Circuit Breaker

Georgia woke up, her head pounding and eyes burning as light entered her eyes. She moaned softly as she forced her eyes open, glancing around the darkened room groggily.

"How do you feel?" a soft voice asked her. Georgia lolled her head to the right and spotted Bruce reclined in the reading chair in the corner of her room.

"Dandy." she whispered sarcastically. She groaned again as her head pounded. "I blacked out. What happened?"

Bruce stood up, approaching her bed and sitting next to her on it. He gently lifted one of her wrists, taking her pulse.

"You were drugged with flunitrazepam yesterday night." he explained in a hushed tone, replacing her wrist on the bed. "You've been unconscious for almost twenty-four hours."

"Flunitrazepam? English, please." Georgia requested, trying to pull herself into a sitting position. She winced as her head began pounding harder. Bruce placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, coaxing her back down on the bed.

"Rohypnol, rufilin, or 'rufies'." Bruce clarified slowly. Georgia nodded in recognition.

"So someone tried to date rape me?" she asked quietly, placing a hand on her head.

Bruce chuckled softly. "Not exactly. What happened was... I saw you fall to the ground. Natasha and Clint suspected foul play, possibly an attack by one of S.H.I.E.L.D's enemies that had figured out your identity. They left the party, putting up a perimeter, stating that an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us." he explained. "Tony calmed down the people who had seen you fall, passing it off as too much alcohol. But since he didn't want stories of him having a drunkard engineer working for him, I told him to tell the papers that you were suffering from an electrolyte imbalance."

"Glad he's concerned for my health and safety." she mumbled, insulted. "But continue."

Bruce gave her a half- smile. "Actually, he did it more for your reputation. He's been in here a lot checking on you." he told her, and she instantly felt a bit guilty. "Anyway, we initially thought it was just too much alcohol. Steve helped us get you to Tony's car, and we brought you home. Tony and Steve returned to the benefit, against Steve's protests, but I decided to stay behind and keep an eye on you. When you didn't wake up this morning, I did a few blood tests and found an astounding amount if rufilin in your system. And here we are."

Georgia couldn't help but feel a pang in her heart when Bruce called it 'home', that he brought her 'home'. "Any other bad news you need to tell me?" she asked.

Bruce gave her a sheepish look. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the speculation that you are... who you are is rising. People heard you talking without your added German accent, and a story in the Island Star shows a picture of you and Cap talking as well as one of you two dancing." he said. "The headline is 'New Friends or Old Teammates?'."

Georgia cringed. "I knew the benefit would be a bad idea." she said, and hissed as another wave of pain floated through her head.

Bruce immediately placed a cool hand on her forehead. "You don't have a fever." he said quickly. "But you may have a slight concussion from when you fell to the ground."

"Anything else bad happen? Maybe the world's about to end? Zombie apocalypse? Second alien invasion of the week?" she demanded, though the fire in her voice was diluted by pain.

Bruce laughed softly, standing from the bed. "Not that I know of, but I'll keep you posted." he promised with a smile. "I'll let you get some rest now. Let me know if you need anything."

Georgia nodded absently. She tried to sit up again, but her head protested at the change of altitude. Bruce smiled as he gently coaxed her back down again, like he would a small child.

He headed for the door, it was about to close when Georgia called his name quietly.

"Yes?" he answered, opening it up a crack. Georgia bit her lip as their eyes met from across the room.

"Thank you." she said finally. He nodded absently in response, closing the door and leaving Georgia to herself.

...

The Next Day

Georgia found it almost impossible to sleep that night. She was much too worried about her identity being revealed and about who had drugged her and for what reason.

She had figured out how she'd gotten the drug into her system; she had gone back to her scotch and soda that had sat unattended whilst she danced with Bruce, Steve, and Tony. Somebody had to be watching her to know what drink was hers, and when she was being distracted.

But something else was also crossing her mind. Bruce. He had been there for her, and even stayed home from the party to make sure that she was okay. Of course, he didn't seem too thrilled to be there in the first place, but the fact that he cared about her made warmth spread throughout her entire body.

"No." she told herself firmly as she rose out of bed, ignoring the protests from her throbbing head. "Tony wasn't right. You and Bruce barely know each other. There's nothing between us."

She trudged to her closet, dressing in a tight black skirt and a deep purple blouse for work. She pulled back her hair in a loose braid for the day, putting on a pair of black work heels before walking out the door. Whether she was in pain or not, it was Monday and she was going to work.

Exiting her room, she found Tony dressed for work as well. He and Bruce were talking. They looked up as she entered the room.

"Georgia, you know you don't have to work today." Tony said, his voice amused. Georgia was not in the mood for his company at all today, and she glowered at him.

"Too bad." she snapped, and having nothing else to say to him, she headed for the elevator and pressed the key for her lab floor. She pressed the 'close door' button, so she could ride down alone, but a hand shot through the slot at the last moment, keeping it from closing.

"We'll ride down with you." Tony said cheerfully, making Georgia's head pound harder. He pressed the button for his office's floor. "Why don't we have lunch today, to cheer you up?"

"Fick dich." Georgia mumbled in German, keeping her glare trained on the floor.

"I'll take that as a no?" Tony laughed, though he had no idea what she said, he was sure it wasn't pleasant.

"How are you feeling, Georgia?" Bruce's kind voice asked carefully, not wanting to upset Georgia further.

"I'm feeling better." she answered, her voice merely quiet and lacking the anger it held for Tony. She wasn't mad at Bruce for anything. She owed him, actually. It was Tony she was pissed at. "Thank you, again, for taking care of me. Hospitals freak me out, anyway."

"It was my pleasure." Bruce said shyly, smiling down at her.

"You're nice to him!" Tony protested in a slightly whiny voice, but when Georgia looked over to glare at him, he had a suggestive smile on his face.

"He didn't get me drugged." she snapped shortly, pursing her lips at him.

"Not necessarily..." Tony started with a sly smile. "Because I think that his love is your dru-"

"Grow up!" Georgia shouted, effectively allowing her less than terrible headache to kick back into full-force migraine. But the outburst cut Tony off and kept him from finishing his sentence. He only snickered at her outburst.

The door to her floor dinged and she marched out of the elevator with her hands balled up into fists. She fumbled with her keycard and lock code, giving Banner enough time to meet up with her.

"What was that about?" he asked quietly. Georgia sighed as she finally remembered her lock code, opening the door. He followed her in.

"Tony has some absurd notion that we're all in high school again and that you and I are 'crushing' on each other." she explained, laughing shortly at the end. "Just because we danced. As friends."

Banner looked uncomfortable. "I'm sorry." Georgia quickly apologized. "I didn't mean to make you upset."

Bruce shook his head. "No, it's just that you're not the only one he's been harassing about that." he confided, leaning against Georgia's desk where she took a seat, typing in the password to her computer quickly.

"Oh?" she asked, rubbing her forehead.

"Yeah..." Banner said, leaving off before clearing his throat. Georgia didn't push him for details. "Does your head still hurt that bad?"

Georgia shrugged. "It's bearable." she insisted passively. Bruce looked concerned.

"I'd be more comfortable if you'd let me check for signs of a concussion." he insisted quietly. Georgia sighed.

"If you think it's necessary. Fine." she conceded, following him into his own lab space.

"Sit up on the counter over there." he told her, and she followed his instruction. They were now eye to eye. He brought over a small light.

"I'm just going to check your eyes." he explained, clicking on the light. He shined in one eye, watching the pupil constrict. Georgia's eyes turned to slits, however, and she turned away automatically.

"It hurts." she said quietly, turning back to him. Bruce smiled sympathetically as he moved to the other eye, this time, she squinted and turned before he even had time to look at her.

"Sorry." she mumbled, turning back to face him again. "It's automatic, I'm not meaning to. It's the headache."

Bruce nodded in understanding. He placed his hand on the side of her cheek and neck softly, to keep her from turning as he inspected her other eye. Georgia kept her eye open as best as she could until Banner turned off the light.

"Your eyes are normal." he announced. "Unless you have issues with vision or unnatural incoordination, I don't think you have a concussion."

Georgia nodded. "Thanks a lot." she said with a slightly shy smile, feeling her headache begin to ebb. He smiled back, his also a bit bashful as he realized that his hand was still positioned on her cheek. He cleared his throat and removed it, placing it, instead, in his pocket.

Their eyes met, inches from each other once more, but this time they were completely alone. They were silent, neither knowing exactly what to do next.

A thought crossed Georgia's mind for a split second, and her migraine-jumbled brain didn't have time to full process the action before it happened.

She leaned forward slightly, brushing Bruce's lips with hers in a sweet, chaste kiss.

His hand returned, his thumb brushing over her cheek lightly. It only lasted a second before Georgia opened her eyes, realizing what she was doing.

An awkward silence filled the air as they continued to stare at each other. Georgia could think of nothing to say.

"I..." she whispered, her voice regretful. "I... have to go pick up the reports." With that, she fairly raced out of Banner's lab and mashed the elevator button a dozen times before hiding herself within, Bruce's eyes on her the whole time.

Georgia could barely process what she had done, and only stared blankly at her reflection as the elevator brought her up to the general labs.

...

Translation: 'Fick dich' in German basically means 'Why don't you go fuck yourself', as far as my knowledge goes.

Fucking adorable. I know. I like awe'd the whole time.

This whole chapter is basically 'Geuce' centric. Because they needed to have their first kiss already.

What will transpire for the two star-cross'd lovers?

Just kidding. Romeo and Juliet sucks.

So let me know how you feel about this chapter!

Oh, and a shout out to my reviewer, Scruffy-Nerf-Herder, who is the author of one of my FAVORITE Bruce/OC writers on this site, Which Me Do You Like, and it's sequel Ever Present Past. I love your work, and it's an honor to have you read mine! If any of my readers haven't read that yet, I highly, highly recommend it.

So, don't forget to review, everybody! And thanks for getting me to 65 reviews! Love it! Keep 'em coming!

Love you all!

Jess