Sorry for the delay on this one. I live in a large household and strep has been hitting us one by one. I'm still feeling mostly like crap, but I think I'm the last one sick, so at least I won't have to be taking care of any other plague victims x.x

Anyways, I've also got a second fic that I should be uploading a chapter of in not too long and I'll probably alternate between the two for updates from now on just because it seems to be easier to write these both at the same time.

Note: Tony, while joking, is completely correct. The cancellation of Firefly is always the saddest part.

Tony was growing anxious as he waited on Banner and so he took a quick swig from a flask in his desk. It was as much to ease his own nerves as for the side effect he'd noticed his drinking had on the doctor. Despite how often he would complain of not having a suit, Bruce put up many shields to keep people from getting too close and Tony had long since identified the shield that went up when he'd been drinking. Put together with the fact that Banner never drank, Tony found himself intoxicated far less often than he had in years past. Tonight, however, he didn't want Bruce getting too close.

Just as he was beginning to wonder what was taking Banner so long, Tony heard the swoosh of the automatic doors as his partner entered the lab.

"So what I've got in mind-" Tony began, but as he turned to face Bruce, the look on his face stopped him. "Whoa, Big Guy, what's wrong? Just calm down, okay. We can go down to the training room and you can smash all you want down there."

Bruce shook his head. "You know what the sad part is, Tony? Well, the saddest part?"

"They canceled Firefly. That's always been the saddest part." Tony laughed a little. He didn't know what had Bruce so upset, but he doubted making light of it would actually help.

Bruce ignored him and continued, "Steve was convinced it was a wedding. Of course, he thought it was yours."

And then it hit. "You talked to Pepper."

"How could you keep this to yourself, Tony? Did nothing I said earlier sink in?" Bruce demanded, closing the distance between them. "I am here for you. I've got your back. But I can't help you if you don't tell me when things get bad."

"And what exactly did you think you could do to help this, huh? It's embarrassing enough to have lived it, but what the fuck good would it do if you knew?"

"Because keeping it all bottled up is sooo healthy," Bruce countered. "Have you seen you lately? You're a damn shell of who you were before. It's clear you're miserable, but it doesn't have to be like that. You're not in this alone. Not anymore!"

Tony could feel his temper getting out of control, but he'd already had too much to drink to hold onto any hope of keeping his mouth shut. "How the hell would you know? You barely let anyone so much as touch you so what the hell would you know about losing the only woman who's ever tolerated you long enough to actually get close? The only only who you ever thought you could actually love?"

As Banner went green around the edges, Tony realized he'd gone too far. In all their time working together, Tony had learned to avoid pressing Bruce for details on his love life. Bruce had refused to so much as consider any of the women Tony had tried to set him up with and when Tony asked if he swung the other way, things were just too awkward. He figured it was because of the Hulk and not trusting himself to stay in control. That was one limit Tony had respected, after all, if anything can get your heart pumping, it's a good lay. He had no problem putting himself in harm's way to provoke Bruce, but he knew the doctor couldn't handle it if he accidentally hurt some unsuspecting woman.

Bruce glared at the ground, taking long, deep breaths and the green quickly subsided. As he lifted his head back up, Tony caught a glimpse of the green in his eyes as even that faded away. The relief was slight, however. At least Tony knew how to handle a physical fight. Sure, he'd lose against the Hulk, but in the end, only bodies were broken in that sort of fight. It was the verbal conflicts that had real consequences and he had long since realized that, for all his quick thinking and sharp wit, he still ended up hurt.

At times, Tony beat himself up over this. How fucked up was it that he's rather risk breaking every bone in his body than say something stupid that he couldn't take back. He found himself wishing Bruce would just throw a punch, but he knew better. Doctor Banner didn't do that halfheartedly. He didn't lose his cool and hit someone; he lost control and Hulk smashed the living fuck out of the offender. So, once again, Tony was stuck dealing with having said the completely wrong thing to someone he never wanted to hurt.

Bruce finally spoke, his voice showing no hint of stress. Did anything really get under his skin? "You're a genius Tony."

"No shit."

"When it comes to computers, technology, whatever the next ten innovations will be, you've got it all figured out before anyone else has a clue."

"Fifteen. At least."

"But when it comes to people, you're absolutely clueless."

That shut Tony up. Even his internal voice was silent at that one. It was true, of course. It was something Tony had always known. What exceedingly few people were willing to tolerate him on a personal level told him this all the time. But hearing Banner say it still hurt.

Bruce pulled out the photo from his jacket pocket and set it on the table. "You don't have all the variables."

Tony picked up the photo and found he did not recognize the woman. She must have been important to Bruce, else why would he have her picture on him, especially a picture of her in a wedding dress. There had been nothing in Banner's file about a wife and, certainly, that would have shown up in the background check Tony ran before they'd even me. What had he missed?

"She's beautiful, huh?" Bruce prompted through a smile that didn't match the ache in his voice.

Tony nodded a little. "Sure."

"We went to Harvard together and before my-" He paused, as if the next word require a special effort to craft. "Accident... we worked together. Elizabeth Ross. Betty."

"Any relation to General Ross?"

"His daughter, actually, but that was never really the problem," Bruce reached for the flask on Tony's desk and took a swig before sitting down. Stunned, Tony sat at the end of the table. "She had no problem defying her father and to this day, tells him that making an enemy of me was the biggest mistake he made for his career." He paused again, taking another swig. "And his family. At least, I would have been."

Tony reached, questioningly for the flask, which Bruce handed off. They took turns drinking as Bruce told Tony about this woman. "Betty and I were both working at Culver when we were approached to work on recreating the super soldier serum. They really didn't give me more details than necessary; I didn't even know the end goal of the project. It sounded suspicious but it was a military contract and Betty's father was involved. I figured I could impress him.

"I thought that we were developing treatment to resist radiation and that combining my results with the serum was the key. I thought for sure I'd figured it all out and bet my own life on it. When I came to, the lab had been destroyed, several had been killed and Betty was in a coma. I found out that we'd actually been working on the super soldier serum and that combining that with the gamma radiation, well, you know."

"The big guy."

"Yeah, anyway, I ran."

"Big surprise there." Tony was trying, really. "I'm glad I put a stop to that habit."

Bruce looked at the flask he'd just picked back up and without taking another swig, he set it back down. He smiled; it was only a half smile, but it was genuine. "I ran for five years before I saw her again. I hadn't wanted to see her. I didn't think I had any right given what I'd done to her."

The smile faded. "But she didn't give me a choice. She had saved all the data from the accident and was quite insistent that I stay with her. Others weren't so eager to see me, Samson, Ross. They attacked and the "Other Guy" attacked back. Betty tried to stop it and almost got hurt, but the "Other Guy" protected her and they escaped.

"We hid together for a while but I was still so new at this. It quickly became clear we couldn't be together without triggering the transformation. She didn't give up, though and forced me not to either. She helped me get to a friend's lab where we worked on an antidote. Shield found us, of course, and sent in General Ross. You might remember the next part, when I, you know, broke Harlem."

Tony nodded. Bruce had mentioned that before and, thought he never brought it up, Tony always suspected that he knew it was Stark tech the army had used.

"I had to leave. I couldn't control the "Other Guy" and I was a fugitive. Betty was there from the start, tried to convince me that I shouldn't blame myself, said she'd wait for me. I checked up on her, after the battle with Loki and the Chitauri, but she moved on, married a military man, like her father. Glenn, I think his name was."

Fuck.