Came for the Low- Revised

Untitled Part 7

DAY 8

    Helmut Zemo sat blinking down at the tray.

    Disgusting cheese sandwich. Cup of water....Apple?

    Had there been a mistake?

    Surely, his beautiful warden hadn't shown him kindness. Other than not harassing him like her friend Hiro did, she seemed to be completely uninterested which suited the Baron just fine. She would sit in her chair by the door and he would stay in his. Lunch was miserable and then came the endless silence, very much like life had been before Bucky showed up with a favor to ask in that cursed German prison.

    An apple?

    He stared down at the tray in his lap, admiring the bright red skin of it and found the humor in being handed the so called forbidden fruit by a beautiful woman. He was far from religious, but symbolism has its place.

    She was watching him. He didn't mind. He wanted to see what she would do, so he ate. First came the sandwich like glue in his mouth, and then the room temperature water to wash it down. Last was the little piece of humanity he'd been shown in days.

    As he bit into it, the crunch and sugar tasting as good as a tart on the French Riviera he saw the way her body tensed, but the girl said nothing. He finished the last drops of water and sat the tray on the floor leaving only the apple core and slid the tray back to her.

    She was on her way to retrieve it like usual when he chose to speak.

    "Thank you... Christine."

    She stopped in her tracks, her eyes wide, her fingers gripping her gun a little tighter. Whatever he'd been expecting her reaction to be, the way she looked had him had not been it.

    Was that anger? Insult? But there, just beneath the easy to spot emotions was something more complicated. A struggle, quick and violent was occurring in her mind as she wrestled with the many ways she could reply. Perhaps a blow to the body to punish him for saying her name. Shouting, cursing, damning him for breathing. She had so many possibilities. Instead she tilted her head to the side ever so slightly, stared at him, then bent and picked up the tray and returned to her post.

    Clearing his throat, Zemo sat back in his chair, unable to look away from the surprising young woman.

    She was a good person. Shame she seemed intent on becoming nothing more than another misguided supremest.

DAY 10

    Footsteps, light on the stairs.

    Shift change.

    Hiro greeted her, grinning like an idiot and she, always kind and possibly even toying with feeling something for the boy indulged him but it was the way she found the Baron from the corner of her eye that convinced him otherwise.

    "Where have you been?" Zemo asked calmly once they were alone. It had been two days since the apple. He felt a deep sense of relief on seeing her but kept it to himself.

    Christine was standing in the center of the room holding his tray, chewing at her bottom lip and looking around as though she were afraid to speak—something he'd never seen her do before.

    "I have other responsibilities. I didn't think you'd notice" She said softly and took a hesitant step forward.

    He realized she meant to bring his tray over instead of sliding it and surprising even himself, Zemo sat up straight with his cuffed hands raised to show that he would not lash out.