The 3 hour drive back to Manhattan was pleasant. The three had quite a bit in common and Ruth and Sam definitely had similar senses of humor, which Bucky learned was the spark of their friendship a few years back.
There was something about Ruth that put Bucky at ease. It was a feeling he didn't experience often but he was rather enjoying her company. The thought crossed his mind that Steve would definitely like her.
Sam pulled up at the curb outside Ruth's apartment and put the car in park.
"Thank you for the ride guys. The company and conversation were infinitely better than the train would have been."
"Anytime Ruthie."
As Ruth stepped on to the curb she leaned back to Sam's open window and said,
"Bucky it was a pleasure meeting you and I hope to run into you again. Sam, you know where I live and work, I won't tolerate 6 months before we hang out again."
Sam laughed. Ruth smiled and winked at them and walked toward the building. When she disappeared inside, Sam pulled away from the curb, merged with the traffic and headed toward Stark Tower a few blocks away.
Before going their separate ways after stepping off the elevator, Bucky turned to Sam and just said,
"Thank you, Sam. Today was one of the better days I've had recently, and I really appreciate you letting me tag along to the meeting today."
"Man, you are always welcome at the group session. I can't comprehend everything you've been through, but I can relate to some of it and so can everyone in that group."
When Bucky entered his apartment, he found Steve at the desk tucked against one of the floor to ceiling windows sketching. He took off his jacket and hung it by the door and placed his gloves on the little shelf on top of the hooks then headed to the kitchen for a glass of water. He took a seat at the end of the couch near one of the other windows and watched the city moving below.
About 10 minutes of quiet passed before Steve set down his pencil and closed his sketch book and turned in his chair to look at Bucky.
"So how was the group session?"
"Enlightening actually. I think I'm going to go again next week."
"That's great, Buck."
A couple moments passed then Bucky spoke again,
"I met that gal I saw at the coffee shop the other day."
Steve just raised an eyebrow in question. He knew if Bucky wanted to talk about it, he'd elaborate.
Bucky shook his head in disbelief,
"She's friends with Sam and works for Stark."
"Really?"
"Yeah we met her at the VA and had lunch with her. She works for Stark as a liaison to the VA for the medical and prosthetics division. And Steve, you're not going to believe this. She is Dorothy's granddaughter."
"What?!"
"I know, right? She knew exactly who I was, and it seemed like Dorothy must have told her about us. And I don't know what it was about her, but she seemed so at ease around me and that's not exactly normal."
Steve just smiled softly. It was rare to see his friend happy and at ease.
