“Look who’s talking,” she replied, bumping her shoulder playfully against his.

Steve flushed and Bucky chuckled.

“You two have a good trip, all right?” Peggy said. “And don’t you dare forget to write or call or whatever.”

“Yes ma’am.” Bucky gave her a mock salute and she rolled her eyes before pulling them both in for a quick hug.

“I’ll miss you two,” she said.

“We’ll miss you too, Peg,” Steve said.

“Yeah we will,” Bucky said. “but I think you’ve got a fiancée upstairs who’s missing you right now too. You better get back up there to her.”

Peggy nodded and turned on her heel. She stopped in the doorway and waved one last time as Steve and Bucky hailed a cab. They waved back and once they had disappeared into the city night, she headed back upstairs.

She had barely even closed the apartment door behind her when Angie was on her again, her fingers running through Peggy’s hair, pulling her closer and closer. The ring kept catching in Peggy’s hair in a not-entirely-unpleasant way and not for the first time, Peggy heard a tiny little voice in the back of her head telling her that she had been wrong in her speech that felt like so long ago.

They say that fairy tales always have happy endings even though the passage can be rough. And maybe that was the way that it was really supposed to be.

In fact, there wasn’t a doubt in Peggy’s mind that it was entirely true.

The passage had been more than a little rough, but damn if the happy ending hadn’t finally come around.

*The End*