Here you go guys. I know it's short and fillery but I'm tired and this is the best I got. The next one will be better I promise. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I'm off to bed. Ciao Bellas, enjoy!

It did not take me long after we had returned to the lab for me to realize that I was completely out of my depth. At first I did try to help out but Tony made it clear I was just in the way; and while Banner was too kind to say it explicitly, I was certain he was also of a mind that three was too many cooks to have in a kitchen. So I hung back, dragging a stool over to the window so that I could watch the water. It was completely dark except for when the occasional bolt of lightning split the sky. And then the ocean was illuminated, revealing waves angrily crashing into one another, as if fighting for their lives to come out on top, as far as the eyes could see before once again falling into darkness.

I leaned my forehead against the cool glass, feeling exhausted and wishing more than anything that sleep would overtake my racing mind. But it didn't and more importantly it wouldn't as long as I didn't have my sleep meds. Sighing heavily I lifted my head to study the two brilliant men as they went about their work. Personality wise they were as polar opposite as two human beings can be. Where Tony was loud Bruce sometimes had to fight to be heard, where Tony was lighthearted Bruce was serious, and yet in their work ethic and their passion for science and discovery they appeared as equals.

I nearly laughed as, in perfect unison, they stood from examining their respective data readings and frowned, rubbing the area under their noses quickly and furrowing their brows. As the night dragged on I split my attention between the scientists and the window, the comfortable silence only broken by the occasional question and, usually, numerical answer. Eventually, however, I noticed that Banner started taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose with greater and greater frequency. That was a mannerism I knew all too well.

Standing, I walked over to him and gently took his arm. "You need to rest," I told him firmly.

"I'm fine, Sophie," mumbled Banner, refusing to look away from the readings on the screen in front of him. I sighed, suppressing the urge to roll my eyes.

"No, you're not. You only rub your nose like that when you're exhausted."

"I do no-" began Banner before stopping when he caught himself in the middle of sliding his glasses off.

"You haven't slept in what? Over 48 hours? It won't kill you to go take a nap." I prodded, casting a glance in Tony's direction.

"I'm a big boy, Doc," called Stark nibbling on the end of a stylus, "I can hold down the fort if you need a break." Banner frowned.

"But the Tesseract-"

"Can wait a couple hours," I interrupted. The look in his eyes was so stubborn I knew he wasn't going to budge; I was going to have to play dirty.

"If you don't sleep then your susceptibility to irritation, anger, stress and nervous breakdowns all rise. Where will that leave us if you lose control, Bruce?" Bruce looked like he wanted to argue but slowly his shoulders slumped as he saw the strength of my logic.

"Fine, but only for a little while," he murmured. I smiled, patting his stubbly cheek.

"That's all I ask," I replied, feeling immensely satisfied. Banner walked over to the intercom and called an agent to take him somewhere he could lay down. "Sweet dreams," I whispered in his ear with a grin, earning a soft blush before the young man arrived and he followed the agent out of the lab. "I swear," I muttered, mainly to myself, "Once that man gets started on something even food is secondary." I thought back to when Bruce first started seriously experimenting with Gamma radiation. It had been impossible for me to pry him from the lab so every single day for almost my entire junior year I had brought him three square meals and fresh clothes I snagged from his office. He was so incredibly focused there was no doubt in my mind that without me the man would have died. I shook my head; he probably would have preferred that to his current situation.

Stretching absently I returned to my stool by the window, perching on the now cold metal seat. "Aren't you going to join him?" called Tony from across the room.

"No point," I replied, yawning, "I wouldn't get to sleep anyway." Tony didn't reply; he was too engrossed fiddling with some machine he had brought along and was now jury-rigging to the main systems. I let my eyes drift closed, letting my pulse match the slow rumble of thunder outside the ship and listening to the sound of Tony work. And then there was silence. I frowned, cracking open one eye and nearly toppling off of my stool in surprise. Tony was seated a few feet in front of me on a stool of his own, a mischievous lilt to his lips.

"W-what are you doing?" I asked, managing to steady myself, "Don't you need to monitor everything?"

"Jarvis has got it handled," replied Tony smoothly. I frowned, who the hell was Jarvis? "I'm more interested in you, Sophie Crowe, New York Times Best Selling Author, Culver university graduate class of 2009, and Pulitzer Prize nominee 2011 for fiction. You were robbed by the way. What they saw in 'A Visit from the Goon Squad' I will never know." I stared at him.

"Did you google me?" I asked incredulously, "When could you possibly have had time to do background check?"

"I'm good at multi-tasking," he said with a wicked grin, "And you really should get around to paying your cable bill." I scowled at him.

"I don't watch TV." Growing up Mama Crowe had always told me moving pictures were the work of the devil. I guess it sort of stuck, though I did enjoy the occasional movie.

"That I did not know," admitted Tony, "I'll make a note of it. But in the meantime Sophles, I think it's time we have a heart to heart."