Saving Grace

Chapter XXII

Bucky grinned as he approached Grace where she was sitting with a brunette and a red head. He was barely limping now.

"Looks like you are healin' up nicely, Sergeant," the red-head commented with a wink.

"See, Grace, I'm a good patient," he said.

Grace rolled her eyes. "Maybe...You'll get to rejoin your men soon," she said softly.

At those words, Bucky deflated slightly. She was right. He would be heading out as soon as the doctor cleared him. "Walk with me?" he asked, holding out his arm. Warmth blossomed in his chest and flowed all the way to his fingertips and toes when Grace shyly slipped her through his.

They strolled arm in arm to the edge of the hospital's campsite. A breeze tugged on a stray tendril of hair that had escape Grace's bun and pulled it across her face. Bucky reach over and tucked the strand behind her ear, causing her cheeks to flush a delicate pink.

Enboldened, Bucky lightly caressed her soft cheek with the back of his fingers. Her eyes met his, and his heart flip-flopped like it had everytime he looked her in the eye since finding her here. What was happening to him? This had never happened to him ever, much less with Grace.

He gazed down at her beautiful face as she tilted her head ever so slightly into his touch. Her eyes were guarded, like she was unsure of the situation, but he could see beyond that. Behind the wary veil, he could see such warmth, life, so much trust and, dare he believe it could be...love?

Suddenly, he was filled with the urge to just lean down and kiss her soft, rosy lips. Swallowing thickly, he lowered his head until his forehead touched hers...

Bucky blinked and the scene melted into his darkened room. He had flopped back onto his bed in contemplation fallen asleep at some point. Night had fallen now, and the moon shone in through his window.

Rising, he went out onto the balcony, leaning heavily on the rail, his dream weighing on his mind. It was another memory; he was sure of it. It was too real and vivid to be anything else.

He had nearly kissed her. He had nearly kissed Grace all those years ago in Italy. In spite of what many people believed about him, Bucky had never kissed a girl. Not like that. Not on the lips. Yet he had so wanted to that night. How he had yearned to find out if her lips were as soft as they looked...

"It's getting late, Grace," Steve said, offering his sister a hand. She took it and let him help her up off the couch where he, Grace, Nat, and Clint were watching Frozen. (The movie was Nat's choice, much to everyone's surprise.) "It's about time for us to go bed, I think. How about you two?"

"I think I'll stay a little while longer," Nat said.

"Same here," Clint said. "Night, Cap. Night, Grace."

"G'night guys," Steve answered. "Come on, Gracie, I'll show you where you'll be sleeping."

Nodding, Grace followed him back up to his floor. Since he had only one guest room and Bucky occupied it, Steve decided to give Grace his own room, and he would sleep on the sofa in his living room. He opened his bedroom door and showed her in.

"Where will Stevie sleep?" Grace asked. "Is Stevie's room and only one bed. Or...or d-does Stevie...wish Schatten to...to...share...his bed?"

Steve immediately flushed as red the stripes on his shield. "No! Good heavens, no!" He took a deep breath as the gravity of what she was implying hit him. "Grace, have men before you met us made you to...'share their bed'...you know... uh, intimately?"

"Ja." Her emotionless answer cut through him like a knife. "Schatten is asset; asset for any HYDRA use."

After several attempts to swallow his anger, Steve managed to speak again. "How many?" he asked a low voice as he clenched his fists.

"Many. Schatten not remember how many."

Steve turned away and began feverishly pacing, his mind whirling and his heart burning with wrath. "I'm so sorry, Grace," was all he could say as he paused his pacing.

"Why?" Grace tilted her head in confusion. The men in her life, which were many, always had their way with her, without qualms. In fact, they often demanded it. Yet, the men here did not. Steve apologized as if they had done something wrong. Maybe if she were a person, but she was a mere tool, an asset.

"Why?" Steve repeated incredulously, gazing at her with something fierce in his eyes that she had never seen before. She took in his tense, angry stance steeled herself. She had made him mad, and now he would hurt her like the HYDRA did.

"Grace, you are a woman-"

"Nien. Am an asset."

"No, Grace! You are so much more than that!" Steve said, echoing what Bucky had told her before. "You are a bright, caring, courageous young woman, and it is never acceptable for a man, any man, to force himself on you. No one here will lay a hand on you, I swear it."

Grace nodded mutely. Looking down she found his hands firmly gripping hers. She glanced back up to find his gaze changed into something so soft and gentle, she could not fathom it. He was being so gentle, almost tender, with her. She quickly blinked back the treacherous moisture forming in her eyes.

"Aww, shucks, Gracie. Come here." Steve carefully drew her into his chest. It was with great hesitation that she reciprocated the hug. Disappointment at her lack of trust in him swept over Steve, he did his best to pretend he did not notice. "There's a nightgown in one of those boxes over there," he said, pointing to the stack in the corner. "Let me grab my things, then I'll be out of your hair." He grabbed his blue and white striped pajamas and his toothbrush from the en-suite bathroom and left, closing his door behind him.

Digging through the boxes, Grace found a pale pink nightgown with a matching robe. She donned the gown, hung her blue dress up in the closet, and slipped into the large bed. Part of her was very wary of sleeping in Steve's bed. He could very easily invent an excuse to come back in and force himself on her, but a small part of Grace trusted him, knew that he would never do any such thing to any woman. She felt both insecure and comforted in his bed. It was yet another puzzle her life had become.