Saving Grace

Chapter XXVI

The next morning, she had breakfast waiting for Bucky when he came back from his morning run. When he sat down at the table, he could not help but grin at the fact that she had set the table so they were sitting beside each other. He did not know why, but that made him very happy. Grace poured him a cup of black coffee as usual, and he noticed the dark circles under her eyes.

"You sleep at all last night, Babydoll?" he asked. Both of them had returned to their rooms around two-thirty that morning.

Sitting down, she shook her head.

"Babydoll," he sighed. "What are you doing up at this hour? You need to go back to bed. I know you haven't been sleeping for a while now."

Grace shook her head. "Can't sleep." She ate quietly, then washed the dishes while Bucky dryed them. As she handed him the last plate, he set it aside and grabbed her hand.

"He's going to be okay, Grace," he said firmly. "You hear me? Steve is going to be walking in that door, all fine and dandy, by sometime tomorrow." She looked up at him. "And I'm going to be right here till he does, okay?" She bit her lip, then nodded once more.

Once they finished putting the dishes away, Bucky went to take a shower. Once he was done, he could not find Grace anywhere on the floor.

"JARVIS, where's Grace?" he asked.

"Miss Rogers is in the common floor kitchen, Sergeant Barnes."

"Thanks, pal." Bucky went up to the common floor. "Babydoll, you up here?" He found Grace in the kitchen on her hands and knees, scrubbing the floor. "Why are you cleaning in here?" He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Never seen anyone clean up here," she shrugged.

"You do realize Stark has someone who comes up here after hours, right?"

She just shrugged again and renewed her effort to clean the already clean floor. He leaned against the doorframe, watching her for a few minutes. She had changed into a pair of denim overalls that Nat had given her a few days ago, (The assassin said she had them from an assignment, but had never worn them again), and had covered her hair with a red bandana for a kerchief. The overall legs were rolled up just below her knees, revealing her bare feet. Bucky could not help but think how adorable she looked as she huffed a loose curl away from her face.

Then, Tony and Clint came in. "Woah, what is all this?" Tony demanded. "Why is Alice re-enacting Cinderella in my kitchen?" he asked, pointing at her.

"First of all, Stark, her name is Grace," Bucky answered. "Second, this is the team kitchen. Yours is on your floor. Third, she cleaned Steve's floor yesterday, so she found something else to occupy her time with."

Tony looked down at her incredulously. "You're on your hands and knees, scrubbing the kitchen floor, for fun?"

Grace shrugged again. "Keeps my mind off things," she added so quietly Tony and Clint barely caught it.

Steve left yesterday, Bucky mouthed.

"Oh. I see," Tony said. "Well, I guess I'll leave you to it...have fun, Cinders." He awkwardly waved and left. Clint, however, had a thoughtful look on his face.

"You want some help with this, Grace?" he asked. "It's a pretty big floor."

Grace raised her and surveyed the room. It was more than twice as big as Steve's. It was probably bigger than their old apartment in Brooklyn. "You...you want to help me?" she asked. "Don't you have training...or something more important to do?"

"Well, you're Cap's sister, so, in my way of thinking, you're kind of part of the team," Clint smiled. "I think helping a teammate is pretty important. Besides, my momma would tan my hide if she knew I let a lady do such hard work by herself."