As Katherine twisted her way among the tables, a soft breeze from the Atlantic swept through her hair. Carrying three plates in her left hand and another in her right, she wore light blue shorts that bared her long, tan legs, and a white t-shirt that read in cursive red letters: Whitmore's.

She brought the plates to four men wearing polo shirts. The one closest to her caught her eye and smiled. Though he tried to act as though he was just a friendly guy, she knew he was watching her as she walked away. After retrieving a pitcher of sweet tea, she refilled their glasses before returning to the waitress station.

She stole a glance at the view. It was mid-July, the temperature hovering a little too high for decent comfort, blue skies stretching out to the horizon.

A dozen seagulls perched on the railing, waiting to dart beneath the tables if someone dropped a scrap of food. Jason Whitmore, the owner, hated them. He was already patrolling the railing twice a day with a wooden plunger, trying to scare them off.

Katherine was more concerned with where the plunger's been than she was about the seagulls.

She started another pot of sweet tea, wiping down the station. From a former life, the habit of a sterile work station had stuck with Katherine. A moment later, she felt someone tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Jason's daughter, Julia. She was a pretty, ponytailed nineteen year old working part-time as the restaurant's hostess.

"Caroline, I booked you another table," she said with a smile.

Katherine scanned her tables, running the rhythm in her head. She nodded and smiled back. "Alrighty."

Julia walked down the stairs. Caroline….Caroline Bergius. It's been a month since she's adopted the alias. She was still adjusting to it, but she was getting better. She answered to the name automatically and didn't hesitate when recalling it. That's a perk of working as a waitress, having to constantly introduce yourself.

When Jason hired her, telling 'Caroline' she could work the following Monday, it took everything she had not to cry in front of him. She waited until she was walking home to the small apartment she started renting above the general store to breakdown. At the time, she was broke and hadn't eaten in two days.

From nearby tables, Katherine could hear snippets of conversations – people talking about friends, family, the weather, and fishing. At a table in the corner, she saw two people close their menus. She hustled over and took the order, but didn't linger at the table trying to make small talk. She wasn't good at small talk, but she was efficient and polite and none of her customers complained.

She refilled waters and sweet teas and headed to the kitchen. Kyle, one of the cooks, winked at her like he always did. He was blond and lanky, perhaps a year of two younger than Katherine. He still lived with his parents.

Since working at Whitmore's, Kyle's taken a shine to Katherine. Two days ago, he asked her out. Katherine politely declined, saying she didn't want to date anyone she worked with. Whenever she went to work she got the feeling he would try again. She hoped her instincts were wrong.

"Can I drive you home later?" Kyle offered to drive her at least twice a week.

"Thank you, but no. I don't live that far."

"It's no problem," he persisted. "I'd be happy to."

"Walking is good for me."

Katherine handed him her ticket and Kyle pinned it up on the wheel. He located one of her orders. She carried the order back to her section and dropped it off the table.

Whitmore's was a local institution, a restaurant that had been in business for over thirty years. In the short time she'd been working there, she'd come to recognize the regulars. As she crossed the restaurant floor, her eyes traveled over them to the people she hadn't seen before. Couples flirting, other couples ignoring each other. Families.

No one seemed out of place and no one had come around asking for her. There were still times when her hands began to shake, and even now she slept with the light on.

It has been four months since S.H.I.E.L.D fell and HYDRA made their presence known. For four months Katherine Lucas has been on the run. For a while, she had someone. They fought for each other, against the world for each other. And not long after that she was alone. She was determined to stay that way. S.H.I.E.L.D was gone now. HYDRA hunted her. She had no choice but to be alone.

Her hair was shorter now, and chestnut brown. She dyed it not long after coming to town in the filthy sink of a gas station bathroom. She no longer wore make-up, not that she wore much before. Her face would pick up some color, hopefully not too much. She reminded herself to buy sunscreen, but after paying rent and utilities on the apartment above the general store, there wasn't much left for luxuries. Even sunscreen was a stretch.

Whitmore's was a good job and she was beyond ecstatic to have it, but the food was inexpensive, which meant the tips weren't the best. On her steady diet of rice and beans, pasta and oatmeal, she'd lost weight in the past four months. She could feel her ribs beneath her shirt, and until a few weeks ago, she'd had dark circles under her eyes.

Katherine started another pot of coffee as another waitress, the gossip queen of Whitmore's, Melony, came over to her. "I heard Kyle ask you out," she purred. "But, again, you said no."

"I don't like to date people I work with." Katherine pretended to be absorbed in organizing the silverware trays.

"We could double-date," Melony blurted, ignoring Katherine's response. "He and Steve go fishing together all the time."

Katherine wondered if Kyle put Melony put her up to it or if it was Melony's idea. In the evenings after the restaurant closed, most of the staff stayed around to visit over beers. Aside from Katherine, most everyone working at the restaurant had been there for years.

"I don't date anyone I work with," Katherine repeated herself.

"Why not?"

"Bad experience once….dating a guy from work, I mean. Since then, it's been, like, a rule for me."

And by bad experience, Katherine meant the last couple she double-dated with ended up being HYDRA Nazis and tried to kill her. One of them actually succeeded in part.

Melony rolled her eyes before hurrying off to one of her tables. Katherine dropped off two checks and cleared empty plates. She kept busy, as she always did, trying to be efficient and invisible. She kept her head down and made sure the waitress station was spotless. It made the day go by faster.

Katherine worked both the lunch and dinner shift. As day shifted to night, she loved to watch the sky turning from blue to gray to orange and yellow at the edge of the world. She never got this view in her D.C. operating room. At sunset, the water sparkled and sailboats heeled in the breeze. The needles on the pine trees shimmered. As soon as the sun dropped below the horizon, Jason turned up the propane gas heaters and the coils began to glow like pumpkins.

Katherine's face had gotten slightly sunburned, and the waves of radiant heat made her skin sting.

The dinner rush lasted until nine. When it began to clear out, Katherine cleaned and closed up the wait station. She helped the busboys carry plates to the dishwasher while her final tables finished up. At one of them was a young couple and she'd seen the rings on their fingers as they held hands across the table. They were attractive and happy, and she felt a sense of déjà vu. She had been like them once, but it seemed like a lifetime ago even though it was only months. She was a different person now.

Katherine turned away from the blissful couple, wishing she could erase her memories of that night and never have these feelings again.

James was dead. His killer was someone they reached out to for help, someone they counted as a friend. The price of going underground meant not recognizing who was S.H.I. . and who was HYDRA. The price was something she was not prepared to pay.