Red

Part 25

Bucky

As the first Friday in October approaches, Mallery has been out of the office more often to prepare to give her testimony in court. Laura Barton has been prepping her, and when Mallery comes back to work, she always looks as if she's been crying.

It's Thursday before the trial opening, and Mallery comes back into the office, her head ducked down, and quietly says hello to Scott as he passes her. She drops her purse on her chair, and instead of doing her usual routine of checking her messages and emails, she walks straight into my office and crawls onto the couch.

I'm on a conference call, but I put myself on mute when she turns to look at me. "Are you all right? You can call it a day and head home." I smile gently, giving her an out that she hasn't yet taken during all of this preparation.

"I might just do that." She nods but doesn't move to get up.

"What's up, Red?" Just as she opens her mouth to answer, my name is called out over the phone. I hold up a finger to pause our conversation and finish my work. When I say goodbye and end the call, I look back to Mallery. "I'm sorry. What were you going to say?"

"I was going to ask if I could stay with you tonight?" She sits up slowly, and I sigh. We've had a few overnights in the last couple of weeks, mostly after our dates, but we haven't spent any consecutive evenings together since she moved out.

"What are you thinking?" I walk over to the couch, sitting next to her, pulling her into my arms. We've been skirting around all of the significant conversations about what we are or what we're doing. I don't want to put the pressure on her to label this, us, but not knowing is making me anxious.

"It's just been rough lately, and I don't want to be alone." She leans into my touch, sighing deeply. "Tomorrow is such a big day, and I ... I don't really want to be alone with my thoughts until then." When she looks up at me, her eyes are glistening. She hasn't confided much about what Laura's been prepping her on, but she has warned me that I won't like any of it.

"Why don't you head to your place early and pack whatever you need for tomorrow? I'll finish up here and come get you." She goes to interrupt me, but I place a quick kiss on her lips. "I'm the boss around here; I make the rules."

"We're both taking tomorrow off, Bucky." She laughs, but it sounds a little hollow.

"It's fine. Go home. I'll come by in a couple hours, okay?" We sit for a few more minutes before Mallery heads out, and I try to get back to work. I'm just wrapping up for the day when I hear a muffled buzzing coming from within my office.

I can't place it at first but finally find the source being Mallery's phone that she left behind, stuck between the cushions of the couch. Laura's name is flashing across the screen, so I answer it quickly.

"Hey, Laura, it's Bucky. Mallery went home early, but I guess she left her phone here," I say as a greeting. I'm a little upset that Mallery doesn't realize she doesn't have her phone, but I'm going straight to her from the office, so everything should be fine.

"Oh, hi, Bucky. I was calling because I wanted to ask Mallery a question." She sighs. "Can you have her call me? I want to know if she recognizes a name. I have the info on who helped John make bail."

"Sure, I'm leaving right now. I'll have her call you as soon as I get to her place." I pause before hanging up. "Can you tell me the name?"

"It's public record now, but I'd like to speak to Mallery first. You understand, right?"

"Of course. I'll have her call you. See you tomorrow." I hang up, shutting up my office and heading out.

I finally make it out to Brooklyn, park in the gated garage, and I take the elevator up to the lobby where I find my old Army pal, Sam Wilson, standing in front of the desk, talking to my lead contractor, Brock Rumlow.