Chrysalism

-chapter thirty-

New York, New York. August 7th, 2017. 4:27 PM. Common Balcony.

"No father ever imagines his little girl falling for someone who could be her grandfather," Bill chuckled, taking a drag from his cigarette. Bucky laughed softly from his spot next to the man. "But if it had to be my Georgia, I'm glad it was you, Bucky."

"That means a lot coming from you, Bill. When I came off the ice, I thought I would never get my life back," Bucky started. "But, then. I met your daughter. She helped me find my way, without even trying."

"She's got a knack for that kind of thing. She's one of those people, so easy to be comfortable around. She got that from her Mama."

Bucky took a deep breath and turned to face Bill, who still stared out into the ocean, puffing on his cigarette. "Mr. Taylor, I-I wanted to ask you something."

"Shoot, son," he replied.

"I know I haven't known Georgia for very long, but I want you to know how much I love her. I've never met anyone like her, and-well. I never want to lose that," Bucky rambled as he tried to find the right words. "When I met Georgia, I was worried that I'd never get the chance to meet you, sir. She told me that you left when she was very young, and nobody knew where you were. Or if you were coming back."

"Spit it out, son. Neither of us is getting any younger."

"Well, sir. I-I wanted to ask," he held his breath, knowing that his life could change in the next couple of seconds. "I wanted to ask for your permission to ask Georgia to marry me." 

___

Common Library.

"Did Steve talk to you?" Malone asked quietly.

"No, he didn't."

"What about you, Sam?"

"I've known from the get-go."

"Well, someone should enlighten me. I don't like being left out," Loki chimed in.

"I'm going to get Cole. Well, I'm going on a mission with the team to get him back. They want me to be the medic, but I have to be ready to fight."

"I'm not seeing the problem, darling."

"I need you to teach me how to lie to Bucky," she spoke quickly, instantly feeling bad for the words coming out of her mouth. 

"You want me to teach you how to lie to the one you pour over being the love of your life?" 

"You are the God of Mischief." 

"Seeing as he keeps getting himself caught, I don't know if he's your best option, Malone," Sam grumbled from the wall he leaned on behind her. 

"I can teach you, under one condition." 

"Name your price." 

___ 

Work Floor, Tony's Office. 7:29 PM. 

"Mr. Stark?" Malone knocked on the door frame of Tony's office. "Can we chat for a second?" 

"Come on in, sweetheart. Sit wherever you'd like," he grinned from behind his desk. She smiled back and took a seat in one of the plush chairs situated in front of Tony's desk. "What's on your mind?" 

"Um, two things, really. One, I wanted to let you know that you should count me in for the mission. I need my best friend back." 

"That's great news, kid! It's a whole lotta hurry up and wait right now, but keep going to training." 

"And the second is-," she spoke quickly, nervous about his answer. "Well, Loki has a request." 

"Ugh, now you're the horn toad's mouthpiece?" 

"It's the only way I'll be able to go on the mission. You want me to lie to Bucky, and that's not something I can just do. I need someone to teach me how to not feel bad about it, and the only person who can help with that is Loki.' 

"You're telling me you never lied to your grandparents about where you were and what you were doing in high school? Never told a lie in your life?" Tony scoffed, rubbing his goatee. 

"Oh trust me, I lied a lot in high school. Got in a lot of trouble. But, I could lie to my grandparents. I was an angry kid, no concern for anyone except me and my band. But I'm not that angry kid anymore, and I love Bucky more than I've loved anybody else, and we have a lot of promises to each other, and one of those is to never lie." 

"Cut to the chase, kid." 

"Loki wants a room, like everyone else. He feels like he's proven himself as useful and he wants to be a part of the team. He's never been a part of anything, Mr. Stark. He's evil, for sure, but he's mostly misunderstood. He's like an abused kid, grew up with a crappy dad and never really had an identity outside of Thor's brother. He's trying, Mr. Stark. He really is. He just needs a chance, just one." 

"I like to think you have a pretty good judge of character, Malone. I want to trust you because I do on basically everything else, but how do I know that you haven't been manipulated again?" 

"Am I trying to kill you?" 

"Not that I'm aware of." 

"Then I'm not being manipulated." 

___ 

Vormir's Floor, Living Room. 8:12 PM. 

Malone entered the apartment and was met with the sounds of laughter from Ryan, Kenny, and Bucky. 

"So, then, Malone came running around the corner, screaming for Cole and I to give it back," Kenny laughed. "When she rounded the corner, she slipped on a puddle of oil that Cole set, slid right into the wall. Three stitches in her eyebrow." 

"You guys really put her through the wringer, didn't you?" 

"Oh, come on, Barnes. You had sisters. You can't tell me you and Steve never tortured them just for the fun," Ryan said. Malone hid behind the wall to listen in on their conversation with a mischievous grin on her face. 

"Oh we did, but it was stuff like, earthworms in their shoes. Crickets in their dressers. Never anything that warranted medical attention." 

"Did they tell you about the time they put Orajel on my toothbrush and told me it was toothpaste? I went crying to our grandmother, drooling all over myself. Mouth, totally numb," Malone called as she walked into the room. 

"Oh, that was a good one! I forgot about that," Kenny cackled. 

"That's so bad, you guys," Bucky chuckled, turning to face Malone. 

"Oh, it's okay," she said as she walked over to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, him wrapping an arm around her waist. "I used both of their toothbrushes to scrub the toilet, put them right back in the drawer. I watched them both brush their teeth that night." 

"You what?!" Kenny exclaimed. 

"There was also that time that you guys mixed up a bunch of hot sauce, raw eggs, and all kinds of shit and told me if I didn't drink it, I wouldn't get taller than four feet." 

"You drank it, but it didn't work," Kenny laughed, resting his elbow on his sister's head. 

"I'm five feet and four inches of pure rage," she spat back, swatting his elbow off of her. 

"I'm starting to be glad I wasn't around when you were growing up," their dad called as he strode into the room. Bucky quickly removed his arm from Malone's waist and intertwined his fingers with hers. "No wonder your grandmother wanted to send you to your aunt." 

"We have an aunt?" Kenny asked. 

"I've got a sister, so that means y'all have an aunt. Did Grandma never tell you about her?" Bill asked, bewildered. 

"Uh, obviously no."