Re-written as I really wasn't happy with the first draft. No more late night, impulse writing!
I don't own anything so please don't sue me - thank you for the review and thanks to all of the followers.
Oh, and I am having trouble with the "insert horizontal line" function to split scenes so please bear with me.
Enjoy xx
Chapter 2
It was almost midnight.
They'd stayed together all afternoon and all evening, talking about what it was like to live in the 21st century and as she spoke about music and art and literature, so passionately he found himself so wrapped up in her that he hadn't even noticed the time.
She looked sp much like Peggy that sometimes it was hard to look at her, and then sometimes, he'd look at her and couldn't see anyone but Sophie. Through the course of the day, he tried to pick up on all of the things that set her apart from his lost love. He noticed that she bit on the corner of her bottom lip when she got nervous and blushed frequently. She talked with her hands when speaking of something she loved...and after closer examination (which she frequently caught him doing), he noted that Sophie's jaw line was narrower, giving her face a more oval shape. Her nose was thinner and more delicate, her eyes slightly more feline and much darker than Peggy's. He also couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from the charming little freckle on her cheek, just below her right earlobe.
She caught him staring again and Steve glanced at his watch quickly, bulking at the time. He understood that things were different now, how men and women interacted and what was seen as appropriate and inappropriate. But for he just couldn't shake a feeling of unease knowing that she was here, alone, with him in his apartment so late at night.
"Sophie, you'd best be heading home, its midnight" he exclaimed which brought a wide, sleepy smile to Sophie's full, dusky pink lips.
"You're not worried about the neighbours are you Captain"? She teased good naturedly.
"Well, I..." Steve struggled.
"It's alright, we'll play it forties style tonight" she said slipping on her heels over her nylons and getting up from the couch.
Sophie made her was over to the door, suddenly realising how tired she was. Steve followed close behind, making the butterflies that hadn't really disappeared all night return. Turning to say goodnight she pacifically knocked herself over he was so close. They both stepped back a little, both blushing.
"Well, goodnight..." Sophie said softly "...I hope I didn't scare you off" she said with gentle laugh, playing with her keys. Steve looked down at her and smiled.
"Not at all" he said and opened the door for her, making her smile again.
"Well, night then" she said, looking up at him through her thick eyelashes.
"Night Peggy" Steve said without thinking and for the first time that day, he saw her eyes cloud over with sadness. She gave him a small smile and he watched her until she was safely in her apartment.
"Damn"! Steve cursed as he closed his door.
Locking her apartment door the tears started to fall.
Tears for Steve, tears for the life he never had, tears for Peggy...tears for herself.
looking down at the side table, she held the gaze of the woman in the photograph for a long time as she let the tears dry up and the pain ache in her chest ease a little, at least enough for her to go to bed.
Kicking off her heels she wandered to her bedroom and flopped onto her comfy bed. She hadn't realised how emotionally exhausting this detail was going to be. To try and help a man so lost and out of time as the Captain, to try and not feel an overwhelming sense of intense sympathy and sadness every time she looked at him. Seeing the pain in his blue eyes every time he looked at her, to watch him see someone else in her place.
One last tear rolled down her cheek and she was asleep before it hit the pillow.
Steve sat on the end of his bed holding a crumpled photograph in his hand, staring at it intensely.
He knew she was gone, she'd been gone for a long time but to him it felt like only yesterday that she had pressed her red lips to his. If he closed his eyes, he could still hear her, still see her perfect face and then slowly, that face started to change. Her eyes grew darker, her nose thinned and her lips changed to the most delicate, dusky pink, a freckle appeared on her cheek, just below her right earlobe...
Steve opened his eyes quickly, holding the photograph closer to his face, scared he would forget what she looked like, scared he would forget her.
Steve sighed heavily. He remembered the sad look in Sophie's eyes as he called her Peggy. He hadn't meant to, it had just been such a confusing and, to be honest, painful day for him he hadn't been thinking straight.
And he was tired.
After 70 years asleep in the ice and then 2 weeks of insomnia, today had pushed him over the edge and he felt very tired indeed.
Closing his eyes again, sleep found him quickly along with visions of two beautiful women.