A/N: Hi All,

As always, I have done my best to proof read - inevitably though, I will have missed something.

Hope it's okay...

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He was never going back.

Of that, at least, he was sure. He might be fuzzy on details like who he was and what he had done in the past 70 years, but on this, he was resolute. He would never go back to HYDRA.

He had been running from them tonight. But then again, wasn't he always running from them?

They had almost caught up with him at the museum – despite the fact that he had taken every precaution. Clearly, HYDRA's abilities and resources ran far deeper than even he, their greatest asset, could fathom.

Tonight had been a particularly close call. He had been eating a late lunch in a non-descript diner; the food wasn't great, but it was really the anonymity of the place that drew him in. It was raining hard outside, and he had planned to stay in his booth for as long as possible.

As always, he had been sure to position himself appropriately; his internal checklist included: a full view of the door, some kind of screen or object that he could hide behind to remain obscure to those who wanted to look in through the windows, minimal security (AKA, a place that would let him keep his cap on), and of course, a nearby back exit.

It hadn't been enough though. It was starting to seem like nothing he would ever be able to do would be enough – they always managed to find him.

The second he saw the first HYDRA agent "casually" walk past the diner, completing what was, in his opinion, a poorly concealed scan of the building's interior, Bucky was out of his seat and out the back exit… to where they were already waiting for him. Although, considering it had been HYDRA who had taught him how to operate, it made sense that they would be able to anticipate his reactions.

In less than 5 minutes, he had disarmed all of his would-be attackers, and was headed straight for a place to lay low. That plan, however, didn't seem to last very long either. They found him once again only a few hours later. The rain had stopped and he was hiding out in a small, dumpster-filled alley. It wasn't his favourite location, but it was remote, offered several different escape routes, and was a good distance from the diner they had cornered him at before.

This time, he didn't have to disarm anyone. HYDRA agents might be good at tracking his movements, but they certainly weren't good at getting the drop on him. He had heard them coming from a good 20 metres away – they probably hadn't thought that he was actually holing up in an alley, otherwise he was sure they would have approached with a lot more stealth.

Upon hearing the agents' shoes scuffing along the ground, the Winter Soldier was on his feet, and climbing the narrow ladder located on the wall behind him. He wasn't sure what kind of building it was – apartments, maybe? Either way, he didn't stop climbing until he was on the roof.

His small sigh of relief was short-lived though - the roof was not a safe place for him to "wait it out" and wouldn't be able to stay there for long. Taking in his surroundings, he scouted out the best plan of action, and within a minute he had jumped from the roof of the building he was on to the roof of the neighbouring one.

From this point on, he began his descent back to the ground – only this time, he was forced to use the fire escape located on the side of the new building; something he wasn't too happy about. A fire escape was much less discrete than the narrow ladder he had had on the previous building.

This building was most definitely made out of apartments, and he estimated that there were approximately 20 floors. It was on the 14th that he lost his footing.

The rungs on the ladder between floors had been quite slippery from the earlier rain, and before he could stop himself he dropped to the landing, falling heavily onto the metal grating.

He wasn't injured from the fall as such – he might have a few bruises later but that was nothing new for him. No, if anything, he was just tired. Tired from lack of food and sleep, and tired of running. So, so tired of running.

And it was this fatigue exactly that he blamed on his sluggish time to stand and recover; because in the time that it took him to pick himself up and check for non-existent injuries, the tenant in the apartment had made her way to the window and had started to open it.

She seemed to struggle with opening it, and it was a good thing too, otherwise he wouldn't have had the time he needed to conceal himself in the shadows on the side of the building. As long as she didn't do a full inspection of her fire escape landing, she would never even know he was there.

Things didn't exactly work out that way.

And that was how he had ended up sitting at the kitchen table of the aforementioned tenant staring at his shoes.

He had no idea why he had accepted her invitation to come inside. Maybe it was the rain… after all, just because people called him "The Winter Soldier" didn't mean he didn't get cold. Or maybe it was the fact that this girl – whoever she was – didn't seem the least bit afraid of him.

Bucky was stirred from his musings suddenly when the girl abruptly stood from her seat, huffing a huge sigh (that most certainly did not escape his notice) before walking off into another area of her apartment.

At the sound of random doors opening and closing, he realised that he had perhaps overstayed his "welcome" – if you could even call it that, and began mentally preparing himself for an exit out the fire escape window. He was debating whether or not he should leave without saying anything or if he should thank her for letting him in, however before he could do either, she returned to the kitchen table, her arms fully laden with fabrics.

Dumping the random items onto the table before him, she began sorting them into different piles.

"These" she held up what looked like a small pile of clothes, "are my brother's. He's one of those people with an annoying habit of dropping in whenever he feels like it, so I've gotten into the habit of always having some of his clothes on hand."

She pushed the small pile in his direction, "I'm not a great judge of sizing, but I think they should fit."

She continued on by placing what he was sure was a towel on top of the clothing pile. "Take the clothes, and this…" she gestured to the towel, "The bathroom is just down the hall to the right. Go in there and take a shower. God knows you need it…" with the last part being muttered hastily under her breath.

"There's soap and everything in there. Please do not use soap on your hair, use my shampoo and conditioner – seriously, nobody will care if your hair smells like a girl's."

Judging by the tone of the shampoo and conditioner comment, he guessed that it was probably an argument she had had a few times before. Little did she realise that he didn't care in the slightest if his hair "smelled like a girl's", he would easily settle for just smelling clean.

"So," she went on, "While you're in the shower, I'll make up the bed in the spare room. It's right next to the bathroom, so you can go straight there after you're finished cleaning up, okay?"

She looked at him now, apparently waiting for some kind of response.

He had none.

He had no idea why she was doing this for him. Did she not realise that he could kill her in less than 5 seconds? And that he wouldn't even have to get up from his chair to do it?!

Seeing the expectant look on the girl's face, Bucky offered her a small nod before rising from the table, gathering the clothes and towel in his arms as he went. Whoever this girl was, she was astounding. Not only did she not fear him in the slightest, but she would go so far as to offer him shelter, clothing, and a bed. He couldn't even remember the last time he had been permitted to sleep on a bed. The best he was normally allowed was a cot. No mattress included.

Were people still like that? Did they still just go around offering kindness to others? HYDRA didn't. His memory might not be 100% reliable, but he couldn't recall a single thing that he had ever done for HYDRA being an act of kindness. Pierce had always told him that when he took care of his targets for HYDRA that he was helping mankind. Somehow, it never really felt that way.

And so it was, during these muddled thoughts on his way to the bathroom, that he realised – he didn't know if he would stay here, or if he would find somewhere else, but with absolute certainty he knew this:

He was never going back to HYDRA.