Love and Winter (Bucky Barnes) Hiatus

5 - of milkshakes and girls

Two weeks had passed, and Bucky had - to his own surprise and frustration - not left Bucharest. The only positive (though being honest with himself he didn't look at this accomplishment as something positive) was that he had not been to the pub and had not gone out of his way to meet Reagan again.

He did little with his days, mostly just kept to himself, wandered around town, wrote down whatever he could remember and tried to get up to date on todays technology and history. The other day he had even gone to a library and watched someone else used one of the computer boxes until he understood how to do it himself.

The internet was a fascinating place to be.

So much information gathered at just a click of your finger.

He had also discovered he had an undying appetite for plums. During his walks he had tried buying plums from several different places, and he was now certain he had found his favourite in an organic food market. The little old lady manning the stand smiled when she noticed him, and told him the plums were particularly good today.

"Mulțumesc," he replied softly in romanian as she gave him the bag with his plums, his other arm holding out the money to her. Then he was on his way again; his right hand clutching the bag of plums as he looked around himself out of habit more than anything else, always on the lookout for danger.

So when someone walked straight into him he dropped into a fighting pose, his eyes hard and fingers balled up into fists.

"I'm so sorry, I -" mismatched eyes peered up at him through the red hair that had fallen over her face; "James!"

His arms fell down from the defensive stance and he straightened up immediately, a surprised look on his face; "Reagan!"

"Hi!" She chuckled, "I didn't mean to run into you, and I'm sorry for startling you."

"It's alright." He offered her a small smile, "how have you been?"

"I'm good," she rewarded him with a big smile in return; "I haven't seen you in a while, how have you been?"

"Fine," he shrugged, "have you gotten over that cold?"

"I would hope so," she laughed once more, bringing up one arm to push the hair away from her face. Bucky looked at her blankly, not knowing how to move this conversation on, though he found himself really wanting to;

"So... " he started with uncertainty, "do you get sick often?"

Reagan actually snorted with laughter, making him want to sink straight into the ground. "Not really no," she said in between laughs. He opened his mouth to apologize, or maybe to say something even more stupid but she beat him to it; "Wanna go for a coffee or something?"

He found it safest to just nod his head; letting her grab his hand and pull him across a street where he could see a couple of small cafées. She stopped for a moment outside of them, before she decided which one she wanted to enter, pulling him in after her. Surveying the inside of the café he paid extra care to find all entry and exit points, pleased with the half empty café. There was just the right amount of people; not so many that he wouldn't be able to keep an eye on them, and not so few that he would be easily spotted.

"Do you think this looks alright?" Reagan asked, looking up at him. Bucky nodded his head with a smile, watching as a grin stretched across her face. "Window or booth?" She asked, smiling slightly as he nodded towards the booth.

Once they had settled down they looked through the menu in silence, both deciding to have some lunch as well. When their coffee's arrived (hers a mocha - whatever that was, and his a regular black one), there was silence for a long time before she looked up at him with a glint in her eyes; "still not much of a talker, are you?"