Chapter 2-Her

Bruce looked over at his daughter, the smaller than average eight year old curled up into a ball on one side of the couch. Tony had fallen asleep next to her and she had one hand twirled through his hair. Bruce smiled fondly and stood up, moving silently towards her, to slip two strong arms under her and lift her gently. Her cane left abandoned on the couch, he reminded himself to come back and retrieve it for her later.

She looked so much like Betty, that much was obvious. But the dark hair was his. It was an awkward carry, her legs, still in her braces, couldn't bend so her legs stuck straight out and Bruce was reminded once again, that his daughter wasn't normal. She wasn't going to run and skip and play like the other kids her age. She would always be behind them.

He wondered if she had been bullied because of her disease. He wondered if somehow, his radiation had done this to her. Bruce reached his room and in turn laid Gabriella down softly. He looked at her leg braces and bent slightly, to unstrap them and remove them, they left thin little red marks on her legs.

He set them on the nightstand then grabbed a shirt from one of his drawers and removed her shirt, putting his in its place. It was so long on her that it reached her knees. He then tucked her in, lifting the covers and moving her legs under them.

Then last but not least, he undid her braids, letting her long black hair cascade down her shoulders. He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before leaving the room.

Bruce trudged down the stairs and into the lab, tears snaking themselves down his cheeks. It was the first time in years that he'd cried. He was hoping to get to the lab without any questioning faces from his friends and teammates. It was his fault, he just knew it was. It was his fault that Gabriella would never walk normally, that she would get teased by other children, all his fault.

He found himself in the Lab an hour later just staring at his microscope, trying to focus on anything but the sleeping eight year old upstairs. And that's where Tony found him, bent over, curly hair flopping in front of his eyes. Eyes that have dark circles under them and were still red and puffy from crying. Tony was good at many things, but helping a crying best friend was not one of them.

"Bruce?"

He asked softly and the younger man jumped in surprise and spun around. Tony sighed and rested a heavy hand on his friend's shoulder. Bruce just turned back around, staring into his hands. Imagining Betty's blood on them, Gabriella's blood...what had his blood done to them?!

"It's my fault Tony. The reason Gabriella is the way she is. I-I've seen what my blood did to Betty. What if its the reason that Gabriella has cerebral palsy, that she's...broken?"

He whimpered in a small, broken sounding voice. Tony felt his heart clench at the heartbreaking sound. Tony roughly grabbed Bruce's shoulders and pulled him around to face him.

"Look, Bruce, Gabby is the way she is because she's Gabby. She's perfect just the way she is, your blood did nothing to her. She's amazing and I bet she's just as smart as you. She needs you Bruce. And so do I. Your my Science Bro."

He cried, grinning cheekily when Bruce grinned back. Then Tony led him to a different computer to work on a new Ironman suit model. The cane on the couch left forgotten.

Gabriella didn't dream of pleasant things that night. She dreamt of her first years of life, the years she spent living with Grandpa Ross. He had been trying to find a way to kill the Hulk. But because he didn't have the real Hulk he tested on the next best thing, Bruce's daughter.

She was sweating fiercely as she got tangled in her sheets. She remembered the cold table he strapped her to. The straps cutting into her wrists and ankles, she remembered how the icy feeling of the table chilled her to the bone. She had whimpered, cried for help but he didn't care. He wasn't her kind grandpa anymore, he was General Ross. He had bribed scientists to think of a way to kill the Hulk and to test it on her. She didn't know what they injected her with but it hurt her. That's when they got to meet Her.

Gabriella never called Her anything but 'Her'. Her was always scary to Gabriella. She only came out when Gabriella was scared. Nothing else, just when she feared for her life. Her had no restraint. They couldn't know about Her, what if they did the same things Grandpa did? She whimpered and finally slipped into a semi-restful and fitful sleep.

Gabriella woke up With a start, a heavy blanket on her body. She sat up and yawned, stretching her arms over her head. She looked around for her braces and found them on the table. She hummed a little tune to herself, strapping them on like normal.

Then reached down to where her cane usually was, but she didn't feel the comforting feel of the cold metal on her bare hand. She began to panic as she threw both her arms down further trying to grab the cane she knew had to be there. She didn't feel it, so she ducked down even deeper, then yelped as she did a summersault and fell off the bed.

She began to cry in frustration and angry and she lay on the bed room floor. She pounded her fists on the floor, and grabbed the corner of the nightstand and pulled herself off the floor in a shaky standing position. She panted as she tried to pull one leg forwards but merely fell on her face, she began to whimper. Then steeled herself and began to drag herself across the floor, her fingernails digging into the carpet of the floor as she dragged herself.

"Daddy! Somebody! Help me please!"

She wailed, angrily. Hating how she felt so pitiful and useless. But nobody came running to help her. But the minute she managed to open the door she was face to face with a long steep flight of stairs. She moaned from her bad luck and tried to crawl down the stairs, but the heel of her palm hit the edge of the second step and she knew what was going to happen, a minute before it did. She cried out.

"DADD-!"

She was cut off as she went tumbling down the stairs in a frenzy, flipping over and over, she felt her face get slammed against the ground multiple times and tasted the rusty tang of blood. Finally she reached the bottom, crying from the pain from her face.

"Oh God! Gabriella!"

She heard a familiar voice yell and a young blonde haired man picked her up gently, off the ground in a bridal carry.

"I co'lnt f'nd my c'ne. Or a'ny 'f y'u."

She slurred through her bloody nose and split lip. Steve just looked at her sadly, carrying her into the kitchen where he saw Natasha and Clint talking about something SHIELD related and both looked up in shock as Steve carried in a bloody and bruised Gabriella. He sat her down on the counter and filled an ice pack for both her eyes. He also grabbed a few towels, wetting one lightly and using it to mop away the blood on her face. He smiled when she grinned up at him.

"What happened to Gabe?"

Clint cried, running over, she just smiled and patted him on the shoulder. Trying to convey that she was fine by not talking.

"She left her cane downstairs and couldn't walk without it, she fell down the stairs."

Steve explained and both Clint and Natasha's faces frowned in sympathy. Clint spun on his heels to go and retrieve Bruce and Tony from the lab. While Gabriella sat quietly for Steve's ministrations. She looked better without her face smeared with blood.

"Gabriella!"

Bruce yelled, running over to his daughter, Tony following close behind. She just waited as her father checked her over and took catalog of her injuries. He had a concerned worry frown on his face as he did so.

"Okay, You've taken a pretty bad fall Gabby. But I'll just stitch up this split lip and the rest will heal on its own."

Bruce explained but Gabriella was barely listening. Only being startled out of her thoughts when Bruce came at her with a needle and some surgical thread. A million images passed in front of her eyes. Images of Grandpa's needles going into her arms, her fear blossomed in her chest and her eyes bugged in terror.

Bruce must have sensed her terror because he backed up instantly. She tried to push her way off the counter and Steve jumped forwards to stop her.

"Stop...fine...calm...put!"

He yelled but to Gabriella it felt like it was coming from the end of a tunnel and some of the words were garbled.

"No! No! Leave me ALONE!"

She had whimpered the first part of the sentence but the rest turned into a roar as she shoved Steve backwards with too much strength for a child of her age. Steve looked at her with terrified doe eyes and that was the last thing Gabriella saw before her world went black, to Her screaming.

'LITTLE ONE HURT! LITTLE ONE HURT!'