Ara Jones walked into her usual coffee shop before work to order her usual. It took her forever after moving to Lagos to find a good place for coffee. As she was standing and waiting for her order, she looked around the room and her eyes locked onto a familiar face, well familiar from the news.

"Grande Caramel Macchiato," the barista announced.

"Thank you," Ara said with a smile as she took it and made her way to the table where her target was sitting, "May I join you?" she asked in order to get him to look up.

He didn't take the bait and simply nodded and gestured for her to sit down. Ara frowned slightly because she wasn't a threat to his anonymity in any way and she had found him here completely by chance.

Ara took a deep breath and decided to make a bold move, "Bruce Banner?" she asked before taking a sip of her coffee.

She had gotten his attention and he looked up from the paper he'd been reading and looked at her, his expression showing that he was analyzing her purpose, "You can relax," she added, "I work for the US Embassy here and a lot of people are looking for you but I can keep your secret. I believe in the work the Avengers do," she explained, hoping to put him at ease.

He took a deep breath and shook his head, "I need to get out of here," he said as he started to get up to leave.

Ara placed her hand on top of his to stop him, "You don't have to run. No one has even placed Lagos on the map as a possible location you could be in. If you stay, I can keep you updated on what they're saying and help keep you safe," she offered.

Bruce sat back for the first time actually looking at her, he was amazingly clean and kept for being on the run, "Why? What if your plan is to gain my trust and then let them know exactly where I am?"

"You're going to have to be willing to take that risk but I can tell you that I am a supporter of your work and I don't want you to get caught," she replied, "Here, take my number and if you decide you want to do this then give me a call. I have to get to work," she slid the card across the table.

He didn't react at all as she got up and walked out of the coffee shop still shocked she'd stumbled upon Bruce Banner when the rest of the world was searching for him.

A few days passed with no interaction and Ara was losing hope. She was home after a long day at the Embassy with a stack of files in front of her, laid across the floor while she sipped wine. As she began flipping through the first folder, a cold case, there was a knock on her door.

Ara got up, only in yoga pants and a tank top, and answered the door without asking who it was. Bruce Banner was on the other side, looking rough.

"Why didn't you ask who it was first?" he said through gritted teeth, "I could have been a murderer."

"Technically you are," she replied as she welcomed him in, "You don't look good. What's going on?"

Bruce sank down to her floor so she joined him as he told her, "I saw some guys attacking an old man and I intervened. They got me in the ribs pretty good and I ran because I started to feel like I might lose control. I need you to calm me," he finished, looking up at her.

"You almost hulked out?" she asked, he nodded, "I don't know what to do. I don't know you."

"I just need something to occupy my mind while I hold the big guy in," he added.

Ara sat back for a minute, unsure of what she should do but then she saw the files, "Wanna help me read these old files to make sure we didn't miss anything in our investigations?"

Bruce looked worse then when he walked in but he nodded, "Pass me one."

Ara grabbed the thickest one in her stack and handed it to him, "Do you want ice for your ribs?"

He shook his head as he began to read and she did the same to make sure she didn't do anything to set him off. She didn't know him at all but her heart ached at the sight of him struggling so hard, the physical pain he was in, to hold back the beast within. Most men couldn't find the strength to do that.

Ara became lost in her reading and stopped watching Bruce. An hour or so passed when he broke the silence, "Thank you."

"No problem," she replied, "Do you need anything else?"

He shook his head as he began to stand, Ara resisted the urge to help him as she stood as well. "I need to get out of here," Bruce replied.

"I have an extra bedroom and it's pretty late plus your ribs need time to heal, why don't you just stay till morning?" she offered, watching as he regained his calm more and more.

He started to shake his head then said, "The big guy will heal my ribs and I don't want to put you in any danger. You've been much kinder then you ever needed to be," he added before he left without another word, leaving Ara trying to decide what she felt and what her motivations truly were.