"It's a date," Thompson said flatly, grabbing his coat and hat and leaving Daniel alone with his thoughts, which were depressing enough in their own right even before he was stuck pulling graveyard shift with Krzeminski who was all too happy to advise him to give up on being with Carter.

The so-called advice hurt, ringing true even if Krzeminski had no idea about Carter being one of Daniel's soulmates. Carter and Thompson were barely his friends and Jarvis was even less than that! But it also gave rise to another sudden thought – one so obvious he wondered why it hadn't occurred to him before.

What if Carter knew more of their soulmates… and what if one of them would give Daniel what he so desired – what if one of them would love him even with his crutch?

Fifty cents in tips, Angie reminded herself, rapping impatiently on Peg's door. This conversation was going to start out with something simple like tips and then she was going to see if she couldn't angle it in the direction of the man who she'd snapped at today. They were soulmates, she knew it by the look he'd had on his face, yet he refused to talk to her, almost refused to look at her when they were face to face, and she didn't even know his name.

And she wanted answers as to why that was.

But then even English decided that she didn't want to talk to her that evening, so Angie disappeared into her own room as quickly as she could, locking the door and sliding to the floor, letting the tears begin to flow as she started wondering if she'd done something wrong.

Something was wrong here. There was something that she wasn't being told. The man in a suit was hiding things in spades – including, Angie was practically certain, one of her soulmates. But what about Peggy? Did she really want to believe that Peg was hiding something from her? Did she perhaps know more of their soulmates that she wasn't letting Angie in on? Did the suit?

Was there a chance that the people she was supposed to be closest to were hiding someone from her who would be willing to love her and let her in as fully as she wanted so badly?

Coming into work the next morning was an unexpected dose of grief for Peggy. Grief because of Krzeminski's unexpected death and because – of all things – Daniel backed her into both physical and metaphorical corner when he caught up with her as she was leaving the building for the day, asking in a solemn tone, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," she replied, slowing her gait to accommodate him as they went along the sidewalk.

The question struck her like a slap in the face, to say nothing of his awful puppy dog eyes as he queried, "I know we don't talk about it, but I need to know – do you know any of our soulmates besides Thompson and Jarvis?"

Yes, she did. She knew who every one of her soulmates was. She'd known Steve and Bucky, she knew of Anna, and she was on her way to see Angie right now.

Daniel continued, saying earnestly, "This thing with Krzeminski has gotten to me, and I just… I don't want to spend more time alone than I have to, you know?"

Yes, Peggy did know. She knew all too well.

She had to swallow and look away – remind herself of whom she was trying to protect – before she sighed and lied, "No. No, Daniel, I don't know any of the others."

And she hurried away before he could notice the moisture gathering in her eyes. If she was doing the right thing by as many of her soulmates as she could, given the situation, then why did it have to feel so wrong?

It felt wrong, Peggy realized, because it was wrong! But sitting on a plane with Jack Thompson on their way back to New York from Russia was also the wrong place to be having the epiphany.

The man across from her seemed dangerously close to actually doing something drastic like getting teary-eyed over the confession that he'd just made, and she looked out the window, loosing herself in her own thoughts a bit as she tried to give him some emotional space so that he could gather himself back into his usual façade. But he seemed to be disinclined to do that and Peggy found herself once again thinking about the soulmate group that she was a part of.

In their own ways, every one of them was broken – Daniel needed someone to love him unconditionally, war wound and all, Jack needed someone he was willing to let his guard down around, even Angie was lonely and unhappily stuck in a rut at the automat – and this assignment had just highlighted for her how much… how much people needed other people to lean on. Jarvis was right; no one could bear the weight of the world on their own. People who had been through as much as she and most of her soulmates had sometimes couldn't even bear the weight of their own pasts… and it made her wonder just how much they would benefit if they became a group like they were meant to be. In a way, she was being selfish trying to keep them all in their own separate corners.

This mess with Howard was giving their bonds a horrible start and strain, but what if…? What if they could all be together after Howard was proven innocent?

What if Peggy could do something to point things in the right direction right now where she sat?

Swallowing nervously, Peggy looked behind her at the others on the plane – all of them were asleep. Perfect.

"Jack?" she said gently. "I want to say I'm sorry."

For just how many things, she wasn't quite sure, but she had to start somewhere.