𝑼𝒔, 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 - 𝑩. 𝑩𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒔

𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚞𝚎

A few weeks later

Marcella stepped into the center of the ballet studio. The black boards creaked under her feet as she walked into the center of the room. Her choices of classical music played from the speakers and she closed her eyes to take a breath. She willed herself to straighten her back and prepare to rise onto the pointe shoes. She missed her cue, then she missed again. She was so focused on trying to break free from her frozen state, she didn't hear him come in. She felt his hands, warm and cool, circle her waist.

"Show me how."

Her eyes snapped open and she looked at Bucky through the large mirror. "I didn't think you were back from Sam's until tomorrow."

She tried to turn around and jump on him but he held her hips in place, refusing her.

"I came back early. Marcella," he insisted calmly. He wanted to talk later and was stern. After watching her freeze in fear for the past few minutes Bucky didn't want her to be distracted from getting through this. "Show me how to help you."

Marcella bit her lip nervously and placed her hands on top of his. His presence, his hands grounded her to the real world so her mind couldn't run away from her and go back to the Red Room. She needed this.

Marcella rose up onto the tops of her toes.

"Good," he whispered, filling her with confidence.

She tested her balance by pulling his hands off her hips but making sure they were still close enough that he could catch her after she turned or after she broke down.

"I'm going to turn." She whispered. To him and to herself.

Balancing on one leg, Marcella extended her other one in front of her. She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes to hear the music. She let the music tell her when to move.

Ballet had always been one of those ways to escape her brain. The constant flow of information that she had a hard time forgetting. She had a hard time reading and studying in school, because although she was always told her photographic memory was a gift, it had always felt like a curse. When she put on her first ballet slippers she soon learned only the wordless music could quiet the noise she chose to devote her life to it.

Marcella opened her eyes and the music moved through her. It was time. She rounded her extended leg, brought in into the correct place on her leg and the momentum spun her like a top.

Why did it have to be her first love that led to her hurt? Marcella stayed awake late into many nights pondering that question but it didn't matter anymore. If she could rekindle her love for herself and for him, she could it for ballet too.

She turned several times with skill that somehow remained after all those years. When she slowed to a stop, Bucky closed the gap between his hands and her hips. He stopped her and did well to hold her up straight. He looked at her over her shoulder and at her face through the large mirror.

Marcella looked back at him and nodded her head. They said nothing. She put her hands on top of his again, feeling the mutual support. Her finger tucked around his knuckles and she trailed her previously extended leg up her planted one. Her big toe traced a line from her heel to the back of her knee, then she turned slightly and extended her leg behind her into an arabesque.