It felt as though the medical bay was hours away as Bruce hurried down the corridors. He didn't know what to expect, no one had told him anything other than the fact Willow wanted to see him. She would have had many questions about what happened and what was happening right now, which made him wonder why of all people she was asking to see him. The nurses probably told her he had been sitting by her side each night she was in here, and now he didn't know how he was going to explain that to her.

No one was around when he walked inside, looking around for the nurses or doctors, but he saw nothing. When he made it to Willow's room, he entered cautiously, worried about what he would be met with.

Willow was laying in bed with her head up on a few pillows, looking over to him with tired eyes that had dark circles underneath them. She looked as if she hadn't slept in a month. She looked so weak, but considering the condition she was in, she had recovered extremely well. Bruce stepped over to the seat he usually sat in as Willow gave him a smile, genuinely pleased to see him.

''It's good to see you,'' he smiled in return. ''No one was expecting you to wake up for a long time,''

''That's what they keep telling me,'' she nodded, her exhaustion obvious in her hoarse voice. ''Guess being a freak paid off for once,''

''You're not a freak,'' Bruce shook his head.

''I think the doctor's would disagree. They whisper in the corridors thinking I can't hear them talking about my 'alien blood',''

Bruce frowned, annoyed at the thought.

''Where are they all?'' he asked, remembering that the medical bay seemed deserted.

''Oh...I probably scared them,'' she sighed. ''I keep burning them whenever they try to touch me. They can't change my dressing or put a needle in me. I don't mean to hurt them,''

''Your body's defending itself,'' Bruce nodded, understanding. ''You're in pain, your body's gonna react to that,''

Willow moved to sit herself up some more despite her strict orders to stay laying down and not to move around at all, but it wasn't the most comfortable position. Wincing slightly, she managed to move into a slightly higher position as if she was sitting against the back of the wall, but even that tired her.

''Hey you're not meant to move-''

''What happened to that man?'' she asked as if she only just remembered to ask. ''Did they bring him in?''

''Yeah, they brought him in right after he...after you were brought in,'' he told her, not wanting to relive that chaos.

''They didn't hurt him did they?'' she asked worriedly.

''No, they're just holding him for questioning,'' Bruce assured her.

Willow nodded to herself and leaned back on the pillows, taking a deep breath. Bruce could see her discomfort, the pain she was trying to ignore and her eyes that fought to keep open. She never had to deal with being injured like this before, she wasn't used to the pain. Usually when she hurt herself badly, it wouldn't take longer than a few hours for the injury to fade away, and she barely felt the pain. There were upsides to not being human, and quick healing happened to be one of them.

''They told me you came here every night,'' she looked over to him.

Bruce nodded, unsure of how to explain himself.

''Why'd you do that?''

''Uh...I don't know,'' he shrugged, running his fingers through the back of his hair. ''I didn't want you to...be alone,'' he answered worriedly. ''And I know you'd do the same for me,''

Willow smiled and reached out to grab his hand.

''Thank you,''

Bruce smiled and sat closer to her bed to hold her hand. He didn't feel nervous anymore, glad that she accepted his gesture. Bruce didn't deal with friends often, in fact he didn't even know if he would consider people he liked friends since most of them were still scared of him, but Willow always assured him that they were indeed friends. They had a sort of bond that neither of them could explain, but they expressed it silently.

''I guess this proves that us aliens can handle a lot more than you humans,'' Willow joked, laughing as best she could straining herself.

''I wouldn't exactly put myself in the human category,'' Bruce chuckled.

''Well you're the most human person I know, especially on board this place,'' she told him, sighing as she rested back onto the pillow.

Bruce smiled at her words, appreciating her ability to always make him forget he's a monster. She never made him feel like The Other Guy, or the Hulk. With Willow, he was just Bruce.

''So, tell me everything that I've missed,'' Willow yawned.

''You should probably sleep, you're not fully recovered yet-''

''No, no, I've already missed enough. What's the progress? Where's the Tesseract? What about Barton?''

''Well...'' Bruce began telling her most of the things that had happened since she was brought in.

There wasn't much to talk about considering they'd made very little progress, but he tried to tell her everything she had missed in the short time she'd been out of it. He told her about how the Tesseract was still out there somewhere and that the man who they brought in couldn't remember much, but they were still working on it. By the time Bruce finished filling her in on what had been going on, he looked up and saw her eyes closed, the faint sound of her breathing indicating she was completely asleep.

''So how is she?'' Tony asked as Bruce walked back into the lab. ''Ready to suit back up?''

''Not quite yet,'' Bruce chuckled lightly. ''She's recovering quickly though,''

Tony looked over to see how different Bruce was now. He didn't work with that look on his face like he had been for the past few days. That lingering worry, the weight on his shoulders, it was all gone after his visit to Willow and Tony was happy for his friend. Everyone, including Fury, could see there was something between Willow and Bruce, but no one ever questioned him about it.

''So did they send Natasha into Loki?'' Bruce asked.

''Not yet,'' Tony shook his head, leaning back in his chair. ''The guy they brought it keeps remembering stuff. Small stuff, but they don't want to go question Loki yet in case, you know, this guys spills everything,''

A few hours passed while Bruce and Tony worked on a new tracking algorithm. With the information Tony found and all of the other new variables they had, there was real hope that they could find the Tesseract with the new system they were setting up. Everyone was growing tired of sitting around feeling useless and unable to find the Tesseract and stop whatever Loki was going to unleash, but things were moving slowly, they couldn't help that. Also, when Willow got hurt, progress came to a halt until they knew she was going to be okay. They were a team.

Willow woke up the next morning to a different face sitting beside her. Steve was reading over a magazine, looking very concerned about whatever article he was looking at. She didn't say anything at first, taking a moment to appreciate the fact she was actually awake. She was still so tired, but she had spent enough time in this bed, she wished she could get out.

''Oh hey, you're awake,'' Steve set down the magazine. ''How do you feel?''

Willow yawned, pulling her arm up to rest under her head.

''Tired, although I think I just slept for a really...wait, what day is it?'' she looked around, noticing the light outside of the window.

''It's 7.30am on Thursday, you slept all day yesterday and through the night. Bruce was here for most of the night but he had to get back to the lab and I thought I'd visit,'' he told her before reaching over to the bedside table. ''And I thought you'd like something better to drink,''

Willow extended her hand to accept the Dr. Pepper with excited eyes. All she'd been drinking was water and she couldn't wait to taste something different and sugary.

''Thanks,'' she sipped on the soft drink through a straw. ''So have I missed anything exciting?''

''I think you've been all the excitement we've had,'' he chuckled. ''We've all been really worried about you,''

''Well, no need, I'm fine,'' she smiled. ''I feel great. I mean, it still hurts, apparently getting stabbed does that. But I feel...normal. I just wish I could get out of this bed,''

Steve nodded, understanding how unbearable it must be to lay in a bed all day with no other choice. But she was recovering so fast that Steve had heard the doctor's talking about letting her walk around a bit, but she was still recovering, she couldn't do too much too fast.

''I'm sure they'd let you get a wheelchair so you can get out of this room. I was here when they redressed your wound. It's wrapped in a pressure bandage so it should be fine,'' Steve suggested.

''Well I feel like I could walk-''

''I think you'd better go with the wheelchair, I'll go see if it's okay,''

''No wait!'' Willow stopped him. ''Uh, just find a wheelchair and bring it back. Don't tell the nurses,''

Steve hesitated.

''I need to know if it's okay, you might hurt yourself,''

''I'm fine Steve, I promise. If you tell them, they won't let me out and I need to get out of here for a while. I want to go see everyone. I promise I'm fine, I feel great, just get me out of here, please. If you don't want to help me, that's fine, but I will get out of here today, and I'd really like some assistance,''

Steve didn't like going behind the nurses back. Not because he was worried of getting caught, but because he didn't want Willow to hurt herself when she was out. She was recovering faster than they predicted, but she was still recovering. He didn't want to be responsible for making it worse. However if he didn't help her, he knew she was going to do it anyway.

''Okay, I'll see what I can do,'' he sighed.

''This is so great,'' Willow smiled as she was wheeled down the main corridor away from the medical bay.

Steve tried to hurry, but there was really no going back now. It had been a slight struggle getting Willow into the wheelchair to begin with since her abdomen was still so sore, but she wouldn't let Steve stop her or make her be more careful, she just bared with it until she was in the chair and then hurried him out. The medical bay was so small, it was suffocating to be in there.

''This is so good,'' Willow sighed happily. ''Hey if you're busy I can drive this thing myself,''

''No it's fine, there's not much progress today,'' he told her, glad to see her enjoying herself. ''Are you okay?''

''I'm fine,'' she assured him. ''Let's go to the lab, I need to start repaying some visits,''

Steve smiled at her excitement to go to lab, or more specifically, to see Bruce. He could see that she was in pain when they rounded certain corners, but he could also see that her happiness to get out of the medical room outweighed all of that. He felt good to be the one in the team to finally get her out, she deserved it after all she had done for them.

''Up for a visitor?'' Steve asked when he walked them to the door.

Bruce looked over from his work and his eyes widened at the sight of Willow making her way over in a wheelchair.

''Surprise!''

Hope you guys liked this chapter! I promise better stuff next time. Some more interactions with other Avengers :) Please review and thanks for reading.