The nurse had already prepared all the generic-brand hygienic products on the roll-away table by the time the patient starting moving. He was fresh from cryogenics and his vitals were stable, but they had a lot of work ahead of them before they could discharge him. According to his charts, he hadn't been awake in about three years, which was a relatively short time for him, but still hard on his body. Luckily, it would only take a few days for him to function properly as opposed to weeks or months for a regular man, but it was still going to be very long days.

He lay on the hospital bed drenched in sweat and melting ice, which mixed with the oil in his hair and gave a strange funk. They hadn't dressed him in a hospital gown, so only the tea-green flat sheet covered him from the waist down. The tag on his wrist, the one made from flesh and bone, read his ID number and "Soldier, Winter." After all, he wasn't Hydra's only project, so identification was necessary hospital protocol so that no one got the wrong treatment and caused a disaster.

Although he was already conscious, he hadn't fully opened his eyes yet, for every time he made even a small crack, the painful white light struck him. He would have covered his face, but his real arm wasn't awake yet, and his metal one wasn't cooperating at the moment. Then, he felt a light pressure right below the star, so he stretched his neck and slowly let the light in, ignoring the discomfort. His fuzzy vision could make out a hand placed directly on his arm, not grasping it, just, resting there. He looked up, but the face was too blurry to see any definite features, he could just make traces of the nurse's dark hair and light purple lips on tan skin.

"Hey, Soldier." The mouth cracked open into a small grin, and after three blinks, he could see the outline of her round brown eyes and the neat bun hanging down the back of her neck. She looked down at him like a mother hen watching her chicks hatch, moving hair strands off his face. He didn't return her smile.

"I hope you slept well. You can't eat just yet, but we're going to go ahead and give you a bath and maybe a shave." She grabbed her gray plastic tray and soaked the sponge with soap.

He pulled the sheet over himself as he turned away from her. She tipped her head at him, "C'mon. You don't want to stay stinky, do you? It doesn't hurt."

He rolled onto his back, but he still didn't face her. She folded the sheet to uncover his chest and scrubbed in circles around his neckline.

"Does that feel okay?"

He didn't answer. Of course it didn't hurt, but he didn't exactly enjoy it, either. Still, it was nice to have someone ask him that for a change. After she soaked him in suds all over, she had to rinse him which drenched the flat sheets in a soapy solution.

"I know it doesn't feel comfortable, but it's only for a little bit longer."

He tried to say something back, but all that came out from his mouth was "Hbbbfffgr."

"Oh that' s right. The doctor said you wouldn't be able to speak for the first few hours. I'm sorry, I won't try to make you talk anymore."

He may not have been able to speak, but he could still scoff. No one expected him to say much anyway. When she moved onto washing his hair, Pierce walked in to check on his most valuable asset.

"Ah, Nurse Fox, is he coming along well?"

"He hasn't been off the ice for even an hour, so he's still pretty out of it, but he's stabilized and he's almost clean", she sounded optimistic as she raked her fingers against his scalp as his head lay face down in the porcelain sink directly across from his bed. He slumped forward, letting his arms dangle and almost slipping from the stool.

"Hey." Pierce barked at him, making him pull his head from the sink and stare at him through the wet strands of dirt brown, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

The Winter Soldier weakly held up four of his metal fingers, one more than Pierce did, which made the old man shake his head in disappointment, "Just finish washing him up. As long as he's up and running by tomorrow."

"Sir, with all due respect, is that possible? He can't even walk yet. I had to carry him this far." Nurse Fox held onto him by his shoulders.

"It'll be a personal record for him, but I'm sure you can manage it. He never stops impressing me." Pierce gave a cheeky smile before leaving them to their business.

Nurse Fox sighed. They were always making such impossible demands of their medical staff. Didn't they understand that healing took time? She tensed up as she tried to avoid thinking about the consequences if she failed her task. Once she rinsed his hair clean and rubbed it in a towel, she lifted his arm over her shoulders and walked him back to the hospital bed. He could sit up, which was progress. He pressed down on his thighs to hold his chest up and look at the still-blurry figure in pink scrubs.

"Well," She tried to put that cheery energy back into her voice, "Looks like we have a long night ahead of us."