The Redhead in the Middle
That was never in question. It was the hours and hours she was away. The days and days that Angie spent waiting. The months and months that neither could see each other. The years and years finally working their way into both of their skin (into their bones and joints especially on wet days).
The day Peggy, now hair streaked with white (far earlier than her age should allow) and skin etched with both laugh and worry lines, walked through their door and declared herself a desk worker (for good this time my darling, I am much too old for this), a weight Angie had grown too used to carrying finally fell from her shoulders.
The red-headed teen that followed Peggy inside (with eyes like diamonds, cutting and cold) kept Angie from wrapping her lightened arms aroung her loverâs waist. Angieâd seen kids like that. Hunted or hunters it didnât matter, they were all breaking inside.
So she didnât ask when Peggy smiled and pulled an extra plate from the pantry. She didnât ask when Peggy didnât dish them up in the kitchen, when she placed the pot in the middle of the table and served them all at the same time. She didnât ask when the girl watched as they each took their first few bites.
She didnât cry when the girlâs eyes widened at the rather poor excuse for true spaghetti pomodoro and reached for another helping.
It wasnât until the girl was in her room (a locking door and weâre right across the hall if you need anything at all) that Angie asked.
Peggy only smiled the saddest of smiles and kissed Angie on the cheek, âSheâs going to be my replacement in the field.â
Angie would never tell a soul, but she was so relieved that this girl (with shoulders so thin for the weight that would rest on them) had walked into their life.
A new weight settled on her back only three weeks later when the redhead (a common sight in their home) walked in with reddened knucles and a purpling cheek.
Natasha Romanov had never trusted anyone, had never known the love of a mother, but that day she trusted Angie (Angie and her bickering about fixing up two operatives, her gentle touches, her shockingly worried glances to Peggy who leaned against the bathroom doorframe and chuckled softly) and gained the love of two would-be mothers.
snowghoul
ellievsbear
pixelskylines
jacobvanloon
izzy806
origamiaround
annaxmalina
dededos
baratheonpilled
