Thank you so much for all the follows and favourites this story has received so far. Reviews are gratefully received. As before, thanks to Ladyamesindy for beta'ing this story for me, which seems to grow all the time.
Steve sat with a sketchbook on his knee, pencil in hand as he drew the scene in his head - not Peggy nor Bucky this time. This time it was the picture of the woman he had come to know as Zoe. The auburn curls that framed her face, the lively smile, the way she would hum along with the music - it all added to the young woman's personality. Steve had to admit he was fascinated by her and he tried hard to not think too much about her, yet she was starting to creep into his dreams, leaving him aching and having to get into the shower first thing in the morning. A situation he was not proud of.
So here he was, drawing the striking young woman who was starting to haunt his dreams. He could hear Zoe hum a tune while collecting cups and plates. Steve was not sure of the song, something more modern than he had learnt but he liked listening to her.
That was when an older woman with short dark hair came in with a young girl, pre-school and probably the woman's granddaughter. Sitting down at a table and letting the pretty little girl, dressed in a princess dress out of the pushchair, Steve heard the woman say, "Go and surprise your mummy." Interesting.
Steve watched the small child creep up on the counter, then pop her head round the side and say,"Boo!". Zoe obviously knew it was coming by the tone of voice she used.
"You surprised me!" Zoe came out from behind the counter and picked the little girl up, a small hand gripping tightly to a worn floppy teddy bear, propping her on her hip as she leant against her 'momma'.
Steve watched all this, his heart racing almost as fast as his mind. Zoe was that little girls' mother. She did not look old enough to be a mother, yet the resemblance was striking. He watched the three sat together, the small child keen to get off her momma's knee to go explore. Zoe and her mother watched as the girl played hopscotch with the tiles, moving further away.
"Amy, don't go too far." The older woman called over to the small child. Steve watched fascinated as the little girl neared closer. Despite what he was thinking right then, he smiled at the child, saying hello. Her eyes went wide and she ran back to her mother. Zoe smiled back at him. He heard Zoe's mother asking who he was and Zoe said, "That's Steve, he's a regular customer."
Nevertheless, Steve was surprised when Zoe took her daughter by the hand and said,"I want you to meet a friend of mine, Amy." As they walked over to Steve, he blinked and had the foresight to close his sketchbook, the drawing fluttering out, face down onto the floor, though neither noticed at the time.
"Steve, this is my daughter, Amy." The girl peeked out from behind her mother's skirt. Steve smiled at the little girl, crouching down in front of of the girl to get down to her level. "Hello Amy. I like your teddy bear." he said, a smile on his face. "What's his name?"
"..Eddy bear." Her small voice whispered as Amy came out a little further from behind her skirts, happier to show this man her bear now he'd asked about him. She still looked shyly down as her mother's hand stroked affectionately through the curls on top of her head.
As if sensing her daughters need to get away, she whispered for Amy to go sit with grandma. She nodded and skittered back over to her grandmother.
Standing back up, he chuckled at the little girl. "She sure looks like you. If you'd not said, it would be easy to guess. She has your eyes." Zoe smiled.
"Thank you. You're great with kids. She's shy but if she hadn't liked you, she wouldn't have spoken to you." Steve could feel his cheeks go pink at her kind words.
"So I'm always being told. Natasha tells me I'll make a good father one day." He saw the smile on Zoe's face fade, become sad and wistful.
"That's nice... I better get back.." She pointed vaguely towards her mother and child.
"Oh! Don't let me keep you. I better go anyway." She said her goodbyes as he picked up his things and walked back to her mother.
As Steve walked out of the coffee shop, he breathed in deep. Right then, he had the overwhelming urge to hit something. He felt sick and needed to get away.
As Zoe sat back down in her seat, her mother said, "He seemed nice, Zoe."
Giving her mother a small smile, she said, "He is. We talk sometimes. He even got Amy to speak to him."
Her mother, Dianne, noticing her daughters mood change a little, said,"Oh well, I am impressed." Smiling back at her, her mother sipped her coffee then said, "You'll have to introduce me next time."
Dianne saw the interest between the two and she only wanted what was best for her daughter. After all Zoe had been through, she wanted her to be happy, yet there was something familiar about the man with the shy smile.
"You know," she said, more to herself than Zoe, "I'm sure I've seen him somewhere before."
Steve had spent two hours in the gym in Stark Tower and had been through three punch bags before Clint had come up to him and suggested he calm down some, suggesting a sparring session instead. Steve refused, thinking the mood he was in, he'd probably do an injury to the archer.
Later on in his room, having avoided the inhabitants of the tower he lay on his bed, thinking. All his mind did was rotate, like a movie, over the events of the day. Zoe had a child, which meant Zoe was married or at the very least with someone. And as much as he liked the young woman he didn't want to get involved with a woman who was with someone else. Just ... no. Putting a hand over his forehead, he rubbed it, feeling the start of a headache begin.
Sitting up, he picked up the journal and pen that lay next to his bed, seeing if he could get his thoughts in order if he wrote them down.
'Something happened today that I never expected, that I was completely unprepared for. I discovered that Zoe had a young child, a little girl who I would judge is only three years old, if that. I never thought that she would have a child. Out of everything that could have happened, this was the last thing I would have thought. I feel like I've made a fool of myself - all this time she was married with a child and she never said! Yet… I never asked her, I just assumed she was single. I might have known a woman a beautiful as her would not be alone. Who am I kidding? I just don't want to go back there – not for a while anyhow.
He reached over and grabbed his sketch book - for the realisation to dawn on him that the drawing of Zoe was was no longer inside the pages. He almost groaned aloud as he slapped his forehead. Had he been a swearing man, he would have swore aloud but that didn't mean there wasn't a few choice words floating round in his head.
He only hoped no one found the sketch. That settled it, he would certainly have to stay away from the Khardomah Café for a while. Maybe by the time, he'd go back people would have forgotten - wouldn't they?