"You're gonna work as a what?" Sam exclaims on their video call with unconcealed bafflement.
Steve rolls his eyes. "She gave me a second chance, Sam. I can't blow it."
"But are you sure you got this?" his friend asks, slightly worried.
He shrugs. "Sure. I mean, I did some housework in my apartment after moving to DC."
Silence follows. "Steve, you assembled a bookcase using the instructions guide. That hardly counts as housework."
"Well, there are still online tutorials," Bucky chimes in behind his shoulder.
Sam turns to shoot him a dark glare.
"Thanks Buck for your input," Wilson answers to him dryly. "It's always useful when you remind me what the modern world I have grown up in has to offer."
Then he turns to face the phone again.
"What about the team?" he asks.
Steve nods. "Since Thanos things have been different. I'm not really needed. You take the lead, Sam — I trust you. And if something comes up just give me a call and of course I'll help."
His eyes glance over to his best friend. "You guys got this," he says assertively. "Let's say I'm on an indefinite break."
Sam frowns while Bucky nods calmly.
"Is that what we should tell the others?" Sam asks.
"For now."
Going downstairs, Steve finds Eliza reading through papers at the dining room table. She smiles and takes her glasses off as he sits down.
"I am no longer used to dealing with all the paperwork — Katherine just handles it for me."
"Nothing bad, I hope?" he asks.
Eliza shakes her head and smiles. "Just the usual billing and other mundane admin papers."
She puts them away and looks at him closely.
"I didn't think you would take my advice of fixing things with Katherine so literally," she comments with a little smirk.
He snorts. "Well, I'm a very literal person."
She probes him quietly. "No, you're not," she says. "So about the job…"
"He shakes his head "I'm not asking for any money. Your hospitality is more than enough."
Eliza leans back on her chair. "Looks like you've thought it all through. But it wouldn't honest of me to have you do all this housework without paying you."
"I assure you, that it's perfectly fine by me. I'm not here for the money."
"Oh, that I am aware," Eliza comments knowingly.
"If I may ask," he begins. "Why are you helping me?"
The woman eyes him attentively. "I want what's best for Katherine and I feel you sticking around is what she needs. Besides, it's a pretty quiet place — nothing exciting ever happens around here. I could use some entertainment."
Katherine appears at the door, outside on the porch. Jake has just driven her home, he kisses her on the cheek — Steve stiffens slightly— and waves at Eliza who nods back.
"Yeah. I definitely look forward to seeing how this all plays out," the woman whispers.
A cheeky smile comes to her lips then she puts her glasses back on.
The first housework turns out to be more arduous than he had predicted. Handling tools does not come as naturally as yielding the shield or Mjolnir did.
He works all day, has dinner with Katherine and Eliza in the evening, then when he goes to bed, he watches video tutorials and diligently takes notes.
Eliza did not lie: the house was in desperate need of maintenance. Most of the flooring needs fixing and the dull paint and wallpapers need a glow-up, and that is without mentioning the plumbing or the outside. As different a life as it is to avenging, he quickly grows to appreciate this new routine. The physical exhaustion at the end of the day is different but he likes the tranquility of this new lifestyle.
Days go by and things have already begun to feel different. He asked Sam to have his car collected and brought back to the compound. As for clothing, he stopped by a store while running errands for equipment. The style has changed quite noticeably: he has traded the shiny shoes for leather boots and most of his urban outfits have been replaced with more practical ones; mostly T-shirts and jeans.
On a sunny afternoon, he is working on the roof, replacing some loose tiles. Katherine suddenly appears on the yard, Riley following close behind with her wailing tail. Katherine looks up and smiles.
"Everything all right, up there?" she asks.
He takes his eyes off of the tiles and breathes out. "Yeah, all good."
She is smiling. "So…," she begins. "If you fall off you can just fly, right?"
He snorts while running a hand over his sweaty hairline. "I don't do that."
She pouts. "I know. That's my point." She then puts a hand up to her forehead to shield herself from the sun and smiles at him.
She is teasing him and he likes it. It almost feels like old times.
"Well if you need a break, there's iced tea ready."
And she disappears under the roof.
He holds the hammer and to hit the nail into the nail. He sinks the nail, and half of the hammer, too.
He sighs. It will take practice and time before he comes to grips with all this.
Katherine brings Eliza her daily pills with a glass water, then after an hour of tidying up goes to do some painting. Steve is in there too, covering the walls with a light shade of mauve.
Standing on a stepladder, he stops when he sees her walk in. He begins to come down to leave the room and give her her privacy but she tells him he can stay. He picks up his brush again and resumes painting the wall.
She is mixing colors on her palette but he doesn't notice the few peeks she casts in his direction. She doesn't notice how his body has slightly stiffened as he tries to remain focused on his work.
She eventually turns her attention back on what she is doing and dips her small brush into the paint.
"So what do you draw?" she eventually asks from where she is sitting in the middle of the room.
It takes him by surprise. He finally allows his body to pivot so he can look at her. She is sitting on her stool in the middle room, wearing high-waisted loose blue jeans cuffed up above her ankles with a slightly cropped cotton striped top revealing the rim of her pants and a bit of her skin. Her hair is down her shoulders with a natural wavy aspect.
"It depends," he says, resuming his work. "It can be pretty much anything."
"Sounds nice," she says musingly but genuine interest. "Maybe someday you could show me your sketches."
He pauses and glances at her. "I haven't drawn in a while."
Her green eyes gaze at him over the canvas. "Why not?"
He tries to recall the last time he wandered into a sketch. It was on one of the early days during their fugitive period. They had been sitting in a car on an isolated road for hours while waiting for Sam to come back with food and other supplies. Natasha was in the driver's seat, alert and surveying their surroundings she always did. He was in the seat next to her, doodling on the back of a paper, head down.
"Do you think I should dye my hair?" she asked out of the blue.
"Why? Your hair's perfect," he commented matter-of-factly, absorbed in his task.
"I know. But red is kinda eye-catchy. Besides, you're not the only one allowed to have an in-the-run makeover with that stubble of yours."
"…Which I intend to let grow into a full beard by the way," he finishes coolly, eyes fixed on the paper.
"Yeah well, my point is…if I blended in more easily, I could go and run the errands myself. I'd know what to get us. And I'd be faster, too."
She glanced at the dial clock on her dashboard and sighed. She leaned her head back on the headrest and gazed at him.
"Clearly you're handling boredom better than I am."
"You should try sketching," he said.
"Uh-uh," she shook her head. "I can't afford to let my mind wander into drawing. It would mean I would have to let my guard down."
He looked up at her. "Yeah, I know the feeling," he said.
"Except your guard's down now."
He closed his hand around the pencil and gazed at her.
"Only because I know you're watching my six."
She looked numbly at him for a short moment and he smiled at her. He folded the paper and put it in the glove compartment along with the pen.
"When you're ready to swap the roles around I'll be there to share some drawing tips."
Natasha snorted then both resumed surveilling the area.
The old memory floods back accompanied with a feeling of wistfulness it didn't have then. But although he can only sadly realize Natasha never allowed herself to let her guard down (because she never had the luxury to), he notes Katherine has reached that place where she never has to have her guard up.
"Circumstances didn't allow it…until I completely fell out of the habit."
Katherine looks at him musingly. She seems to understand what he kept implicit.
"Louisiana might work its magic on you eventually. Just wait and see," she says.
All he hears is how she is open to him ticking around for a while. He smiles to himself as he dips the brush into the pot; she mirrors him then both resume their painting.
A couple of hours later filled with many long conversations, the familiar voice of Jake rings out in the other room.
She turns to look at Steve with a nervous wince.
"Does he know?" Steve asks.
"I'd rather stay anonymous as long as possible," she answers.
He understands she hasn't told Jake who he is and why he is here.
"Ok," he whispers. Just then Jake walks into the room.
He walks up to her, wraps his arms around her from behind and plants a kiss into her neck.
"You've got paint," he comments.
"Where?"
Jake dips a finger into some liquid and pokes the tip of her nose with it. They both laugh.
Jake eventually looks up and notices Steve standing on the stepladder across the room. He frowns in surprise.
"Wow," he comments with a frown. "I didn't think you'd still be around…"
She gets up and wipes her nose with a piece of cloth.
"Steve is our new handyman," she says.
Jake eyes him quietly for a couple of seconds then finally musters a response. "Awesome," he exclaims with a smile and it fades away soon after. "Careful the amount of work doesn't discourage you."
Steve climbs down the stepladder.
"I'm not the quitter type," he answers, watching him with a great deal of self-assurance.
Jake rubs the back of his neck, then forces a laugh. Steve's look doesn't waver.
"Kate, do you mind if I join you for dinner?" he asks. He reaches over to hold her hand.
"Tonight?" Katherine arches an eyebrow.
"Yeah. I haven't seen you all week."
She pauses, slightly surprised by this unexpected self-invitation.
"I'm sure Eliza won't mind."
"Great. See you tonight, then." He murmurs then pecks her lips.
He waves at Steve. "Good luck."
Dinner is almost ready. All three of them are gathered in the living room, and Eliza has been noticeably zealous since she found out Jake would be joining.
The engine of his car eventually thrums in the yard and he comes inside.
Eliza sits at the head of the table, Jake next to Katherine. Steve unhurriedly joins to sit across from them. Soon, dinner begins.
"You look kinda familiar. What did you do before coming here?" Jake asks.
Katherine glances over at him with a slightly concerned expression.
"I ran a company," he answers casually. If leading the Avengers can be seen as such. "Lots of traveling." Including on space ships and through time.
Jake nods, keeping a poker face to conceal he is impressed. "And you just stopped?"
"Things were rough for a few years but now that it's come back to normal I thought it was the right time to have some indefinite vacation."
"Must be a real change, though. I heard it's very difficult to hang it up and pass the mantle. It's the kind of life you have in your blood."
"Yeah, the pace sure is different around here," he says, and his eyes shift to look at Katherine who is staring back at him. "But I'm liking it."
His eyes then flicker back to the man sitting next to her, with his arm draped over her backrest.
"And you, what do you do?" he asks.
"I work in a farm 15 miles South. I'm hoping to buy my own house soon. Maybe have a few horses," he adds, squeezing her shoulders and she laughs.
Steve looks at them quizzically.
"Kate here loves horseback riding," Jake clarifies. "And she's great at it. But what isn't she good at, right?"
"It's just a hobby I took up," she explains dismissively with a sheepish grin.
"She goes to the Dawson's who own a stable from time and time."
Steve had no idea she liked or did horseback riding. At least, he knows for a fact Natasha didn't. It is one of Katherine's new interests.
As different from the woman she once was, he enjoys discovering these new little things about her.
At the end of dinner, Katherine gets up to pick up the dishes. Steve stands up to help but Jake has already beaten him to it. He takes them all to the kitchen and spends the next 15 minutes with her in the kitchen to assist her with the washing and wipe the wet plates she hands over to him. Steve watches them from the dining room, given no choice but to acknowledge the obvious affinity between them.
One yet so different from the one he had with Natasha. While the latter was more implicit, synchronous and unostentatious, theirs was more conspicuous and boisterous.
Two different types of energy, but both as genuine and earnest.
Steve gets up and takes Riley out for a walk. The dog was the first to warm up to him. She sometimes waits outside his bedroom door for a morning jog in the woods.
After a sullen stroll along the lake, he comes back to the house. Jake and Katherine are saying good night at the door, then he steps out on the porch.
Riley runs up to him, walks around him to quickly collect a stroke then runs back to Steve and stands by his side. Jake comes down the stairs toward him.
He shakes his hand.
"Well, it was nice to have a proper chat. I guess I'll see you around a lot, huh?"
"I'm not going anywhere," Steve replies, shaking back.
Jake smirks. "Great. Me neither."
And he gets in his car.
The next day a couple checks in for the weekend, people in their late forties on a short getaway from Mississippi. Steve deems it best not to make himself visible to minimize the chances of getting recognized. So far, he has been lucky not to pique the locals' curiosity, the main reason being the guesthouse is quite isolated and the majority of the people living in the area are more or less old and prefer radio as a medium than the internet or television.
So he spends most of the day working outside. The porch has all his attention at the moment. He has already replaced half of the railings and has moved on to smooth the surface with sandpaper.
It is such a hot day he had to take off his shirt and work in a grey tank top. His arms and chest are glistening with sweat.
Eliza is sitting in the shadow, chatting away.
"I've never been to New York. Robert was always scared of flying," she says with a chuckle. She readjusts the blanket under her. "We should replace this agonizing bench with a swing with a proper, thick mattress."
He nods. "I'll look for one next time I go to town."
Katherine comes through the door, carrying a tray with refreshments. She slowly puts it down the round table, pours Eliza a glass and brings over to the elderly lady. She is staring at Steve the whole time. He turns and smiles at her before getting back to work again. Suddenly hit by a wave of heat, Katherine pours herself a glass and absent-mindedly gulps down a sip from it while taking on sight in front of her.
"Katherine, you might want to pick up your jaw from the floor," she hears Eliza say.
The words irk her and she stiffens and flips her neck to look at her. The elderly woman is smirking cockily, eyes fixed on Steve working.
Katherine arches an eyebrow. "After you, Eliza."
And she goes back inside the house.
After the guests' departure, Eliza calls it a day off and asks to go on a picnic. Katherine prepares sandwiches and wraps the fresh muffins while he packs up all the blankets.
They spend the afternoon at the lake. Riley spends half the time trying to catch frogs; she spends the other half asking for more food. Eventually, she lies down to nap next to Eliza whose back is leaning on the old oak tree.
Katherine and Steve walk down the wooden pier nearby. She sits down, takes her shoes, rolls up her skirt above the knees and gently dips her feet into the cool water. He does the same after pulling his jeans to half his calves.
They both watch the circles their feet make spread indefinitely over the water. She slowly raises her foot out of the water and looks at the drops of water roll down to her toes and eventually fall into the water.
"Thank you," she says while staring into space. She then turns to look at him. "For not saying anything to Jake."
He nods with a slightly clenched jaw. "Sure."
She smiles and resumes looking at the scenery.
"So Jake…he makes you happy?"
She bites her bottom lip, pensive.
"I think so. He's the first person I met after Eliza. He's the person who knows me the best."
He feels his chest tighten as he takes that punch. He smiles sadly to himself; it seems he will always be too late.
"I'm happy for you, Katherine. I really am."
She doesn't need to know about the part where he is unhappy, because it is secondary.
A bird chirps in the tree behind them.