We sit down and place our orders at the dinner and get our coffee brought to us. We both sit in silence for a moment
"So, Ms. Stark, what's the business you have?" Sam asks attempting to break the silence
"Right, well, I want to put together a charity for Veterans and pets, I've been reading studies that pets can help with trauma and PTSD." I say pausing, reading his face, so far he's on board. "I need a partner, someone that has a military background, and a counselor for the VA sounds perfect."
"That sounds like something that could be fun, other than the VA I do have a lot of time on my hands" Sam says with a smile
"Great, it's an idea I wanted to bounce by my dad but I needed a presentation, and someone else on board with me." I say taking a sip of coffee
"So you could say meeting me was fate this morning then," He says with a smile
"Guess so, you in?" I ask hopeful
"Yeah, I can help," He agrees.
We spent the next few hours talking about plans and concepts, me making notes on my phone along the way. We decide on finding a pet shelter in either the NYC or DC area to work directly with. I task Sam to bring together a list of deserving people to maybe get to be the first people we work with.
Our waitress comes over to let us know her shift is ending and I tip her generously because we took a table away from her all morning.
"Hey so it's lunch time, and I now want to get to know my new philanthropy partner" Sam says smiling
"Oh good point, I pluck a stranger off the street because my boy-best friend seemed to bond with him and flesh out a philanthropy project with him not seeing if he's a complete nutcase" I say with a sigh
"I mean your boy-best friend did ask me to keep you safe so he didn't see psycho vibes from me I guess" he pauses seeing that I saw what he did, mock me for my slip up "So, what's that about anyways?"
"What's what about?" I say now sipping the water the new waitress brought me trying to act dumb
"You almost called Steve your boyfriend, him calling you his beautiful friend, I haven't known you long but you two ooze romantic tension" He says with a sly smile
"Nope, friends" I protest almost too fast
"With benefits?" Sam says almost too loud
"No!" I say spitting out a sip of water. "No, just good friends"
"I don't believe that for a second, others may, why are you hiding it? I saw the way you look at each other" He says with a cheeky smile
"Fine, maybe you should become a spy, the ones I work with aren't even this observant," I say looking down "Steve and I are seeing each other, but we can't go public with the info because if we do, SHIELD won't let us work together."
"And that would be bad because?" He questions
"I've been given a choice, I signed on with SHIELD a few years ago, I'm under contract, though the director has been very generous with the contract, lately, but if I don't work with Steve and his team I'll be assigned a team that's almost constantly away, and I don't want that, I can't be away for long periods of time" I say looking down
"Ah I see, we'll your secrets safe with me" He smiles at me
"Thanks Sam, it's good to have someone I can trust" I look down at my burger that the waitress placed in front of me, and pick at it a bit, not completely hungry as Sam devours his
"Well this has been a productive day, and thanks for the talk, I feel, maybe a little better about hiding things" I say to Sam after walking out of the diner, "I'm going to go home and start typing up a plan for presentation to my father"
"Do you need me to walk you home?" He asks sweetly
"It's 3pm on a Thursday afternoon I'll be ok, thanks tho" I say walking the opposite direction to the apartment
YOU ARE READING
Elemental Mastery (Steve Rogers Love Story)
FanfictionKaylee Stark has always felt in her fathers shadow. Her mother died when she was born, she was raised by her grandparents until they passed away. She has always felt pushed aside by her father. Will Kaylee ever find her own voice? Will here father...
