Angie added, "And I'm just throwing this out there: I met Peg on the anniversary of Captain America's death, and, no offence, English, but… you need the closure something like that would bring."
Anna stared intently up at Jack, watching him consider all of this before he said gravely, "Alright, bridge it is."
Then something in the way that Daniel looked at Jack changed as a new thought – or perhaps it was an old one about to be brought up – occurred to the wounded veteran. Jack tensed slightly under Anna, giving a small nod before Daniel took a deep breath and ran his hand over Peggy's asking carefully, "Why are they – Captain America and Lieutenant Barnes – so important to you?"
Peggy's eyes slammed closed, she took a deep breath… and then she leaned over, pulling her right shoe off and rubbing at her ankle. Concealer came off on her palm, revealing the navy words underneath.
She opened her mouth to try and speak, but when she couldn't, Daniel wordlessly rolled up his left sleeve to reveal his words in the same hand and guessed, "Captain America?"
Peggy nodded, pressing a hand to her stomach as she managed, "The gray words are Bucky's; they're here on me."
And when the confession was out in the open, she began to cry – real heart wrenching sobs that had been kept at bay for too long. Daniel gathered her into his arms and Angie shifted the three of them on the couch again, going to Peggy's other side to hug her too. Anna scrambled onto her feet, following Jack and Edwin as they joined the other three in their embrace. Jack went behind the couch, resting his head atop Peggy's as he wound his arms around her shoulders and Edwin and Anna both knelt at her feet, taking her hands, all of them holding her through the tears and beginning to cry with her.
This was no longer just her burden to bear; it belonged to all of them and they would carry it – and her – more than willingly. That's what being soulmates was – doubling the joy and dividing the pain – just like with any relationship. They were just blessed times seven – or five, as it was… but that's when Anna saw the truth very literally.
It wasn't just Peggy that they were embracing anymore; at some point they'd all ended up on the floor in front of the couch, one mass of humanity, together as they cried and comforted one another. Edwin's hand was resting between Jack's shoulder blades, Angie was holding Anna's hand, Daniel was openly leaning on Jack's shoulder as he and Edwin cradled Peggy between them. Even though Captain Rogers and Lieutenant Barnes weren't here… they were – and they had just brought their six soulmates together.
Even though she didn't know these people very well yet beyond what Edwin had told her, Anna could recognize the near-miracle that was occurring here. The captain and lieutenant weren't here, but what was here was working out. They were all a mess, but they were each others' mess. Their group wasn't complete, and it might never be; things weren't perfect, but they were going to be okay – they were going to make this work out with who they did have. And for now that was going to have to be enough.
It was a solid two hours before Peggy found herself where she wanted to be – alone on the Brooklyn Bridge with the now-empty vial that had contained Steve's blood dangling between her fingertips. She dropped the vial, watching it plummet into the water below before she looked into the skyline… and felt someone's fingertips flutter lightly onto her shoulder.
Peggy snorted, brushing away the last of her tears without bothering to turn around. She'd had to beg and plead and outright threaten a couple of people in order to make this trip by herself, yet she still wasn't surprised in the least that one of her soulmates – or all of them, if she heard the number of approaching footsteps correctly – had followed her here.
"You really didn't get the message that I wanted to be alone, did you?"
"I've seen you talk about being alone enough to know that it's never what you want…Peggy," Edwin, the owner of the fingertips, said softly. "It's what you feel you need, or perhaps even deserve, in order to protect those around you. But it is never what you've truly wanted, nor is it something any of us are inclined to allow you."
Jack and Angie stepped up to the bridge's ledge, one on either side of her as Angie said, "He's right; we're in this for the long haul, no matter what."
"We may not have known Rogers and Barnes," Daniel said, wrapping an arm around Angie as he came up behind the waitress. "But that's a kind of pain in and of itself, so you might as well stop trying to protect us from something that you'll never be able to fix no matter how much you want to."
"Thing is, darlin'," Jack commented, pulling her to him. "We know you, and it will always be worth it – to all of us – to do whatever we can to ease your pain, even if that means taking some of it on ourselves. You are worth protecting and sheltering – even from yourself, even when you don't want us. We're here, and you're stuck with us."
"If Captain Rogers and Lieutenant Barnes are half the men we've been told they are," Anna pointed out gently. "I daresay that's what they'd want."
Peggy attempted to make a face at Anna, hating that the woman instinctively knew what buttons to push as she admitted – at long last, "It is."
"Then let us in!" Jack said in exasperation, and Peggy's half-hearted smile was self-depreciating as she leaned into him.
"Maybe," Edwin said carefully, "This is the wrong time to bring it up, but he does have a point… particularly if we're going to follow through with accepting the living arrangements Mr. Stark has set up in his house."
"What do you mean?" Angie asked.