So Little Time

Kenna heard the sound of paper rubbing against itself and then it was quiet again. A few minutes later, she heard the same thing before she realized that she also heard the quiet sound of someone breathing. Even though she was vaguely aware of these sounds, she didn't open her eyes. The heavy feeling that filled every part of her body helped to convince her that remaining still within the warmth of her bed was for the best at the moment. Though not entirely focused on this, she continued to listen for the sound of pages turning and let the steady rhythm of breathing soothe her. Slowly her mind came back to her and true thoughts rather than just impressions and feelings started to flow through her mind. Like the breathing, that meant someone was with her. The sound of pages meant that person was likely reading a book and the heaviness she felt meant that she'd slept far longer than she normally did, too long. She let her eyes flutter open, fighting against the sleep that wanted to keep her for a while longer.

Kenna turned her head toward the sound of the breathing and met with a pair of eyes that were now peering at her from over the dust jacket of a book, the source of the sound of turning pages she'd been listening to for some time now.

"Doctor Banner?" She asked tiredly, her voice tense and rattled from sleep. She was thoroughly confused as to why the quiet, off beat doctor would be reading a book in her room as she slept. When she shifted to sit up and ask him exactly that, she froze. The distinct feeling of the sheets on her bare skin caused her sudden lack of motion and had the effect of forcing the gears of her mind to crank to life. She shut her eyes again when the reality of her last waking hours flooded back into her consciousness. Loki a Juton. Her very possible pregnancy. Everything.

"You passed out from a combination of stress and exhaustion. Your body did the rest and you've slept for an entire day." He said in his quiet tones.

"An entire day!" She sat up suddenly, clutching the sheet to her naked chest.

"That'll happen when you push yourself too hard for too long. You should take it easy for the next couple of days. The hospitals have gotten an influx of doctors from all over the country so you can rest assured that you aren't letting anyone down."

Kenna saw the t-shirt and pajama bottoms that were at the end of the bed and reached for them. "But I have patients…"

"Who have new doctors now." He finished her statement for her. She ignored him and pulled the shirt on without so much as flashing an inch of skin. Then came the bottoms that she just pulled under the covers with her before sliding them on.

"A day… Barton should have come to get me!" She didn't notice that Bruce stood from his chair, the book forgotten.

"He did come to get you. I said you passed out. We found you face down in your shower." Kenna shot him a look, her heart was beating furiously now. She shook her head.

"I…I'll be fine. I just need to get back to work."

"You're not going anywhere." Banner's voice remained completely calm while hers had only started to rise in pitch. She jumped out of the bed and headed for the bathroom. She grabbed the brush off of the counter and started to furiously pull all of the tangles from her tousled mane. "You're still weak and if you start up again, you'll just wind up back on your face."

"I have to go back." She started to rip at one section of her hair that refused to bow to her need for it to look presentable.

"You don't have to go back. I told you that they have plenty of doctors to pick of any and all slack. In your state you'd just get in the way or get someone hurt." Kenna stopped moving and just started shaking.

"You don't understand; I have to go back."

"Why?" She didn't feel them but Banner must have seen them because his face suddenly softened and looked more uncomfortable all at once. She spun around, the brush still in a death grip in her fingers. Her mind was a mess. She felt panic and remorse but no articulate thoughts passed through her mind. Everything that exited her lips was instantaneous and uncontrolled.

"Because I have so little time left. They'll take me away and it will all be gone!" She nearly shouted the last part. She didn't really notice how Banner had raised his hands in a supplicating gesture and was slowly making his way to her.

"Hey, it'll be alright. You're not going anywhere." Her eyes went wild then. How could he be so obtuse!

"They will take me back and everyone will call me a whore!" He'd reached her as she said the last word and the moment his hand touched her shoulder, she collapsed. Bruce barely had time to get his other hand on her and pull her into him before she fell to the ground.

"No one is going to call you that."

"But they'll know, they'll all know what I did to get here. A Juton's whore. Please, I need to go back to the hospital, it's all I have left, PLEASE!" She begged pitifully but she made no move to rise, instead her hands had fisted in his shirt and she'd buried her head in his shoulder.

"Shh." He just started to rock her back and forth as he held the broken woman in his arms. "You're not going anywhere yet. Shh." Unsurprisingly, she fell asleep a few minutes later and Doctor Banner carried her back to her bed, tucked her in and watched her sleep for a few minutes until he was convinced she'd be out for a while. Then he made his way out of the room and to the lab that he knew Tony Stark would be occupying, as he had been for weeks now. The man really did throw himself into projects in an almost, no completely, unhealthy sort of way.

"Tired of watching sleeping beauty?" Were the first words out of the genius billionaire's mouth once the immensely thick steel door opened. Thankfully he was the only one in the lab at this point though Bruce supposed that the time of three in the morning probably had something to do with that.

"Yeah, about that. How close do you think you are to figuring this out?" He raised his hand and made a little circular motion, indicating the progress on the work.

"Ha!" Tony pointed at him. "I knew you'd want to get in on this. All that bullshit about not wanting to hang around ultimate power and its unknown effects on the other guy was just an act. You just wanted to play hard to get, am I right?"

"You're wrong." He said as he stuck both of his hands in his pants pockets. "I still don't want to work on this; besides, mechanicals have never been my strong point. I'd honestly just be in the way." He actually felt a little gratification with the other man's disappointment.

"Bummer because I'm getting a little bummed out by Selvig's what-the-fuck melancholy and while I love working next to a hottie like Jane, her god boyfriend takes way too much offense at my completely harmless jokes… when he get them." Stark walked back over to the virtual schematics he had hanging in the air and started to stare intently at them for a few moments before pulling out small parts and adding others. "And unfortunately, he's learning. It's made for some interesting conversations. That guy can get a little intense if you know what mean."

"Yeah, maybe you should just refrain from hitting on her." Bruce offered offhandedly, knowing the response it would earn him already.

"What would be the fun in that? Besides, that chick's blush…" He put his hand over his heart and closed his eyes in mock euphoria.

"You could just get Pepper to blush." Bruce supplied.

"Eh. She's been immune to my bullshit for years now." Tony took his eyes away from his work for a moment and looked through the hologram. "So, I know you're not here to talk about ladies and my innuendo and if you're not here to help, then just to what do I own this little visit?"

"I was wondering how close you guys are to figuring all of this out." Tony narrowed his eyes at him but answered.

"Maybe a couple weeks. We made some pretty big breakthroughs yesterday." Bruce just nodded and walked around the lab, looking at the different equipment and mockups. Even though Tony was kind enough to answer without too much of a problem, it seemed he wasn't going to let it lie. "Why the sudden interest after a grand total of zippola the past couple of weeks." Bruce considered it for a bit. He'd never really been good at lying and had a feeling that Tony could sniff one out like a fly could smell garbage, so maybe not a lie.

"Do you think you could… extend the time it takes to finish it?" This earned him a raised eyebrow and a pair of crossed arms. The man just stood there staring at him for several long moments before a shit eating grin spread across his face.

"You're sweet on her, aren't you?" Bruce felt his eyes widen.

"No!" He answered incredulously and he pulled one hand from his pocket so he started to rub at the back of his neck. "No. It's not like that. Not the way you're thinking anyway."

Tony laughed and walked to the back of the lab. He crouched down and opened up the cabinet he'd stopped next to and pulled out a couple of glasses and a decanter of what Bruce could safely guess was liquor. "Then you won't mind explaining why." He said as he poured a couple of fingers of liquid into each glass, handing one to Bruce.

"You always drink while you work?"

"Better question is do I always work while I drink?" Bruce rolled his eyes but raised his glass to the genius anyway before taking a small sip. He didn't normally drink. In fact, he never did but right now it just didn't seem like such a bad idea. Though he tried not to let it, everything she'd said in her hysterical state had touched him pretty deeply. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Bruce had been watching her work with people in the hospital for the past couple of weeks and, as silly as it seemed, she was like an artist. You could see the joy she got out of her work and it was infectious to both her patients and the people that worked around her. Then to see her so broken and to know the reason… he couldn't just sit idly by. Even if he only gained her an extra week, it would be worth it. So he gave his reasons to Tony.

"Yeah, I can swing that." Tony said almost as soon as he'd finished the explanation.

"Excuse me?" Bruce wasn't sure if he'd heard him right or maybe Tony didn't really understand what he was asking.

"You want me to delay the project so that the goddess doctor can extend her vacation from the hell she's about to return to. That sound about right?"

Bruce nodded. "Uh, yeah."

"Like I said, no problem. Just don't tell anyone. I've been working pretty hard at killing the idea of chivalry and something like this getting out would put a serious damper on my progress."

Bruce just smiled at took another sip. "This is pretty good." He raised the glass again.

"Better be at 10K a bottle."

Bruce almost choked.

XxX

"You sure you're up to this?" Barton asked as he slipped into the seat across from her. Stark had insisted that they start making use of one of his limos from the fleet he had in the lower levels of the Stark garage. Kenna felt out of place in the luxury automobile but it saved them having to look for parking. She gave him a small smile.

"Three days of sitting around that tower and I'm more than ready."

He nodded. "Just remember what Doctor Banner said. No more than twelve hour shifts for the first few days."

Nodding, she looked out the darkened window at the work being done outside, mostly debris removal and swallowed thickly. She needed to get back to work. The last few days had mostly been spent sleeping and eating, two things that she knew she hadn't been getting quite enough of but it took another doctor to really make her acknowledge it. For all his understated mannerisms, Doctor Banner could be very persuasive when he wanted to be and that was the only reason that today was her first day back and not the day before.

Then there was the opposite of understated mannerisms. Prince Thor. He'd informed her that she should not see his brother again until she felt comfortable doing so. The pseudo order had obviously pained him to give but she appreciated the concern he'd showed her, surprised her even. As such, she hadn't seen Loki since she'd discovered his secret and learned of his… desire to get her with child. She pushed the thought away as quickly as she could. Nearly three weeks had passed since the Chitauri invasion and that was plenty of time. The surprising similarities between humans and Asgardians extended to many hormonal changes as well. The hardest part would not be conducting her test but getting away from her escort long enough to procure the items she needed. Today she would find out.

XxX

AN: AMAGAWD, no Loki again… And now we've been in Banner's head. He's just as quiet in there as he is outwardly it seems (or at least mine is).

Trillen17: He would be the only one to understand her as far as that aspect is concerned and I agree, neither is going to want anyone's pity… but they might recieve it anyway.
AvalonTheLadyKiller: That's cool. That means if you haven't even thought about it, then you haven't read about it. While I'm doubtful it's entirely original, at least it's not an overplayed idea either. Exactly, generations long enemies… not a hotbed for good feelings. I tried to accurately portray that as much as someone who's never been in that sort of situation before could and still do it justice. Kenna is no slouch but she's just a little fish swimming with sharks… we'll see how she fares in all of this. And I like how you're keeping score. :)
gameofshadows: haha, yeah, I get into a writing mode sometimes. I dunno, sometimes I can whip one out in as little as an hour, then I sit on it till later, do my proofreading and post it. We will know about that preggo possibility very, very soon. Yeah, to say it would be a burden back in Asgard would be an understatement. There are so many aspects to why this would be a tough kid to raise… all of Loki's voluminous baggage and then a mom that ran away and lived with humans! Crazy.
caitysays: rofl, I knew that you would like that POV. My gift to you for all your dedication in reviewing!
electricteena: Woot! Ah, his sudden desire for progeny. Why oh why Loki? It definitely started with his aspirations to be a king but why would it continue… Thank you and thank you for reviewing!
KeeperoftheNine: Seems we're split among the reviewer community on what they'd like to see but it will be known to all very soon. If it happens, it will not be a source of joy, that's for sure. I'll definitely concede that point about humans, huge difference there. I mainly was poking fun at Loki/Aesirs OC's, I should have clarified. And you bring up an even better point with the fact that mutants exist in the Marvel universe. By the way: I'll try not to procrastinate seeing it with her then. :p