Finding Love in France (Alternate Version)

Part 36: Getting Ready

"Peggy, really, you don't have to do this..." Mila shook her head. "Besides, I don't think I have half the body to fill out your clothes..."

"Don't be silly!" Peggy laughed as she sorted through her closet. "It's your first date with Bucky, let's make sure he knows how lucky he is!"

"Why am I so nervous?" Mila frowned. "We have dinner together every night..." In the week since her release from the infirmary, she and Bucky had continued their evening ritual of staying in the mess hall after everyone left, talking and laughing like before. The difference now was the hand holding, stolen kisses outside the barracks, and walking around arm in arm. She was in heaven.

Peggy smiled knowingly. "Because this is a date, my friend...and it's pretty clear how he feels about you."

"Oh?" Mila chuckled. "What gave him away?"

Peggy rolled her eyes. "How much time do we have?" She found what she was looking for and handed the dark purple dress to Mila. "Try this one, then let's do something about your hair..."

Mila was waiting outside the women's barracks at 6pm, trying not to fidget. She was itchy in Peggy's dress, but even more uncomfortable with the makeup and curled hair that she thought made her look ridiculous. She had not bothered with cosmetics in years, and now felt like she was wearing face paint. The hairpins holding her waves in place were giving her a headache. Is this what men wanted?

Bucky was in his dress uniform, carrying a bouquet of flowers, practically skipping across the base. He saw her waiting outside and ran over. "You look beautiful, Mils..." he gushed as he kissed her cheek. "These are for you." handing over the flowers.

"Thank you, my love. They are gorgeous..." she kissed his lips, forgetting she had lipstick on. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe his mouth. "Sorry, I'm not used to wearing this glop..."

Laughing, he took the cloth from her and cleaned up. "It looked great while it lasted, Doc..." Once free from smudged lipstick, he kissed her deeply. "...but I'm a little biased." He whispered in her ear.

Mila's eyes fluttered. "You are looking pretty spectacular in your uniform, Sergeant Barnes..." she moaned softly as he nibbled her earlobe. "...I adore you..." He nuzzled her neck. "...but let me get these in some water before we go..." She kissed him passionately. "...and before the house matron catches us..." she felt like she was floating. She brought the flowers inside, wiped the rest of the makeup off, unpinned her hair, shook out her waves, and headed back out.

His face lit up when he saw her looking more like herself. "There's my favorite person!" He kissed her head. "Feeling more like yourself?" Chuckling, he thought about how much trouble she had gone to trying to doll up for him, even though he could tell at ten paces how much she hated it. He didn't care about any of that. She was already beautiful. He was just happy to spend time with her. No matter what she did with her hair.

Mila had a few boyfriends in her day, but this was different. She had a hard time putting it into words. It was like the rest of the world disappeared when he was around. He was everything to her. He felt like home.