Steve sat outside the cafe a few blocks from his new apartment. It had become routine for him to spend his time sitting outside that cafe with the same cup of tea. He wasn't much of a coffee drinker, the beverage was less popular in the 40s. It was a Saturday morning when he ordered his coffee from Mía, the barista who was friendliest to him whenever he visited.

"Hi Steve, how's your morning?" she asked him kindly as he approached the counter.

"It's been good, ma'am" he lied easily, not wanting to bring up the abrupt waking he had from another nightmare and overall restless sleep. Mía gave a friendly roll of her eyes at the formalities. He had been visiting for months, insisted on being called Steve, and still had trouble referring to her by her own first name. "How about you?" he offered in return.

"Great as a morning that started at 4am can be," she replied with a smile. "Your usual tea?" she asked and he nodded. As she gave him his change she glanced outside and noticed the rain picking up. It had only started to drizzle as Steve walked in the door. "It looks like you'll be having to take your cup inside today," she said with a slight frown.

"That's too bad," he responded.

"Well I'd be happy for you to keep me company while I restock, it looks like the rain is keeping people from coming out today," she offered with a smile. She was right as he was the only customer in the small cafe.

"Sure," he told her as he sat down at the table nearest to the counter.

"I'd ask why you were up and out so early on a Saturday, but you never seem to be tired in the mornings anyway," she commented as she began to make his tea.

"Yeah well I've always been sort of an early riser. Previous work made that habit I guess," he said.

"What previous work would that be?" she asked.

"Umm, I was in the Army," she paused as she looked up at him and then nodded. She could tell immediately that he was hoping she wouldn't press with more questions of his past profession.

"Well I've had some years of my own work forcing me to have wild hours, and I still haven't gotten used to it. I'm very much a night owl forced to adjust to early mornings," she gave him a smile and he chuckled.

"I'm sure, this place opens up early, gotta catch all of those coffee drinkers before their own work day begins," he said. His own casual talk surprised him. It wasn't often he felt comfortable to act or talk this casual with other people anymore. Mía had a way of making others feel comfortable around her.

"Yes that is true, but this isn't the only job I have to keep track of. I feel like I could eventually get used to the early mornings if I wasn't also spending half my time at Kravis," she said.

"Kravis?" Steve questioned, not sure what she was referring to.

"The children's hospital," she clarified. "I'm a nursing assistant there."

"Wow," Steve voiced. He had never realized she worked another job, let alone at a hospital. However, it made sense considering their interactions were often short before he would drink his tea outside.

She brought over his finished tea and he thanked her.

"Yeah I wish I could spend all my time there actually, but it's not enough to keep up with paying the bills," Mía said as she made her way back to the counter to clean up the station and begin restocking.

"Is that what you want to do full time, nursing?" he asked. He assumed that being a nursing assistant was a step in that direction.

"No actually, my end goal is medical school," she told him proudly. "This is just a great way to get some real clinical experience. I finished my undergrad three years ago, but I'm taking some time off school to just save money, focus on building my application." He nodded as he listened with curiosity. While Mía's statement was the truth, it was not the whole truth. Her initial plans had been to take no more than a year off, but other things, or more like another person, got in the way of those plans. She left that part out though, it wasn't really fit for a casual customer in the cafe conversation.

"That's amazing," Steve said with sincerity. "You said you work at the children's hospital? Is that the kind of doctor you want to be, one for kids?" he asked.

"Yes," she smiled as she paused to think about it. "I love working with kids. It can be hard sometimes, when they are sick, but wish to be there for them in such a hard time." Her words warmed Steve's heart. They continued their conversation as Steve finished his tea. Mía gave him a refill on the house, although he insisted on paying. She refused, it was her idea to serve him more and she secretly did it to keep him from leaving. He ended up giving her a larger tip than usual to make up for it.

Their interaction had actually been the most pleasant one either of them had in a long time. It surprised them both how much they had been smiling and how comfortable they had felt with each other considering they were barely acquaintances. Some other customers had made their way in throughout the morning, but there was still time for the two to continue getting to know each other.

As Mía's shift ended, Steve noticed he remained at the cafe longer than he ever had in the past. It was the first time anything other than the tea kept him there. From then on, whenever Mia was working when he showed up at the cafe, he spent his time inside. They welcomed each other's friendliness when both of them spent most of their free time alone. Mía began to notice herself watching for the door during her shifts, hoping the tall man with the shy smile would come in for his usual cup of tea. Steve always had an unfamiliar sense of excitement whenever he walked to the cafe, excitement that was only ever crushed when the dark haired barista with the infectious laugh wasn't working.

Neither of them were quick to admit it, but they were both very grateful for that fateful rainy Saturday that forced Steve to drink his tea inside.

Thank you for taking a chance on my new fic! I hope you enjoy it! I also have a tumblr dedicated to my OCs, creationcitystreet-em