VI

                                    

                                          
Bucky's Point of View.
                          
After Nicole walked out of the room, I went into the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and didn't know want to think. My hair was greasy and dirty. My eyes seemed glazed over and could barely focus on anything. The bit of a beard growing out was annoying as I didn't like it, plus it was starting to itch. I looked a lot older than I should have.  Then again I was almost a hundred years old.
                          
I figured it would be best to try and clean up a bit. I turned on the water, blasting it as hot as it would go. After being constantly frozen and thawed out, a hot shower felt like pure bliss. I undressed and noticed how filthy my clothes were. I would have to find myself some new ones soon. 
                          
I stepped in and just stood there for a minute letting the water run over me. My muscles were slowly starting to relax, as all the months of tension and worry were fading away. I knew that this wouldn't be a permanent solution to my problems but for tonight at least, I was going to be able to rest easy. 
                          
There was some shampoo and conditioner bottles as well as some soap on the  shower rack that I took advantage of. I grabbed the soap and washed off and then started on my hair. It all just felt like a mop on my head, constantly in the way and heavy. Nicole was going to get rid of the star, maybe she could get rid of this hair too. 
                          
I couldn't help but start to feel overwhelmed again at what was happening. All of my instincts were still screaming at me to run away and get lost in the woods. It would have been so easy to do that but for some reason I felt like I would almost be betraying Nicole. She had taken a chance with me, a complete stranger. It would take a while to trust her, but if there was anyone who could be a lifeline to me right now, it seemed only right that it be her. 
                          
There was something gnawing at me about this entire situation. I should never have been here, having to make these choices, to feel as though I was always going to be running from someone or something. It would have been a lie to say that I wasn't running from my past too. All of this was Hydra's doing, they made me this and had taken my life away. It would have been better if I died in the snow all those years ago. 
                          
I gritted my teeth and slammed my hand against the side of the shower, causing the tile to crack. I hung my head under the shower head, trying to calm down, waiting for the anger to pass. I took a few deep breaths and let it out. By the time it passed, the water had started to cool down and I knew I must have been in there for a while. 
                          
I heard a door open and close and realized that Nicole must have come back already. I finished rinsing, turned off the water and towel dried off. I put on the same jeans and shirt but left the jacket off. As I reached for the handle, I hesitated before going out the door. I hoped that she wouldn't freak out or something when she saw that my arm was entirely made of metal. Then again she had been pretty calm through this entire thing and I didn't know if that was just the kind of person that she was very goof and not showing when things would get to her. It just made me think that something had brought me to her for a reason. I opened the door and saw she was sitting on the bed watching something on the television.
                          
"Hey you look better," she told me. 
                          
I looked at her for a moment taking her in again. I hadn't been around anyone for this long in a while, at least anyone besides handlers. She had a nice looking face and her eyes were a shade of brown that looked so vibrant and bright. He hair framed her face nicely and I liked the blonde and light brown that was mixed in. It suited her. It another life I may have even told her that I thought she was pretty, but a compliment like that felt so foreign. 
                          
"Thanks."I said after a moment, realizing that it had been a few solid seconds before I had pulled a response together I sat down on my chair in the corner of the room again. "So what did you get?" I asked her.