Another week has gone by and the guesthouse welcomed three European youngsters who, reunited after the Second Snap, decided to enjoy life to the fullest and hitchhike across the country, westward. They only stayed for 2 nights to explore the area before going on to resume the "biggest adventure of their life" right after breakfast.
The regular viewing of YouTube tutorials and other videos have begun to pay off. He has officially finished replacing the porch railings and has hung the new swing to the ceiling.
He is now giving the wooden flooring a makeover, room after room.
But the mansion is not the only thing that has been getting a glow up. His relationship with Katherine has improved quite significantly and it seems their bumpy start is forgotten, and remote memory. Katherine likes banters — unsurprisingly— and, like riding a bike, it comes back effortlessly to him.
He has an early night as Katherine went on a date just before dessert. He has a video call with Bucky and Sam for a light report of the situation in the compound — pretty quiet, so far. Just a few incidents that only required the intervention of a few members at a time. They always end up asking about Natasha and his new lifestyle. He answers it's going well. He has already introduced Riley to them. Sam snorts and says he might grow fond of Louisiana; Bucky's grin is barely perceptible, however.
By 11 pm he eventually sends Riley out of the room and turns off the light, before drifting off to sleep. He is woken up by muffled sounds from the lower floor. His old reflexes make him immediately alert. He glances over at the clock: almost 1 am.
He gets on his feet, cracks the door open and peers through. Down the dark hallway, he sees Katherine's silhouette emerge up the stairway. She is giddy and upbeat, her arm stretched up behind her. She twirls around and pulls someone — Jake is climbing up the last steps. He leans in to kiss her and she giggles against his lips. Steve feels his chest tighten.
Jake is about to say something but she presses her finger against his mouth and chuckles quietly. She bends over and takes off her heels to avoid making any noises while Jake wraps his arms around her waist and begins to plant a trail of heated kisses under her lobe, then down her neck. She slightly arches her back against his body, letting out a silent moan. His heart is pounding so loud inside his chest it begins to hurt while watching the scene. She tiptoes to her bedroom door and opens it, Jake clung to her like a leech that needs to be squished. His hands come down to her waist and flip around, pinning her tight against him. Katherine smiles, allowing him to deepen the kiss.
He closes his door before he can see them disappear inside her bedroom. His main remained long clenched around the knob.
It has been several minutes now. Steve is sitting sullenly on the parquet, leaning against his bedframe, his back crouched over. Music is playing loudly through his headphones but he is not listening. After hearing the first few masculine moans, it took away any chance he had to find sleep again; so he grabbed his headphones and quickly put them on his ear to block any parasite sound out. To block the painful reality. His elbows are propped against his bent knees, hands clasped tightly together while he is looking down at the rug under him. But although his ears can only pick up the music, he can hear them. And along with it, a torrent of painful thoughts come bursting through, clouding his mind, haunting him.
After a few minutes of a relentless mental battle, he gets up and leaves the room, rushing outside for a clear environment. The front yard is plunged in the light of the full moon hanging in the cloudless sky.
The air becomes more breathable, the atmosphere less heavy. He slumps into the porch swing and stares into space. It is silent all around, the scenery anxious to quiet down the emotional turmoil inside him.
An hour goes by and his distress has made way for morose acceptance. Deep in thought, he doesn't hear the main door swing open. To his surprise, he sees Katherine come on the porch, dressed in nothing but a thin cotton robe, hair down, holding a mug filled with hot liquid. She turns and is surprised to find him there. She glances down at herself, suddenly aware of her flimsy attire. Her hand goes up to her chest and she gently pulls the rims of her robe closer together.
He has never seen her so lightly dressed, not even during their time on the run. Obviously, his mouth has slightly gone dry and it takes him a few seconds to gather his thoughts.
"Do you mind if I join?" she asks. He shakes his head no.
She walks over and sits down next to him and folds her athletic, bare legs under her.
"Jake fell asleep but I couldn't drift off. Thought some herbal tea and the crickets chirping could help," she explains in a gentle voice, before blowing into her mug and taking a sip. If he had her, he thinks, he would never let her leave his arms. "Why are you out here?" she continues.
He is gazing at her. He blinks then shrugs dismissively. "Just couldn't sleep."
They both look up at the star sky, silent. He finds peace in her physical proximity, feeling her arm slightly brushing against his.
"It's…beautiful," he eventually speaks.
"Yeah. It's kept me occupied many nights," she muses aloud, gazing skyward.
He frowns. "Your nightmare? You've had it often?"
"Yeah, I guess. Amnesia fills your nights with senseless dreams, and not knowing makes them sleepless."
He sees the flimsy veil of melancholy fall over her face.
"When I woke up in this new time," he begins, "I felt stuck. Couldn't go back, couldn't move on. I would have many dreams where I would watch myself sink into nothingness from standing still."
He never told Natasha — he never told anyone — and now he's just told Katherine.
She looks sympathetically at him; she feels him.
"So how long were you in the ice for?" she asks.
He realizes it is the first time she shows interest in his un-normal past.
"I went into the ice in 1944. Woke up in 2011."
She slowly takes in the information, processing it. Then the corner of her mouth curls up.
"So you're over 100 years old? I bet I must have made a thousand jokes about it."
He snorts. "You never did. It never even crossed your mind — it made my acclimatization to the new century far easier."
She is laughing along with him.
"You're a terrible liar," she remarks.
His chuckles die out and he looks at her musingly. "You told me that once…when we were still getting to know each other."
She eyes him, a little surprised, but not as baffled as him. "You've always been very perceptive," he finishes.
"Or you're just very easy to read," she says with a grin, before taking another sip.
When her tea turns cold, she leans over to put the mug down on the table, and using the foot she has just put down to the floor, gives them a push to make the swing move.
"It's holding up!" she exclaims softly. "You've done a good job."
She gives a harder push and the canopy swings up.
"Ok, let's not push my luck," he warns. She looks up at him with a large smile plastered across the face.
They keep giggling for a little more until the swing significantly slows down. Katherine folds her legs up again and tries to drape her arm over her bare lap to shield it from the air that has cooled down a little. He pulls the throw rolled up on his side and unfolds it. He gently spreads it over her lap, attentive not to make any physical contact which could make her uncomfortable.
"Don't you miss them?" she says. "Your teammates — your friends? Don't you regret giving up everything to stay here."
"No," he answers simply. "Many times over you gave up everything to stay with me."
She furrows her brows and goes dead silent. "I find it difficult to bond with her…I mean who I was. But I'm glad you stayed. It's been good having you around here and getting to know you."
He smiles softly, looking into her eyes before they divert in another direction. Her face lights up with excitement.
"What were the 40s like?" she asks. "I mean, it's not every day you can meet a contemporary of Clark Gable. For the record, he was Eliza's mother's childhood heartthrob. How about the Wall Street Crash? Do you remember where you were on Black Tuesday?"
"Ok, first of all I know you just made that up," he protests, rolling his eyes. "Secondly, I was too young to recall Black Tuesday."
A smirk tugs at her lips.
"What's one of your best memories from that time?" she asks.
His mind traverses time to old — forsaken— memories, buried deep down.
"My best friend Bucky, back from his first tour, and I went to the premiere of Casablanca. Bucky thought he was Humphrey Bogart and I had a crush on Ingrid Bergman. She somehow caught sight of me in the big crowd, squeezed between tall, strong men and signed an autograph for me. She was stunning. Needless to say, Casablanca was my favorite movie," he reminisces with a fond smile. He feels her fixed gaze on him, then his eyes fall back on her. "Here's looking at you, kid."
She smiles and leans her head back on the cushion. "It's a sweet story. Tell me more."
He hasn't talked about the past in so long and it seems this night is perfectly suited for it. They talk for minutes that progressively morph into hours. Jake is upstairs but he relishes the fact he has had her all for himself all through the night.
The blue of the night slowly begins to lose its depth, and the first rim rays of light foretell the arrival of dawn. She pulls the throw away and gets on her feet. She picks up her mug and makes her to the door.
"Kat," he calls, and the nickname sounds natural, uncannily familiar. Her eyes dart to him and smiles. She likes it, too. "It was nice talking to you. It felt both new and familiar."
She nods and walks inside. Her head pokes out and she flashes a smirk. "We'll always have, Paris," she quotes. Then she disappears inside.
He presses his hand on the empty spot next to him, feeling the warmth of the space she filled all night.
Katherine is preparing breakfast, Eliza is seated at the kitchen counter, reading the paper. She puts it down as she notices the apparent groggy expression on Katherine's face. She sees the dark circles, too.
"Are you alright, dear?" Eliza asks.
"I barely slept last night."
Just then Jake comes down the stairs, blows a kiss in his girlfriend's direction and shoots off. The elderly woman's eyes suspiciously wander from the door to her. Katherine furrows her brows, reading the woman's expressions.
"Nothing like that," she huffs while mixing the ingredients for the waffles. "I was out on the porch with Steve until daybreak."
Eliza couldn't have looked more intrigued even if she tried. She eyes her up and down with newly-found admiration.
"You spent the night with two men? Dear, aren't you full of stamina?" she exclaims mischievously with a cocked eyebrow while Katherine rolls her eyes. "I'm not judging — quite the contrary. It reminds me of my young years…"
"Eliza!" Her mouth takes the shape of an O.
The woman eyes her curiously. "What? 1968, Bob Dylan's music, Woodstock…these brought some of the most thrilling moments of my life. You'll have all the time you need to rest when you get older."
Katherine snorts. "You are unbelievable. All we did was talk."
Eliza rolls her eyes and lifts her newspaper to eye level. "Then you're even more foolish if you didn't jump on the occasion. I wouldn't think twice about it if I were your age."
"No offense Liz, but aren't you past the age?" she frowns.
"As long as I have working eyes I am allowed to use them. I mean, have you checked out his…" Katherine's eyes open wide in apprehension, fearing the worst. "…posterior?"
She eyes her closely, actually waiting for an answer.
"No, I haven't. Why, have you?"
Eliza snorts. "Oh please, no hypocrisy between us!"
"Well unlike you I have better things to do than check out people's derriere."
"In my defense, I didn't look for it. He simply walked into the room and it leapt to the eye so that I had no choice but to acknowledge it."
Katherine props her elbow on the kitchen counter, eyes the woman and sighs. "We're done with this conversation."
During breakfast as Steve stands at the counter, sipping his coffee, Katherine walks over to the table, and as she does so, her eyes discreetly aim slightly lower than they normally would and linger on the area discussed at length fifteen more earlier. Eliza is sitting on the chair, waiting with mischievous expression. Both women smile at each other knowingly.
Steve has just finished painting the first layer of the yard railings. He is now cutting wood while Eliza is sipping a cool drink on the new porch swing.
"Things are starting to look lovely," she comments. "Please know I am thankful for your hard work." He smiles. After a pause, she grins smugly. "I guess I couldn't expect less from Captain America himself."
He turns around and both exchange a long, meaningful look. He walks up to the railings and looks at her with a grin.
"When did you realize?" he asks very serenely.
She eyes him very appreciatively. "Thank you for not simply assuming Katherine told me."
"I would never dare underestimate your perspicacity, Eliza."
"I've known for a while," she answers his question. "And it didn't take long to work out Katherine's former identity."
"She doesn't want that life anymore," he says.
"Which I can understand. She may not have realized it yet but she needed to know who she was to decide who she wants to be."
A familiar car emerges around the path with a honk and pulls over. Jake comes out of it and makes his way to the porch. He greets them both with a smile before leaning towards the freshly-painted railings. Steve watches him without twitching as the man presses himself against it.
"I'm here to pick up Kate," he says, completely unaware of the situation. After a couple of minutes of small talks, he props his hand on the handrails and frowns as he looks down at his palm covered in paint. He hastily steps away and inspects the damage made on his shirt.
"Shoot. Hadn't realized that wasn't dry yet," Steve comments coolly, a small smirk almost tugging at his lips.
Katherine swings through the door, holding her purse, and both head to the car.
Steve is watching until a slurping sound rings out just behind him. He turns around and sees Eliza sipping her drink with a twinkle in the eye.