It was about a week and a half after Ruth met Bucky that she saw him again. He was sitting at the counter by the window in the coffee shop down the street from Stark Tower sipping his drink and watching the hustle and bustle. Ruth took a seat next to him and he turned to look at her.
"Fancy seeing you here, Sarge."
"Hi Ruth. Nice to see you again."
She took a sip of her coffee and then turned to look at him. She studied him a moment as he took another drink of coffee and decided how she was going to proceed with her odd request. She took a deep breath and he turned in his chair to face her.
"This may seem kind of forward seeing as we only met a week ago so please feel free to say no, but I was wondering if you had any free time tonight or this weekend? I was hoping to maybe pick your brain if you wouldn't mind."
He didn't react at all for several long moments and she started to panic internally.
"I'm sorry. That was too forward. I see I crossed a line. I'm sorry Bucky. I just…I'm a child and lover of history and you have had such an impact on…well my entire life. The chance to actually speak with you…it's every history nerd's fantasy."
"Ruth."
He finally cut her off with a slight smile.
"I'd be happy to talk with you. I'm sorry, your question caught me off guard. Not a lot of people want to "pick my brain" with good intentions."
"Really?"
"Yes. I've got nothing scheduled all weekend. You look like you're heading to work, may I walk you to Stark Tower?"
Ruth smiled, "That would be lovely."
She grabbed her bag and hopped off her chair. Bucky held the door open for her and they stepped onto the sidewalk.
As they walked, they discussed when would be best to meet up. Bucky suggested,
"If you're comfortable with it, you're welcome to come to Steve and I's apartment when you're done with work and we can have dinner and chat."
Ruth couldn't help the smile,
"That sounds perfect. I'm usually done around 4. Is that ok?"
"Perfect."
They'd reached Stark Tower and entered the lobby. Ruth turned to Bucky and said,
"Thank you, Bucky. I'll see you this evening."
"My pleasure. 4 o'clock."
He took her hand and kissed her knuckles quickly then left her with a smile. Ruth felt the blush creep across her cheeks and couldn't wipe the smile from her face as she stepped off the elevator at her office.
The morning simply flew by in her excitement for the evening. 1 o'clock arrived much quicker than she realized, and she was almost late for her weekly meeting with Pepper. She arrived at the CEO's office just in the nick of time and knocked on the big door. Pepper called,
"Come in."
Ruth stepped in and apologized,
"Sorry I'm late Pepper. This morning just flew by and I didn't realize it was already 1."
Pepper just smiled,
"You're fine, Ruth. Busy day?"
"Not especially. Honestly, I'm just excited for this evening."
Pepper raised an eyebrow,
"Big plans? A date?"
Tony walked in at that moment and immediately asked,
"Who has a date?"
Ruth said,
"No one. I was just telling Pepper I was excited for the evening. I have a meeting of sorts. A dinner meeting, I guess you could say."
"With who?"
"Sargent Barnes. I met him when I was at the VA last week and he's letting me pick his brain tonight. He has a history with both of my grandparents. But anyway, I brought these reports for you, Pepper."
She handed over a folder.
"The jist of those is that all of our study groups are preforming remarkably. I'm also working with a new group of vets with service dogs to see how that may impact their use of prosthetics."
"This sounds great, Ruth. I really do appreciate these updates."
Ruth turned to Tony and handed him a different folder,
"Since you are here, I actually have some information for you. I've gotten quite a bit of feedback from some of our vet groups on their equipment and I figured you'd want to take a look at it."
He'd already started flipping through the folder and tuned out Ruth and Pepper. They both just smiled.
Ruth said,
"That's all I have for this week."
"Thank you, Ruth. I won't be here next week, so we'll meet the week after."
"Sounds good to me. Thank you Pepper and you Tony."
Tony just grunted in response. Both women just rolled their eyes and Ruth left the office.
