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CHAPTER SIX

HAPPY XMAS, WAR IS (NOT) OVER

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      Agent Baker, 

      Agent Johnson showed me how to text. I hope that this is correct.

      Sincerely, 
      S.G. R.

      Katherine stared at the text that had popped up on her phone less than ten minutes ago. She had been sitting in the car Lionel had picked her up in, and her eyebrows had raised in surprise when the unknown number came through. She didn't know when Fury had cleared Captain Rogers to get a phone, but it was probably for the best. Especially since Fury had sprung on Katherine that there was going to be an agent checking in on the two of them every other week. The mystery agent (Fury had kept a pretty tight lip about who it would be) only really needed Katherine, so the two agents that had followed them in the Brandywine Zoo had stayed home with Captain Rogers.

      A small smile turned up the corners of her mouth as she read the formal text. She could imagine him sitting there on the couch, eyebrows furrowed and hands fumbling for the different buttons he needed to click. Agent Johnson was the more patient of the two, so it was clear why the job had been assigned to him. Agent Whitaker was a little more snappy and tapped his foot when he was getting impatient or bored. Captain Rogers had noticed it a couple times when he tried to ask Agent Whitaker questions, so he mostly stuck to bothering Agent Johnson.

      It got to me correctly. You know, texts are very informal. You don't need to sign it like a letter. - K.M.B.

      Lionel looked at her from the rearview mirror. "Agent's here and ready to talk. Head on inside, Katherine."

      The meeting location was a small diner just a mile outside of Wilmington. It looked like every other small-town American diner that Katherine had ever been to. She threw her phone into the pocket of her purse and gave Lionel a thankful smile when he opened the door for her. She wasn't used to wearing heels after the four weeks spent with Captain Rogers in the safe house. For as much as she teased Sophia about professionalism, maybe there was a point to being comfortable in jeans and a tee. Still, the dress pants and button up shirt were packed for this exact reason, so she was going to use them.

      The diner had exactly five occupants inside it. There was an elderly couple sitting at one of the tables and laughing over their very delicious looking pancakes. The other two occupants were employees, one waitress and the cook that Katherine could see in the kitchen. The waitress was lazily scrolling on her phone, checking up every once in a while to make sure the customers didn't need her before returning back to whatever she was looking at. The cook had some music playing softly in the background, too quiet for Katherine to know what it was.

      The final occupant in the restaurant had his back to her, but she knew who it was the second she saw him. He was sitting casually, arm, thrown over the back of the booth seat as he tapped his fingers on the table. Katherine clicked her way over to him, watching as his head cocked to the side just the tiniest bit to listen in to the sound of her heels. 

      "You should make Fury pay you more, if he's sending you to Delaware," Katherine mentioned, setting her purse down on the table and taking her coat off. "It's no exciting trip, that's for sure."

      Clint Barton gave her a wry smile. "But I get to see my favorite person in the world."

      Katherine raised an eyebrow. "Your favorite person in the world is Natasha."

      "You're a close second."

      Once Katherine was seated, the waitress walked over to take their order. Clint got the same delicious looking pancakes the older couple was currently paying fork, and Katherine got the Denver omelette. Both agents responded "yes" in unison when the waitress asked if they'd like coffee. Clint relaxed even further into the booth seat, seemingly comfortable in the small diner.

      "So, Fury sent you here for a status report," Katherine guessed.

      "He wants to know how Captain Rogers is doing. You've been there for about a month now." Clint leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. "Status report."

      Katherine sighed. "He's still adjusting. Some things are coming easier to him, like technology. Some things he still needs to learn." She thought about any patterns she'd noticed about Captain Rogers while living with him. "Sleep pattern isn't good. Maybe averaging three or four hours a night, and who knows if he actually hits R.E.M. He can sometimes be irritable, but usually feels guilty very quickly afterwards and tries to make up for it." 

      "Physical?"

      "We've been using the home gym, but it's not like he's had opportunities to fight anything. Most of the problems he still faces are mental. He's still got a long way to go before he's ready to be in the field." She included that tidbit of information because she knew that's why Fury was asking. Captain America was too big an asset to not use.

      Clint nodded. "And that's your professional opinion?"

      Katherine nodded. "He's not ready, Clint."

      He sighed. "If you say he's not ready, then he's not ready. I'm not going to argue with you, Katherine."

      "Why does Fury need to know this information now?" Katherine questioned, raising an eyebrow.

      Clint closed his eyes and shook his head. "You've been pretty removed for the past couple of weeks, but I was just on assignment in New Mexico. There was an anomaly they needed me to check out. They sent Coulson too." Clint paused when the waitress brought their food and coffee. He gave Katherine a little smirk when she immediately dumped four of the hazelnut creamer packages into hers and made an exaggerated show of drinking his black. "An enemy called The Destroyer was sent to take out a civilian. Leveled almost the whole town."

      "So Fury's preparing."

      "It's not just a normal, human occurrence, Katherine. The Destroyer was sent from another world."

      "So, Fury is Doomsday prepping."

      Clint set his fork down and made sure Katherine was staring straight into his eyes when he told her what she was already fearing. "He wants the both of you ready to fight. In his opinion, Silhouette has been benched for far too long. You're too valuable. And I agree."

      Katherine slid her plate of food away from her, staring at the table with a weird lump in her throat. Her voice was thick when she responded. "Do I have a choice?" she asked in a low voice, not wanting to look up at him when he answered the question.

      He tried to be genuine in his expression. Really, he did. His eyes softened and she could see the pity in them. He knew better than most how Austria had affected her. But there was also steely determination there. He was an agent, and he was doing the job he was sent to do. "You know the answer to that. I'm not just here to get a status report on Captain Rogers."

      She nodded, not bothering to answer him. Then, she reached into her purse and pulled out a twenty, tossing it onto the table. When she stood, Clint reached out and grabbed her wrist.

      "You know I'd take it from you if I could, kid. This is one you'll have to bear on your own." He released her wrist and gave her a sad smile. "Merry Christmas, Katherine."

      She gave his shoulder a quick pat before she walked out of the diner.

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      Captain Rogers had been gone for three hours.

      This shouldn't have been alarming. He was out with Lionel, on a trip he had requested and gotten cleared a week ago by Fury himself. Lionel had picked him up, surprising Katherine, who had no idea about the little outing, and had left. After weeks of constantly being by his side and making sure he was adjusting accordingly, she felt almost lonely in the safe house by herself.

      Their problems weren't magically solved with the picture of the giraffe and the circus monkey. She still had trouble sharing information about herself, and he still woke up from nightmares in the middle of the night. Their mornings in the home gym were served as their neutral ground, where they both sweat and worked in silence until Katherine eventually left to take a shower. Captain Rogers had taken it upon himself to be their official post-workout breakfast maker, and she was happy to see that he was learning his way around the kitchen pretty well.

      Overall, there was a nice routine that Katherine had found herself getting used to. Which is why the silence in his absence seemed that much more deafening.

      Christmas was in two days, which meant Katherine was starting to feel the loneliness seep in. She was used to Christmases without her family, but it never got easier. Having decided that whoever first said "time heals all wounds" was full of shit, she had long since accepted that Christmases were just going to be hard. But this Christmas was different. This time, she had to pull herself together to make sure it was a decent day for Captain Rogers. Which meant, of course, decorating the safe house.

      The attic had a bunch of old Christmas decorations (something she'd have to ask Fury about, because she had no clue why they were up there) that she'd found when she hadn't been able to sleep at three in the morning the previous week and had wandered up to the attic. She'd have to get a tree, but there were ornaments and generic stockings in some red and green boxes that sat untouched in the corner of the small attic space. She crouched into the small space and dragged the boxes to the lip of the ladder that led upwards, carefully grasping one and lifting it out of the attic. Once she was sure she wasn't going to drop anything, she set the box on the floor and went to retrieve the other one.

      Briefly, she wondered if she should even bother. Maybe he didn't even celebrate Christmas. It's not like his S.H.I.E.L.D. files mentioned anything about a religion. But then she decided that even if he didn't celebrate, it would still be nice to spruce up the house a little bit. Make it feel like it was somewhere he could come and relax instead of a safe house for an assignment.

      So, she spent the next hour hanging up Christmas decorations. She put out miniature Santas (after dusting them off) and hung up lights with bulbs that needed to be replaced. She cleared a space in the living room for a tree, and set the small box of ornaments next to the space so they would be ready when Captain Rogers wanted to decorate. She set out the red plates with holly painted on them, and hung up the stockings only after writing their names on them with a Sharpie.

      It wasn't much, but maybe it would make the both of them feel better.

      She heard the door's keypad unlock and she waved when Lionel and Captain Roger walked through the door. They both had several bags in their hands, and Katherine could see that the Captain had stocked up on winter clothes. He probably wouldn't need them with how fast his body burned, but understood that it was the principle of the thing. She smiled at the two men. "Hi. Was wondering when you guys would get back."

      "Did you do this all yourself?" Captain Rogers asked, his eyes wide as he took in the decorations. There were still some littered across the living room floor, waiting to be put somewhere, but for the most part Katherine was finished.

      "Yep. Found some Christmas decorations in the attic. They were pretty dusty, but I figured I could make them work."

      "You should have waited for me," he said, but gave her a grateful look. He understood that she was trying to spread some holiday cheer among their situation. "I would have helped."

      "It wasn't hard to do. Where did you guys run off to?"

      Captain Rogers held up his bag with a sheepish smile. "Went crazy and got some new winter clothes. Also helped Lionel pick up the groceries this time."

      "He also helped me pick out a toy for my new grandson. Got him a cute stuffed monkey."

      "I'm sure he'll love it," Katherine mentioned, smiling softly. It was nice to hear about all of the good happening after her conversation with Clint. It had been bothering her for days. "And everything went...okay?"

      He knew what she was asking. How was being out in the real, twenty-first century world? He shared a look with Lionel. There had been a moment, just a moment, when they'd been in a toy store and a toy train had let out a loud whistle. He'd been swarmed with memories of 1944, of seeing Bucky reaching out but not making it there in time. Lionel had been kind, distracting him with talk about his kids and grandkids until Steve's breathing had returned to normal. Steve had made him promise he wouldn't mention anything to Katherine.

      Lionel gave him a nod and Steve breathed out a sigh of relief.

      "Things were fine. Lots of people," he replied to her question, trying to make his voice nonchalant.

      "Yeah, that's the worst part about Christmas. There'll be crowds anywhere you go." She unfurled a strand of tinsel and aimlessly hung it over the fireplace. "What are you both doing tonight?"

      The two men looked at each other and shrugged. When Steve had requested the outing with Lionel, it hadn't included anything for that night. "Nothing I can think of. Why?"

      He followed the finger she pointed to the empty space she had created. Guiltily, he realized she'd had to move the chair without him. He should've been around to help her. Though, he remembered the muscles he'd gotten a glimpse of that morning when they had been in the home gym and decided she probably hadn't even broken a sweat. "Made a space for a tree. I was figuring we could go and pick one out, since I've got a super soldier to help me carry it."

      She had the satisfaction of watching a genuine smile spread across Captain America's face. She'd been trying to suggest outings to him ever since their first try at the zoo. So far he'd been to get the groceries with Lionel twice and had accompanied her to the post office so she could get more stamps. She hadn't even needed to mail anything, but she had noticed he was getting antsy just sitting around the house so she had made up an excuse to get him out.

      "Sure. We getting a real one or a fake one?"

      That stopped her in her tracks. She hadn't even thought about it. Getting a fake one would be convenient because she could just put it up in the attic again when Christmas was over. It also wouldn't drop pine needles all over the floor. But her parents had always gotten a real tree for Christmas, and she remembered the joy and excitement she felt going to pick it out with them each year. She'd take sweeping up pine needles if it meant she got to feel that little bit of home again. "I was thinking real. That alright with you?"

      His grin widened, and Katherine blinked against the brightness of it. It was times like this, when he was genuine and real and not trying so hard to tiptoe around her, that she realized just how handsome Captain Rogers was.

      "No offense, but if a Christmas tree isn't real, it's pointless."

      She let out a chuckle. "I'm glad we agree."

      Lionel shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing wrong with a fake tree. My wife and I loved them, especially when we got the cats. Little suckers tried to crawl up all the time. When we got a fake tree, pine needles stopped falling everywhere when they climbed up."

      "You okay with driving us, Lionel?"

      He waved her off. "Don't worry about it. I'm going to go back to the apartment and freshen up before we go."

      "Thanks for going with me this morning, Lionel," Captain Rogers said, and they shook hands. Katherine tried not to smile.

      "Anytime, Steve. I'll see you guys tonight. I think the tree lot I saw earlier closes at eight, so I'll grab you guys at six-thirty?"

      "Sounds like a plan. Thanks, Lionel." Katherine gave him a quick hug and closed the door behind him, locking it.

      Then it was just she and Captain Rogers.

      "I'm going to go put this stuff away. You doing anything for dinner tonight?" She noticed he didn't ask it in a way that meant he expected her to make dinner, but rather simply asking if she had already decided what she was going to cook. It was something small, but she appreciated it nonetheless.

      "I was thinking some soup. Something about decorating for Christmas makes me want soup. Maybe we can convince Lionel to drive us to the store after we get the tree and get some chocolate chip cookie mix."

      He gave her a sheepish look. "I've got to say... I like sugar cookies better."

      Katherine stared at him for a moment, eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar. Finally, after what felt like an eternity (and after ignoring the chuckles Captain Rogers was letting out), she shook her head. "I... I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear you say that."

      "Pretend all you want. It's laid out in the open."

      They locked eyes for a beat, and then couldn't help the laughs that left the both of them.

      The Christmas tree lot in Wilmington didn't have a ton of selections, but Katherine was certain they'd find their tree. Lionel had driven them and was currently looking around for a small tree he could keep in his apartment that Fury was providing him with during the duration of the safe house stint. Katherine wanted something huge, though, and luckily Captain Rogers felt the same.

      "Is Christmas your favorite holiday?" he asked as they walked through the rows of trees. He had one of his new jackets on, a comfy looking brown leather. Due to his superhero metabolism, he didn't get cold very easily. Katherine, on the other hand, was bundled up in a long sleeve, a sweater, and a jacket. Even so, her breath still left her mouth in little puffs of condensation.

      "One of them. There's also Midsummer, which we celebrated back in Sweden. It's usually in the spring and it's like a big springtime celebration held outside."

      "We should celebrate it," he suggested, and Katherine smiled.

      "I haven't celebrated it since I was nine. I wouldn't even know how to celebrate it anymore. And something tells me you wouldn't like the food we eat. Pickled herring and stuff of the like." At Captain Rogers's disgusted expression, she let out a laugh. "I'm perfectly fine celebrating the traditional American holidays. What about you? I assume it's Independence Day."

      "Funny," he drawled out, rolling his eyes at her attempt at a joke. "It's probably Christmas. Reminds me of home."

      Katherine hummed thoughtfully. They continued down the line of trees, each one being either too small or too sparse. "Any Christmas traditions?"

      "Just Bucky, Annie, and I hanging out. Bucky would come and help my ma and I cook. When she died, his family took me in every Christmas. Rebecca would always bring home one of her girlfriends to try and set me up with. I'd get shy and embarrass myself and Bucky and Annie would laugh."

      "You like any of them?"

      He had a shy smile on his face and a cute pink that flashed across his cheeks. "I thought Beatrice Turner was pretty. Nothing ever came out of it. I was too preoccupied with Bucky and Annie." Glancing down at her, he asked, "What about you? Anyone you liked?"

      "I had a boyfriend when I was younger and in my rebellious phase. His name was Ian Chu and I was absolutely in love with him." She rolled her eyes in the Captain's direction.

      "Things end badly?"

      "Actually, no. We just grew up. I realized I couldn't date someone just because I wanted to be rebellious, he realized he wanted someone who didn't keep secrets from him." At the look he gave her, she returned a grim smile. "S.H.I.E.L.D. affects a lot of personal relationships. I cried for two weeks when we broke up. I'm not sure what happened to him."

      "Sorry."

      She shrugged. "It is what it is. I don't harbor any feelings for him anymore. Occasionally I'll wonder what he's up to. Mostly I just wish things with S.H.I.E.L.D. could be different." She snorted then, as if remembering something. "I went on a date with a guy a couple years back. He was a jerk. Sophia punched him in the face."

      "She's scary," he commented.

      Katherine laughed. "She gets it from her mom. Wendy's sweet until you cross her."

      "Does she have any siblings?"

      She wasn't sure when they started discussing personal things, but she found she didn't mind. It was nice to share something with someone again. "Nope. Just Sophia. Wendy and Timothy always wanted more kids, but things didn't work out. They adopted Sophia when she was born."

      As much as she missed Sophia and the facility, Wilmington was pretty beautiful around Christmastime. The snow on the ground was fresh, making it the pretty white kind that Katherine saw in movies. The tree lot was filled with the scent of the trees, like she and Captain Rogers had stepped into a candle store that only sold pine scented products.

      The two continued their search until they rounded a corner and came upon a tree that fit both their requirements. It was huge, standing even a foot over Captain Rogers in height, and was full with sprigs. They might have had to buy a skimpy star to go on top because she wasn't sure if a big star would fit between the tree and ceiling, but it was the perfect tree.

      "This is it," Katherine announced, smiling brightly. "Let me go get an employee to help us cut it."

      The employee was a scraggly teenager who looked like he couldn't lift five pounds, but he cut through the tree with the experience of someone who had worked there for years. Captain Rogers didn't need any help carrying it, simply picking it up by the trunk, but Katherine grabbed onto the other end to keep it from toppling him over. When Lionel saw them lugging out the tree, he opened up the trunk and strapped it in. His little tree went in next to it.

      "Looks good," Lionel said happily, once the trees were secured. "Grocery store for cookie stuff?"

      "Yes," Katherine replied, nodding happily. Maybe it was the Christmas spirit, but she was feeling lighter, just like she had mentioned Captain Rogers was feeling just hours prior. She sat in the front with Lionel while Cap stayed in the backseat, holding onto the tree so it didn't fall out of the trunk. The ride to the store was chilly, due to the trunk still being slightly ajar to accommodate their giant tree, but Katherine was too happy to care.

      Getting the cookie stuff wasn't difficult at all. Captain Rogers, who didn't know pre-made cookie dough existed, stared at it in amazement for a couple of seconds before Katherine had to prompt him to start head to the boxes of cookie dough. She wondered what other small things she took for granted would shock him. They checked out and walked back to Lionel's car.

      It was a hassle trying to fit the tree through the front door of the safe house, but with Lionel inside directing them on which way to turn, it ended up in the spot Katherine had created for it without too much of a hassle. Lionel left them with a goodbye and a quick hug to Katherine and handshake to Captain Rogers, promising that he'd be back soon to take Katherine up on her offer of cookies.

      "I'll get the oven started if you want to put the star on top," Katherine suggested, making her way to the kitchen. She laid out the ingredients of the cookies and got out two bowls for each mixture. Though she didn't agree with his cookie preferences, she'd be nice and make him his boring sugar. It didn't take her long to whip up the two dough mixtures, and she dolloped a little bit of the sugar cookie dough onto a spoon. "Want to try the dough?"

      "Isn't that bad for you?" he asked, walking into the kitchen. He had a couple of pine needles stuck to his jacket.

      "No one really listens to that rule."

      He chuckled and took the spoon from her hand. "My ma used to slap me on the butt with a wooden spoon if I tried to eat some of the dough. Only got away with it once."

      "My brother and I always fought over which one of us got to have the spoon and try the dough," Katherine mentioned offhandedly, getting some of her chocolate chip mixture on her own spoon. "Eventually she just started getting out two spoons."

      The dough was good, but needed a little more salt. As she reached for the salt shaker on the counter, she heard him shuffle his feet awkwardly. "Do you miss him?"

      To her credit, she didn't freeze when he asked her. She was silent as she dashed a pinch of salt into her bowl and started mixing it again. It wasn't as if the topic of her brother was off-limits. She was the one who had brought it up. But talking about him made her chest ache. And so she found she could only nod to his question.

      "What was he like?"

      She started to roll the dough into balls, setting them on the cookie sheet. "Annoying."

      He granted her a small smile. "I think all little siblings are. Bucky used to spend the night at my place just to get away from his sisters. Annie was lucky. She didn't have any."

      Katherine let out a chuckle, but they both could tell it wasn't genuine. "He always got into my things. For my seventh birthday, I asked for a lock on my door because he always tried to come in without knocking. But he was a good sport. He always came to my tea parties and didn't tell me it was too girly for him or anything. My parents always said he looked up to me, but god knows why." She took a break from the dough and leaned against the counter, looking up to meet Captain Rogers's eyes. "Looking back, he was probably my best friend." Katherine held her hand out for his empty spoon and he handed it to her without protest. "He, like you, preferred sugar cookies over chocolate chip."

      "Sounds like we'd get along."

      "You would. He had that way about him. Even as a kid, I recognized it." She wondered what Charlie would be like now, grown up. He would have been twenty-two. Maybe he would have been in college, studying to be an engineer. Or maybe he would have been more into literature, striving to become an author. Maybe he would already be married. The what-ifs were more painful than anything.

      Katherine pushed her body away from the counter and started back on her cookie dough. "Once I'm done here I can put on a Christmas movie or something. We can watch it while we decorate the tree."

      "Sure, whatever you want. We just might have to go and get a new tree topper. The star doesn't fit."

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      Katherine always woke up too early on Christmas. Pairing this with the recent development of getting up at three to go workout in the home gym, Katherine was awake at two on Christmas morning.

      Though her entire body screamed at her to go back to bed, she couldn't. Her brain was too awake, wheeling around in her head and demanding that she get up. She sighed out and slipped out of her bed, changing into some leggings and a warm thermal shirt. Since it was Christmas, she would indulge herself and not workout. Instead, she would start a fire and make herself some hot chocolate until Captain Rogers inevitably woke up shortly after she did.

      She wasn't expecting his door to be open.

      When she padded her way out into the living room, he was already trying to set up a Christmas movie on the TV. It was hard, because he hadn't turned on any lights in fear of waking her up and so it was still nearly pitch black in the room. She saw his silhouette straighten and heard him clear his throat. "Merry Christmas. Didn't expect you to be awake."

      "Same here," Katherine replied, flicking on a light switch. His eyes squinted against the light like a child. She found it endearing. "I was going to make myself some hot chocolate. Want some?"

      "That sounds really good, actually," he decided.

      "No gym today?" she asked as she walked to the kitchen. Reaching for two mugs, she started the process of warming up milk.

      "Figured today could be our day off. I tried to sleep in, but..." he trailed off. Katherine wondered if his nightmares woke him up just as often as hers did. "My ma used to have a rule that I couldn't wake her up before six. I would sit in my bed for hours waiting to be able to wake her up."

      "Sophia and I were the same way when we were younger. Now I have to wake her up to celebrate. She'd sleep all day if she could." She wondered if Sophia was just now getting to bed. Sophia pulled pretty long nights at work. "Is it too early to make breakfast?" she joked.

      "Probably," he chuckled.

      It would just be the two of them. Lionel had flown out to be with his family. Fury had asked if she and Captain Rogers had needed to be cleared for any outings, but she couldn't imagine anything being open on Christmas and so it was pointless. It was quiet compared to the Christmas mornings she was used to. Her family had been bundles of energy and she had been awoken by Charlie jumping on her bed. When she moved in with Sophia's family, Wendy's family usually came over Christmas morning so there was always hustle and bustle.

      It was weirdly nice sitting in the silence.

      "Well, we can put on a Christmas movie while we wait for it to actually be sunny outside."

      They picked whatever Christmas movie popped up when they turned the TV on and drank their hot chocolate in relative silence. Everything seemed so much calmer in the morning, as they watched the sun rise and got through two movies. It was a Christmas morning, she realized, she would probably remember for the rest of her life.

      Around six, when they had made their way through two movies and were starting on their third, she stood to go make breakfast. However, Captain Rogers halted her movements when he spoke. "I...um...I got you a gift."

      She raised her eyebrows. "You got me a gift? How?"

      He rubbed the back of his neck as his cheeks flushed. She realized the neck rub was a nervous habit and found it endearing. "When I went out with Lionel a couple days ago. It's not much, but I saw it and thought of you."

      "Those are the best Christmas gifts," she whispered, giving him a small smile to let him know that she appreciated it. "I got you something too."

      And that was how the two of them found themselves sitting on the couch, facing each other. He held a medium-sized green and gold box in his hands, complete with a bright red bow. She had a small silver box in hers, with a small silver ribbon. "Open them at the same time?"

      "No," he argued, shaking his head. "I always like to see people's reactions when they open their gifts. You go first."

      She hated people staring at her when she opened gifts, but she conceded. The ribbon was easy to slide off the box, and she gently lifted the lid when the ribbon fell discarded to the floor. Inside was a small porcelain giraffe Christmas ornament hanging from a pretty gold string.

      Katherine's throat tightened.

      "I'm sorry it's not much. I just thought you would like it."

      "I love it," she said quickly, not wanting him to think that her silence was because she didn't appreciate it. "It's perfect."

      He rubbed his neck again. "It reminded me of you. And I hoped it would remind you of your brother."

      Deciding that she didn't need to burst into tears in front of him, she hurriedly gestured towards the box on his lap. "Open yours," she said, hoping her voice didn't sound thick with emotion. She watched as he peeled the wrapping paper carefully, like she was going to save it, and saw the scrapbook.

      "There's a place that makes scrapbooks if you turn in some photos," she explained as he stared down at the gift. Gently, he opened the cover and stared at the picture. "I asked Fury for all of the photos and news clippings he had on the Howling Commandos. I thought it might be nice to have something personal to look at when you miss them."

      She saw his Adam's apple bob and thought he might be as emotional as she was. He was staring down at a photo of him, Bucky, and Annie, black and white in color and stained yellow around the edges with age, but he was looking at it like it was his most prized possession. "This is... I don't know what to say."

      "I know the feeling," she said softly, holding up her giraffe. "I guess there's just... thanks. And Merry Christmas."

      "Thanks," he repeated, turning another page in his book. When he looked up at her, his eyes were glossy. "And Merry Christmas."

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