A chapter!

And I'm not Marvel...

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Claire went downstairs at nine AM, a little disorientated and more hungry than she could really justify being. She expected the clamour and the noise this time, but just because she did, there was none.

The room was quiet and peaceful, though not empty. Pepper was reading the news on a tablet by the kitchen table, Natasha next to her with an old-fashioned book, and Laura was cooking. Or rather, perhaps, keeping some food warm while tidying up after what was bound to have been an epic breakfast.

"Morning." Claire gave a sheepish wave and was met with three smiling replies in varying degrees of obvious warmth. "Where is everyone?"

"Tony's back to work, as is Bruce." The apparent cook of the hour smiled and waved her towards the table. "Sit down dear... Clint's gone with Lila to a range. She was very excited, she's used to shooting outside. She's an archer like her father," Laura Barton added, dishing up a full place and handing it to Claire. "Steve, Bucky, Rhodey and Sam went down to Tony's garage...? With the boys." She gave a shrug, as if to illustrate the incomprehensibleness of men, while her tone clearly conveyed her hesitation to name the place as simply a "garage".

Claire grinned, sympathetic of her perplexity at the ways of Tower life.. "You're not into cars, then?"

Laura was back at the stove, puttering about, but she gamely shook her head. "No, though I appreciate a running tractor."

"I like a good Isetta bubble car," Claire added before digging into her food. "It's great for puzzling mechanically inclined billionaires, too. It's the only car in the world they've never owned before!" The laughter that met this statement rung in the kitchen for some time.


Claire was back in her sofa blanket nest, "Princess Bride" on the widescreen, when Bruce Wayne dropped in again.

She watched him as he charmed his way past Lauren, knew to avoid Natasha, briefly talked shop with Pepper and then finally stepped towards her and her couch. He was wearing a tailored suit, cufflinks alone clearly worth more than she could have even guessed before spending time with Tony.

"Morning," he greeted her with a charmingly candid smile, completely disregarding the fact that it was eleven AM by then and he had probably been making million dollar deals since sometime around seven. As this billionaire genius never made any social blunders, or was anything but perfectly well-bred and polite, one could be utterly assured of the appropriateness of the phase. However, the uncontested validity of the greeting didn't make his choise of words any less funny to Claire.

She said nothing about it, and he sat down next to her and her nest, though keeping a respectful distance. "How are you today?" He looked like he wanted to reach out a hand and feel her forehead, but didn't.

"I'm better. They didn't do anything to me, I just..." she shrugged. "I feel like when dad took Maria and we were safe, I had a small nervous breakdown," she confessed.

Bruce's face looked like he almost wanted to laugh, though he looked deeply sympathetic at the same time. "Claire, darling, you were held at knifepoint with your god-daughter. And then had to listen as the Hulk... hulked out more than normal, if the news reports are to be believed," he cut himself off from any description of what had happened to the kidnappers, assuming it wouldn't be helpful for her shock. "I do believe you're allowed a day or two - or a couple of weeks, really - of processing time after that. Everybody is impressed with how you handled it, and nobody blames you for being a bit shocked, I promise you."

She nodded, taking a deep breath. "I know. Intellectually I know everything is alright, but... I can't stop apologizing for things I have no idea how they could even be my fault. It's the shock, maybe?"

This time he did laugh, though he did so neither loudly nor unkindly. "I dare say so! If that's the only harm come to you so far, I can only be grateful. I'm assuming it'll pass once you've had a few nights of good sleep."

Reaching out to take his hand, Claire nodded slowly, and then she commented on her movie, wanting him to watch it with her.

He caught on admirably quickly, and after moving close enough that she could lean on him, stayed right were he was until she was finally ready to move around dinner time.


"Right, right, come look at this new project, we could need another genius now that you're here," Tony grumblingly invited Wayne to join him and Bruce on their latest coding adventure after dinner.

First looking over at Claire - who was doing puzzles with Lila and obviously didn't need him - Bruce Wayne accepted the peace offering for what it was and let himself be dragged to the part Ted talk, part ahead of its time research, part shovel speech that was inevitably to follow.