Angie nervously paced the dining room, checking her watch again. Ten minutes…Peggy was ten minutes late. It's okay, she thought. She sometimes runs late…you told her to be here tonight. She'll be here. She took a deep breath and checked everything again. It had to be perfect. If this was going to make the impression she wanted, it had to be perfect.

She stiffened as she heard the door open. "Angie?" Peggy's voice sounded so far away even though she was only about a hundred feet down the hall, yet another sign of how big the house was. Angie took a deep breath and walked to the double doors that separated the room from the rest of the house. "I'm in here!" she called. She stayed there until she heard the sounds of Peggy coming down the hall, then stepped back, positioning herself beside the table she'd set up and trying to keep her breathing steady as she waited.

As soon as Peggy stepped into the room, Angie relaxed. The look of surprise on her friend's face was exactly what she had been hoping for. Peggy looked from Angie to the table set for two to the record player and back to Angie, who was wearing the nicest dress she owned, dark red with a black ribbon around the collar. "Angie…what is all this?"

"Happy Birthday, English," Angie said with a smile. "What do you think?"

"Well…I think I'm a tad underdressed," Peggy said, regaining her composure and smiling. "Is this why you insisted on me being home tonight?"

"Guilty as charged. Do you like it?"

"Angie…I love it. Thank you."

"Don't thank me until you've tried dinner. I've never made steak and kidney pie before. I can't promise that it's any good."

"Steak and kidney pie?" Peggy asked in a slightly incredulous tone. "Where did you get a recipe for steak and kidney pie?"

"Mr. Jarvis. He helped be buy the ingredients, too, but I made it on my own. I wanted to make something English…I was trying something new." Angie blushed.

Peggy chuckled. "I'm sure it's wonderful. Just let me change first."

Angie nodded, giving her friend a smile. Peggy returned it, taking a last glance around before turning and walking upstairs. When she returned twenty minutes later, Angie had served the two plates and turned on the record player, which was softly playing a Frank Sinatra album. Peggy took the seat Angie offered her with a smile. A moment later, Angie was sitting across from her, a matching smile on her face. "So…" the waitress said, "I guess we find out if I did this right, huh?" she said indicating the food on the plate in front of her.

Peggy nodded and picked up her fork, taking a bite. Angie watched, biting her lip nervously. After a moment of chewing, Peggy swallowed and looked over at Angie. "It's good. Especially for your first time trying it."

Angie's face lit up. "Really?"

"Really," Peggy said, taking another bite.

Angie took that as her cue to eat, so she took a bite and it indeed tasted good. Certainly better than she'd thought it would given how hastily she'd put it together that afternoon. It was so good that, even though she wasn't particularly hungry, she had seconds.

When she was finished she sat back and looked to Peggy, who was finishing her second helping. "Thank you, Angie," she said with a smile. "This…this was a fantastic birthday surprise."

"Oh, it's not done yet," Angie said, standing and walking over to the record player. She changed the record and turned the volume up. The Way You Look Tonight started playing and Angie turned to Peggy, grinning. "May I have this dance, Miss Carter?"

Peggy's smile faltered slightly. It was brief, but Angie caught it. She frowned a little. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Peggy said. "It's just…there was someone who promised me a dance once. And I'm still having a hard time accepting that I…I won't ever get that dance."

Angie took a deep breath, turned off the music and walked over, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry. We…we don't have to dance if you don't want to."

Peggy looked up. "No…no I want to…sorry, I was just…some things are harder to let go than others, I suppose." She stood, stepping past Angie to the record player. She restarted the song and watched it spin, listening to the music for a moment before turning back to Angie. "I've always liked this song. Whenever I pictured that dance…this is the song we danced to."

Angie gave her a small smile, walking over and taking her hand. "I know that I'm not him," she said as she walked her back to the middle of the room. "And I won't try to be…mainly because I don't know what he was like…but I'm here. And I'm not a terrible dancer. And I have pretty good taste in music. So, if you'll let me, I'd like to give you that dance."

Peggy stopped, looking to Angie, her eyes wide. "Angie…I…I don't know what to say…"

"Then don't say anything," Angie said with a grin. "Just…let me lead." She put her left hand on Peggy's waist and pulled her close, interlacing the fingers of her right hand with those of Peggy's left. Peggy smiled and put her hand on Angie's shoulder as the waitress slowly started dancing.

And, just as slowly, the world seemed to melt away around them. Angie looked into Peggy's eyes, getting lost in them. The only thing that remained was the music, filling the void left by everything else that had melted away. Peggy rested her head against Angie's and the waitress smiled. Nothing else mattered. There was only now, and now would last forever.

Or at least she wanted it to. But eventually, the song ended and everything slowly came back, but Angie couldn't look away. She stopped dancing, taking a small step back, but her eyes stayed locked on Peggy's.

"Angie…Thank you," Peggy said, smiling against the tears that were welling up in her eyes. "Tonight has been…I really needed this." She stepped in and gently kissed Angie. "Thank you," she whispered as she ended the kiss. "Thank you so much."

Angie smiled. "It's the least I could do. It's your birthday, after all."