The Coffee Shop Girl ~ Bucky Barnes

Chapter 11

Steve's blond hair was tousled and his shirt was rumpled from sleep as he walked through the hallways of the compound on his way to the kitchen. It was earlier in the morning than was reasonable, but he had woken up to a dry throat and had decided to walk along to the kitchen for a glass of water. His bare feet padded silently along the cold floor as he drew closer.

As he turned the corner into the kitchen, he was surprised to hear the rustle of movement from within, though there were no lights on in the room. He reached out to the fading light switch on the wall just inside the kitchen, but spoke before he turned it.

"Hello? Who's there?"

There was a squeak of surprise followed by the sound of ceramic breaking and Steve switched on the lights. He did not turn them much, not wanting to blind whoever was in the room, though he quickly realised this was pointless as he saw who was standing next to the sink.

"Katia? What are you doing?"

The woman glanced over at him before turning back to the sink. "Breaking Anthony's mugs apparently."

"I didn't mean to startle you." Steve stated, though that wasn't exactly true - if she had in fact been a burglar then his words had been meant to scare, but it hadn't really been his intention to intimidate the blind woman who seemed suddenly close to his best friend. Though he had to admit that he had been hoping to talk to her without Bucky around.

"It's fine," Katia muttered as she shrugged at the mess in the sink and walked over to a nearby cupboard, taking out another mug and walking back over, filling it with water and taking a sip. "It's not my problem now anyway, I can't see the mess and Anthony will through a riot if I cut myself on a shard."

"Why do you do that?" Steve asked, furthering his question when Katia shot him a confused look. "Call everyone by their full names, I mean."

"Believe me, Steve, when you've known these people for as long as I have, they don't mind." Katia told him, brushing a curling lock of hair over her shoulder and taking another drink from her mug. "Most of them are basically my family and they've known me for as long as they've been working with SHIELD."

"So they knew you before you lost your eyesight?" That particular question came rather out of the blue in Katia's opinion, but she wasn't going to let the blond man see how surprised she was.

"Yes, they all have." She told him, walking across the room to where she knew the door was and beginning to walk out, stopping only when she heard Steve's final question.

"What happened?"

Katia paused momentarily in the doorway, grip tightening on her mug and knuckles whitening dramatically as she thought. They stood in silence for a moment before she asked him a question in return.

"Why do you want to know?" There was genuine curiosity in her voice, making it clear that she wasn't just trying to divert his attention.

"I don't want Bucky to get hurt and I think we deserve to know."

Katia gave a small scoff and a sad smile. "Believe me, the truth would hurt him more than not knowing."

"Why?" Steve asked, throwing caution to the wind. "What could possibly be so bad as to push him away?"

Katia paused again and Steve genuinely believed that she would leave the room without saying another word, but after a minute or two she spoke again.

"You were there, you know?" She murmured, resting against the doorframe. "Well, not with me exactly. But it was your voice that made me realise what I needed to do. It was a great speech by the way, if it was anyone else I would think it was pre-prepared, but as it was..."