In the time since Peggy had moved into the Griffith, there had been a select few times – only after extremely bad or lonely days – that Angie or Peggy had ended up in one another's rooms overnight, finding comfort in the warmth of their platonic soulbond. Since getting kicked out of the Griffith, Peggy had made like poor Molly's boyfriend and snuck up the side of the building every night and into Angie's room – it wasn't like she had anywhere else to go – and the night that Howard's name had been cleared was no different in that respect.
Up until now, Peggy had adamantly refused to tell Angie the whole truth yet, just confirmed what Angie had figured out on her own – that Peggy was with the SSR and needed a nightly hiding place. Tonight, though, she was determined to tell her female soulmate the truth.
She hadn't lied to Daniel and Jack earlier, she did mean to sleep before talking to Angie – but Angie had other ideas. The aspiring actress's light was still on in her room as Peggy scaled the wall, and she was standing by the window, waiting to open it for Peggy.
"Gosh, English," Angie whispered loudly as Peggy slid into the room. "Do you know what I heard at the automat today? Everyone was talking about how Howard Stark had been shot and the SSR people were there and I figured that you guys were there and-" Angie broke off with a sob, flinging herself into Peggy's arms – and the tears she were shedding weren't an act this time around.
"Angie," Peggy soothed gently, running a hand over the other woman's hair. "I am safe, and so is Howard. It's over. Everything is over now; Howard's been cleared."
"What about the others?" Angie asked, sniffing as she looked worriedly into Peggy's eyes. "Thompson and the butler?" Angie paled a little more as she asked as if particularly struck by the thought of harm coming to him, "Daniel?"
"All perfectly accounted for," Peggy declared with a smile. "And unharmed… give or take."
"What does that mean?" Angie asked carefully.
"There was a mild incident with a hallucinogen of Howard's, but it's of no account now."
"So… what does that mean… for the six of us?"
"It means," Peggy sighed heavily against Angie's hair as she pulled her close enough so that the younger girl was resting her head against Peggy's shoulder. "That I have a lot of explaining to do. Would you rather have your answers now or in the morning?"
Angie pulled away only far enough to search the exhausted features of Peggy's face, biting her lip. The impatient New Yorker in her was long past starved for those answers, but Peggy obviously needed sleep.
Before she could answer though, tell her to go to bed and they could talk later, Peggy saw the look on her face, declaring, "Answers now, then. You may want to sit down though."
So Angie took Peggy's hand and led her over to the bed, making her sit, slipping off her shoes, tucking her underneath the covers like she was a child, just listening all the while as Peggy filled in the gaps in the story. In the end, the two women were both lying side by side in the bed, arms and legs shamelessly intertwined while their eyelids started to droop.
"Sleep, English," Angie said at length. "We've still got an hour until I gotta be down for breakfast."
And that was all that it took for Peggy to become deadweight in Angie's arms. Not two minutes later, a knock sounded at Angie's door.
The nurse from three doors down, Ruthie, called out, "Angie, someone left a message for you on the telephone!"
Angie sighed, carefully disentangling herself from Peggy's grasp before she went to open the door a crack and accept the slip of paper Ruthie held out with a bland "thanks" before she shut the door in her face. She couldn't risk getting kicked out, and that was what would happen if Ms. Fry found out that Peggy was in the building.
She skimmed the note in her hand and her eyes widened with surprise. Mr. Jarvis wants to know if he can meet with you at the automat today.
Well!
So glad that she and Peggy had already had that talk – wherein Peg had explained everything about Mr. Jarvis, even the part she had played in his not speaking to her – Angie felt excitement swell up inside of her. He wanted to meet with her! Did that mean that he actually wanted her in his life, like her soulmark claimed?
She spun on her toes, nightgown whirling about her calves, and for the first time in like what felt like forever, she couldn't wait to go into work.
"Angie?" Ruthie called out from the other side of the door. "You're popular today; I got another message for you."
Angie snorted and again opened the door just long and far enough to snatch up the message. I apologize for the second call, but Mr. S wants you and Miss Carter to come to this residence after your work day is complete.
Mr. S? As in Howard Stark? Angie wondered, scanning the address of a house in one of the city's more upscale areas. Could this day get any more interesting?
Peggy looked over her shoulder at Daniel, feeling a little surprised that he had asked her out for drinks. She wasn't surprised so much that he had asked her, but that he hadn't asked Angie. He'd learned just last night that she and Jack were going out together, which would have been a deterrent had their circumstances been normal, and in one of their few stolen moments together, Jack had confided in Peggy just how much Daniel wished he could meet Angie again, truly get to know her.
Despite the fact that they were all soulmates, Daniel's desire was one that Peggy understood. She had a running theory that even within their group soulbond, one person was pulled a bit more to one person than any of the others. That certainly explained how Steve and Bucky had so often put their lives on the line for one another, how Mr. Jarvis had been willing to entirely forego a relationship with all of his other soulmates if it meant keeping Anna safe, how Jack's first remark to Peggy had hurt far more than she thought it would. Because there was just this particular pull she felt towards the blond man. And that was what Daniel and Angie had both described to her when it came to the other. Even under the disastrous circumstances in which they had met, that pull was still there, and considering how awful Peggy had been to him recently, she wanted to see to it that instinct was fostered.