Kate's surprised she managed to fall asleep with all the thoughts running through her head, but, as evidenced by her waking up this morning, she did. Getting dressed, she grabs some fruit and heads out into the sunshine to eat. She sits where she was last night, with a clear view of Bucky's hut. The curtain is closed. If she focuses enough, she thinks she can hear him snoring. She just chuckles to herself and lets him sleep.
They left it on... an okay note last night. He was half smiling, didn't seem mad. She wasn't mad either, not that she ever really was. Frustrated, yes, but not necessarily mad at him. It wasn't really his fault, any of it. What he did, what he said, the way he thought about himself. It was all a product of what HYDRA did to him. On second thought, she was mad — at HYDRA. She would never not be.
Kate pauses in her reflection and eating, hearing whispering behind her. She turns, spotting two kids sneaking their way over. They hide in the trees when she sees them, making her laugh. They peek around the tree trunks at the sound, looking at her curiously. Their faces are painted white and yellow, their clothes are red and patterned the same way Kate's and Bucky's are. They're tied on differently, though; she and Bucky have probably been wearing them wrong. She smiles and waves, trying to appear friendly. It works; one of them hesitantly comes closer to her, so the other follows.
"Hello," she says.
They don't respond, studying her. She can tell they're mostly looking at her hair; it's hard to miss. One boy points at it. "It looks like fire," he says quietly.
Kate chuckles, grabbing a strand of it, studying it herself. "It does, doesn't it?" An idea occurs to her, one she hesitates at, but any worries she has are unlikely and, in any case, easily preventable. "Let me show you something."
She holds up her left hand, moving it away from the children, making sure they don't get burned. She lights a small flame on her fingertip, then makes it dance along her fingers, like she did when showing Bruce all those years ago. The children's eyes light in wonder, assuaging Kate's fear that they would be horrified and run. She extinguishes the flame, smiling at the children's reactions. They run off, shouting excitedly, repeating words over and over again that she doesn't recognize. She laughs, wishing she could understand it, then turns back to Bucky's hut. Still asleep.
~_~_~_~_~
When Bucky wakes up, it takes him a second to get his bearings, to remember the night before. He laid there for what felt like hours, just thinking and thinking about what Kate said. He actually began to entertain the thought that she was right, but that was a pipe dream. She was — is — biased. Nice, trying to help, and truly believes what she's saying, but she's biased. For him and against herself. It doesn't make sense. She never hurt anybody with her own hands, not like he has. At least, not anybody who didn't deserve it.
She's done so much good for the world, and that's just the stuff he knows about. How much more does he not know? How would ever get to know, when he banned questions himself? He shouldn't want to know, shouldn't entertain getting close to her, at least not until his mind is... sorted out (which still feels like it will never happen) and yet here he is.
He sighs, getting up to get dressed. As he goes to leave, though, he hears Kate's voice outside and he stops.
"Oh, that's just my friend. Do you want to go meet him?" she asks someone. Whoever it is, Bucky can't guess, but they don't reply, at least not verbally. "He's not scary at all, he's really nice. Go say hi."
Footsteps approach his hut — three sets — and he opens the curtain to find three children staring up at him. They suddenly go wide eyed and run, shouting something Bucky doesn't understand. He looks to Kate. "I see we had guests."

YOU ARE READING
Fire and Ice
FanfictionEver since she was little, Kate Carson's favorite thing to do was learn. And, after losing nearly everything and gaining a power she never wanted, she had to learn to adjust -- and she's still learning. The other Avengers have no scruples against fo...