Darcy was hurt. Everyone saw it. Whatever happiness had been gradually building over the past couple of months seemed to have been squished. For once it seemed like the team were the ones hugging her because she needed it. Except Dr. Banner. She still went down and spoke to him occasionally; trying hard not to leave him out or let things get awkward between them. She left him tea and food sometimes; in lieu of the affection that she was able to give the others. But it was awkward. It was awful.

Somehow she hadn't noticed how attached to him she had gotten in that time she was building up to hugging him. In those months that she made the effort to see him more, get him comfortable with her; she had grown more comfortable with him than she realised. If she was honest with herself she had been falling for him since that moment he had stood shirtless in the doorway after taking care of her.

"Hey, you look nice today." She heard Clint speak from behind her. She knew he was lying. She looked awful.

"Ten for effort, three for delivery. I look awful and we both know it." She replied. "I think I need an early night."

"Come on then, let's go get you some junk food and an early night." He offered, dropping a casual arm around her shoulders and guiding her away from her desk. She didn't bother to argue. It was nice to know to feel loved and special even if it was in a platonic way.

"What did you do to Lewis?"

Bruce sighed as he glanced towards the billionaire leant against his doorframe.

"Nothing." He replied, eyes going back to his work. "She even brought me tea and a cupcake earlier, see?"

"Yeah, that's not gonna fly." Tony sniffed. "Let me take a guess here; she asked you out, you shot her down."

"I shot her down." He confirmed, not feeling the need to explain the more physical aspects of the situation. "Are we done?"

"Why? Why would you do that?" Tony asked, shaking his head. "You're a forty year old scientist; that spends all his time hiding in a private lab in yesterday's clothes. When a hot twenty-five year old with amazing breasts and a great personality throws themselves at you, you don't shoot them down. You get on your knees and thank God for the present."

"Tony, I'm done talking about this." He said.

"Yeah, well too bad, cause I'm not." He replied. "She's upset over you, you hurt her, that's a problem."

"If I'd have said yes, I'd have ended up hurting her more." He said gravely.

"Ah, so this is about the rage thing." Tony nodded. "I sort of get that. Except the part where I don't. Look, no one is forcing you to jump into the sack with her; they might think you're crazy not to but hey, your call. What's the harm in flirting? Date the girl! Your control is as near total as it's ever going to get Brucie boy; you should be approaching this like an experiment. One step towards the end goal at a time; if your control slips you back off but I'm willing to bet it won't."

"You'd risk that?"

"That's not my call but she's met the other guy, she still thought you were worth the risk." He shrugged. "And for some reason she is still all broken up over you."

"Why?" Bruce mouthed almost to himself, his face scrunched up in confusion.

"Maybe you should ask her."

It was after several hours of internal arguments, debates and reasoning that Bruce found himself knocking on Darcy's door. He had told himself it was better to leave it, to just walk into his own suite and leave the girl alone but as he eyed her door at the end of the hall he changed his mind. For some reason, Darcy was upset and he had caused that, he needed to fix it.

He was slightly startled when Darcy wasn't the one that answered the door, instead one of his teammates gave him a rather frank stare before speaking.

"You've got two minutes, if she is crying when I get back to check, you're leaving." Clint said firmly, holding the door open and stepping out himself.

"Understood." He nodded, feeling somewhat embarrassed that apparently whatever was going on between him and Darcy was obvious to everyone.

As he shut the door behind him, his eyes fell on the small woman curled up in one corner of her couch. Her eyes and nose were red, she had obviously been crying at some point recently and he could tell she was surprised to see him.

"What are you doing here?" She asked quietly, sitting up straighter and untucking her legs from beneath her.

"You're upset." He said unnecessarily.

"You noticed that huh?" she snorted.

"Yeah I um...why?" he asked, hovering awkwardly.

"Just some asshole." She shrugged, avoiding his eyes. "I'll get over it."

"And if this asshole was sorry?"

"Is he?" she countered.

"He's sorry you're upset."

"What do you want?" she sighed.

He moved to sit beside her on the couch and stared at his linked hands in front of him and took a few moments before speaking.

"I am sorry. That...before didn't go well." He said quietly. "It's been a long time since I even considered the thought of someone being involved with me. I could've explained better."

"No, you explained just fine. You can't get involved. I get it."

"Wait." He said, his hands resting on her upper arms and turning her to face him. "I...whatever we have here, I didn't expect it and… Darcy, if I'm going to at least try this I just want to know...why me? I don't get how you could...want to; I mean there's the age thing, the other guy, the fact I practically live in my lab... Darcy, you could do so much better, why would you risk getting hurt for someone like that?"

"Have you not seen you?" She frowned. "You're freaking adorable! You're hot, you're smart and you're like one of the nicest guys I know. Besides, who said I was giving you a second chance anyway?"

"That's true, I just wanted to know that you had thought more about this than a roll around on the couch before I started pleading for one." He grinned.

"You want a second chance?" She asked, biting her lower lip.

"I can't promise that I'll be-" he cut himself off and shook his head. "Yes, I want a second chance."

"Who am I kidding, you get a second chance, hell you could probably get like six chances." She grinned sheepishly.

"You need to understand, I can't just... Look, I haven't even tried dating in a long time, years, I can't just jump into bed with you." He told her taking her hands in his.

"I can do slow." She assured him. "Don't get me wrong, I'd totally be fine with fast too but I can do slow."

"Please never think it's because I don't want you." He assured her, one hand moving to cup her jaw. "Whenever I need to stop, if I need to leave, if it looks like I'm running away from you; it's never because of you. I just need to keep you and everyone else safe."

"OK," she sucked in a deep breath and nodded. "If you're going to be running on me, we need some ground rules."

"Rules?" he blinked in surprise.

"Yes, Rule number one, you are allowed to run if you genuinely need to. Rule number two, if you tell me to run I will do as I'm told. Only when you tell me to run." She told him.

"Thank you." He sighed, tugging her face towards his and resting his forehead against hers. "If the other guy ever breaks out without warning you are to get away and hide as fast as possible."

"OK that's three. Rule number four, if you run away you must always come back, even if it's not until the next day." She told him. "Oh and Rule number five, kisses are totally allowed. Even if that's all we can have until you're ready, I want all the kisses."

"Oh I think kisses are definitely allowed." He murmured, shifting his head to catch her lips in a kiss to prove his point.

As Clint made his way back towards Darcy's suite to check on her, he found himself pausing at the sound of laughter. He could easily pick out the laughter of both Darcy and Banner, warmth and happiness practically resonated from the young woman's voice. He smiled to himself and turned on his heel to head back the way he had come.

"Is that Darcy?"

Clint looked up to see Steve stepping out of the elevator.

"Sure is." He nodded. "Let's hope Banner made the right call."

Steve reflected back on that morning a couple of months ago and how Bruce had acted around Darcy since. The small woman seemed to have a way of getting Bruce to relax and be himself that very few people had, he was happy for him. Although he could understand how Clint might be feeling protective of Darcy, Steve had known several women with no superpowers or extreme training measures that had been more than capable of taking care of themselves and he was willing to bet that Darcy Lewis was one of them.

"He made the right call." Steve assured him.

Darcy and Bruce's Rules

1: Bruce has permission to run away if absolutely necessary
2: If Bruce says Run, Darcy agrees to run
3: In case of Code Green, Darcy must run and hide
4: Bruce must always come back after running
5: Darcy gets all the kisses
6: If Bruce works late three or more days in a row, Jarvis will lock him inside the apartment for 12-24 hours as Darcy chooses
7: Whoever eats the last of the chocolate ice cream must order more
8: Birthday's, Anniversarys, Easter, 4th July, Halloween, Christmas Day and New Years Eve are non-science days. No exceptions.
9: If Darcy is still watching Netflix at midnight Jarvis is to shut it down until 6am unless it is a Team Movie night, as she needs rest too.
10: Tony must sleep on the couch, not in the bed, even if Pepper is away and everyone is fully clothed.