Bucky didn't know how he should act at the dinner table. He tried to match Sarah's mother in speed and bite size while she ate. It was painfully quiet.

"Sooooo" Sarah ventured. "Why is your hair so long?"

Bucky's hand shot up to his long tangled hair. "I just haven't cut it in a while" he answered shyly.

Sarah slid a hair tie from her wrist and offered it to him. Bucky accepted it and pulled his hair into a short ponytail. "My aunt cuts hair." Sarah said to continue conversation. "Mommy maybe tomorrow we can take James to Aunt Emily?"

Sarah's mother, Jessica looked down at her food. "Maybe"

It was quiet again. Bucky tried to keep his left hand in his lap. He could tell the site of it stressed Jessica out.

When dinner was done, Sarah took Bucky's plate to the sink. "Can I watch TV now?" Sarah asked her mother.

"If your homework is done you can go watch TV." Jessica answered

Sarah smiled "Come on James, SpongeBob comes on soon."

Bucky looked hesitantly at her. "Actually Sarah" her mother cut in. "I think James and I are going to talk about tomorrow for a bit." Jessica smiled at her daughter. Sarah was unsure, but eventually left the room.

"James…" She started. "I'm not sure what the last few days have been like for you but DC has been turned upside down. The whole city has been looking for you…" Jessica didn't want Bucky to run so she tried not to say anything especially scary. "Look all of Shield's history and data is available for public consumption now. Everyone knows what happened and everyone knows what was done to you. Or at least they know as much as Shield knew" She looked at her hands unsure how to continue. "Ya know it's funny, we moved here two years ago from new York. My husband said it would be safer here after what happened with the Avenger… he's still in New York. He's one of the physicians at Stark Tower. I'm still in the city because I work for Ms. Potts." she said these names as if Bucky should know who they belonged to. "She and the Captain are about to launch a global search for you."

Bucky's heart jumped "Steve?" he asked with as much hope as he could muster.

"Steve Rogers, ya" Jessica confirmed his hope. She looked at her thumbs again, thinking her next words over in her mind. "The file on the Winter Soldier has been decrypted… Ms. Potts wanted me to read the whole thing so I could inspect you when they found where you were." She looked at Bucky trying to determine if her words were sinking in. "It would probably save everyone a lot of effort if you came in with me tomorrow… would you want to do that?"

Bucky was processing all the information. After a while he nodded. Come on use your words the voice requested. "I'd like to see Steve if that's ok" Bucky said meeting her bright blue eyes. She smiled for the first time since they met.

Jessica gave Bucky a heavy hearted look. "How about we take a break from the heavy talk huh?" Jessica's offer took a moment to register with Bucky. He nodded as soon as the words sunk in.

They both walked into the living room where Sarah was watching a colorful cartoon. "James you're just in time" she beamed. "Phineas and Ferb comes on it two minutes"

Bucky sat next to Sarah on the floor, making sure his metal arm was as far from her as possible. When the cartoon came on Bucky was startled by the high pitched noises and the bright colors. Staring at the screen for too long gave him a headache so instead he looked at his hands. After 20 minutes of the show Sarah leaned onto Bucky slightly so her shoulder barely touched his upper arm. Bucky tensed up. Evidently Sarah didn't notice because she didn't move away, so Bucky slowly relaxed his mussels. It occurred to him that this was the first friendly touch he'd felt in a very long time. After another 10 minutes the cartoon ended.

"Sarah its 8:30" Jessica said picking up the remote from the floor. Sarah sighed, but got up anyway. Her mother clicked the television off and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't forget to brush your teeth". Sarah mumbled something about how she never forgets to brush her teeth as she shuffled up to her room.

"After Sarah's done you can take a shower in her bathroom. And I guess you'll need some clothes…. Hold on I think I might have some stuff that would fit you." Jessica quickly dashed up to what Bucky assumed was her bedroom then just as quickly dashed back down with a bundle of fabric. "So I think your shoulders are too wide for most of my husband's shirts but you should at least be able to wear his pants. Oh I threw the ones you came in with away. They were way too ripped to be salvaged. I put the contents of your pockets in the little bowl by the door." She held up a pair of dark blue jeans and a pair of black trousers. "Any preference?" she asked

Bucky was about to shake his head when the voice gave its two cents I hear the jeans are nicer this century so Bucky reached for the jeans.

Jessica got the hoodie and torn t-shirt from dryer. She frowned at the blood stains that hadn't come out of the shirt. "Maybe I can go out and buy you a t-shirt." Jessica said staring intently at the little punctures in the fabric.

"This is fine" Bucky said taking the t-shirt from her and slipping it on. He tried to smile slightly but he didn't feel like he was doing it right so he stopped.

"Well alright if you're sure" she still pursed her lips obviously torn between letting him leave the house with a ripped shirt and going shopping at 9:15 at night.

Hearing a door click upstairs Jessica smiled. "Sounds like the bathrooms open." She showed him how to work the shower, and how to keep the stitches she had done earlier dry, and then let him clean up.

When Bucky descended the stairs he was only wearing the jeans. He had draped the towel over his metal arm in an obvious attempt to hide it from view. "Ah good James, I made the couch up for you..." Jessica said, rubbing the back of her neck. "If you need something I'll be upstairs. After Sarah catches her bus tomorrow morning we can go to Ms. Potts flat uptown. Um ya" She stared awkwardly at the floor thinking of how bizarre her Saturday had gotten. "Are you going to be ok down here?"

Bucky nodded. And sat on the couch that was enough of a queue for Jessica to go to bed as she needed. "Goodnight James." She smiled and went upstairs. Bucky listened as Jessica locked Sarah's door and then closed and locked her own. Bucky was glad she did, even without commands to hurt them he still wasn't safe to be around.

He tried to lie down on the long white couch. He shifted to his side, and then back onto is back, and then he flipped onto his stomach. After a while he just laid down on the wood floor. The hard ground was much closer to what he was used to. He didn't feel he deserved the comfort anyway; he hadn't done anything to deserve any of the kindness that Sarah and her mother had given. Bucky didn't understand why they would ever want to help him in the first place.

Bucky squeezed his eyes closed. Trying to force himself to sleep. It wasn't working. He tried to focus on seeing Steve tomorrow but thinking about it made him anxious. Instead he thought about what happened a few weeks before. With the hellicarriers crashing into DC. What if Sarah had been in one of the building that was crushed? What if Jessica had been driving on the bridge that collapsed? What if I had completed my mission. The thoughts made his stomach hurt and his throat tighten.

He stared at the grey ceiling and tried to not think at all. It had been so easy to not think and just do what he was told.

All at once Jessica was yelling. Bucky's eyes shot open and found himself standing up right, gripping a lamp, as if he was using it to fend off an attack. His throat felt sore. Jessica was standing defensively in front of Sarah who looked scared with tears in her eyes.

Bucky looked at Jessica. Her blue eyes were full of fear and concern. She saw more lucidity in his face than was present moments before. "You were screaming." She told him still as far from him as she could be. "You were screaming and when I tried to wake you up, you tried to hit me with the lamp."

He looked at his metal arm that gripped the lamp. Bucky put it down gently on the small table it had been on. He was terrified; he didn't remember screaming much less threatening Jessica. "I tried to hurt you?" Bucky asked not meeting her scared eyes.

"Yes." She said trying to obscure his view of Sarah's face. "I think it would be a good idea to take you to Miss. Potts tonight instead. Its 4 am but I have a security card to get into the building." Jessica was trying to sound calm. But stress crept into her voice.

Bucky hadn't heard anything she had said after yes. Still looking down he started walking towards the door. "James, wait its ok we aren't mad!" Jessica said walking closely behind him. He kept walking towards the door.

Sarah sprinted a bit to keep up. "Wait I promised we could help you." She tried to catch him by grabbing his metal hand. Before Bucky thought to stop it the metal hand pushed back against the grabber. Sarah fell to the floor with a light thud. Jessica stopped trying to guard the door from Bucky and ran to her daughter.

Bucky turned around and looked into Sarah's eyes. They shone with fresh betrayal. Tears welled in Bucky's eyes as he quickly turned back towards the door and broke into a run out of the house.

As soon as Jessica had helped Sarah to her feet Sarah had run off after him. Jessica called for her to stop but she didn't. Jessica stood in the door way shouting at the top of her lungs not caring that it was 4 in the morning. When Sarah made a turn, out of the neighborhood, Jessica immediately began a mad dash after her. Turning the corner Jessica couldn't see where her daughter had gone.