Leave Me Bleeding [Winter Soldier] I

Day By Day [Chapter 28]

  "But if I know you, I know what you'll do
You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream"

"Once Upon a Dream" in Sleeping Beauty

                The parasite that had been within Ophelia since Bucky promised to get her out of HYDRA, was finally gone. She no longer needed to depend on it, nor it on her. She had held on to those words for decades and decades hoping that one day he would follow through on his words. It kept her sane, it kept her alive when she had no other will to live. Through all of the torture, she had wanted to give up, but could not because of those words. 

              Now with these new, fresh, deeper words filling her head, she realized that he had come through on his promise. Though she no longer needed to hold onto those old words, she would never forget them. She looked up into Bucky's eyes and saw everything there. Not even two days prior she saw nothing in those eyes, and now they were enlightened. She no longer needed to cause a mental bridge with him to know what was going through his mind; his eyes said it all.

                Bucky rose to a stand, and helped Ophelia to her feet. As she stood, shaking from her wounds and from the wave of emotion crashing around within her, she gracefully accepted his help to go back into the motel room. The air smelled sour, that city scent that Ophelia might never get used to, and with the sun now set, the bright lights of the city still disturbed her. 

            With his metal arm wrapped around her body, he helped her step over the sliding glass door track, and the warmth of the room hit her. The smell of must and cheap soap tingled in her senses, but it began to feel familiar. The HYDRA base at which she had lived in was far less appealing that the dingy motel she found herself in, and so she was not going to complain. 

                Another four days went by, Bucky was still remembering fragments, good and bad. He had brought her to the bathroom as she requested, where he turned on the tap to run her a bath, against her protests. She'd had many baths without his help in the last few days, but he didn't seem to care. Showers weren't a possibility unless she wanted him in there with her. 

             Leaned against the off-white shower wall, one leg inside of the tub and the other on the faux-tile floors, she watched as Bucky did these little things for her. Small things she never thought people did for each other, but things he understood to do because he wasn't born in HYDRA. As Bucky adjusted the taps, she felt the water filling up around her ankle; it was the perfect temperature.

             "You've done this before." 

              "Had a bath?" he asked, holding back a laugh.

              Ophelia didn't hold back hers. "No! This! Run a bath for someone."

             He cracked a smile. "Yeah, over half a century ago."

             She blushed at the thought. How many women were given the opportunity to be treated so well at the hands of Bucky Barnes? A smile danced onto her lips. "Well, you haven't lost the talent," she said quietly.

             The bath was almost full, and Bucky pressed his lips tight. His eyes moved over towards her, studying the look on her face. Only the rushing sound of the water making any noise, the bathroom filled up with steam and unspoken words. In his eyes, it looked like there was something that he wanted to say. But instead of saying them, he reached over and turned off the taps. When he glanced back, the expression was long gone, and Ophelia knew that it was going to be tough handling this when she wanted him to spill everything. She would never get inside of his head without consent, not because she couldn't, but because it was not her place to do so without him knowing. If he wanted to keep a secret, he was allowed to do that.