Till The End

Chapter 20

Gradually opening my eyes, I go to reach out to my side, expecting to feel Bucky lying beside me. He's not. Sitting up, I glance over to the corner where I see a shadow of someone. Climbing out of bed, I ignore the twinge in my side from my wound.

Bucky is curled up in the corner of my bedroom, his knees tight to his chest and his arms trailing beside him. His head is resting on his knees, his face hidden.

"I can't get it off. It's not clean." He murmurs.

"Bucky? What's wrong?" I question.

He raises his head, tears streaming down his pale cheeks. Bucky's eyes are wide with fear. I kneel down in front of him, but not reaching out to touch him.

"My arm, I can't get your blood off the metal!" He shouts.

He is ferociously brushing his hand over his metal arm, digging his nails into the cracks. I lean forward and attempt to pull his hand away, but he wraps his fingers around his arm and glares at me.

"Stop Steve! I can't get your blood off me!"

"Bucky, there's nothing there. Buck, you're clean." I argue.

"No. No. No! I'm not! The blood won't come off!" He screams.

Hurt hits me like a punch, to see the genuine fear written all over his vulnerable face. The tears fall down his cheeks and his whole body shakes.

Leaning forward, I suddenly grab his wrists and raise them before he has time to fight back.

"Bucky, stop!" I demand.

His eyes dilate with pure shock. His body tenses at my aggressive touch.

"There's no blood on you. You are clean Bucky." I mouth each word properly so he can understand.

"But...I can see it."

"I'm going to show you that you are clean and there's no blood on you."

I grab Bucky's hand, pulling him onto his feet. Dragging him to the bathroom, I push down on his shoulders so he sits on the toilet. Turning on the taps on the bath, I pour in the bubble bath mixture and mix the water around until the top layer is coated with bubbles. Kneeling in front of Bucky, he stares down. Pulling his t-shirt over his head, he makes no attempt to help but instead keeps his head low and stares at the bathroom floor. Throwing his t-shirt on the floor, I lean down and pull off his trousers.

"Get in the bath, Bucky. The water will be clean and I'll show you there's no blood." I say.

Slowly, Bucky nods and stands up. Slipping my hand under his arm, I help him step into the bubbly bath. He watches the water, searching for any trace of red. Sitting beside the bath, I scoop up a handful of water and gently drip it onto Bucky's human arm. I don't look at him, but instead I keep running the water onto his shoulders.

Suddenly, Bucky grabs my wrist, forcing me to look at him. There's a few tears trickling down his tense cheeks that make their way down his face and land on his lips.

"See, there's no blood in the bath water so there was no blood on you." I point out.

"Okay." He whispers.

Leaning forward, I place a finger under his chin and lift his head to look at me.

"Bucky, baby, sweetheart, no one is going to hurt you or me." I promise.

Bucky nods slowly. Grabbing the shower gel, I squeeze it onto the wash scrub thing that I don't know the name for. Rubbing it against my hand, I wait until there's lots of bubbles and then I brush it over Bucky's right shoulder that is closer to me. He watches me, his eyes following my movement as I wash his skin and run my hands down his toned stomach.