Disclaimer: I don't the Avengers. I do own Lily.

Day 4

The first thing I felt this morning wasn't a beam of warm sunlight hitting my face. It wasn't a hand on my shoulder, or a fuzzy cat ticking my nose. To be fair, the sun wasn't out yet, I wasn't sleeping with anyone, and I'd never owned a cat in my life.

The first thing I did feel this morning was a crusty set of eyes. Not only was it disgusting, but it reminded me of all the horrible thoughts I had last night. I let it all out on my pillow, which was still a little wet. It put one hell of a damper on my day.

Oh well. I took a slow shower and tried washing the redness from my face. It didn't work. My green eyes felt puffy and agitated, and looked every bit of it. Makeup was enough to cover it, but I could still feel it. I gave up after a few minutes.

A check of the closet verified that I had been given an extra uniform for when I didn't want to wash the first one. They must think I'm lazy or something. Weird.

With a quick straighten of my hair and squeezing into that uniform, I was ready to face the day with a bright (if faked) smile.

I figured that I would pass out coffee until my "guests" arrive, or at least until Fury tells me that it isn't my job. He was sure to do it at some point. It wouldn't hurt to defy a little bit of authority though. Would it?

I used the standard 50 black, 50 cream and sugar method until I ran out of coffee. Fury hadn't stopped me yet, which I shouldn't be discouraged by. Everyone was so appreciative and nice. They treated me like a baby. Phil's baby.

Of all the things I imagined interning at SHIELD would be like, boring was never even possibly considered at any time. Now, sitting on the kitchen counter all alone with a tree of broccoli, I was bored out of my mind. Lunch time was only two hours away, but I didn't have anyone to deliver it to.

I filled my time by arranging a vegetable wedding, then realizing how retarded I was being, and finally getting more bored than ever before and eating them.

A strange sort of vibration moved throughout the carrier and was followed by a soft hum. A look out the window confirmed my fears- we were flying.

I laid my head down on the counter until it started hurting. My phone was just out of reach. I wriggled until I could get to it.

You're friends just got here. Get down to the workroom. Vegetable marriages are unproductive.

How did he see that? I reminded myself of the fact that my uncle is a secret agent and pinched the bridge of my nose.

How old was that text? 14 minutes.

I was panting by the time I got to the workroom. Absolutely panting. I paused before walking in, as I didn't want them to think of me as being so out of shape.

Of course, all eyes still turned to me. Three new faces filled the room.

Fury looked a little annoyed.

Mr. Rogers looked a little confused, but happy. I was Mr. Roger's neighbor *insert chuckle*.

Ms. Romanoff looked confused as well, but I could tell she didn't want to show it.

Maria was scowling. When was she not?

Dr. Banner looked puzzled. It was really an adorable expression.

Phil was grinning. He was so proud of me, even when I'd been lying down in the kitchen.

"Ms. Coulson, do you have an excuse for being late?" Fury asked with a booming voice.

I scratched the back of my neck. "Honestly, I was in the kitchen… playing with broccoli."

A beautifully awkward silence ensued.

"We watched," Maria said, as her scowl turned a bit more menacing.

Oh God. No. NO. I could've passed that off as a joke, but now I was screwed. Screwed to hell.

I've just destroyed any fragment of respect these people had or could've had for me. Broccoli? Really?

They must've noticed my look of horror, as nearly half of them cracked a smile.

"You gotta commend this girl for her honesty. That's amazing," Ms. Romanov smiled a little.

"And imagination," Dr. Banner added with a wider smile.

Fury looked back at me. "Ms. Coulson, I don't want to hear about you wasting food again."

"Oh no, I didn't waste them. I ate everything." Shut up, Lily. Just shut up.

Every smile got a little bigger, and as the equal and opposite reaction, Maria's scowl grew exponentially.

"Right. Don't do it again." Fury sighed. He continued talking to the team about locating the Tesseract, which I'd come to find out was the big blue cube in basement three.

I edged closer to Phil. He had a big grin on his face.

"How bad was it?" I asked with a nervous expression.

"It wasn't that horrible. I thought it was sweet," he laughed.

"God. What did Fury do?"

"He almost smiled. I hope you know how impressive that is."

I wasn't exactly proud. I'm sure Fury thought I had some form of mental handicap, and I couldn't blame him. He kept giving me odd looks, but didn't everyone? I couldn't imagine what the others thought of me, apart from being honest and having a good imagination.

"Do you know where the lab is?" Phil asked suddenly. It snapped me out of my daydream.

"No, should I?"

"After Fury's done talking to Banner he'll probably ask you to take him there."

"How do you get there?" I was suddenly scared at the prospect of showing them around. I didn't know where anything was, save the kitchen and my room.

"You go down the hallway you come in here from and then take a left. It's hard to miss."

"What about their rooms?"

"They're all in the same general area as yours."

"Phil, my room is in a big-ass general area," I was getting really anxious now. I didn't want to get lost in front of these people. At least I knew where the lab was now.

"Just look around a little. You'll find it eventually," he rubbed my arm before walking out, "Good luck," he whispered.

"Thanks," I whispered back.

On cue, Fury turned to me. "Ms. Coulson, escort Dr. Banner to his lab, please."

"Yes, Sir," I nodded and fell into step with the Dr.

I tried to recall Phil's words. Hallway you came from, take a left.

I walked down the hallway with confidence, but faltered with the left turn. He didn't exactly specify what kind of a left turn I was to make. Sharp left turn, soft left turn, door on the left, second hallway left.

I silently hoped that Dr. Banner wasn't noticing my distress, but of course, the guy's pretty smart and he caught on fast. He was still patient though, and very polite about it.

I finally turned to him and mouthed a sorry. He smiled when I called Phil, who was on speed dial, of course.

"Hi, Phil."

"Is something wrong?"

"No nothing's wrong. I'm just kind of… lost here."

A roar of laughter came through the other end of the connection.

"Phil, this isn't funny, man. It's pretty embarrassing actually," my cheeks were turning redder by the second.

"Oh God, this is good. It's my fault though, I'll admit it. Go up a floor and take the left."

I rolled my eyes.

"Only you would give me bad directions and then laugh at me."

He hung up, of course. Just like Phil.

I headed for the elevator with an embarrassed expression. This guy must think I'm an idiot by now. I definitely felt like one.

The silence just got to be too much after a while.

"I'm really sorry about that. I've never really been good with directions," I said sheepishly.

"No harm done. It's good that you're willing to admit it," he smiled shyly.

I made the all elusive left turn and nearly slammed into the door when I did. The lab sported ridiculously expensive equipment. Sliding hanging computers that I should've known the name of were… well hanging and sliding.

A big smile spread across my face looking around at the reference sheets. Equations and formulas that I already had memorized were scattered around the papers, and it made me feel accomplished. I sincerely doubt that this guy needed reference sheets, though. He seemed pretty on top of it.

"You know, it isn't too often you see people smiling at the periodic table," he looked up from his glasses as a computer booted up.

"I have a thing for reference sheets, I guess," and I did. I loved them.

"Your uncle said you were a physics major?"

"Yeah, I haven't done anything related to the degree yet, though," I rubbed the back of my neck. It sounded weird to say it like that. Between my last job at a planetarium and an earlier one at a fro-yo shop, I hadn't done much physics outside of the classroom. But I still remembered every bit of it. That was back when I was still trying to impress my parents.

"Well, do you think you could work out a few problems for me? If you're up for it," he trailed off.

"Yeah, definitely." I smiled.

I was about to prove to him that I wasn't normally as stupid as I'd been this morning.

"So if the middle of the Tesseract is a smaller stone, like you said, wouldn't that make it harder to harness energy from?" My brain was sore. I couldn't wrap my head around any of it.

"It depends on the composition, but because the matter itself hasn't… your phones vibrating," he swallowed.

"Yeah, just a minute," I reached into my pocket, which was hard to get into, considering how tight this uniform was.

"Hi Phil."

"Okay, you need to remember that you have more than one guest, Lily."

"Oh man, it's past lunch. I'm really screwing up today," I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed.

"I know you're nervous, and that's normal."

"I never said it wasn't normal, Phil," I sighed again.

"You're sighing, which means you're getting down. Or you're tired. Probably both."

"It's both."

"Just get these lunches out, okay? Then you can go take a nap or something," he said reassuringly.

"Alright. Thanks Phil," I hung up gently.

Today wasn't my best day. Not only had I embarrassed myself in front of direct superiors, gotten lost while escorting, and gotten a headache while trying to prove my worth, I'd missed lunch. I felt like crying. And I usually don't feel like crying. Ever. I turned around slowly, where Dr. Banner was looking up at his sliding computer.

"I thought I should've said something about lunch, but you were learning a lot and… you okay?" his voice softened barely.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied very blatantly, "I'll be back in a minute," I flew out of the door and headed straight for the kitchen.

It's a wonder I didn't break the elevator button. It almost made me feel bad, until I remembered my task of lunch delivery.

The last place I saw the other two was in the workroom, and I could only guess that was where they stayed.

I was partially right, as Rogers was sitting in a spinning leisure chair and spinning leisurely while Fury lectured the workforce on policies.

"I brought you your lunch, and I'm really sorry it's late," I said sincerely.

"Thank you, ma'am," he said with a wide smile, "and it's not a problem."

I gave him a weak smile and walked out before Fury saw me and recruited me for something else.

Ms. Romanoff wasn't anywhere to be found, and of course, her being a spy made this discovery less than surprising.

Romanoff?

The response was near instant.

Training in the basement. Just leave it in the kitchen. I'll tell her.

I sighed again.

Thanks.

Now all that was left was Dr. Banner, and I was relieved that I could just hang out in the lab for a while.

He hadn't changed positions at all, which concerned me just a bit.

"I've got your lunch," I slid the box over to him and sat down at the table. I studied a few files on Loki after being thanked, and I was scared out of my mind just reading about him. A snippet of a paragraph described his methods of mind control and even had a wayward mention of Hawkeye. I put two and two together and started to worry.

It's no secret that Hawkeye is a badass. Of course our "guests" seem to be interesting enough, and their alter-egos are impressive. But against Loki, right now we didn't have much of a chance.

Maybe if this guy would go green for a while things would even out.

My phone vibrated in my pocket again, and Dr. Banner called it out.

"Phone," he said gently, almost like he was talking to it.

Thought I'd remind you about dinner, because of your amazing memory.

My eyes rolled.

Thanks

I got up from my seat and wasn't surprised to find that my butt was numb.

"Do you need coffee or something?" I asked Banner lightly.

"Do you guys have tea?" he asked shyly.

"I don't know, but I'll check," I walked out on the last part of that sentence.

We did in fact have tea bags, but which kind he liked was a complete mystery to me.

I just chose a random one and stuffed it in the hot water.

Assuming that Romanov was still training in the basement, I left her dinner on the counter. The lunch was gone, so I can only assume that she ate it at some point.

Mr. Rogers looked bored out of his mind.

"Do you want to see your new room?" I asked him kindly.

He obliged and locked arms with me, even if I was supposed to be leading him.

After a few minutes of searching, we found room 89A.

He was thankful and happy to get to sleep early, as anyone would be.

I delivered Banners dinner to him next and then he ran a few equations by me. All of it had to do with the tesseract's core, which had never been seen.

When the conversation produce a comfortable silence I excused myself and headed downstairs.

I was relieved to the point that I laid down in my own room.

Night 4

Two hours later, I was so tired my head was pounding.

Banner looked to be in a comparable state from the view outside of the glass room.

I knocked on the door and poked my head through.

"Fury wants lights out in 10 minutes, Dr. Banner," I said with a light grin.

"I'm coming. Are you staying up here?"

"Nah, I need sleep, too." I yawned a little.

"I probably shouldn't ask you of all people for directions, but do you know where my room is?" he smiled.

"According to Phil, it's in the same general area as mine, so I shouldn't get lost this time."

"And watch us get lost now that you've said that," he laughed.

"Phil, where the hell is room 142B?"

The phone erupted with static that could only be explained as Phil's laughter.