13. Worries go down better with doughnuts.

"He's going to be all right," It was Tony's voice and Bruce felt his chest swell at both the conviction and underlying worry in that tone. He could feel soft, ridiculously expensive cotton sheets against his skin and a delicate hand clinging to his own.

"I promise," Tony continued firmly. "Whatever happens, he's going to be all right. We'll protect him."

"It feels like my fault," Betty murmured. Bruce gritted his teeth, wincing imperceptibly. "I know it shouldn't. I know how he'd feel if he heard me say that, but..."

"You shouldn't do that," Tony whispered softly. Bruce cracked his eyes to bare slits, his gaze falling on his hand, clutched in Betty's. His brow knitted in confusion. Another hand, male, covered hers and he opened his eyes just enough to trace the line of the arm. Betty sat beside his bed, leaning into Tony Stark's chest wearily. His arm was around her shoulders, offering support, his hand covering their joined ones.

"God knows I'm the king of misplaced guilt," Tony sighed, brushing a kiss on her forehead as if she were a favorite younger sister. "I feel guilty for what happened. But we need to not do that to him, he doesn't need it."

"You're right," she nodded into his shoulder.

"He's been so happy with you here," Tony added as an afterthought, turning his head to catch a glimpse of her eyes as if both offering and asking for something. "Okay?"

"Okay," Betty nodded again.

"Look at it this way," he shrugged lightly. "Practical field test of my defensive systems."

"You need an upgrade," Betty remarked, holding back a giggle.

"Damn straight," Tony agreed. "I can hardly wait to get started. It's like Christmas came early." Betty stifled a laugh in his shirt and Bruce struggled to mask his smile.

"You're going to make me work on some hair-brained shielding system, aren't you?" He murmured.

"You're here rent free," Tony protested, his hand pulling away from Betty's "The least you can do is help me with my science projects!"

"How are you feeling?" Betty asked softly, moving to perch on the side of his bed and running her fingers through his hair. He let out a sigh. He wasn't in the mood to complain.

"How long?" he asked instead.

"It's just after one in the afternoon," she replied. He looked down at the bandages on his arms with a frown.

"Oh, I had my surgeon come in and take out the probes," Tony shrugged. "They're inactive but I put them in quarantine just to be safe. Figured you'd want a look at them later. It's always easier to circumvent a technology you can understand." Bruce nodded in agreement, licking his lips.

"You should eat something," Tony added uncomfortably, heading for the door. "Soup maybe, I'm going to go see if there's soup." Betty bit back a giggle.

"He's terrible at vulnerability," Bruce explained masking his own amusement. "Makes his skin crawl."

"I got that, yeah," Betty smiled at him tenderly.

"Betty,"

"You'd never hurt me," she interrupted, her voice shaking. "Bruce, you asked Clint to shoot you rather than risk hurting me. You begged him."

"I..."

"If you don't believe me then ask him," she insisted, drying the tears from the corners of her eyes. "He was pretty shaken up."

"At least the EMP didn't damage him," Bruce breathed a sigh of relief.

"I know all you see is a monster," She murmured, drawing his hand to her chest and kissing his knuckles. "That's not what I see, it's not what any of them see. You're still there."

"That almost makes it worse," He whispered.

"No," she shook her head. "No it doesn't because you protected me even when you weren't in control of your own body. You fought him every inch. Please just..." Her voice trailed off and he felt something give in his chest. He knew what she was struggling to ask and he could never deny her anything.

"Feeling better?" Steve asked, leaning in at the door. Bruce gave him a faint nod as Betty looked over her shoulder at him.

"What happened to you?" Bruce asked, his brow furrowing in concern. The bandages Steve had been wearing earlier were gone but his arms were pock marked with red scars, still healing.

"They tried the same thing on me that they did on you," Steve admitted hesitantly. Bruce winced. "It didn't go so well for them."

"I'm sorry," Bruce looked away uncomfortably.

"It's not your fault," Steve assured, turning to Betty with a warm half smile. "I never said thanks for busting me out." She glanced up at him nodding a bit shyly as Bruce balked.

"It wasn't a big deal," Betty protested, her cheeks coloring at Bruce's expression.

"It was to me," Steve replied.

"I'm going to go check on Tony before he burns the place down," Betty gave Bruce a smile, brushing a kiss on his lips. She slipped from the side of the bed as Steve occupied the chair, glancing back at them only a moment.

"If you're here to talk me into staying, there isn't much point," Bruce sighed. "I can't say no to her. Not really."

"I figured," Steve shrugged lightly. "I just... there was something I thought you needed to know." He swallowed, shifting in the chair uncomfortably. Bruce didn't say anything.

"Do you remember when I moved in here?" Steve asked finally. "How Tony left to run tests on his suit and came back with me on his personal jet and said not to tell anyone I was here?" Bruce nodded. It had been amusing at the time. The pair of them looked like college kids who'd just got the bad end of a bar fight and asked him not to rat them out to their parents. Which was hysterical since he barely left the lab and never talked to anyone but Tony anyway.

"I took off after the invasion," Steve explained. "I wanted to see the country. It was something Bucky and I always said we'd do after the war, buy a car and see all forty-eight states. Go to Hollywood, see the Grand Canyon. We had a list, so that's what I did. I was on my way back east, just got to Chicago. I stopped at this little place that was supposed to have amazing pizza... weirdest pizza I've ever seen in my life." Bruce chuckled and Steve smiled in return.

"I was sitting at the bar and this fellow walks up to me," Steve continued. "Older gentleman, army brass, I can always tell, there's just something about the way they carry themselves. He wanted to talk to me about a project."

"Ross?" Bruce already knew the answer but Steve nodded anyway.

"I was so tired," Steve admitted. "I lost an entire world, and I thought exploring a new one would somehow make it better, but it only made it worse. So I told him I was done, I was an old man and my fight was over and I was done. And he just looked at me and he asked if I didn't want to be more than just muscle on a propaganda poster. He could give me the chance to do things that would honestly make people's lives better, that would help protect the kids on the front lines, that would make things safer for everyone. And god help me, he told me exactly what I wanted to hear."

"You agreed," Bruce stated. Steve nodded.

"He gave me a Pentagon authorization code," Steve went on. "It checked out so I knew he was legitimate. It just honestly never occurred to me that I couldn't trust him. Things were never like that in my day. We took risks, we didn't take people. He invited me to his facility to see the project. I ended up in a warehouse in Plainfield." Bruce winced, shaking his head.

"It's the funniest thing," Steve shrugged. "Tony gave me that stupid antique bike before I left. I thought he was just trying to mend fences a little."

"He tagged it?" Bruce chuckled. Of course Tony had tagged the bike. For all his mouthiness Tony did have a caring side, buried as it was under alcohol and rehearsed indifference.

"They held me for almost two days before Iron Man showed up and busted me out," Steve stated. "Their lab guys poked and prodded me the whole time. I still don't know what they were trying to do, but I think we got a taste of it last night."

"It's not your fault," Bruce pointed out.

"It's not yours either," Steve agreed, nodding. "Afterward I told Fury I was going to finish my road trip, Tony took one look at me and brought me back here instead. I don't want to need protecting, I shouldn't need protecting. But I kind of do. We all kind of do. We're stronger together, all of us."

"We're a bunch of misfits," Bruce observed.

"I think that's why it works," Steve replied. Bruce let out a chuckle.

"Hey, Big Guy," Tony leaned in at the door with a tense expression. "Do you have a fire extinguisher?"

"Oh my god, Tony!" Steve bolted to his feet, hurrying toward the smell of smoke as Bruce struggled not to laugh.

Bruce stretched his shoulders as he descended the steps. He probably should have taken the lift, considering the shape he was in but the habit of staying out of confined spaces when possible was so deeply ingrained in his psyche now that he hadn't even realized he'd passed the elevator until he was two floors down. He probably needed the cardio anyway.

On a typical Sunday morning it would be near silent in Avengers Tower, a typical Sunday when they weren't dragging in from a mission of course. He'd spent the better part of Saturday unconscious and had awoken to the low rumble of what had sounded a bit like construction. But as he leaned over the rail he could see the rec room was empty, still covered in bits of broken plaster and shell casings from the wee hours of the morning before. Half way down he realized that the sound was coming from the living room and he turned on the landing, slipping down the connecting hall.

"Oh look at that!" Tony crowed in delight at the TV.

"That is most impressive!" Thor boomed in agreement laughing in amusement as, on the TV, Jane lobbed a flash grenade into the fray.

"I'm backing that up!" Tony declared, rewinding the video to play it again. "JARVIS add this bit to the highlight reel."

"With pleasure, sir," The AI answered.

"Can I get a copy of this?" Phil asked curiously, making himself a coffee at the bar. "The Director's birthday is coming up."

"JARVIS, when you mint the final copy send a DVD to Fury and sign it Phil and the Avengers," Tony nodded, he paused a moment. "And put the girls on the cover so they all look like a punk rock band album."

"Really, Tony?" Steve asked, looking up from his newspaper with an annoyed expression.

"What are you doing with that thing, Capcicle?" Tony demanded, his expression condescending. "Print is dead, didn't anyone tell you?"

"I like the tactile sensation," Steve replied defensively, returning his attention to his paper.

"Oh this is a good one of you and Tasha," Clint declared, holding out his phone to Darcy who was curled up in one of the chairs, Natasha sitting on the arm beside her. Natasha leaned over nodding in approval.

"That is a good one," She stated, turning to Darcy. "I'm all doe eyed so you can use it. Label it: Got trapped in the elevator with this girl from legal."

"What in the world are you doing?" Jane asked, heading toward the sofa with two cups of coffee.

"Facebooking," Darcy replied.

"Are you crazy?" Jane asked in alarm.

"I do it all the time," Natasha shrugged. "It's called plausible deniability."

"Our cover is that hackers triggered a security lockdown at SHIELD," Phil added. "Fury's already bringing in the usual suspects."

"You should friend Natalie Rushamn so you can tag her," Clint advised, flicking through the security footage. "Makes it more believable."

"Here's one of you and Pepper that's nice," Natasha pointed out.

"Got to meet the CEO," Darcy mumbled as she typed. "She's pretty awesome." Jane shook her head, sighing as she slumped down on the sofa next to Thor, handing him a coffee.

"If you're going to replace all the kitchen appliances anyway I think you should go with something more interesting than the standard stainless steel," Betty observed, leaning over Pepper's shoulder as she perused her laptop. The CEO of STARK Industries was sitting cross-legged in one of the arm chairs wearing cut-offs and a t-shirt with a picture of Mjölnir on it that said "Hammer Time."

"You have a point," Pepper agreed. "A little character would be nice, it's so clinical in there. Tony picked out everything before I could stop him."

"Look at that one," Betty pointed out. "The automotive finish comes in Hot Rod Red."

"Perfect," Pepper agreed, nodding. "I'm going to call the manufacturer and get them to change the hardware from chrome to gold."

"Can I get a commercial range?" Steve asked longingly, peeking at Pepper over the top of his paper with pleading eyes.

"Oh my god, you're like a puppy," Pepper observed in horror as Tony let out a cackle of a laugh. "Don't do that, it's unsettling! I'll give you anything you want, don't look at me like that ever again!"

"Morning guys," Bruce said uneasily, it still made him a little nervous, coming into a room where they were all engaged in being loud, boisterous, overgrown children.

"Hey, Big Guy!" Tony called over his shoulder, never looking away from the TV. "Join us for the show. After this we're going to cut a gag reel."

"Tea?" Phil held out a mug to him as he walked across the room.

"Thanks," Bruce nodded, taking the mug from him as Phil moved to sit on the arm of the sofa.

"I'm kind of hungry," Bruce admitted. "I'm going to make breakfast, anyone want anything?"

"Oh, don't bother," Pepper insisted. "We shot up the kitchen. Tony's personal contractor will be in to take notes this afternoon."

"You have a personal contractor?" Bruce asked.

"Hi, Tony Stark, nice to meet you," Tony offered by way of reply, waving at Bruce over his shoulder.

"Happy's bringing doughnuts," Pepper added.

"Shouldn't he have been here by now?" Jane asked curiously.

"He just rang in," Clint said, not looking up from his phone. "Hey, Tony looks good in this one."

"If he eats all the Jelly again, he's fired," Tony observed. He let out a cheer, pointing at the TV and high-fiveing Thor as Jane and Phil chuckled.

"Five young men were arrested for indecent exposure in Central Park Saturday morning," Steve stated with a frown.

"You don't say," Betty answered, her eyes sparkling.

"What is this world coming to?" Jane added, Bruce caught the look the women shared and the suspiciously blank expression on Phil's face and smiled.

"Feeling better?" Betty asked softly, slipping her arms around his waist. Bruce sighed, leaning into the corner of the bar and pulling her closer, brushing a kiss on her lips.

"I've said it before," Bruce shook his head. "Chemical mixture that creates chaos." Betty hummed in agreement, snuggling into his chest.

"I like it," she admitted.

"Yeah," He nodded. "Me too."