Captain America's Soulmate Ch. 03

"I love you too lucy dear, give Bucky my love and tell him he needs to bring you down for a visit soon."

"Yes yes, bye dear." Katerina hung up the phone and hummed as she stirred.

Jamie leaned against the wall beside him, unable to hold his weight up by himself any longer. Slapped him? There is only one person right now that Jamie could think of who lucy would be physically violent with.

He just couldn't quite believe that she had actually slapped Steve. Well, he could, but still. It felt like too much. No matter how hurt he was, that didn't mean he wanted anything bad to happen to Steve.

He still cared about the giant idiot god damn it. He was grateful for everything that Lucy had done but that was a little far even for him. He would have to text her and tell her to lay off the big lummox.

Jamie found his equilibrium back and made his way into the kitchen.

"Oh look whose up. Are you feeling any better Zolotoy?

"Yea thanks, you were absolutely right, a food, bath, and sleep worked wonders."

Katerina let out her tinkling laugh. "Experience has taught me the essentialness of self-care."

Jamie couldn't help but smile back at that as he sat himself down in the same spot he had occupied this morning.

"Now Zolotoy, you need to make some decisions. What do you plan to do now?"

The boy traced the grain of the granite countertop in front of him with a finger as he shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. I definitely know I don't want to go back to New York. There's nothing there for me anymore."

An elegant wrinkled hand entered Jamie's sight as he stared down at his fingers, it clasped his left hand in a gentle but firm grip.

"I can understand wanting to run away from pain. I will not try to discourage you from doing so, but I also don't want you to burn all your bridges before you have considered your options. New York is a big city. One where you have connections and put down roots. But if you are determined to leave that behind there are several options in front of you."

Jamie met Katerina's eyes as she spoke. He bit his lip before responding:

"I don't think I can go back. I loved New York but the whole reason I went was because of him. I don't want him to continue to influence my choices any more than he already has. I want a fresh start. Somewhere I can be me, and not worry about the past."

Katerina squeezed his hand in comfort. "Then that is what you will do. Do you know where you want to go? You're more than welcome to stay here. It's nice to have company around, Nicoli still has to travel some for business and I will admit it does get lonely around here, but you can pick anywhere, even leave the country if you want.

Jamie smiled at Katerina's kind offer. "I think it would be nice to stay here for at least a week or two while I figure out where I want to go."

The pat his hand received and the look of pride on Katerina's face filled Jamie with a sense of belonging and strength that the boy hadn't felt for a long time. Everything would work out, he could do this. The past was in the past. It was time to look to the future.

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