A/N: I don't own it if you recognize it. :)


Sunday morning Justine woke up late, her only alarm clock being the light glaring through her window, and hitting directly where her eyes were. With a groan, she was forced to accept that the next day had come, and she had to face it. After jumping in the shower, she debated what to eat, figuring out that she would need to go to the store relatively soon... or else she would be stuck eating cheerios and top ramen. Sitting down with her meager breakfast of a frozen egg sandwich, she watched the weather channel, learning that the next few days would be sunny.

Glancing at the clock, and seeing it was around eleven already, she went and got dressed, deciding to go for a walk, knowing the smog would be poisoning her lungs the entire way... but at least she'd be getting exercise. The devil and the deep blue sea – or thick carbon smoke in this case.

It wasn't long before Justine found herself on her cousin's front steps, completely wishing that just for once she would take her parent's money – she wished she could afford an apartment like Emma had. Then again, Emma had Mr. Stark's favor; he had apparently paid for some of the Broadway apartment with concierge, if not the whole thing. Emma simply wouldn't put herself in an apartment like that, it was too grandiose for someone like her... she enjoyed simplicity.

Walking up the stairs, she waved to Emma's neighbor – who stopped her to talk for a bit. Well, flirt really. Somehow managing to get away from him, she walked to Emma's apartment, her steps a little heavy as she dealt with how tired she was. Her eyes were crossing slightly, and she had already tripped twice. There was no doubt she was tired from her marathon-length walk, she just wished that she had decided to take the elevator instead of insisting on her body being in shape and walking up the stairs. Laziness wouldn't have been bad just this once, would it?

The door opened on the second ring, and Emma opened the door. "Hey you – wow, you look like Sleeping Beauty probably really looked as she woke from her slumber. Are you alright?" she said, noting the darkness under Emma's eyes.

"Yeah, I'm great. I just had a hard night's sleep... the damn dreams kept bothering me. That and I walked all the way here... I know, you're shocked. Well, so am I. Anyways, how long do you think until they go away?" she asked, flopping down on the couch, greeting five year old Andrew. "The dreams, I mean."

Emma shrugged, "How should I know? I wasn't here when it happened, furthermore I'm a lawyer, not a psychologist." she replied, "You didn't call me back, you know."

"Yeah, I talked to my mom. Once I realized that I should talk to you, it was too late." Justine answered, "So how's your time been with the Captain? Having fun?"

"The guy is awesome, I almost regret the fact that I'm married." Emma sighed, "But, I am.. and happily. I shouldn't complain really. I'm sure some girl is going to be very happy with him one day, and will be very fortunate. They don't make guys like him anymore."

Justine nodded, taking the glass of water that Emma offered her. "You're telling me. Hey, I met Dr. Banner yesterday." she said, "We actually talked for a bit."

"Oh? Did you have fun?" Emma asked.

"Yeah, he's a pretty cool guy. He actually listened to me. I know, shocking isn't it?" Justine asked.

Emma shook her head, "No. Bruce is a scientist, who tends to be a loner. He's a pretty cool guy, but he's afraid of himself really..."

"Why?" Justine asked, "He seems like a well-put-together guy. Well, more than just well. Despite my tendency not to really look at people with attraction, I cannot deny that the Doctor is aesthetically pleasing."

"Is that your complicated scientific way of saying you find him attractive?" Emma asked.

Justine shrugged, "Yep. But why would he be afraid of himself?"

Her cousin's face held a pensive look. "Think Jekyll and Hyde. And that's all I'm saying."

"So he's a mad scientist who became his own guinea pig, and in turn became some kind of a monster?" Justine tried, "You're pulling my leg."

"Maybe... maybe not." Emma joked, "Not that it matters. Hey, are you going to the lab today?"

Justine thought on it a moment. On one hand, she wanted to go and get a little more work done, maybe see Dr. Banner while she was there. On the other hand, she didn't want to be seen as a workaholic if Bruce did see her. Tough decision. "Why? Are you going to see your Captain?" she asked instead.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Firstly: he is not my Captain." she said sternly, "I have a lieutenant who adores me and I adore in turn. Secondly: yes, he's taking me and Andrew out for lunch and then we'll go to the tower and start learning about how to operate a smart phone."

"Is this guy really that backwoods?" Justine asked. She didn't know who Steve Rogers was, just that his name was oddly familiar... and that her cousin was helping him with rehabilitation. Apparently he'd been living under a rock for the last ten years or so, as a scientific experiment. Justine felt sorry for the guy.

"Steve is fine, Justine. He's not backwoods, he's old fashioned." Emma defended.

Justine held her hands up in surrender, "Geez, I didn't know you made friends so fast. This guy must be something special if you're already defending him."

"He's awesome!" Andrew exclaimed, speaking for the first time as he played with his Captain America action figure, making him 'jump' and land on the table. "Like Captain America!"

"Are you going to the lab?" Emma pushed her earlier question, ignoring Justine's implications.

"I don't know. I might go just to watch you and your caveman have lunch, so that I can report to Garrett you're nothing more than friends." Justine teased as she watched Andrew make his Ironman figurine pick Captain America up and fly away. Emma glared at Justine. Her chocolate brown eyes glittering rather threatening, "Okay! That was a joke! I didn't mean anything by saying you and your Captain have anything going. I know you're in love with Garrett, and nothing will stop that. I'm just messing with you Em."

"You better be." Emma replied as the doorbell rang. "That's probably him."

"Speak of the Captain and he shall appear." Justine murmured as Emma walked toward the door.

"Behave." Emma whispered as she looked through the peephole.

Justine rolled her blue eyes, "Emma! Don't I always?"

Emma just raised her eyebrow, opening up the door to greet Steve as Andrew suddenly jumped up and ran toward the guest. Justine had to laugh, apparently the Captain had the kid's approval, who was she to intervene?

When he walked in, Justine wondered what they fed the men at Stark Tower. If Lyle was anything to go by – and the guy was an Apollo – Steve Rogers was Adonis. He had the perfect American-boy look, with the blue eyes set in a very handsome face, complete with a strong jawline which would make any girl swoon. She had to keep herself from allowing her jaw to drop as she took in all 6'1" of him. She had to admit, the guy was good looking, with the perfect amount of sweetness.

"Hi, you must be Ms. Worthington!" he greeted, extending his hand awkwardly as Andrew clung to his tall frame.

"Just Justine, thanks." she replied, taking his hand a lot quicker than she had done with Dr. Banner. Sure, he was good looking, but she had to admit he was more Emma's type than hers. Emma had always liked the strong, boy-next-door-that-you-have-a-crush-on, soldier types. Both Garrett and Steve fit the bill, and even had matching blond hair. Maybe Emma was just missing her husband. "You must be Captain Rogers."

"That I am, Ma'am." she had to smirk, on top of the good-looks, he had old-school manners. "Emma's told me a lot about you."

Justine looked at her cousin, "Hopefully only good things... well, truthful things."

"She has, I can assure you." Steve said with his bright smile, "You work up at Stark Tower don't you?"

"Yeah, up at R&D." Justine replied, trying to keep her degree somewhat of a secret. She wouldn't want to bore the guy, after all he wasn't a scientist like Dr. Banner, he wouldn't understand her.

Emma quickly asked if Andrew was ready to go, and got her purse. The boy said he was, and began showing Steve how his Captain America action figure worked. Steve had laughed as the action figure's knees went inward, then outward as Andrew turned them.

"Well, if he doesn't have opposable thumbs... at least he has opposable knees." Justine joked, watching as Steve's face suddenly turned beet red. She laughed, "I'm sorry Captain, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

Suddenly, her brain turned on like a lightbulb. Steve Rogers! Now she knew where she had heard that name. But surely this guy was only named after the infamous Captain America, there was no way he was him.

"Ready to go, Tina?" Emma said as she returned to the room.

"Yeah." Justine replied, "Come on Captain America!" she shouted to the young Andrew, laughing to herself as Steve and Emma exchanged a glance.

Hey, maybe it was the same guy... she quickly discounted that thought as just being her overactive imagination. No matter the serum that she'd heard the original guy was injected with, she sincerely doubted that he would have lived this long. Seventy years was pushing it.

Andrew shouted something which could be deciphered as 'America' and ran out to the hallway and down the stairs, his mother calling after him to slow down and wait for her. Justine just laughed, and followed the little guy, keeping him from running out of the building as Steve and Emma came down the stairs at a slower pace. Once outside, Andrew practically demanded that he be put on Steve shoulders.

Justine had to give the guy credit, he demanded that Andrew ask instead of order. Something about respect for elders and parents. Emma hadn't been kidding. Steve Rogers was old fashioned.


When they arrived at their destination, Justine was surprised to see the table assigned to them already had an occupant: Bruce Banner. She ducked her head, wishing she had left her blond hair down just this once...she didn't want him to see her ever-growing blush. The doctor had stood up, greeting Steve in a friendly manner before turning to Emma and doing the same.

"Its good to see you, Bruce. You're too much of a lab rat, spending all your time bent over a microscope will give you scoliosis." Emma teased.

Bruce smiled, "Well, then I'll need a good lawyer to help me fight Tony regarding the hospital bills. It will be all his fault in the end." he replied, suddenly looking at Justine who was trying to 'hide' behind Steve. "Miss Worthington! Steve didn't tell me you were coming." Bruce said.

Justine smiled, watching as Steve moved out of the way to try to help Emma get Andrew adjusted. "Well, I don't think Steve knew I was coming. Not even Emma did, I was impromptu this morning, I just showed up." she told him as she set her jacket on the back of her chair and was seated across from him.

Andrew insisted on sitting next to Steve, and wanted Emma to be on his other side, so Justine was ousted a few moments later and placed next to Bruce instead as Andrew settled in between the two. Justine smirked at Emma, they actually looked like a little family – poor Garrett, when he returned he would find his son had adopted his mother's student as his surrogate father.

"They're kinda cute together." Bruce commented as he watched Emma and Steve as well.

Justine scoffed, "Don't tell Emma that... or her husband. She got really defensive today when I mentioned it, I thought she might have bitten my head off if I wasn't more careful... which I wasn't." she said. Bruce smiled.

"I doubt that, Emma wouldn't bite your head off, she likes you too much." Bruce replied, taking out his glasses and looking at the menu.

"So, did you finish your research yesterday?" she suddenly asked him, looking over the options for sandwiches. She couldn't decide whether she wanted a reuben or a roast beef sandwich, she knew both were good.

Bruce smiled, "Yeah, I did. I started to try to work on a few cells which had been permanently damaged. After using the formula I got it to start working... then it suddenly did the opposite. I have to work on the formula before I begin again." he said.

"What were you trying to reconstruct? What types of cells?" Justine asked.

Her companion looked down at his menu, "Hybridized cells. They had been damaged due to some... experimentation. Radiation specifically." he replied as the waitress came over and took their order. Justine placed her order, taking a sip of her iced tea as she thought of what may have happened in Bruce's experiment. After all, molecules and cells were her specialty.

She turned toward him, "Perhaps the fact that they had been radiated was the reason why the formula didn't work." she suggested, "The formula is specialized for normal cells, radiation throws an entirely new dynamic to the process. You would have to add the same radiation to the formula, or something which would be compatible, to make the formula attach to that particular aspect." she blushed, suddenly looking down. "Or something like that. I've never dealt with radiation, so I'm a little in the dark in that respect."

"No, no, you're right." Bruce said after a moment, "I don't know why I didn't think of it. The radiation to the cells would make the formula react differently than if they had been normal. Genetically, the cells were changed. You think there might be a way to make the formula adhere to those specifically altered dna strands?"

Justine shrugged, "Considering I don't know what changed, I am a little like the blind leading the blind; but its possible to adjust the formula to become compatible to the radiation. May I ask, are you trying to adverse the radiation's effects?" she asked.

"Lessen them. The radiation has caused the... subject to change physically. I at least want to make it a little more manageable." Bruce replied. "Does that make sense?"

Justine's mind went into scientific mode, completely understanding what Bruce was relaying to her. "Yeah, I get what you're saying. Okay. There is a way, I'm just not so sure of when it would be ready or how effective. You have to get the formula just right before you mess with the cells, or else you may wind up making your subject worse in whatever regard." she replied. "It may not even be Cellrec which will do it."

Bruce nodded thoughtfully, "Maybe you can check it out – not that I don't trust Wes, but a new opinion may be good." he murmured. "Are you coming to the lab today?"

"Yeah, I think so." she said, Emma looked over at her, a brown eyebrow raised. "I can get some work done." Emma gave her a knowing look, the same one Justine used to give her and Garrett. It was something which made Justine adjust in her chair. "Or not, I mean, I don't know."

"Well, if you are, you can come up and see how the formula is looking. You might be able to help out." Bruce offered. "That is, if you want to."

Justine looked at Emma, whose smile was getting wider before she ducked her head down to deal with her son. "Yeah, sure. I have no other plans." she finally said as the waitress came back with the food.

"Okay, who ordered the reuben?"

Steve rose his hand, and the plates started getting passed around.


Once back at the Tower, the two groups split up. Emma and Steve went to the apartments to work on their lessons, and the scientists went to R&D. It was decided that they would go to Bruce's floor, the forty-ninth, as that was where the formula and its subject were being tested. However, the allowing of Justine to the floor had to be cleared first by Jarvis and Tony. Somehow Pepper Potts got involved – which Justine figured was more Emma's doing than the CEO of Stark Industries – and within half-an-hour, Justine and Bruce were headed for the forty-ninth floor.

When the elevators opened, Justine couldn't help but be awed. Among the microscopes and various machines, which were used for much more meticulous work than she did, were large glass plates which were used for screens. Everything here was high-tech.

"Like it?" Bruce asked as he watched her take in the floor with wonder.

"Like it?" Justine repeated, "This is like the best lab I've ever seen. I don't think even NYU had machines like this. And we certainly don't have this down at my lab."

"They didn't, and you don't." Bruce replied, "This is all Stark's stuff. Tony makes it so that he can do his own R&D, and its the best for him. No itty-bitty microscopes here. Its all high-tech or no tech. No middle road."

"I'll bet its nice to work with. There seems to be a lot of stuff here, that if I had my hands on, would cut my work time in half." Justine said. "Man."

Bruce chuckled, "Probably. But here, this way is where I have my stuff going." he said, leading her to a table off to the side.

Justine followed, trying not to feel envious of his position. She figured she could probably do a lot more research on the higher-powered microscopes here than at her table, in half the time. Everything here was about ease, and everything downstairs was about work. It made her almost feel inferior. Yet, she couldn't help but feel as if she were indeed with one of the most brilliant minds of the scientific field – so really she should be looking at him in awe. Which she was.

"So, here it is." Bruce showed her the screen which showed the image of the high-powered microscopes' sight. "The cells are here, and I injected the formula. As you can see, they didn't work out very well." he said, running a hand through his dark hair and putting his glasses on. "You said the radiation might be the cause?"

She'd say! The cells were three times their natural size, the swelling obvious by the fact that there actually were one or two cells which were normal sized. The bigger ones were crammed tightly on whatever slide he had put them on, some of the more normal looking ones had even burst from the containment; their remnants could be seen in between their companions.

"Yeah, I'd say that's more like 'cell explosion' than 'cell reconstruction'. To say it went adverse to what was expected would be an understatement." she said, looking closely as she noted the cells had turned green in their hue. "Its a good thing you didn't just inject this into your subject. He would have exploded from the inside out. I mean, it might have reconstructed the normal looking cells, but forget those behemoths, they would have made him implode."

Bruce laughed mirthlessly, "Yeah, well, he already has that problem." he said with a tone of sincerity. "Do you have any idea of what could affect the cells which were radiated in a positive way, as well as not damage the cells which are normal?"

Justine smirked, shaking her head as she let out a sigh. "I honestly don't know. First of all, what kind of radiation are we talking about, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Gamma." Bruce answered simply.

"Hmm..." Justine looked at the cells one more time. "Its possible. I'd have to do some research first. Gamma radiation can be harmful or helpful depending on its usage – though I think you already know about that based on your own research. However, we're going to have to work with both of the types of cells. The normal ones seem to be adversely affected, probably due to the minimum amount of gamma radiation they were exposed to." she looked a little closer, "Can I get a copy of this image perhaps? I can do some research on the whole 'gamma radiation' caboodle and try to figure something out for you. Well, if you don't mind me interfering."

Bruce smiled, "Sounds good. Remember, I brought you up here." he replied, "I can send that to you. In the meantime, why don't I show you a few more things. I've been working on this little serum here, perhaps you can help?"


Justine finally collapsed on her bed that night, after several hours of being at Stark Towers, her brain feeling fried from working in overdrive. She had spent the entire afternoon with Dr. Banner, learning just what it was that he was doing with his 'subject-who-was-not-named'. Apparently the guy was focused on privacy. It was agreed that she would do research on the affects of radiation on the formula which had been provided, and she would bring the results of her findings to him the next Monday. The concept was easy enough, surely.

She actually felt sorry for whoever the guy was that had this little problem. If his cells reacted in such a violent way, then obviously he probably reacted similarly. She relayed this thought to Bruce earlier, jokingly asking if his subject was by any chance 'the Hulk'. Bruce had simply chuckled, and said 'He might be.' yeah, like that was possible. She sincerely doubted that a guy who had such massive anger management issues was going to willingly be some subject for any doctor. Not that it wouldn't have been nice to meet the guy who had saved her life six months ago, it would be nice to thank him with his knowledge of what he did.

Her thoughts were what lulled her to sleep, as she looked – yet didn't look – forward to the next day. After all, it was already midnight, and she had to get up in six hours.


Bruce himself was a little more introverted that night as he did his research. He had to admit, he had had fun while explaining to Justine what he was working on, despite the fact that more than once he had been forced to ignore her little jokes about his 'subject' being the Hulk. She was observant, he had to give her that.

Nevertheless, now he knew he might need her help; besides, a new opinion never hurt anybody, and she might even be able to come up with the answer of what to do. So, he decided that after the weekend – if she had been able to do the research she said she would – he would ask Tony if he might be able to up her clearance. Working with her might be fun. Besides, she had a calmness to her; who knew, it might be good for him to have a partner who wouldn't try to electrocute him just to get a rise.

However, his stomach was demanding food, and he despite the fact it was two o'clock in the morning, he went to get something to eat.


Hey there :D Thank you guys for reviewing, it was nice to see three people want me to continue. Also, thanks for telling me that Justine was a very original oc... that made my day. :D I Hope i live up to expectations, and that this chapter is good... if not, please let me know. Leave your reviews below :D