Chapter 35

They anxiously pace in the infirmary's waiting room while Jamie is checked out. She still hadn't regained consciousness when they brought her in almost an hour ago. Presumably she had another seizure but Jamie wasn't actively trying to move the protective layer. Shortly after bringing her in, they contacted Clint, who is currently on his way.

Bruce meets the team in the waiting area to offer the much-awaited update. "We're not sure what happened. It looks like Jamie's mind is protecting itself from an intruder. Her mind has built up the wall, denser than I've seen it, and has shut down unnecessary functions."

"What does that mean?" Tony asks, anxious and frustrated with the situation and not understanding.

"Well, in some ways, it looks like she's in a coma."

"So did she have a seizure earlier?" Nat asks

"Yes."

"Is there any damage?" Steve asks, his question, although asked calmly, is laced with fear.

"No, the protective layer shielded her brain from the seizure which is why I think she is in a coma-like state," Bruce explains.

"Do you know what her mind is protecting her against?" Steve asks afraid the test may have caused the problems.

"It appears to be the sensitivities that I mentioned earlier. It's like her mind is now aware that there's an intruder and is working to remove it."

The nurse quickly opens the door to the waiting room, "Dr. Banner."

Bruce follows the nurse back inside the infirmary, looking at the current test results. "She appears to be coming out of it." He stands next to the girl, holding her hand and talking to her.

"Jamie, wake up. It's Bruce."

Jamie opens her eyes, blinking at first, adjusting to the bright light. "Bruce?" Jamie says testing her mouth, "What happened?"

"You had a seizure but you're ok now." Bruce explains, gently not wanting to alarm her.

"Why?"

"I'm not sure yet. I think your mind was trying to clear up the sensitivities that we found earlier."

"Ok, I don't feel well," Jamie complains.

"What's bothering you?"

"My head hurts and I feel sick to my stomach. I'm really sleepy."

"You hit your head when you had the seizure. I want you to stay awake for a while."

"No, I can't. I'm sleepy." Jamie complains, not having the energy to fight sleep.

"Nurse, bring in the others, please," Bruce instructs.

Within moments, Jamie is surrounded by the whole team.

Bruce begins, "She has a concussion from when she hit her head. Typically, I wouldn't require a patient to stay awake after a minor head injury, the practice really is antiquated, without research to back it up, but with her seizures and special abilities, I prefer that she stay awake for about four hours just to be sure she's alright."

"No, I can't," Jamie says quietly, closing her eyes.

"Jamie!" Clint says loudly, trying to keep her awake. Jamie's eyes flung open in response to the sudden noise.

The team takes turns talking to her, periodically shouting to keep her awake. She starts to cry feeling overly tired suffering from a bad headache, mixed with the events over the past day appear to be crashing in on her.

"Please, let me sleep," Jamie begs.

"Not right now. Tell me something good that happened," Nat says.

"I don't know," Jamie says closing her eyes.

"Bruce, this isn't working," Steve says, alarmed.

Bruce comes back and looks at her pupils. "She's not responding."

"What does that mean? What's happening?" Frantically, Steve asks while the nurse pushes him out of the way.

"You all need to go back to the waiting room," Bruce instructs the team then turns his attention back to the nurse. "Let's get a CT scan to see if there's any bleeding."

The team remains unmoved, fear shooting through them.

"Hey, you guys need to go, let us work!" Hulk's green eyes appear momentarily alerting the team to obey the instruction.

After about an hour, Bruce finally reenters the waiting room. "She had some bleeding on her brain. We were able to stop it but will need to keep a close eye on her over the next few days to see if the bleeding returns. She's awake right now but very tired. She is allowed to sleep since she's recovering from anesthesia. One of you can go in with her at a time."

Steve goes in first. "Hi baby girl, how are you feeling?"

"Tired, headache," Jamie says with much effort to even say a few words.

"You can sleep honey. I'll stay here for a while and if I'm not here someone else will be. I don't want to hog all of you," Steve says holding her hand and rubbing her forehead. "Go to sleep."

Jamie closes her eyes and falls asleep within seconds.

Bruce stands next to Jamie on the other side of the bed.

"Is she going to be ok?"

"Yes, she should make a full recovery. Things are a little tense right now but we know about the problem so we can address it again if needed," Bruce explains.

"How did you do it, stay calm while she was going through that, work on her like that?" Steve ponders amazed at how well Bruce is keeping it together.

Bruce smiles, "You didn't see me right before and right after the surgery. Hulk is aware of Jamie's presence. He kind of wakes up when she's around. He kept me cool so I could help her."

"Hulk, kept you cool? The beast that seems to feed on your anger, kept you cool. There's an unexpected twist," Steve remarks, truly amazed.

"I know, right? There's a special place in all of our hearts for Jamie, Hulk included, maybe Hulk most of all. He will do anything for her," Bruce explains, smiling at the care that Hulk shows this girl.

"Wow, that's really nice to hear. I know Jamie really cares about Hulk too and feels exceptionally safe with him," Steve thinks aloud.

"How long do you expect her to sleep?"

"Considering everything, at least eight to ten hours. Although, she will likely wake for brief periods of time."

The team is on edge, taking turns visiting with Jamie, soaking up any tidbits Bruce or the nurse share regarding her progress. So far, everything is going smoothly. Jamie should wake without any long-term damage. It takes longer than expected but after about twelve hours Jamie wakes up.

"Hi baby girl. How are you feeling?" Clint asks, seeing my eyes open.

"Ok. I have a headache. What happened? I don't really remember anything after coming home from your house."

Steve enters the room with Nat and Tony before Clint has the chance to respond. Bruce is still at the nurse's station reviewing test results. When Tony sees that I am awake, he informs Bruce. "Hey, she's awake."

Bruce comes in to check on me asking everyone else to leave until he's done. While flashing a tiny light in my eyes, Bruce asks, "How are you feeling?"

"I have a headache. What happened? I don't remember," I ask again.

Bruce briefly sighs then gives a recount of the previous evening.

"Another seizure?" I ask worried.

"Yeah honey, I'm afraid so."

"What's happening to me?" I begin to cry, overwhelmed with medical issues on top of everything else that has gone wrong in my life.

Bruce sits down next to me, gently rubbing my forehead. "I think your mind is protecting itself."

"From what?"

"I think it involves the protective layer that you have and the things that Cross has done. We are exploring possible causes and options for treatment, hang in there with me, ok? I promise we will get this fixed." Bruce tries to comfort me knowing that I'm scared and hurting.

The nurse brings pain medication for me which I gladly accept.

"Do you want the others to come in now?" Bruce asks.

"I want to be alone."

Bruce leans over to give me a kiss on my forehead, then smiles and says, "You know that's not gonna fly, right?"

"I know," I sigh then roll over on my side, a few tears falling to the pillow.

After a few minutes, everyone comes into my room despite my request to be alone. Bruce must have warned them that I wanted to be alone because they approach carefully. Steve comes to sit on the side that I'm facing reaching over the safety railing. "How are you doing kiddo?" Steve asks while running his fingers through my hair near my face.

"I'm ok, just a headache." I say, unable to hide my sadness. "Bruce how long do I have to stay here?"

"Probably just two or three days."

I am appalled. "Two or three days, what? Why?" I am almost yelling.

"Jamie, calm down," Steve instructs.

Ignoring Steve, I yell, "The hospital is in our house. Why can't I sleep in my own bed; it's right down the hall?"

Steve tries to interject, "Jamie, if Bruce thinks…"

"Tony, come on, I know you agree," I press, drumming up support from the one most likely to agree with me.

"The kid's got a point," Tony remarks, shrugging his shoulders.

I look at Bruce waiting for him to change his mind. "Let's see how the rest of today goes. But you will still have to come back for more tests."

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine." I say feeling more angry now than sad. "You guys should leave me alone, I will just make everyone else miserable."

Tony chuckles, "Yeah, maybe, but we're not leaving." Tony sits down on the edge of my bed making his point clear. The more I push them away the closer they stick to me. Nat and Clint also find places to sit near me. I roll my eyes, exasperated with these people.

Nat starts in conversation, "So, what all did you guys do over the weekend?"

I don't respond so Clint begins, "We did some shooting, ate Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and snuggled while a watching movie."

"It was boring around here. I think Jamie took the party with her," Nat says, trying to get me to respond.

I feel sad thinking about how much I messed up while I was at Clint's. Steve looks over at Clint with some silent conversation then Clint moves to sit near the top of the bed so he is near my face. "We all loved having you at the house. I know there were a few touchy moments, but we expect that with everything that you've been through. Steve told me that you asked not to be alone with Lila or Cooper. We can do that for now but the fact that you asked for that makes me even more sure that they are safe with you."

"I think that it would be hard to mess up so badly here but at your house with your kids, it's different. I'm afraid that I will lose it around them or they will see something like me hurting myself. I don't want to mess up," I explain, tears in my eyes.

"Jamie, we don't see it as messing up. You are learning to deal with some very tough situations that are very emotional. That's not messing up that's learning to cope. With family, even with my wife and kids, that's where people are meant to learn to cope with life. See?" A tear springs from Clint's eye as he explains.

I reach over and wrap my arms around Clint's neck, crying, wanting his words to be true. "Please tell me if something starts to change. I don't want to all of a sudden lose you. I promise if you tell me, I'll do better, ok? Tell me so I have a chance to make it better."

"I will baby girl, I will. I promise, we're not going to just give up on you. I want you forever," Clint softly says as he strokes my hair and kisses my cheek.

I nod letting go of my grip, lying back down in bed. I do feel a little lightheaded.

"Are you feeling alright?" Nat asks.

Nat's comment catches Bruce's attention. "How do you feel?"

"Um, my head hurts and I feel lightheaded and sick to my stomach a little," I explain my symptoms while Bruce shines a light in my eyes.

"Let's get another CT scan," Bruce says to the nurse. "Let's have you guys wait outside. I'll come talk to you after the scan."

I want to argue with Bruce, tell him this is stupid but I'm too tired all of a sudden.