His Songbird

chapter 4

Sunshine peaked in through Bucky's window and into my eyes, glancing at his clock it read 7.30am. I looked down at Bucky and saw he was still asleep, I smiled and moved a strand of hair from his face. His grip on me had loosened and I managed to leave his bed without waking him. I made my way to the kitchen, I was starving and decided to make breakfast.

I was thinking about what to make when a thought came to me, dad used to make me apple cinnamon pancakes whenever I had had a nightmare. I quickly got to work making the pancakes for Bucky and myself, I hummed as I worked. Soon the pancakes were ready, I piled most of them onto Bucky's plate while I had put two on mine. As I set the plates down on the kitchen island bucky walked into the room,

"Morning Bucky I made pancakes."

He looked surprised but sat at the kitchen island in front of his stack of pancakes, he took a bite and I saw a look of joy flash across his face.

"These taste amazing" he said as he shovelled another mouthful of pancakes in.

I smiled at his happiness, "I'm glad you like them, dad always made me pancakes whenever I had nightmares to cheer me up". I sighed taking a mouthful of my own pancake.

I felt his gaze on me for a moment before turning his attention back to his food.

"Thank you for making them for me" he said not looking at me.

"Anytime Bucky" I smiled.

I cleaned my plate and cutlery and left them to dry, as I went to leave bucky caught me hand and turned me to face him.

"Zara, thank you for staying with me last night, it helped." he was looking down at his feet again.

I walked into him and gave him a hug, his arms came around my back and held me too him. "I was happy to stay" I whispered into his ear.

After a minute I pulled away from the hugged and headed to my room, my heart was fluttering and my tummy was doing flips. I still felt his warmth over me and I was sad when it started to fade.

I decided I needed some work out time after being in my room for the last few hours, reading. I changed into some black leggings and a black sports bra and a long sleeve crop top. The training room was empty which I was thankful for, my emotions were a bit all over the place at the moment. I dumped my water and towel on a bench and played some smooth jazz over the speakers in the gym.

The punching bag called to me first, I wrapped my hands and took my stance. I let the music flow through me and began punching, my punches got harder as I went and memories danced at the edge of my mind. I felt my anger and frustration growing as I hit the bag, images of hydra's torture flashed in my mind, the way I was treated by them, the abuse I suffered from being given to guards for their carnal pleasures and the pain, so much pain.

I screamed as the punching bag split and slammed into the wall, sand pouring out of it. I fell to my knees and hugged myself, tears spilling from my eyes, I took a few shaky deep breaths and calmed myself. After I felt calmer I dried my face and started to clean up the mess for my punching bag, the sand was everywhere. Once I finished cleaning up I checked the time, I had been in the gym since 11am and now it was almost 4pm. I had skipped lunch with out even knowing it. Sighing I unwrapped my hands and saw how bruised they were with several cuts across my knuckles, I didn't care though I just threw out the wrappings and made my way back to my room to shower and change.

The hot water felt good on my slightly sore muscles as I stood under the shower, washing away the sweat and grime from the workout. My hands stung under the water from the cuts, causing me to hiss at the pain. After 10 minutes I hopped out the shower and dressed in shorts and a shirt and made my way to the kitchen to cook dinner.

When I reached the kitchen Bucky was sitting on the couch watching a movie. Deciding not to disturb him I didn't saying to him and opened the freezer to see what we had, we had several different meat products to choose from but I eventually decided that beef stir fry sounded good. I got to work chopping the vegetables and cooking the meat, I let the noodles soak in hot water while I waited for the food to cook.

"Hey Zara" I heard Bucky say from behind me.

"Hey Bucky, how was your movie?"

"Yea not bad, for a sci fi" he grinned.

You smiled at him as you stirred the food.

"What you making?" he asked over your shoulder.

"Beef stir fry"

He nodded but before he walked away you felt his gaze on your hands.

"Shit Zara! What happened?" he asked as he grabbed you hands to assess the cuts and bruises.

"Its fine Buck, I just spent to long hitting the punching back today is all"

He sighed and grabbed the first aid kit. He spent the next 20 minutes cleaning your cuts, wrapping them and icing your knuckles to avoid swelling. You sat silently while he worked, you didn't even flinch at the antiseptic when it stung your hand. When he was done he put away the med kit and threw away any used items.

"Thank you" you mumbled.