Doll and James

Like father like daughter

Three weeks had passed and the routine remained the same. Every morning Lana would wake up next to Bucky, claim to be annoyed by his mere presence, prepare herself for the day, and go to the room that had been dedicated to locating the tesseract, and sit around and wait for someone to discover something, as she sure as hell had no idea how to. More often than not, there would be very little process, but people already working hard. Tony had a tendency to work during the night, Steve and Natasha would always get up early and be there long before Lana and Bucky arrived. Clint had decided to take a little time off, given that he hadn't seen his family for a while. Lana suspected that the close proximity to Loki also had an effect, but she wouldn't be pursuing any answers there. While she knew Clint had never meant her any harm, she was still struggling with relaxing around him, and she preferred to not be too close to him or alone with him.

Bruce was the only one living at the tower who usually came later than Lana and Bucky, but that was only because he'd stay up late whenever he got caught up in something, which was most days. Thor had gotten a temporary room at the tower, but wasn't as dedicated to finding the tesseract as many others, so he spent his days testing human technology and cuisine. So far, his favourite was the pop tarts, but he was still working on getting the toaster to do as he commanded it.

"Oh, shoot, I have to go," Lana suddenly realised one day, thankful she could stand up on her own thanks to Loki's dedicated work in healing her leg. The only people in the room was Bucky, Loki, Steve, Natasha and Clint, who was visiting that day.

It was ten o'clock and Bruce was still asleep. Tony hadn't even been to bed yet, but was off getting coffee.

"Excuse me? You're inviting a psychopath in and then ditching?" Bucky asked, Loki rolling his eyes.

"Like father like daughter, I guess," Clint muttered, quickly receiving a smack to the back of his head from Natasha.

"Where are you going?" Steve asked politely, pretending to not notice Natasha and Clint who was desperately trying to hit each other in the background.

"I'm meeting William," Lana told as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. William had returned about a week and a half ago, but with everything that had been going on, she hadn't felt she could sneak away to see him until then.

"Someone will have to go with," Steve decided quickly; "Buck?"

"I got it," Bucky agreed, pushing his chair out and standing up.

"You don't have to," Lana reminded him kindly.

"And you don't have to be so annoying, but here we are," he replied, handing her her hoodie. She rolled her eyes as they began arguing, offering a quick goodbye before leaving. Loki didn't bother sticking around after that and excused himself, disappearing off to who knows where.

Not long after, Thor came in, wearing some of the human clothes Tony had left for him in his room. Blue jeans and a black v-neck t-shirt that looked bigger than necessary. Tony passed him on the way, a fresh cup of coffee in his hand, quick to settle himself by a computer and get to work.

"There's something strange going on," Thor told the team.

"What, the alien part of the working with your brother part?" Tony asked, not looking away from his screen.

"Loki says he wishes to dominate the earth," Thor informed, crossing his arms.

"So?" Natasha asked unimpressed.

"I think him to be lying," Thor told honestly.

"That's what Lana said, too," Steve remembered, thinking to the first time Lana had told them what had happened at the hospital.