[[music score for chapter above]]

[[Arielle P.O.V.]]

My eyes begin to flutter open, my consciousness slowly coming back to me as I feel Bruce's delicate and careful arms place me down onto a hospital type bed in his and Tony's lab. I keep my eyes shut, waiting to see what he plans on doing next. Why did he bring me to the lab?

After he lays me down, he walks over to a closet. I peak my eyes open just barely enough to see his movement, watching as he takes off his suit jacket and places it on a table across the room.

He grabs a few things from the closet, and makes his way back over to me. I shut my eyes again. He pulls up a chair, sitting down next to me as he begins to hook up something around me, the clatter and stringing of things confusing the hell out of me. What the hell is he doing?

Suddenly my hand is met with a sharp pinch. My eyes open immediately and I wince in slight pain.

"Sorry." Bruce whispers gently as he looks up at the banana bag that's now hooked up to me. "A banana bag?" I question. He nods, cracking a small smile as he shakes his head. "Trust me—you need it." His voice...his tone sounds so normal—like it always used to. He doesn't sound scared or sad or mad or anything else. Just normal. Just happy.

Just Bruce.

"Thank you..." I say, looking into his eyes in emotional agony. I've wanted to just kiss him, hold him in my arms or vice versa since the second I was told he escaped Loki and Viola. Seeing him and not being able to express the way I feel about him has been eating me alive. I wish he'd just trust me....trust himself.

The other guy would never hurt me. I know that for a fact. I wish he would believe that.

"Mhmm..." Bruce mumbles as he checks my hand, placing some tape over the needle to hold the IV in place. I lay my head back, feeling cold and sweaty. I start to get the shivers. Without a word or even a comment Bruce quickly walks over to grab his suit jacket, and then he walks back to me—placing it over me to warm my body and stop my shivers. I just watch him with loving eyes, swallowing thickly as I slowly begin to feel a bit better. He sits back down in his chair beside me, looking down nervously.

"How did I get here?"

"I carried you." His head raises, his eyes looking into mine again.

"Really? Was I heavy?"

Bruce chuckles as I say this, shaking his head. "That's what you're worried about?" I nod, "Of course. Maybe I need to lose some weight or—." Bruce interrupts me, "You definitely don't need to lose any weight. You look fine."

"Just fine?"

"You look more than fine."

"What do I look like?"

"Do you really have to hear me say it?" Bruce questions, his eyes narrowed with confusion. I nod, "I haven't heard it in so long." I let out a small sigh.

"You heard it earlier. But you were just too drunk to remember." Bruce argues.

"That was only like an hour or so ago. I remember it." I admit.

Bruce stares at me, clenching his jaw tightly as his eyes study me carefully. He looks like he's in deep thought. Maybe even annoyance with me. I can't tell.

"What are you thinking?" I finally ask after a brief moment of silence.

"You don't need to know what I'm thinking right now." He says with a small laugh under his breath, so small that I barely even notice it at first.

I begin to argue with him, "No, tell me."

Bruce ignores me, getting up from his chair and walking over to the lab station.

"Bruce..." I plead.

He takes a deep breath, turning his back to me. He raises his arms, placing his hands on the back of his head—taking another deep breath.

"Bruce." I say once more.

He quickly turns around to face me, his hands dropping quickly. "I'm thinking that I made a mistake!" His voice raises slightly. His unpredictable eyes flash a radioactive green. I narrow my brows in confusion, still laying on the bed. "A mistake? With what?" I ask nervously, scared for his answer.

"This—keeping...keeping myself away from you." He starts. And from there, the words begin to soar out of him uncontrollably. "I...I have this craving for you, every..damn...day. I think about you even when I tell myself to stop thinking about you, when I'm not around you I'm on edge, like, like you're the only thing that keeps me in check." He admits. I look up at him, my heart beginning to flutter from his words.

He's finally admitting it. He's been feeling the same way that I have.

"I feel this—this gaping hole in my chest. This...hunger for you every time I see you. It's like this aching feeling that won't go away. And I can't—I can't do it anymore, Arielle. I can't just sit by and ignore you or halt working with you—I miss it. I miss all of it. I miss being with you every day. This is so, so stupid. Tony was right. And so are you." He finally admits, his eyes even becoming a bit glossy as his face drops with sadness and realization.

My eyes widen, my heart beating faster and faster with happiness and joy as I slowly begin to sit up. Bruce stares at me, just a few feet away from the bed. He places his hands behind him on the lab table, almost as if he's holding himself back.

I take a deep breath, looking into those perfect chocolate brown eyes with so much love and desire. I pull the tape from my hand, pulling out the IV quickly as I stand up from the bed and walk over to him.

"Arielle—."

"When it's real, you can't walk away." I interrupt him, looking up at him. He tries to turn his head from me but I pull him back down to me.

"Bruce." I whisper.

He looks down at me, his eyes diving deep into mine.

"I can't walk away from you. I won't." I whisper, leaning in even closer. So close that our lips almost touch. "You already know how I feel about you."

"I'm scared." He says softly, his voice quieter. I caress his cheekbone with my thumb, shaking my head. "I'm scared that I might hurt you. Im scared that I might lose control."

"I'm not." I whisper.

Bruce's chest slowly begins to pump up and down faster, his breathing getting heavier as if he's struggling to make a move.

"I just..." He whispers, licking his lips—his eyes still staring into mine.

Without another word, he places both of his hands on either side of my head, his lips crashing deeply onto mine.