InsaneJournal

Who: Kate Bishop (Hawkeye) and Jessica Moore
When: July
Where: Cafe
What: Random Encounter
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete!


Kate needed some coffee. The month of June was their anniversary, so they’d decided, so Kate and Clint went on vacation to Mexico. She’d just driven back from her vacation with Clint, and after having been in the car for, like, ever, she wanted to get out and walk around a little. Also, coffee was pretty amazing. So, she headed to a nearby cafe and stepped into the line.

***

Jess was convinced that her blood was at least one-quarter caffeine, if not half of it. She’d had so many late nights lately between work, friends, the cat that was in heat in her neighborhood and driving Leo nuts late at night. The only thing keeping her moving right now was coffee. Maybe she should take her parents up on their offer to come stay with them for a couple nights. They’d said she could bring Whit and it would be easy for her to come by and check on Leo before and after work. And on her lunch break. She’d miss his sweet furry warmth at night but she needed to get a good night’s sleep.

She stepped into her favorite cafe near work, intending to just get a coffee and maybe a biscotti before heading back to work after her short break to drive to the post office. There was a longer line than she was used to at this time of day but hopefully the line would move quickly. They seemed to have two people taking orders instead of the one she was used to seeing when she came in like this so that made her hopeful. She stepped into line behind a young woman with dark hair. She tried to peek around her to see the counter but couldn’t. “This is going to sound very random but can you see if they’ve got any biscotti in the display case?”

***

Kate had her phone out. She was fiddling around with the settings, trying to figure out how to change the ringtone--it was about time, wasn’t it?--and was getting frustrated. Someone had the Star Wars theme as their ringtone, and she wanted to do something like that. Maybe Batman. Since she was totally a superhero and everything. But then her attention was diverted by someone behind her. She turned to look at the woman, and only caught the last bit of what she was saying.

“I’m sorry, did you say biscotti?” She asked, then her eyes moved over to the case in front of them. There were a handful of people in line, so Kate had to lean over and peer between people. “I… I’m not sure I see--oh, wait. I think they’ve got some on the bottom shelf. Do they make them fresh here?”

Amazing that Kate was so coherent even before she had her coffee.

***

“Oh thank God. The last few times I’ve been in they’ve been out.” Jess said, her gratefulness obvious in her voice. She needed her caffeine and snack fix. “They do. I know a lot of people say get them in the morning but I like coming in for them now. They’re not quite as good as some of the other bakeries but they’re good. And it’s close to work. Just...don’t get the chicken salad sandwich. They don’t put enough chicken salad on it for the price. At least in my opinion they don’t.”

***

“What’s up with the biscotti?” Kate asked, turning her eyes from the woman to the case again. She could see plenty there, there wasn’t much chance of them running out before they had their turn. “I mean, is it that good?”

And then she laughed. “I’m not a big fan of chicken salad. But thanks for the tip.” She grinned. “I’m Kate.”

***

“It’s the best in this area. I know a lot of my coworkers pick it up for a quick snack, I’m guessing people in the other offices around here do the same,” Jess said, stepping forward when the line ahead of them moved.

She smiled back at the other woman. “I’m Jess. It’s nice to meet you Kate.”

***

“And you, Jess.” Kate said, returning the smile. “You’ll have to tell me more about these biscotti. Do they come in flavors, or…?” She moved forward as the line did, glancing once up at the menu and then down at the case again. Kate was a black coffee kinda gal, but she had absolutely nothing against a good cookie.

***

“They normally have a few different types to pick from. My favorites are the Brownie Biscotti and the Double Chocolate Biscotti although the Cranberry Pistachio is good too.” Jess told her. She studied the menu, looking to see if they had any special flavors going on right now that she might want to try before deciding to just get her normal French Vanilla Latte.

***

“I sense you have a chocolate sweet tooth.” Kate said, turning to look back at Jess again. “Cranberry pistachio? That sounds amazing, too.” She paused, thinking for a moment. “I like vanilla things. I wonder if they’ve got a vanilla biscotti.”

She stepped forward in line and asked the gal behind the register if they had vanilla biscotti. It was vanilla almond, but close enough. Kate liked both of those things. She paid for her own biscotti, and the coffee, and left a sizeable tip.

***

Jess laughed a little when Kate said that about her having a chocolate sweet tooth. “It’s my weakness. Anything chocolate I love.” It was something she’d taken a bit of teasing for over the years but she didn’t care. Chocolate was delicious and she was a firm believer that it made things better.

She placed her order when she got to the counter, handing her card over when the girl gave her the total and then pulling her phone out as it started ringing. Her boss of course. Probably something about shuffling around authors again between the editors. They’d been doing that a lot lately, trying to find the best fit for everyone now that they’d lost some of their bigger names. Either to other publishing companies or to death. Nobody wanted editors sitting idle at their desks, getting paid to do nothing so shuffling needed to happen.

***

And then the conversation was over. The other woman had a phone call, and it sounded business-like. Far be it from Kate to interrupt something work-related. She felt it was time to take her leave, though hopefully she’d bump into the nice woman again some time.

Kate smiled at the other woman, and gave a quick, whispered, “it was nice talking to you!” before taking her purchases and heading for the door.