A/N: Last chapter.

The next morning, all the Avengers and Leah assembled in the kitchen. "Good morning," Bruce told Leah as she walked in, sleepy-eyed. "How's your head?"

"Fine," she replied, "I got some Advil last night that really helped."

He turned slightly red. "Good, I'm glad."

Tony's eyes narrowed. "What's that?" He poked Bruce in the side. "Are you blushing?"

"Leave him alone Stark," Steve said tiredly, in the tone of one who'd heard squabbling far too frequently.

"Make me," the billionaire challenged.

Steve pointed the spatula at him. "Do you want pancakes or not?"

Tony put his hands in his lap and primly pursed his lips.

Leah couldn't help it. She burst out laughing.

"Hey," Tony said, pointing at her, "you still work for me. Respect, woman."

"I completely respect you," she said, still giggling helplessly, "but you're hilarious."

"Stark, shut up and drink your coffee," Clint said, "you're weird when you're not caffeinated."

Steve finished making the pancakes, and they all dug in. The two spies finished quickly and headed out to a mission in Tunisia. Thor finished next and headed out to Ireland, citing Heimdall wanted him to look at some ley lines that might have shifted since the convergence of the realms. Tony and Bruce finished next.

"Don't bother coming in today," Tony told Leah, who was frowning at her bruised and sprained wrist. "It's all just clean up and you're broken, so take the day off. Teach Steve to use his phone, or something."

Leah glanced at Steve, who was slowly plowing his way through his pile of food. "Sure," she said.

"Cool." He ushered Bruce out.

"You don't have to, if you don't want to," Steve said, after swallowing, "it's okay."

"No, it's fine. I don't want to be a freeloader."

"You aren't," he assured her. "You might actually be a bigger help than you realize."

"How? I'm only a lab tech."

"But you're the only one who the Hulk will listen to. You kept him from tearing up the lab."

She blushed. "I guess."

He cleared his throat. "I heard you and Bruce talking last night. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but, uh, super-soldier hearing. Sorry."

She blushed harder. "No it's fine. We can't really keep secrets in the tower anyway."

"Not really." He gave her a grin. "I think it's swell, the two of you together. He needs someone who doesn't care about the Other Guy."

"You mean someone who does care," she corrected. "You have to care about the Hulk, too, or it won't work."

Steve grinned. "You're definitely good for him."

She helped him clean up the dishes, and they chatted while he washed up. "So. Your cell phone."

Steve sighed. "It's fine, Leah."

"Oh come on. Let me help you."

He started to grin. "No really. I don't need any help." He handed over his phone. It was one of the newest Stark phones, and on the lock screen had a picture of an old biplane. It had apps, games, an active calendar, a Flash alert system, an active Twitter and Instagram account...

"How-" she started.

"Leah, I figured out my cellphone and the internet months ago. I just keep up the act so I don't actually have to answer any of Stark's spazz calls."

Leah started to laugh. "Don't tell me JARVIS is in on the secret."

"Of course he is," Steve said. "Who else tells Stark my phone is off all the time? But don't tell anyone else. Well, 'cept Natasha. She knows."

"You are such a troll."

He smirked.

A~A~A~A

Tony waited two whole hours before he sprung. "So," he said, "you and lab tech."

Bruce turned red, but continued to organize equipment. "Her name is Leah."

"Leah, lab tech, same difference. She works for me; I can call her what I want. The point is, Science Bro, have you asked her out yet?"

"No." Bruce smirked internally. Technically, she'd asked him out. He'd just fixed on the time and day.

"Why not? She even works in the same place as you! It's easy. All you have to do is ask. Repeat after me. Hey Leah. Will you go to lunch with me? See, easy. Try it. Hey Leah."

"Hey," said the subject of their discussion, walking in with a tray balanced on her right hand. "Snack?"

"What did you bring?" Tony asked.

"Mini pizzas for you, and for Bruce, hummus on pita bread. Also yogurt and carrots." She handed Tony a cup of coffee off the tray and gave Bruce a cup of jasmine tea.

"You're perfect," Tony said, stuffing his face with pizza. "The best lab assistant ever."

Dummy, off to the side, whined.

"Ok, second best," Tony said, patting the robot's head fondly.

Bruce took a sip of the fragrant tea, sighing gratefully. "Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome. I was glad to do it."

He smiled. "Let me return the favor. Have dinner with me tonight?" He winked at her.

Tony's jaw dropped.

"I'd love to," Leah replied, smirking. Steve wasn't the only troll in the bunch, it seemed.

"Good. I'll come get you at six thirty?"

"All right." She left the tray there and walked out, smiling.

"You asked her to dinner," Tony said, baffled.

"You said to do it," Bruce said, shrugging.

"I know, but you actually listened to me! This is great! Where are you going? I'll get you a reservation."

Bruce shook his head. "Somewhere quiet, not too expensive."

"I know just the place."

A~A~A~A

Leah stared at the contents of her closet in dismay. She was a server tech. Recently promoted to lab tech. The fanciest thing she owned was a frilly white button-down, and two sad-looking business skirts. No dresses. "JARVIS?" she asked plaintively.

"Yes, Miss Keller?"

"Where's the nearest clothing store? I need a dress. Or a skirt. Or something. I don't even know."

"Paging Ms. Potts," JARVIS said.

"No, wait-" Leah desperately wished for a cancel button. Or a small time travel machine. In the month that she'd been here, she'd only seen Pepper Potts twice. Once at the first breakfast she'd attended in the tower, and the second time when Ms. Potts was leaving the Tower to go to Hong Kong for conferences.

Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries, walked into the room. "JARVIS said you had a problem?" she asked kindly.

"Ms. Potts," Leah said, panicking. This was, technically, her boss boss and she had no right to fraternize. "I, uh, it was just a misunderstanding, it's a personal issue, not-"

Pepper smiled. "Call me Pepper." She moved over to the closet. "All right. A date with Bruce. You need a dress."

Leah turned red. "Does everyone know about us?"

"Um... maybe? I'm sorry, but Natasha told me you two looked pretty close, and Tony just texted me that you and Bruce had a date." The CEO smiled sheepishly.

"And what Natasha knows, Clint knows," Leah added, sighing.

"Pretty much." Pepper touched her arm lightly and guided her out of the bedroom. "Let's do some shopping, shall we? Tony had an online shopping program built into my suite upstairs. Whatever you pick generates a hologram so you can see how it fits your body. It's pretty awesome."

By the end of the hour, Leah decided that being rich was definitely awesome. She didn't have to move her bruised wrist at all - JARVIS just skinned the dress to her form, and she could look at it in the mirror.

They finally found a cute dress from a shop in downtown Manhattan. It was a dark green, and it went well with her brown hair and brown eyes. It had a lace top and a silver belt, and a flowy skirt that swished around mid-calf. Pepper added a pair of silver flats to the shopping cart, and ordered it.

"I'll go get my debit card number," Leah said.

"No, I've got it," Pepper said dismissively, and finished the order, complete with home delivery in less than two hours.

Leah's jaw dropped. The dress and the shoes were well over a hundred dollars. "No, I can't," she started.

"Yes, you can," Pepper said brightly. "You deserve it, honestly, putting up with Tony every single day." She smirked. "Why do you think I buy myself so many nice outfits?"

Leah smiled slightly. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. Let's have a cup of coffee while we wait for the dress. It's so nice to have another girl in the tower, honestly. The guys are nice and all, but Natasha and I feel a little outnumbered."

"She doesn't seem like she could be outnumbered by anything," Leah said frankly.

Pepper laughed. "Only by too many bad puns."

They had a cup of coffee, followed by a good gossip session about the inhabitants of the tower, and then the dress arrived.

"It's much prettier in person," Pepper said, satisfied. She picked up the dress and the shoes. "And now, you have an hour and a half to get ready. I'll help you."

"You don't have to," Leah protested.

"I want to, though," Pepper said, easily overriding her. "Come on."

So Leah played mannequin, and Pepper applied the makeup and fixed her hair, and helped her zip up the dress. "There," Pepper said, smiling. "Gorgeous."

Leah stared at herself in the mirror. The shoes made her a few inches taller, and her legs looked really long. She had minimal makeup on besides a brown smoky eye, and her hair was slightly curled and left down. "Wow... you made me look amazing."

"That was all you," Pepper said, grinning. "Bruce just might Hulk out seeing you like this."

Leah snickered. "Hopefully not. I don't think restaurants will give us service with no shoes no shirt."

"Dr. Banner is in the communal living room," JARVIS announced.

Leah took a deep breath. "Okay. Here we go."

Pepper walked her out to the living room, where, surprise surprise, Tony and Steve were waiting with Bruce. Tony whistled appreciatively and then promptly ignored her, sweeping Pepper into a breath-taking kiss. "Hello, gorgeous," he said, kissing her again. He wrapped an arm around Pepper's waist and they walked off. "When did you get in? The company okay?" His questions faded as they left.

"Nice color," Steve commented, grinning.

"I thought so, too," Leah said, giving him a quick grin. She turned to Bruce, who still hadn't said a word. "What do you think?" she asked.

"You look incredible," he said honestly. "Shall we go?"

"Let's go," she agreed, taking his arm as they walked out.

"Don't stay out too late," Steve called mockingly.

"He is such a mom," Leah muttered, making Bruce snicker.

They took one of Stark's cars to a small restaurant on the waterfront. On a Tuesday evening, there weren't more than half a dozen people, and they were totally uninterested in an ordinary looking couple. Bruce could feel his anxiety relaxing as they were seated and started to look at the menu. So far so good.

She ordered salmon and he ordered a steak, and they chatted about this and that while they waited for their food. Somehow they got onto the topic of India, and Bruce regaled her with tales about his days as an unknown country doctor, struggling his way through Hindi and Punjab.

She smiled at him. "All the languages I know are programming languages," she said ruefully.

He grinned back at her. "Not even Pig Latin?"

She laughed outright. "Well, I can speak that fluently. So that makes two languages, at least."

"Good. Everybody ought to be bilingual."

They grinned at each other.

She reached out to squeeze his hand. "Don't ever change, Bruce."

A~A~A~A

They shared a tiramisu for dessert, and went back to the Tower. Bruce walked her to her apartment. "Thank you for coming with me," he said softly.

She smiled at him. "I really enjoyed it tonight, Bruce. It was nice."

"It was," he agreed. "Just the two of us."

"Just the two of us," she echoed. She gave him a smile. "Good night."

"Good night." He hesitated, his eyes drawn to her lips. "Good night," he repeated, and high-tailed it down the hallway. "Coward!" he muttered under his breath. Inside him, the Other Guy grumbled in annoyance.

"Bruce, wait!" Leah raced down the hall, stopped in front of a shocked Bruce, and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "Night," she said breathlessly, and ran back to her apartment.

He stood there in the middle of the hallway in shock, his whole face tingling while the Other Guy almost crooned with happiness. Slowly, he grinned and continued down the hallway to his apartment.

A~A~A~A

Their blissful dating period lasted three precious weeks. Then, the Avengers were called to assemble. HYDRA was surging again, and there were more attacks than ever. With Maria Hill heading up the large support system of ex-SHIELD agents, the Avengers were back in action.

It seemed like every few days there was a new mission. With Tony and Bruce away so often, Leah became his de facto queen of the lab. She was in charge of maintaining Bruce's experiments while he was away, and updating and repairing all of Tony's robots and drones. The three of them built an Iron Legion of drones to keep civilian casualties to a minimum.

Every mission, the Avengers came back tired, hungry, bruised, and battered. Bruce always came back worse for the wear and exhausted from his transformations. The only thing he wanted to do was sleep and rest. Leah was content to stay with him on the couch and watch movies.

Tony called them cuddle buddies, and kept taking pictures of them and printing them out with hearts on the frames. "They're so cute," he gushed to Pepper over the phone.

Leah rested her head on his shoulder and laced her fingers with his. "You feel okay?" she asked.

He smiled at her and kissed her cheek. "I'm fine, Leah, I promise."

"Okay, but if your muscles hurt, I can give a mean massage."

He smiled. "Actually, I might have to take you up on that," he mused.

She took his hand and started to massage his hand and his wrist. "We'll start with preventing carpal tunnel, Mr. I-can-write-all-my-own-notes," she said, pressing a kiss to his palm.

He smiled, and relaxed deeper into the couch. "I think the Other Guy is falling asleep," he said placidly, closing his eyes.

"Hm. We might have found a new way to calm him down," Leah said.

Tony appeared from the hallway. "Am I interrupting anything?" he asked.

"Yes!" they both chorused.

"Good." He pulled out a scanner and attached an electrode to Bruce's temple. "I'm going to get some readings on the Hulk, all right? Keep doing," he gestured vaguely, "that."

She smirked. "Does this count as lab work?" she asked.

"Yes," Tony replied.

Bruce laid his head on the back of the couch, feeling the tension ease out of him with every pressure of her fingers.

She switched to his other hand and massaged it. "How's the readings?" she asked quietly, as Bruce dozed off.

"This is fantastic," Tony said quietly, "he's so calm right now I can't even register the Hulk. We might have just figured out a way to calm him down. We'll have to figure out how to use it in the field."

"Good," Leah said, kissing Bruce's cheek softly. "He needs this control."

"Let's let him sleep, shall we, Mrs. Jolly Green?" Tony asked, helping her off the couch.

"Don't call me that, Tony."

"Mrs. Smash?"

"No."

"Mrs. Hulk?"

"Nope."

"You're so boring."

"Thank you, boss."

A~A~A~A

It was a week after their discovery of the "Hulk-tamer," and Tony was insisting on calling it the "lullaby."

"That's a terrible name," Bruce complained.

"But it's a statement of fact," Tony complained. "We're keeping it."

"Fine."

They were sent out on a mission only two hours later. Leah stayed behind, as usual. She got a call a few hours later. "Mr. Stark is calling," JARVIS informed her.

"Put him on. Hello?"

"Leah, suit up," Tony said. "We need your help. The Hulk has gone on a rampage and won't come back or calm down."

"Aren't you guys in South America?" she questioned.

"Exactly. The Mark IX is ready to go. JARVIS will drive you, but go now."

"On my way."

"Don't forget an earbud," Tony ordered, and cut the call.

Leah left the program running and headed to the locker room. "J, Mark IX?" she asked. She put a comm in her right ear.

The door slid open and the suit popped out, building itself around her. She held stock still and flinched when the Mark IX took off, zooming out of the Tower.

"ETA to wherever we're going?"

"One hour."

"Okay. That's uh, fast."

"Yes miss."

JARVIS streamed her Pandora station into the suit, and with the stunning views, she rather enjoyed the trip. And before she knew it, she'd landed in the wilds of Chile, in a circle of tired looking Avengers.

Clint helped her out of the suit.

"Where's the Hulk?"

A roar from their left answered that question. Thor flew back into the clearing, looking battered. "He is still very angry," the Asgardian said tiredly, rubbing his forehead.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Steve asked, glancing at Leah.

"He loves her, it's fine," Tony said dismissively. "Besides, I'll be there to back her up. And Thor. Right Point Break?" He picked up Leah in his Iron Man suit. "Okay, I'll let you down near him and scoop you up if he charges you, okay?"

"Okay."

She dropped to the ground and stumbled on a root. The Hulk turned to face her with a growl. "Hi," she said, trying to sound cheerful.

"NOT SAFE!" he yelled angrily. "GO!"

"No, it's fine," she said soothingly. "You won. It's safe."

"WON?"

"Won," she confirmed. "Can we talk, for a while?"

"NO! ANGRY." He pulled up a tree for emphasis. "GO WAY."

"I can't do that," Leah said, sitting cross legged on the damp ground. "I flew here and we can't go home till you're Bruce again."

"HOME."

"Yeah. The Tower."

"TALL PLACE. SMASH PLACE."

"Precisely."

He scowled. "TINY-MAN NOT HAPPY."

"Why not?"

The Hulk shrugged.

"Okay," Leah said, shrugging. "I can wait till Bruce gets back."

The Hulk sat across from her and held out a hand. "SLEEP," he demanded. "SPEAK TINY-MAN. FIX."

She smiled. "Okay. I'll talk to him. Thank you, big guy." She took his giant hand and started to massage his wrist and palm. "Time to go to sleep."

The Hulk turned back into Bruce only two minutes later, and, surprisingly, he didn't fall unconscious. "Hey," he said roughly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Leah smiled at him. "Hey." She stood up and helped him up, wrapping her arm around his waist. "Ready to go home?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, he's back," Tony said, grinning. "And you're awake! This lullaby is great. Great job, Leah."

"Yeah, but we can't drag her all over the place with us," Clint said. "No offense Leah, but you're a huge liability."

"None taken," Leah said, "I am so not a superhero." She glanced at Natasha. "If you wouldn't mind learning it, you could work with him in the field."

Natasha nodded. "Sounds good."

They returned to the Tower and everyone dispersed to shower and sleep. Leah followed him to his rooms. "Bruce?"

"Do you want some juice?" he asked, serving himself a glass.

"Sure." She leaned her hip against the edge of the counter while he wandered around the kitchen. "Do you want to talk about why you wouldn't come down from your Hulk out?"

"I've just been really stressed lately," Bruce said.

"The Other Guy said you weren't happy," she said.

"The Other Guy is not known for his emotional intelligence," Bruce snapped.

She shook her head. "No, he specifically said not happy. And he purposely calmed down so you and I could talk. So, let's talk. Tell me what's wrong, Bruce?"

He sighed. "I can't help feeling like this is too good to be true."

"What's too good to be true?" she asked.

"Everything," he said, exasperated. "You, me, this Tower, us." He sighed. "I can't do this."

She swallowed hard. "Bruce, you're not going to give up on us. This isn't too good to be true. It is true." She reached out to take his hands. "What you and I have, what you have with your teammates, it's your life finally starting make sense. Don't you want this?"

"I do," he said, "I want this so much. I just feel l like it's not going to last. If I lose you, I won't be able to handle it. I can't lose you."

"So you're just going to push me away?" she asked, her tone injured.

"It might be better if I did."

"No."

"Leah," he sighed.

"No. You're not going to push me away. You warned me about this, remember? Your instinctive defense was going to be to push me away so you wouldn't get hurt? You can't push me away; I won't let you." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed a small kiss to his lips. "I have you and the Other Guy to protect me, not to mention the entire team of Avengers. They trust you, and they trust the Hulk, and I trust you. No one can take that away, Bruce. And with our tests with the lullaby, you're finally starting to be able to control it. Isn't that what you've wanted?"

"Yes, but," he couldn't think with her proximity and her kisses, the Hulk pleased as punch at this revelation.

"No buts," she said softly, hugging him. "I won't let you take away your happiness."

He sighed and relented, wrapping his arms around her. "You promise you're not going anywhere?"

"I promise."

He hugged her tightly. "All right. I know when I'm beat. I'm done trying to push you away."

"Good." She kissed him again. "I love you, Bruce Banner." She placed a hand on his chest. "And I love the Other Guy, too."

Bruce smiled, the first real smile all day. "I love you too."

A~A~A~A

The very next day they started training Natasha to use the lullaby. They had to modify it slightly, since the reason it worked so well with Leah was that the Hulk loved her. But he responded well to Natasha. Most of the time.

"What we really need is a Hulk buster," Tony said.

"You just want a new suit," Bruce replied.

"Shh," Leah said, from her place cuddled into Bruce's side. The Avengers were taking a well-deserved break and watching a movie.

"No but seriously. What if someone provoked you and the lullaby didn't work? Wouldn't it be better to have you fight a robot than destroy a city?"

"I suppose," Bruce conceded.

A small hand snaked up and placed itself on his mouth. "Shh," Leah said firmly.

He smiled and pressed a kiss to her hand.

After the movie the three of them reconvened to the lab to start work on the Hulk buster suit.

It took them a month to completely finish it and launch it into action. "The goal is never to use it though," Leah said, as they cleaned up the lab.

"That's the goal," Tony agreed.

"Hopefully one we can keep," Bruce said nervously.

Leah hugged him tightly. "Don't worry Bruce. Everything will be fine."

A~A~A~A

It was the middle of the night. Bruce had woken up from a nightmare and decided not to go back to bed. He got up and went into the kitchen. Someone had recently made a cup of tea. "JARVIS, who's up?" he asked.

"Miss Keller," JARVIS replied. "She is running diagnostics on one of my subroutines."

"Thanks, J," Bruce said, and took a cup of tea down to the lab. He found Leah at one of the computer stations, surrounded by screens full of nuclear diagrams. "Trouble sleeping?" he asked.

She nearly jumped out of her chair and gave a yelp of fright. "Bruce!" she scolded, putting a hand to her heart. "You scared the daylights out of me."

"Well considering it's the middle of the night I'm not surprised," he said dryly.

"Ha ha," she replied, turning back to her computer screen. "And no, I just wasn't sleepy."

"So you decided to read atomic structures?" Bruce asked.

"Yep."

He watched the pictures scroll on down. It was familiar and soothing. He yawned.

"So why are you up?" Leah asked.

He took a sip of his cooling tea. "Nightmares."

She frowned. "I'm sorry." She got up to press a loving kiss to his cheek. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay." She gave him a small smile and sat back down. "Ugh."

"What?"

"I don't know. Just, ugh."

He put his tea down and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Why don't you read a book?" he suggested. "Wouldn't it be more calming than this?"

She leaned back against him. "You say that as if I wouldn't spend all night trying to finish the book."

He smiled. "That's true. What about infomercials?"

"Tried that two hours ago."

"How about Monopoly?" he suggested.

She smiled. "Well, it is boring."

So that's how Clint found them at five in the morning when he walked into the living room, Bruce and Leah passed out at the Monopoly board on the floor. He shook his head and went through to the communal kitchen. "I guess the couple that faints together stays together," he muttered. "Whatever works."

A~A~A~A

It wasn't a month later that they got wind of a HYDRA base that was holding Loki's scepter. They'd been looking for it for months, since the attack on New York, and now they'd found it in a remote base in Sokovia.

"We'll be back soon," Bruce promised, kissing Leah goodbye.

"You better be." She pressed a final kiss to his cheek and waved at the rest of them. "Go get 'em. Safely."

"Yes mother," Tony said wryly.

A~A~A~A

They came back with the scepter, but all of them looked shell-shocked. "What happened?" Leah asked Bruce quietly, walking him to his apartment.

"There was a mutant human there," he said, "she got in all our heads, gave us terrible visions. It was weird. On a lighter note though, the lullaby worked."

She gave him a hug and a kiss. "Good," she said, smiling at him. "Now get some rest. You've earned it. I'll make some dinner when you wake up."

"All right." He gave her a tired smile and went into his room. Every time he came back from a mission he was still surprised to find Leah there waiting for him, taking care of him. It made him and the Other Guy feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

A~A~A~A

As promised, Leah made dinner, and Bruce was able to relax with her quiet presence.

Suddenly, Leah's phone rang. JARVIS paused the movie as she answered. "Hello? Hi mom." Her face turned white. "Dad? Is he, is he- oh thank goodness. Yeah. Yeah, I'm on the first plane out of here. I promise. I'll be there as soon as I can, okay? I love you too. Yeah. Okay. Bye." She hung up, looking stricken. "I have to go."

"Leah?" Bruce asked worriedly, reaching out to take her hand. "What happened? "

"My dad had a stroke," she said distantly. "He's in the hospital. I, I, have to pack." She got up and stumbled over her chair, tears blurring her vision.

Bruce stood up and wrapped her in a hug. "Hey, hey," he said soothingly, "it'll be all right. You'll be with him in no time." He kissed the top of her head. "It'll be okay."

"I wish you could come with me," she said, tearily, her face pressed to his chest.

"I could," he offered.

She shook her head. "No. no, the Avengers need you more than I do." She pulled back and gave him a watery smile. "It'll be okay. They said he's stable. I just, I need to be with my family right now."

"Of course," he said gently, "whatever you need." He helped her pack a small suitcase and rode with her to JFK. Somehow, he pushed his anxiety of crowds away long enough to see her to the entrance of the terminal. "Call me when you land, ok?"

"I will. Tell the others bye for me."

"I will."

She kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you too." He squeezed her hand before letting go. "I'll see you soon."

"All right."

He waited until she was out of sight and headed back to the Tower, trying to control his breathing. There was no use worrying about it now.

"Hey, where's Leah?" Tony asked, when Bruce entered the kitchen. "We're having a part-ay tonight."

"Uh, on her way to Seattle."

"What? Why? Did you guys break up?"

"NO. Her father had a stroke."

"Ouch." Tony frowned. "She okay?"

"Yeah."

"She didn't even say bye."

"Her father might be dying," Bruce snapped.

Tony held out his hands peacefully. "Hey, calm down big guy, I didn't mean anything by it. Does she need anything?"

"She'll let me know."

"Okay, cool. Do you need anything?"

Bruce took a deep breath. Calm, he reminded himself. "A cup of tea," he said aloud.

A~A~A~A

That night, while Leah's father lay in the hospital, Ultron was born. Bruce was glad she was out of the way when Ultron declared war on the Avengers. He couldn't bear it if anything happened to her.

Once they were within the safety of Clint's farm, where he had a wife and two small children (children!) living, Bruce was able to call Leah. "Leah?"

"Bruce, hi! Thank goodness. I saw the Tower in the news, where are you?"

"Uh, I can't tell you over the phone. It's not safe. How's your father?"

"Oh, he's fine, he's sleeping. They say he'll need a few months of physical therapy, for the left side of his body, but he should be okay with exercise and enough rest. No stress. My sister's moving back home. But what about you? Are you all okay?"

"We're fine, yeah. It's not over yet though."

She sighed. "Be careful."

"I'll try." He paused. "After this..."

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to go away?" he asked.

"Where?"

"I don't know. India. Europe. South America. I'm a doctor, you're a computer tech. We could go anywhere."

Leah started to smile. "I'd like that. You find us a place and we'll go."

"Great." He was beaming. "I'll call you later."

"All right." She hung up and returned to the hospital room, smiling.

Bruce hung up and turned to see Natasha in the doorway. "How long have you been listening?" he asked.

"Long enough. You're leaving?"

"After this is finished, yeah. Once everyone's safe. I wouldn't leave you guys in the lurch."

Natasha nodded. "Good." She gave him a small smile. "You two deserve it."

He grinned. "Thanks."

A~A~A~A

Leah got a brief email two days later. It named an obscure town in Brazil, and detailed a travel itinerary. It ended with, "I'll meet you at the bus station. I love you."

She wasted no time. She packed her things, kissed her family goodbye, reminded them that there were phones in Brazil, and got on a plane. She traveled from Seattle to Mexico, and Mexico to Brazil. From the airport, she high-school-spanished her way to the bus terminal, even though the language was really Portuguese.

"Looking for someone?" a quiet voice asked her as she stood there with her suitcase.

She turned, smiling. "Yes, actually, I am. A scientist with curly hair, who's kind of a dork. Know him?"

"I can't imagine who you mean," he replied, pulling her into a hug.

She kissed him fiercely. "I've missed you," she said.

He smiled at her. "I've missed you more. Come on, our bus is this way." He took her suitcase, and they headed out.

THE END

A/N: Hope you enjoyed!