With you til the end of the line

As she rubbed the liquid into her hands, she continued to think about where she could know this man from.It came to her as she finished rubbing on the sanitizer and looked back up at him. “I do know you, but not personally.” she said. “My grandfather knew you.”

“I don’t-” He cut off as Caleigh continued, eyebrows drawing close together. Grandfather… “I.. Who?” He couldn’t help questioning. 

After what happened with Cassie everyone had left. Kate was used to it though, to people leaving. This was a nice change. Kate had so many question for him now, she wanted to know why he hadn’t leave, why it felt like he knew exactly how she felt, and how he had lost his arm. But she didn’t want him to leave, and asking any of that would certainly cause him to. “So James… given that you didn’t seem confused by a crying girl on a bench, I take it you are a fellow new yorker?” she decided to ask, it was a much simpler topic of conversation.

James managed a small laugh, giving a nod. “You could say that. “ He murmured. Though technically that was seventy years ago. “But it really isn’t all that different in other places as well. “

“So where have you been these past few months? We tried looking for you but always seemed to be 10 steps behind.” He chuckled, watching his old friend carefully. He had wanted to find James. To make sure nothing bad happened but more importantly to make sure the man himself was ok. It couldn’t have been easy being dragged through the ringer by Hydra for the last 70 years.

At least he hoped.  “I… around.” He mumbled with a lame shrug. He’d spent a lot of his time in Europe, tracking down remnants of Hydra… along with outlying bases that were hidden or hard to track down. However, unlike their motto, none had currently grown back, James had made sure of that. 

She didn’t know what it was, maybe it had been his words, or the way he had said them, she knew they hadn’t been an invitation for her so share, and even if they were she didn’t know if she could. My friend died because of me. Yeah not something you just tell a stranger. “I didn’t mean to bother you…” Kate let out a soft laugh. 

Caleigh looked back up at him. “I’m sorry if this is rude, but I feel like I know you.” she said. “Or at least seen you before, and I can’t figure out why.”

He fell silent as they wandered along, Steve keeping a sharp eye out for somewhere quiet to eat. They came to a diner eventually, mostly empty, and he nodded to it. “This place do?” He asked, his lips lifting into a smile. 

He nodded at the question, choosing not to comment on the rest of what Steve said. He wasn’t. But somehow Steve seemed to think he was. “James.. would be fine. And this seems... to work?” It vaguely looked familiar. And even better, didn’t have tons of people in it. 

“Don’t” she said almost like a whisper, don’t move please, she didn’t want to be alone, even if he was just a stranger, “I’m sorry, I’m not usually like this…” she apologized, it was then that Kate realized that she had continued to cry, she was not one to cry in public so she furiously wiped the tears away. She turned to look at the guy next to her and said, “I’m Kate… I would offer you a hand but…” she smiled because he probably wouldn’t want to shake her snot covered hand. She subconsciously wiped her hand on the side of her yoga pants. 

She gave him a smile. “I think I’ll be alright, thank you though.” she said, looking back down at her hand. “Thank you for the offer though, and again, sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“It’s... uh, fine. You seemed to need the seat probably a bit more than me.” He murmured with a small nod. 

Kate hugged herself and took a deep breath, this wasn’t the first time she had done this, and she had to stop before anything besides getting weird looks happened. She found a bench and sat down, it wasn’t like her to get this emotional in public, she brought her hand to wipe away a tear she didn’t she had cried when a voice made her jump. “I- I’m sorry… I didn’t see you there” she apologized, “I’ll move…” she offered.

The blonde looked up when she heard a voice, smiling sheepishly when her eyes met the gaze of the man that sat there. “Oh, I’m sorry.” she said. “Spilt coffee on my hand, I just went for the first bench I saw. Hope I didn’t disturb you.”

“So I was thinking… what do you preferred to be called?” It was a question he’d been dying to ask since the Soldier had disagreed with him about being ‘Bucky’. If he wasn’t Bucky it was highly likely he wouldn’t take too kindly to being called that… but Steve didn’t very well want to keep calling him ‘Soldier’. That name held too many bad memories for both of them. “Your full name, before… everything…” He choked on the word. “Was James Buchanan Barnes. I don’t know if you wanted to use that but you never really went by James, ever. Except when your ma was yelling at you for staring too long at the pins on the girl next door.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “It’s your call though.” 

For some reason he was feeling good about this, even though The Soldier had declined his offer. He was hopeful he’d come around eventually. The two of them could tear Hydra and Shield apart, bit by bit. 

The mention of food really had no reaction; food was both an annoyance and a hinderance. Even now, Bucky had to force food only because he knew that he would literally die without it. And after over seventy years of having been supported off of intravenous nutrients, his system had no idea what to do with solids leaving it either coming back up or painful stomach cramps. It was all foreign, nothing seemed like it was supposed to be. But, he wanted to spend more time with Steve. It would be a waste not to do something with him. He’d had him come here, track him. Which was how the brunet found himself standing, straightening to full height, giving his former best friend a nonchalant shrug. He wasn’t... disinclined to the idea. 

“Also, there’s a spare room where I’m staying if you’re sick of… wherever it is you’ve been living.” He added, figuring if he’d already stepped over the mark then adding that couldn’t hurt.

“I... I can’t do that. I’d hurt you. I don’t want to do that.” He admitted quietly, letting his book drop to his side. “Once again... you and I know that’s a bad idea.” 

Steve didn’t care if The Soldier didn’t want to be friends with him now, but there was no way in hell he would be going back to Hydra. Steve would die before that would happen. 

“Sorry, I-” He shook his head. “I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t... You undid everything. I couldn’t stay. It just... it confused me too much.” He looked down at his hands, realizing they were shaking. “I needed time. Time to try and figure myself out, to piece together memories.” James continued in a whisper.  A bitter laugh escaped him, blue eyes raising to meet Steve’s. “Taken me back? Who do you think took out all the bases through Siberia and Canada? I might not be worth anything with a fraction of memories that are useful. But I will be damned if I ever help them again.”