And they called it Bucky Love

Part 30 - Playing nasty with Mr Stark.

Four months. Four months? I looked at Tony as though he were mad and wanted so much to tell him what I really thought of him, but unfortunately, from somewhere deep inside, I knew he was telling the truth. I recalled the leaves on the ground outside my apartment, and the chill in the air. When I last remembered being at Stark Towers, it had been a warm afternoon in May.

I backed away slightly and sat down with a bump on the nearest thing I could find, which happened to be a small glass table. It cracked.

I jumped up as though I'd been shot.

"Tony!" I shrieked. "What the hell?"

He came over and grabbed hold of both my arms - another move that seemed strangely familiar. "Hey " he said, looking straight into my frightened eyes. "Listen to me - you're okay. Just calm down." He tried to sound reassuring, but it wasn't really working.

"Okay? You call THAT okay?" I said, my voice going high pitched again as I pointed to the cracked glass. . "Tony - I just broke a table with my ass! What - do I suddenly weigh 300 pounds?" I sounded hysterical, but what with the table and the broken chair from earlier, I was becoming seriously worried that at any moment, I'd start turning green and split my jeans.

I realized I was shaking. "W - w - what is happening?" I asked, as Tony guided me to a large (and thankfully solid looking) leather couch over by one of the large windows. He sat me down and then sat himself down next to me, although not too close I noticed.....must still be a bit pungent.......

I looked at him with pleading eyes. "Tony?"

"Okay Maggie." he looked at me and I could suddenly tell that for once, he was gonna be straight down the line with me without any of his usual bull.

"The truth is - you've changed."

"No shit Sherlock!" I replied, earning a proper weird look from the face of Stark.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Listen!" he said sternly. "For once in your life, just listen and try to resist the urge to answer back!"

I went to say something, but instead, stayed quiet.

He carried on.

"Right, so - " he paused, obviously waiting for the interruption, but I was good and stayed silent. "As I was saying.......you've changed. No - wait - I'll re-phrase that. You've BEEN changed." He looked at me and his voice softened, as though what he was about to say was going to be tough on me.

Tony then proceeded to tell me about what had happened from the time that Steve had decided to look for his friend Bucky Barnes. With almost every word that he spoke, I felt the memories flooding back and as they did, with them came a whole gamut of emotions. They felt particularly strong whenever Bucky was mentioned - and at first, I didn't know why, but as the story went on and my recollections increased, I realized that it was because I was in love with him, and I felt my heart start to wrench and twist, though I didn't know why.

When Tony got to the part in the tale where we went to Romania - I put my hand on his arm. "Wait - " I said, then quickly as I saw his face " - sorry to interrupt, but - I know this.......he was there wasn't he?" I squeezed at his arm and felt a smile creeping onto my face as I remembered.

"Bucky - he was there!" I looked at Tony for confirmation.

Tony stared intently at me but he wasn't smiling. "Yes" he said soberly "he was there. We found him - " he nodded his head towards me. " Well - you found him."

I couldn't stop the grin from exploding then as I remembered that I'd seen Bucky in Romania. I suddenly recalled in exquisite detail our first meeting in the market place in Bucharest, where we'd devoured Mici together and talked as we ate. I could almost smell the spices of the meat and hear the chatter of the locals around us, the memories were so clear. I remembered then Bucky's blue/grey eyes looking into mine. "Take care Jen Bradley" he'd said.