"Oh my god, Peggy! Peggy!" Angie practically screamed as she came bounding through the door of their apartment.
Peggy looked up from the paperwork she was studying just in time to see her animated girlfriend fly across the room and land on the couch beside her.
"Angie, darling," she admonished and returned to her paperwork, by now well used to the younger woman's dramatic entrances. "I'm afraid I'm a tad busy right now. I have to get these reports finished up by tomorrow morning if I even hope to have a chance of spending any time with you this weekend."
"Peggy," Angie sighed, her excitement deflating almost instantly. "Ever since we moved to this godforsaken place, you've done nothing but work."
Peggy frowned. "That's not true."
"Yes, it is," Angie disagreed petulantly.
Peggy looked up and saw her girlfriend's disappointed look. If she were honest with herself, Angie wasn't necessarily wrong. Ever since her company had temporarily assigned her to their Kentucky branch, she had spent the majority of the time working, but she'd done so in order to get the location turned around so she and Angie could get back to somewhere a little more progressive, somewhere where their being a couple didn't raise so many eyebrows and get dirty looks thrown their way when they went out together in public.
How she longed to be back in Atlanta where she could openly hold Angie's hand or not worry about sneaking a kiss while they waited for the subway at a Metro station. To be honest, she'd been somewhat surprised when Angie had readily agreed to move with her to Kentucky when Peggy broached the subject nine months ago. After all, they'd only been dating for six months. Six amazing months, to be sure, but Peggy couldn't imagine leaving behind the woman who'd so effortlessly stolen her heart, and she'd been elated when Angie immediately agreed to her idea. Within a month, the two were on their way to their new home.
Peggy had to hand it to Angie – she'd been a real trooper when it came to adjusting to a far more conservative part of the country. Fortunately, they'd quickly found a community they could be a part of in their new town, but even still, they soon learned they didn't have the same freedoms Atlanta had afforded them.
She gave Angie an apologetic smile and reached over to squeeze her hand. "You're right, Angie. I do work a lot, but darling, I'm doing it so I can get this location out of the red and get us transferred to a better location. Somewhere we don't have to worry about offending the wrong person."
Angie leaned her head against Peggy's shoulder and released a long breath. "I know that, Peggy. I just wish you didn't work yourself so hard."
Peggy smiled and dropped a kiss against her light-brown hair. "And I love you for being so concerned about my welfare. You're the best girlfriend a gal could ask for, you know that don't, you?"
"Of course I am," Angie instantly agreed, a bit of her earlier excitement returning to her voice. "And don't think we're done with the work conversation, smooth talker. But for right now, we have something more important to discuss." She peered at Peggy. "Why didn't you answer any of my texts I sent you?"
"Hmm," Peggy asked, her attention already drawn back to the papers in her hand.
"My t-e-x-t-s," Angie said, slowly exaggerating the word. "I must've sent you twenty on my way home."
Peggy glanced over at her phone on the nearby end table and shrugged. "It must be on silent." She shuffled the papers and shifted to peer at the laptop seated next to her, but apparently Angie was not finished with her. Plucking the papers from Peggy's hands, she tossed them on the end table and shot Peggy a withering glare.
"Hey!" Peggy protested.
Angie leaned forward and clasped Peggy's face between her hands. "You're not listening to me, English, and you should be because I have some very important news to tell you."
Releasing a heavy sigh, Peggy peered at her girlfriend. "I'm sure it's monumental," she drawled, rolling her eyes.
Angie grinned. "Actually, it is."
"Well, do get it on with it then. The sooner you tell me, the sooner I can get back to working and hopefully be done before an obscenely late hour."
Peggy thought she detected a flicker of hurt dance through Angie's eyes, but then the younger woman shook her head and smiled hopefully. "You might change your tune once you hear what I have to say," she laughed.
"And that is what, exactly?"
"Well, today's Friday."
Peggy pursed her lips. "I hope that's not your news."
"Shut up, English," Angie retorted. "Today is Friday. June 26. Ring a bell?"
Peggy cast her thoughts over the date and found she couldn't come up with anything. "I'm afraid it doesn't, darling."
"Of course not, you adorable dolt," Angie grinned. "Peggy, today's the day the Supreme Court ruled on same-sex marriage."
Peggy's eyes widened as everything began to fall in place. Angie's frenetic excitement as she came through the door, the litany of text messages she'd apparently missed, Angie's important news. She licked her lips and stared at her girlfriend. "Do you mean to tell me?"
Angie nodded, eyes brightening with happiness. "Uh huh."
"Oh my god," Peggy breathed. "They upheld it?"
"They did!" Angie practically squealed. "As of today, marriage equality exists in all 50 states!"
"Oh my god," Peggy repeated, pulling away from Angie's grasp to stand up. She took a few steps forward and then turned to stare at Angie with a searching gaze. Without a word, she spun around and retreated down the hallway.
"Peggy?" Angie called after her, concern evident in her voice, but Peggy didn't respond. Ducking into the bedroom, she knelt beside the bed and hurriedly pulled out the small trunk she kept stored there. She opened it and reached in, her hand immediately closing around the small black box nestled at the bottom.
Peggy vividly recalled purchasing it on her last trip to Atlanta while Angie remained back in Kentucky, but once she got back home, she'd set it aside promising herself she would only give it to Angie when they could follow through on the answer she hoped Angie would give her.
"Peggy, is everything okay?" Angie called from the doorway.
Speak of the devil, Peggy thought. Nervous excitement coursing through her, she sucked in a sharp breath, trying to calm her racing heart. Angie's footsteps echoed behind her, and then she felt a soft hand come to rest on her shoulder.
"Sweetheart, you're worrying me. What's going on?"
Hand clutching the tiny box, Peggy turned to face Angie, still on her knees. She looked up in to the bright blue eyes she knew so well and saw them filled with concern.
"Everything's fine, darling," Peggy assured her. "At least, I think it will be."
Angie gazed at her, puzzled. "What does that mean?"
Smiling, Peggy reached out and took Angie's hand in her own. "It means that I want to ask you something," Peggy murmured. "Something I've wanted to ask for quite some time, but haven't because it was impossible for us here."
Angie sucked in a sharp breath, and her eyes grew wide. "Peggy," she began, but Peggy continued on.
"But with what you just told me, I can't wait any longer." She withdrew her hand from behind her back to reveal the small black box nestled in her palm.
Angie's hand flew to her mouth in shock. "Oh my god, Peggy," she breathed.
Taking her hand from Angie's, Peggy reached over and opened the lid to reveal a delicate band of white gold with a single solitaire diamond resting at the top. It had a timeless elegance to it, and Peggy had instantly thought of Angie when she'd first saw it. Now, as she watched her girlfriend glance from the ring to her and back to the ring again, she knew she'd make the right choice.
Taking the ring from its spot, Peggy placed the box on the floor beside her and gazed back at Angie, taking her small hand within her own.
"This past year and a half has been the happiest of my life," Peggy confessed. "I've wanted to marry you since before we moved here, but I thought it too soon. I didn't want to scare you."
Angie let out a little sob.
"And then, when we moved here, that desire continued to grow. But I didn't want to ask you something I couldn't follow through on." She brought the ring to Angie's finger and gazed at her hopefully. "However, now I can, and I assure you, if you answer the way I hope you will, I will follow through on every single promise I ever make to you for the rest of our lives."
Peggy heart swelled as tears began to roll down Angie's cheeks. "I love you, Angela Martinelli, and nothing would make me happier than to call you my wife," she whispered. "Please say you'll marry me."
"Yes," Angie sighed without hesitation, eyes falling closed as the words left her mouth.
"Yes?" Peggy echoed, happiness filling her heart as the single word washed over her like a caress. She watched as Angie opened her eyes and smiled lovingly at her.
"Yes. Of course I'll marry you, Peggy Carter," she murmured.
With a joy she hadn't even known existed until now, Peggy slipped the ring onto Angie's finger and stood. Raising her hands to cup Angie's cheeks, she pressed forward and captured her fiancée's lips in a heated kiss, delighting when Angie's mouth opened beneath hers.
She knew the coming months would be full of wedding discussions – dresses, cakes, honeymoon, so many things – but for now, Peggy Carter decided to savor the sensation of her future wife's hands tugging at the button of her jeans even as she moved them backwards to the bed. She briefly thought of the paperwork still sitting on the living room couch until Angie's hand slipped beneath the waistband of her jeans just as her mouth fastened on to Peggy's neck.
The paperwork would wait. Tonight, she planned on celebrating.