Trying Your Luck - Bucky BarnesxOC

Part 68: Turning Points

A/N: Mostly plot! Texts, house viewings, and more of the TFATWS plotline woven in here. Again - as always - the show dialogue is not mine.

Shannon calls her parents the next morning to tell them about Bucky's proposal. Her mom screams at the top of her lungs, cheering and shouting while her dad offers an emotional congratulations. She can tell he's choked up, even though he does his best to sound stoic. His voice is soft and gentle.

"I'm so proud of the life the two of you have built together, pumpkin."

"Thank you, daddy. We were worried that we were moving too fast."

"Don't worry about that kind of stuff," he tells her. "Your mom and I got married after knowing each other for six months. When it feels right, it feels right."

Shannon smiles. She tells them about Will. Her mother tries not to say anything outright, but she seems relieved that he's no longer a tangible threat to Shannon and Bucky. George stays quiet. They ask about the wedding. When it's going to be, what she's going to wear – so many questions that Shannon can't answer right now. There are two major obstacles in the way before they can take that step. She laughs as she sips her coffee and twirls her hair around her finger.

"We want to enjoy being engaged for a while," she tells them.

"That's a good strategy, sweetheart," her mother tells her. "When do you think you kids can come out for a visit?"

"I was actually going to ask you... Bucky and I are thinking of buying a house in Delacroix. I'm going to hire a moving company to get all of our stuff out of the place in Brooklyn. I gave our notice, so we have until the end of the month. I found this really cute place about ten minutes from our AirBnB. If we put an offer on it, would you two want to come out and check it out?"

"That would be lovely, sweetheart. We're so excited for the two of you." Janice lowers her voice. "Your dad has gotten a little worse since his accident. The medication is helping to fend off the worst parts of the disease, but we don't know how much longer it'll hold out. I don't want to rush you and Bucky into getting married too soon, but your daddy would want to walk you down the aisle before... you know."

She wipes away a tear.

"I know." A sniffle. "What about two months from now? Do you think he'll be all right?"

"I think that's a safe bet," Janice says gently.

They chat for a little while longer, making tentative plans. Shannon feels so much hope for the first time in a long time. She hasn't felt this kind of opportunity for a fresh start since the blip. It's freeing and overwhelming at the same time. As she hangs up with her parents, she sees a missed text from Bucky.

Rostov has been taken care of. On my way to Boston. Any other leads for me, doll?

Shannon grabs her laptop and pulls up her Word document filled with names and locations of the other five names she's looked up this morning.

Both Kaminskis are in Washington DC. White House consultants.

Figures 🙄

Look at you, getting the hang of emojis! She teases with a soft chuckle.

Buzz, buzz!

That reminds me, I changed your contact emojis too.

I'm either going to be turned on or horrified.

He types for a while, probably trying to find the emoji keyboard again. Her phone dings. There's a screenshot of her contact name. Shan 👅🌮💦