"Oh geez, what'd I say?!" Angie asked in alarm, jumping up and moving to sit beside the woman whose name she didn't even know, pulling her into a tight hug. "Was it me? Just a bad day?"
"I-" the woman croaked, letting Angie hold her.
"Soulmate?" Angie guessed.
"In more ways than one," the woman managed, pulling herself together quickly with an embarrassed flush on her face.
"Am I your soulmate?" Angie whispered against the woman's ear, not particularly caring about the attention the woman's outburst had drawn.
"I think so."
"Then how is it a bad day?" Angie asked hesitantly, excitement warring with uncertainty in the pit of her stomach.
"It's not you," the woman assured her. "It's just… the anniversary of the death of one of my other soulmates."
The wording of that gave Angie pause – did this woman have as many soulmates as Angie did?! – but she moved quickly past it, squeezing the woman's shoulder comfortingly as she said. "I get off in twenty minutes. You wanna go somewhere and talk or something? I don't like you being alone today."
"I'll be alright," the woman said, granting her a sad but pretty smile as she nudged Angie gently, trying to leave the booth.
"But-!"
"I promise you, Angie, I will be fine," the woman said firmly. "We need to talk, yes, but I really can't today. Please. Will you be here tomorrow? Are you getting off at the same time?"
Angie nodded, realizing the woman had read her nametag as she stood unwillingly from the booth, a frown firmly in place.
Her tone softened as she replied, "Then I will be back here then and we can sit in this booth and talk to our hearts' content. Tomorrow." She squeezed Angie's hand, asking, "Alright?"
"Alright."
"Thank you." The woman reached out and hugged Angie, murmuring in her ear, "I'm glad I met you today. Now I have a good anniversary on this date."
Angie returned the hug tightly, saying, "Take care, English." They pulled apart, the woman gave her one more tumultuous smile, and she was halfway to the door before Angie realized, "Hey, wait! I don't know your name!"
The woman looked over her shoulder; hand on the door as she replied with that same soft smile that kept getting more and more convincing, "Peggy Carter."
"Angie Martinelli."
"Nice to meet you, Angie."
"Nice to meet you too, Peg."
Angie was halfway back to her apartment at the Griffith before she realized why she recognized her soulmate's name. The soulmate that Peggy had lost on this date was Captain America! Did that mean that he was one of her soulmates too? Of course not, none of her marks had become an outline.
No matter what, meeting Peggy felt like the beginnings of a story, a story worth telling.
Peggy fell onto her bed, alone in her apartment at last as she peeled off her heels and hose, making herself breathe and think through what had just happened at the automat.
Angie.
The bright pink words around her left elbow had come from a woman – the first female among her soulmates that Peggy had met – named Angie.
Angie Martinelli.
A waitress who was younger then Peggy… prettier… optimistic… bright-eyed – and far too innocent to know the truth about Peggy's work at the telephone company, let alone any of the soulmates that they might share with one another. In truth, that fact was a great part of the reason Peggy had left her so quickly. Peggy already adored the light in the eyes of the twenty-something girl, and she didn't want anything to do with the idea of that light dimming because she'd lost some of her innocence on Peggy's account.
Much as she didn't like the idea, Peggy knew that for now she was going to have to keep up her phone company charade with her soulmate, and that was something that she hadn't known if she could handle spur of the moment like that. Some part of Peggy was however thrilled at the idea of seeing her again tomorrow, after a good night's sleep, when she felt ready to face the world again.
It wasn't horribly late, but the very thought of sleep suddenly made Peggy drowsy. She shuffled around enough to change into pajamas and then dropped onto her bed, falling into a fitful sleep nearly before her head hit the pillow while dreams of her four – now five – soulmates danced behind her eyes.
She awoke with a jolt hours later, the entire street below her flooded with noise. The ball had just dropped in the square; she realized blearily coming to as she tried to push her way out of her dreams. But she purposely kept Angie's bright eyes and smile clear in her mind's eye, and the image actually brought a small smile onto her face.
And the New Year began.
Angie accepted every explanation and story that Peggy gave her without question – so much so that Peggy couldn't decide if she should feel grateful, guilty, or – considering her past track record with her soulmates – suspicious. But she really couldn't bring herself to care. In the busy, cold city of New York, Angie offered her genuine friendship and the pure optimism and innocence that Peggy hadn't realized she needed until she had it.
Neither one of them were inclined to get romantically involved with another woman, but Angie could be so affectionate at times –she was fine with everything less than outright kissing her on the mouth... and that was something else that Peggy hadn't realized she'd been missing. She'd withdrawn from the world so much that she'd had to readjust to a loving touch again, and she loved having it. The L&L Automat became Peggy's hideaway from the world and Angie unwittingly became her sunshine in the darkness.
Except for the fact that Peggy's life was about to get even more complicated on a whole different level, starting with another one of Peggy's blander soulmarks: Miss Carter?