Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the MCU or any of the characters therein. And, sadly, I make no moneys from the posting of this fanfiction.

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Chapter Seven

Hermione went over the math, sipping on her coffee. She had been watching Bruce writing out the formula, as well as the math for the better part of the night. Fury had left some time past midnight, but told her not to bother going into work the next day.

"For the moment this is your priority," he told her.

"Should I call to let Agent Coulson know that I won't be in?"

"Yes, but keep your details vague," her employer ordered her.

She made the call, leaving a voice message and left it at that. And in the end it really didn't matter, as Phil was far more perceptive than the director gave the man credit for being. Hermione knew the very moment that her wards were penetrated and even went out to take coffee to Clint and Natasha.

"Coulson wants eyes on you as long as the Doc is here," he told her.

She thanked them both quietly and left the coffee as well as a snack hamper there for them. Once she was back into the house, she went back to watching Bruce writing out all he had done to date on the project.

It wasn't until that next afternoon that he was finished with his work and looked over to Hermione only to find that she wasn't there watching him. The smell of warming soup and cooling fresh bread had him wondering into the kitchen. She had him sitting down at the table and she sat down a bowl of soup, as well as a basket of biscuits.

"Split pea?" he asked her. "Is there meat in it?"

"Normally I would, because bacon is heavenly," she told him, making him grin. "But I wanted to test out my theory that smoked paprika mixed with coconut oil could make for a good substitute for all that beautiful bacon goodness."

"Bacon isn't good for you," he told her.

"Neither is coffee, but they're my only vices. So leave me to them," she said, picking up her mug and sipping on her brew. "Coffee is a powerfully wonderful elixir." She looked over to him, asking, "Are you done writing?"

"The summation," he replied. "I figured that would give you enough of an idea of where it could have gone wrong."

She nodded to this, telling him, "Eat up. I'll go look over what I haven't seen yet and let you know what I think."

"Thank you," he murmured. "And I don't just mean for the help with the math." He blushed. "Thanks for being so…nice."

She sat back down again, thinking over her next words. "When I was younger, I was thirteen at the time, I made a mistake in chemistry. I ended up in the hospital wing of my boarding school for the better part of a month." His eyes went wide at her words. "It gave me a lot of time to think. Accidents happen even under the best of circumstances. We may do everything in our power to do things right, but all it takes is one misstep—that one something we never see we've done wrong. And then pow! It's done." She studied him a moment before saying, "We both are thinkers. I can see as much when I look into your eyes. I overthink more times than not. And something tells me you can as well. It can be one of our strengths. But in a situation like this, it can be to our detriment." She got up and held his face in both of her hands, making him look her in the eyes. "Just remember one thing for me."

He just stared at her waiting for her to say what she needed to.

"They're called accidents for a reason, Bruce." She kissed his forehead gently and went on her way to look over the math.

Two things stood out like sore thumbs to Hermione, but even so the math wasn't complete enough for her to put her finger as to the cause. She didn't know what to say to Bruce. This was an outline, she told herself. If she wanted to see the full picture, she needed to see all of the math. But that being said, how in the world was she going to be able to come to any sort of conclusion without Bruce quizzing her to the point of irritation.

And so she did the one thing she knew she had to. She called Director Fury.

"Do you have any answers yet, Dr. Granger?" he asked her.

"I have more questions, sir," she answered. "I need to see the entirety of the mathematics. There should be more than one copy out there along with notes, I wager. And as Bruce can't get them in person…"

"I'll have it to you as soon as possible," he replied and hung up.

Hermione closed her mobile and ended up reclining back into her large chair, letting out a long gusty sigh as she looked at the math in front of her.

"Do you have answers yet?" Bruce's question startled her out of a semi-doze. He blushed and stammered out an apology.

"Don't worry about it," she murmured, as she stood up stretching. "I need to see more. I made a call and the Director will be doing his best to get the whole of it for me to look at."

"Have you slept at all?" he asked her.

"I took a couple of naps," she admitted. "In truth, I haven't slept more than few hours at one time since I was…" She sighed. "I was sixteen I think. Perhaps younger." She looked over to him. "How about you?"

"Not much," he told her. "I-I've been having nightmares."

Hermione looked saddened by this. "It was bound to happen. It's your mind attempting to process it all. Where is the logic in turning into the big green man you turn into when you get angry?"

He frowned. "How did you know that?"

"Why else tell me that it wouldn't be wise to make you upset?"

"Ah, yes," he said, now blushing. "There was that."

There was knocking on the front door. She went straight over to answer it after gently ordering him to stay upstairs. Natasha was there was a D-ring binder along with the empty thermos. Smiling Hermione let her into the house, taking the thermos, she went over to the kitchen with the woman following her.

"Tea or coffee?"

"Chai tea latte."

Hermione stopped and looked over towards Natasha, seeing her grinning as she put the binder onto the table. "The bird is tired of coffee."

"Very well," Hermione said, as she went to work on the tea. "But you might tell him that this is not a café and I'm pretty far off from being a barista. If he wants something fancier than this latte, he's on his own."

Smiling Natasha said, "Considered it passed along."

Hermione cleaned out the thermos properly as the tea was brewing with the spices in the milk. It was as she was shaking out the water from the thermos that she asked her friend, "Whose copy is this?"

"The man himself. We took it from the lab before General Ross could get his hands on it. They're riddled with notes as requested."

Smiling, she said, "Thank you, Natasha. True, I can ask the man, but notes can give a clearer picture sometimes."

"No problem," she replied. "How did your dissertation go?"

Hermione paused while she was pouring the tea. "I was worried until Director Fury introduced me as 'Doctor Granger'."

"Congratulations," she murmured. "You worked very hard for that." Natasha paused. "What will you be doing now?"

"I spoke to Agent Coulson," she told her. "I will continue to work for him for the time being, as I think over what I'll be doing next. I do know one thing though. I don't want to stay in the Ivory Tower. There is a time and a place for it. And it is time for me to move on." She paused in what she doing long enough to add, "Makes me glad that I finished up with the Ph.D. in Ancient Languages and Symbols a year ago."

"You already have a Ph.D.?" Natasha asked.

She smiled and said, "That was mostly for me. So it didn't feel as if it held the same import or challenge as the one for Mathematics. Silly, I know. But there's no accounting for somethings, I tell you."

Hermione poured the tea into the thermos and walked her friend over to the door. With some last words, they parted and Hermione took the binder up to the master bedroom. She was about to say something, but didn't when she saw that Bruce was sound asleep in the bed. What made this all the more memorable was that he was hugging the Teddy bear that Harry had bought her as he was doing so. She set the binder down and quietly covered him with a light cotton throw. With one last look, she went to work figuring out what had gone wrong.

TBC…

And there we go! Another chapter crafted and posted to the internet. Thanks for reading and I hope that you're having a radiant day.