just because she's on a mission...

Chapter 5

Peggy sprang for a taxi home. She simply wanted to get the hell out of there and couldn't fathom walking to a subway and then a crosstown bus all the way over to the Griffith. She and Dottie sat in the back seat in silence, Peggy's hand resting cautiously over Dottie's.

After a long silence, Peggy finally spoke. "I thought you were afraid of tigers."

Dottie's look was hard to read. After another long, pregnant silence, she spoke quietly. "It would have been real bad if I didn't do what I did, Peggy."

Peggy nodded. There was no guessing how many other people the tiger might have injured had Dottie not done what she did.

Something else bothered Peggy now. "How do you know how to shoot?"

Dottie sighed. "I grew up on a farm, Peggy. You know how many times I had to shoot an animal?"

"Shot many tigers on the farm?" Peggy replied skeptically.

Dottie looked at her, hurt. "Of course not, Peggy. But wolves, rabid dogs, sure. There was even a bear loose on the property one time." Her eyes, with their long, golden lashes, cast down at their entangled hands on the seat. "You do what you have to do, Peggy. You can understand that, can't you?"

Peggy felt guilty for being so suspicious. Dottie simply continued to surprise her and subvert her expectations. Peggy understood better than anyone the need to do the difficult, frightening or unpleasant thing. Her face softened. "I'm sorry Dottie, I wasn't implying anything... It just... surprised me."

Dottie smiled shyly. "You weren't so bad yourself, you know. That little girl and her ma are safe because of you."

"Let's call it a team effort," Peggy replied, squeezing Dottie's hand. Dottie seemed to enjoy that idea.

They spent the rest of the ride home leaning on each other, not talking, holding hands in the dark of the back seat. Peggy wondered if she and Dottie on some level were more alike than not. She was still disturbed by the side of her that she'd seen during sex, but she also just witnessed the girl charge a tiger and shoot it at point blank range. It was hard not to have some appreciation for that.

When they reached their floor, they paused outside Dottie's door. "Wanna come in, Peggy?" she asked hopefully.

Peggy gave her a tired smile. "I'm meant to be acting like a perfect gentleman, remember?"

Dottie leaned in and hugged her. "I know, Peggy," she said in that sweet, innocent voice. Then she added in a whisper, "But I'd really like a taste of you tonight."

Peggy bit her lip, pulled back and looked at her. "You're not making it easy for me to go back to my room, you know."

"Then don't. Just come inside." Dottie opened the door and stepped inside. She had that look of hunger, of unsettling focus. At this particular moment, it made Peggy of think of nothing so much as the tiger.

Peggy wasn't sure she had it in her to bed down with a tiger tonight.

******

Dottie was drinking up the smoldering look in Agent Carter's dark eyes. She could see, Peggy Carter wanted to come inside. She wanted Dottie to do the things to her that she'd done before. "Just come in, Peggy," she repeated, softer this time.

Agent Carter pulled her down for a kiss, and Dottie found her mouth soft, already opening for her, her tongue quick and eager, her full, sweet lips ready to be licked and bitten. Dottie slipped one hand inside her date's black wool coat, palmed one of her large, heavy breasts through the tailored silk blouse, and listened with satisfaction to the muffled moan it caused.