The sky was a bright shade of blue with a light layer of clouds. Every so often, the sun would hide behind them and peek through the spaces between. There was soft chirping from the birds all around and the purrs of trucks and cars from below.

Margo enjoyed the scenery she received; watching as the billboard across from her switched between ads. She rested against her car's seat and indulged in the tea she held in her hands. The thermos felt warm against her palms leaving her in a state of happiness. It wasn't as cold as it had been this past week, but there was still a breeze that made it's way through. She reveled in what she could knowing full-well it would not last.

Yes, a week had past since Margo landed a job within Stark Industries. Where she was currently parked was in the private parking garage. Even though she was parked on the 5th floor, she didn't mind seeing that this was free of cost and her ride was safe and sound. And better yet: elevators!

Less walking for me, she thought joyously.

Margoret looked at her watch with a purse of her lips. She had about 20 minutes left until she clocked in. As soon as that would happen, she would again be faced with Dr. Bruce Banner and whatever else he threw her way.

The employee who was supposed to make their transfer over to Stark's other building in L.A. had not left yet so she was stuck with Dr. Banner for the moment. As soon as whoever the person was left, Margo would take up their spot. What it was the job entailed specifically, the woman didn't know, but what she did know was, according to Andrew and Tony, she would enjoy it. Going into the business blind like that wasn't exactly a smart idea but she believed all good things would come from this. And if it wasn't because of Andrew's reassurance, she wouldn't have believed Stark.

She trusted Tony, to a degree. Margoret was still a little wary of him but in the sense of his immaturity being a turn-off and nuisance. He got the job done, Margo had to admit, but he had a pretty sick sense of humor.

Plus, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner had quite the relationship as well. Because of what Margo assumed to be their "bro-mance," Tony was constantly around. She understood the two were working on something; something of which she hardly cared about. And so, because of whatever lied between those two, it left Margoret in the midst of it all. Like the day she'd come to know Bruce as being more than a timid man.

"What do we have here?" Tony circled around Bruce, eyeing the latter's work. His eyes skimmed over whatever was written and compared it to his own work which was laid out on the table. Tony nodded with approval and patted the quiet man on the shoulder. "Good job, Brucey."

A small smile with a light blush from embarrassment appeared on Bruce's face. His smile faltered though as Tony smacked Bruce on the shoulder. Before he could question the other man's sanity; Tony eyed him with expectancy.

"No?"

"No, Tony." Bruce sighed.

After some time, Stark still made an effort to bring the Hulk out of Banner on his own accord.

Tony walked over to Margo's side of the room; the woman trying her best to concentrate on the research Bruce had her doing. Her hair was tied up into a bun as a means to keep her wild curls from her face. Her eyes were set on the work before her but her attention was elsewhere. The iron man slowly made his way around to Margoret and looked back at Bruce with a smug grin. Bruce watched Stark with a careful look.

"Hey." Tony whispered in Margo's ear as he placed his hands on her waist.

Margoret's eyes widened, body tense, her fingers like claws. She was frozen in place while Tony's body loomed over hers from behind.

Somebody was going to get riled up, that's all Tony wanted and knew.

"What'cha doing? Oooo, thermodynamics. Ol' Brucey here got you working on this?"

Roth lowered her head to put some type of distance between her and her boss. "Get off of me," she growled.

At that point, Margo was in no mood to play games. Earlier in the day, her alarm never went off, she stubbed her toe trying to get to the bathroom, she couldn't get her hair to cooperate and she didn't have a chance to eat breakfast. By the time she reached her job, there was hardly any parking left and she spent a better part of her time looking for one. She was almost late to work and Andrew had called her on it.

Bruce's eyes had widened at Tony's bold move. He knew the woman to have a short fuse when it came to his friend and she looked a little frazzled when she came in today. So needless to say, this wasn't a good thing. Bruce knew though that Tony was only doing it to get some type of reaction. Whether from him or the fuming young woman, he had no idea.

"Hey, you want to know something?" Tony said. He still hadn't removed himself from behind Margo. "Something really interesting?" His eyes slowly looked up to Bruce.

The physicist squinted at Stark, trying to comprehend his words.

"Have you ever heard of the Hulk?"

"Tony." Bruce called a little too frantically. Margoret looked up in curiosity of her co-worker's anxiety. "I need you to look over this for me." Banner tried in covering himself but the damage was done. Tony was getting what he had wanted.

"Not now, Bruce." Stark waved his hand as if shooing him away. He pushed himself away from Margo and leaned onto the table by her side.

Margoret eased herself back to a state of comfort. Ignoring the two men, she took back to her work.

"Well do you?" The engineer placed his hand on the book she worked out of, drawing her attention up to him.

Margo knew about the Hulk. Not much, but she knew he wasn't anything natural. "Yeah, so?" she asked blandly.

"You do know he comes from some joe, right?"

"Tony." Bruce called again.

"Your point?"

"He's right here."

"Tony."

"Right now."

"Tony." Bruce grounded out.

"Whoa! Don't get angry now." Stark put his hands up in mock fear.

Banner wasn't getting angry. He was just annoyed. Margoret and him had a simple and quiet type of relationship and he didn't want Tony to ruin that. He didn't want Margo to be... afraid of him. She was the only employee in this building who didn't know he was-no, that he sort of wielded the Hulk. All those in the building who knew, besides Tony and Andrew, were scared of him. They thought they hid their fear well but Bruce knew. Pepper was nice to him and if she was afraid, she did a better job at hiding that fact than the others. And she resided in the building, but upstairs in Stark's home so she didn't really count.

"So Dr. Banner is the Hulk."

Bruce and Tony looked at Margo. Her face wasn't one in awe nor in fear. She had a bored look on her face and shrugged.

"So what?"

That wasn't the response Bruce expected to hear and believe it or not, neither did Tony; though he approved. Her attitude was cool and nonchalant, almost like his when he and Bruce met for the first time. The other Avengers were calm but slightly collected. She was a little more like him than he thought.

Tony nodded his head and smiled at Bruce whose eyes never left Margoret. This girl really was an interesting character.

This had happened three days ago and Margoret hadn't changed her views of Bruce at all. The physicist though, was still hesitant of her. More than what he previously was. Margo paid little mind to that, taking back to her work each time she could.

At first, she was a little surprised. And even through Banner's outburst, she hadn't suspected him to actually be the Hulk. Margo simply meant it as a joke. A dry one really. When the two men gave her no indication of her being wrong, she was shocked. She did her best to mask it, which she succeeded in doing so, but finding out your co-worker is the Hulk; how could someone not be taken aback? In the end, the thought had rattled around in her mind through work and when she got home. She couldn't say if she was scared. She wasn't exactly excited about it either. It was just there. A fact that never effected her the way she guessed Tony and Bruce expected it to.

But Bruce would still be Bruce in her eyes. In the short time that she came to know him, he never made her feel threatened. He never made her feel inferior nor as a nuisance. He was a great co-worker and that was that.

She looked at her watch again and took note of the time. Eight minutes until clock in. Guzzling what she could of her tea, she reached for her bag and made her way out of the car.

Starting this week new and fresh, Margo made sure to be within the vicinity at least 20-30 minutes before work started. Her home wasn't too far, but the amount of time to get through New York was pretty ridiculous. And being at least 20 minutes in was on the less busy days because not many people were out. And by "not many" it was more like many but not overcrowded.

She reached the elevators and pressed the 'down' button. As soon as she reaches the ground floor, she would make her way over to the next set of elevators to go up into Tony's lab where Bruce will be waiting for her. Despite how tiring that may have sound, she was oozing with delight.

Today, Bruce will not only have her working over his thermodynamics book but a bit out of another he had recently bought. He didn't say what it was. As a matter of fact, he hadn't said why he needed the research done.

He's probably one of those 'self-taught' type of guys. Margo thought.

Seeing how busy he was with the work Tony gave him it seemed he didn't have enough time to himself. And since Margoret was free until the other employee left, he decided to take advantage of her predicament.

It made sense to Margo. She didn't mind though seeing that she enjoyed the work he put her through. She did, after all, minor in thermodynamics.

The doors of the elevator opened before her. She entered with a soft sigh. Work, so far, was great. A few quirks here and there which she knew she would have to deal with. Starting with her boss. Tony obviously meant no harm. She knew that and maybe it wasn't so much of him being the problem but the problem being her. Margo was used to having people behave a certain way around each other. Like in trying not to provoke people. Tony on the other hand reveled in the idea of getting her riled up. He liked the idea of Bruce turning into the Hulk. He was fascinated by it.

Change wasn't exactly Margoret's thing. One would think from her time being home-schooled to then going to university at a young age and in a different country at that, that she would be used to change.

She believed, though, that she could take Tony on today. Well, as much as she could take, but she would make an effort. It would be her first attempt at accepting change.

Delving into happy thoughts through false optimism, Margo soon found herself back in her pessimistic box. The idea of change suddenly becoming overwhelming.

Baby steps. You have to learn how to walk before you can run, she thought in encouragement. I'll start with Tony today and... will probably end up dealing with him for the next month or so.

Margoret sighed again.

Change was definitely in her top three of things she disliked most.

"When can I meet her?"

"Never."

"Why not?" Pepper whined.

"Because I don't need you distracting her with your girly stuff." Tony grumbled.

The red-head was seated on her partner's personal chair to which the man wasn't too fond of at the moment.

"Pep, you know that's my chair."

Tony seemed upset about something and all morning he was taking it out on Pepper. Bruce who made his way back and forth within the lab tried to ignore the two but he couldn't shake them off. Each time Ms. Potts tried to address Tony on something he would interrupt her to say something to Bruce. Then Bruce would try to answer but Pepper would give him a look to not say a word. He was, once again, caught in one of their little quarrels.

With Pepper questioning about the new girl; it was the only time Tony acknowledged her.

"What's wrong with getting a little girly? I mean, I am a girl after all and from what I hear, she's a girl too."

Stark reached for his chair but Pepper pushed back on it and rolled away.

"Don't you have sisters to do that with?" he asked in agitation.

Pepper's eyes slightly widened, her mouth in an 'o' shape.

"Are you still upset about that? Tony. I made a promise to my family that I would visit them at least once a month."

"I'm not mad!"

Bruce looked over to Tony and Pepper whose eyes were locked onto each other. If Tony wasn't mad then he did a bad job in masking that. If it would have been Bruce, well the outcome wouldn't have been pretty./

Good job at making yourself feel like crap, Bruce, he thought. He shook his head and looked down with a bite to his lip.

Tony's wall faltered when his love raised her eyebrow. No he wasn't mad. He was pissed.

"Okay," he started loudly. "It went from visiting them every three months to every two months," he held his fingers up accounting for each number. "And now it's once a month? And you don't tell me anything."

"I didn't think it would bother you!"

"Pepper. I am a man with needs."

"And I am a woman with needs but I've put them on hold for you for so long. I want to see my family."

"I want you to stay."

"No," she stated.

Stark sighed and walked away.

"Why is this bothering you so much? You never had a problem with it before."

Banner's eyes flickered up to Tony who stood facing the window. The man's shoulders were tensed as he clenched his jaw. Bruce knew why he was mad but thought it best not to say a word.

As if a calm wave washed over him, Tony turned to Pepper with a sad smile.

"You can go."

Pepper's brow shot upward as she eyed the man in confusion.

"You're still not happy about it."

"No, no. I'm fine," he said as he made his way back to her. "I think it's just that time of the month."

Despite finding it to be a stupid joke, Pepper smiled. She stood and enclosed the space between them and kissed him.

Bruce turned away and mouthed an "okay" to ease the awkward position he was left in.

"Thank you."

"Mmhmm... But you're still not going to meet Margo."

Pepper frowned but smiled softly at the smirk that tugged at the edges of Tony's lips.

"Aww. Her name is Margo?"

"It's actually Margoret but we call her Margo for short."

"That's nice."

"Yeah. Now go. Before I change my mind."

The red-head gave another peck to the man's lips and made her way back out to her and Tony's home. As soon as she exited out, Tony's eyes grew sad as he spoke. "Jarvis. Cancel all of the plans for this week."

"Even the flight to Paris?"

"Yeah," he sighed.

"Sorry, sir. I knew how much you wanted to spend this week with Ms. Potts. Did you plan on proposing?"

Tony scratched at his chin and chuckled. "Just cancel all of the plans, Jarv."

"As you wish, sir." Jarvis said with a hint of a sigh.

Clapping his hands together, Tony's mood changed as he addressed his friend.

"So what do you have for me?"

Bruce opened his mouth slightly as he thought of a way to start. "Well. I've come to the conclusion that what you want," he shook his head. "There's nothing you can do to get it done."

"I don't like what you just said there." Tony said as he waved his finger around.

"But there are other ways to go about it."

"Like?"

Bruce took off his glasses and shook his head again. There was another more specific type of way but he wasn't sure if he wanted to go down that road again.

"We... we can try gamma radiation."

Tony raised his eyebrow and rubbed his chin. "I don't know about you but I don't think big, green, and angry is my type of thing."

"N-no. What I mean is that," he reached out with his hands to try and bring the words out. "Think about electromagnetic radiation. You know that EMR happens when an atom absorbs energy. When that happens, one or more electrons are caused to change their place within an atom. Then when the electron returns to its original place, an electromagnetic wave is produced."

"Keep talking."

"Well, one way to excite the atoms is through electrical energy."

"So, what? Do we need a transmission medium?"

"Something like that. But instead of an electrically charged armor we can use the benefits from radiation. Like a lizard."

"Are you calling me a lizard?"

"No what I me-"

"I don't think I'm a lizard. I think I'm more of an iguana. No! A komodo dragon."

The physicist stopped himself from saying anything further. His features were austere, his tongue pushed against his inner cheek. Stark raised his eyebrows up and down to get him going but Banner didn't find him to be the least bit humourous.

"Wow. The more time you spend with that Margo girl; the more you act like her."

Bruce seemed flustered as he tried to hide the blush that slowly crept over his face.

"Anyway," he grounded out. "Like a komodo dragon," Tony grinned. "They absorb heat radiating from the sun and then radiate a smaller amount of energy to their surroundings. Then they evaporate whatever liquid is left on the surface of its skin as a gas. After that comes the convection process where they transfer heat by movement, of let's say, air. Afterwards, is the conduction. Like you had mentioned about the transmission medium, the conduction process will directly transfer the heat between molecules in contact with each other. Example: When a lizard sits on a rock."

"I was here with you until the lizard on the rock bit. You lost me."

Bruce sighed and walked over to Tony. He grabbed the man's arm and dragged him to the computer. There, Bruce's notes were littered over the screen. He focused in on one of the open windows and expanded it to view.

"RG-27." Tony mumbled as he read through Banner's work.

"I used the idea of the integumentary system of a reptile and combined it with something that can neutralize the radiation like when the lizard sits on a rock."

"Lead."

"Exactly."

Stark's mouth was slightly ajar as he read over his friend's notes. He had to admit, he was on a pretty good track. Because of the lead, Tony's armor would be able to do exactly what a lizard's skin does. The only problem is that lead doesn't completely neutralize the effects of gamma radiation but if they could include a high count of it... it just might work.

"After all this time I had you working on my repulsors and you give me something even better than that."

The two men looked to each other with a laugh. They were on the brink of success and it felt great.

The doors to the lab opened to Margoret who entered with a thermos in one hand and her bag in the other. Both men's eyes flashed over to her as she made her way to her side of the lab. Tony looked back to Bruce who had made it a habit to stare at the woman in a state of captivation. The older man would look away as soon as Margo would look up but he was oblivious to those who took notice to his immersion of the girl.

With an idea, Tony called out to his new and, currently, favorite employee.

"Hey, Margoret."

Pushing down any anxiety she held before from her pessismistic thoughts, Margo looked up and smiled. "Hello, Tony."

Both Bruce and Tony looked taken aback by her words. Normally, she would glare at the head honcho or grunt and set to work.

Looking over the bewildered face of the men, Margoret suddenly felt inept under their gaze; almost tripping over herself to sit down.

Recovering from his stupor, Stark took to his plan again. It would probably work out better with her cooperating. He walked over to Margo, ignoring the look Bruce gave him. Reaching up to her spot, he placed his hands on the table and leaned over slightly to stand on the balls of his feet. He could sense the strain she emmitted to try and keep herself collected around him and it made him feel all the more giddy.

"You're in a good mood today, I see."

"Yep." She made a 'pop' sound emphasizing on the 'p.'

"What has you feeling so good today? Got laid over the weekend?"

Margo bit the inside of her cheek, her eyes widening a bit. She could feel her fist tremble but she held to a positive attitude. Stark turned his sight over to Bruce who on the other hand looked abashed and noticeably dismal.

"As a matter of fact," she paused to draw the man's attention back. "I didn't. I just thought I should start off on a happy note. Starting the week fresh."

"Oh goody." Tony said with a genuine smile. He turned back to Bruce whose once doleful gaze was now something else he couldn't describe. "That's good to hear. Hey, Bruce here didn't get laid either! Maybe you two should work on that or something."

There was an audible choking sound as Banner choked on his spit. To ease the attention put onto him now, he poked and prodded at his station.

"Yeah, I'll look into that."

Tony's face was lit like a delighted child. Whether it was over Bruce's next reaction or because Margo was getting a hang of him and his sense of humor; it was nice either way.

Bruce knew his face had to have take on different shades of red. This was the first time anyone had made him feel like he was a part of something, socially speaking. He played his part in the Avengers but it was more about saving the world than a joke between co-workers. He'd seen it before. The other employees making jokes like that, but they never included him. He knew it was because of the Hulk and because of his inability to socialize properly. It felt nice, but the Hulk still didn't seem all that blithe in the idea of cozying up to the woman. He felt the other guy shift uneasily in his mind.

"Well then." The smile on Tony's face hadn't wavered one bit. "I'll be on my way. Wouldn't want to keep you from your work."

A flutter of excitement issued within Margoret. She couldn't believe the fact that Tony was actually pulling back. Play nice with him and he'd bow out. Though it took quite an effort on her part, the result was worth it.

"Bye, Bruce." The billionaire chimed as he made his way out of the lab.

A silence ensued after Tony had left. Neither of the two who remained knew what to do or say. Banner turned to Margo and saw her staring out the window. Her hands were clasped on her lap, her face as serene as Bruce would ever think of seeing her. He felt his face growing warm again and a small smile threatened to form.

He hated how hesitant he felt about everything. Even for something as simple as a smile. He couldn't say for sure what his feelings towards Margoret were. He wouldn't say it was anything along the lines of a crush or anything of the opposite. But he did feel admiration towards her. She wasn't like the others. Everything about her was different. And it wasn't because of her views towards the idea of him being the Hulk, but in the way she carried herself. He truly appreciated that. But he would keep that to himself.

Tony was the only person who, after Bruce's return from having his... little episode in Harlem, managed to worm his way into the apprehensive man's life. And Bruce learned that the more people you had in your life, the more trouble that came your way. He couldn't afford to hurt anymore people. He couldn't afford to hurt himself any longer either.

He cleared his throat drawing the attention of the young woman just feet away from him.

"I-uh. I have the other book I wanted you to check out."

He reached under his table and grabbed his breifcase. Margoret stood and walked over to him without any hint of the serenity she once had. Bruce pulled out a thick text, his arm flexing from the weight. He placed it gently onto her outstreched hands which marginally wilted underneath the weight. Despite how much more her arms flexed than his own, she held onto the text without any indication of the weight bothering her.

"The Quantum Theory of Radiation. Awesome." She grinned.

There was no sarcasm behind her words nor hostility. Just a genuine and wonderfully expressed mutual interest in the topic.

Now that he was getting a good look at Margo as she stood before him, it dawned on him how close Tony came to ruining this simplistic relationship between him and her. Announcing that he was the Hulk was not a smart thing for him to do. Even though as the other guy, he helped in stopping Loki and the Chituari, he was still considered an endangerment to the people. Stark wanted that to stop and if he thought that by announcing that thought to every person who came to work for him was going to work... Well in short, it never really did. If what he had with Margo would've been ruined, he probably would have had a round or two with his comrade and friend in that little suit of armor of his.

Bruce smiled, thankful that that wasn't the case. He preferred in not dealing with the other guy unless it was in a state of emergency. And he hoped that that wasn't going to happen for a long long time.

AN: Yes! I finally got this chapter done. What a whirlwind it was.
A little trouble in paradise there for Tony and Pepper but it's all good. And no, no. Tony wasn't going to propose but he was thinking about it for that short second. I think it would've sucked even more if he was going to propose.
Bruce and Margo's relationship is pretty wacky right now. Bruce kind of likes her but he believes it's only admiration that he feels towards her and Margo is over there in her own little world. I feel like I'm being pulled back and forth with all of these emotions as I'm trying to get all of this out. Soon though! Soon somebody is going to start coming to the conclusion that maybe there might be something a little more there.

That little bit on the lizard, yeah. I'd like to thank my biology book for that! All of that was so that I can give a more elaborate detail than it being a "special compound" created by Bruce. As you see, I'm including the idea of Tony's Anti-Radiation Armor which first appeared in the Incredible Hulk Vol 2 #72. So much comic book love that I have right now. But I won't be including the reason as to why the armor needed to be done as it was stated in the comic book. I'm just taking the idea of the suit and putting it in here.
Also, I don't exactly know how thick and/or heavy that Quantum Theory book is. I just wanted to include Bruce's arm flexing because I like the idea of his arms flexing, haha.

I have also received new follows + favorites. Thank you so much for that!
As well as reviews:
choirbandgeek: I was really nervous when I decided to put that bit of information down because I've never been to Wisconsin, haha. I've been to New York so I'm like, "Yeah no problem" but the Wisconsin bit had me nervous. It was sad, but I'm glad you liked that! And thank you.
Jason: Sorry to keep you waiting! I will definitely continue to write. No need to worry!
And to those who have sent me words of encouragement: Thank you! Something as simple as an "awesome" really makes my day.

I cannot wait for the holiday break because then I'll be able to focus more on the story. And then I can get more in depth with Bruce and Margo's relationship.
Until then mis amigos!