Chapter 26: Another Day
***Alexis's P.O.V***
I could hear him coming down the hallway. His footsteps muffled by the carpet. The footsteps pause outside the room that I was currently hiding in. Frantically, I try to quieten my breathing while placing my hand over my mouth to stop me from panting as adrenaline raced through my veins. Slowly, the door opens, and I see his silhouette in the doorway as I peer through the small gap I made from opening the cupboard door slightly.
"I will find you. You can not hide from me," He calls as he enters the room slowly heading towards the bed where I had placed pillows under the covers to throw him off track. A smirk appeared on his face as he reached the bed and grabbed the edge of the sheets.
"Got you!" He cried as he whipped the covers back to reveal the pillows. His face fell as he saw that it wasn't me under the covers. "Damn," I heard him whisper as he looks up from the bed. His eyes begin scanning the room. My hand clamps harder over my mouth as my breath hitches when I see his gaze suddenly lock on the cupboard that I was hiding in.
Quickly, and as quietly as I could, I try to shuffle back into the back corner, hoping against hope that he somehow won't see me. I couldn't rely on J.A.R.V.I.S to distract him as he had been muted when this situation had started.
Darkness fills my vision as he stands in front of the cupboard. My breath gets caught in my chest as I stare at cupboard door, willing him to walk away. After what seems like an eternity, he steps away from the cupboard. I let out a quiet sigh of relief. For once things are going to my favour, I think happily.
Suddenly the cupboard door is violently flung open causing me to scream as light filled my vision and his voice yelled, "I GOT YOU!"
Once I had calmed down from my fright; I see Tony grinning at me as he extends his hand to help me out of the cupboard. I clasp it gratefully and wiggle my way out. Catching me as I tumble out of the cupboard, Tony gently places me down before kneeling in front of me.
"I didn't scare you too much, did I?" he asks as his eyes scan me.
I giggle, shaking my head. "No, not too much. Just a little bit."
"Good." Tony stands with a groan as I hear him mutter something about getting too old. "Well, Shortcake, we have now wasted about an hour. What's next?"
I think about my options carefully. "I chose to play Hide N Seek. So it is your turn to choose now," I grin.
"Well in that case, to the lab!" Tony shouts as he points to the door dramatically.
"Excuse me, Sir. But Ms Potts is on the line, and she wants to remind you about the meeting in an hour that you have been putting off for several weeks," J.A.R.V.I.S interrupts as we are about to head out the door.
"Oh...right," Tony sighs as he rubs his hand over his face.
I shuffle in place as I watch him before gaining the courage to ask, "We can go to the lab afterwards, right?"
Tony smiles down at me as he once again messes my hair. "Sure thing, Shortcake. I'll drop you off at the communal area before I go get ready." He begins to walk down the hall to the elevator.
I quickly catch up to him and ask. "What's the communal area?"
"It's where the lounge and kitchen area is. Where we usually hang out with everyone."
My mouth forms a silent 'O' as I understand where I am going. "I didn't realise that it was called that."
"Well, now you do." Tony glances at me with a smile.
Reaching the elevator, I quickly press the floor number as I lean against the wall.
"Tony?"
"Yea, Shortcake?"
"How long is your meeting going to be?"
"Hmmm probably about an hour or two sadly. I want it to be as short as possible cause I have some new ideas for my fellow teammate's gear."
"So, will you send a message to me when you have come back?"
"Of course, I'll come to find you myself and then we can go work to our heart's content."
The elevator stops, and I hug Tony. His arms wrapped around me and squeezed me tight.
"I'll see you later, okay?" Tony whispers as he loosens his arms.
"Okay," I let him go and skip out of the elevator.
"Stay out of trouble, alright Shortcake?" He calls out after as the elevator doors close behind me.
I cautiously peer around the corner into the lounge. Surprisingly, there was no one there. I felt my stomach grumble at me. Well, I might as well eat while I am up here. Tony won't be very happy if I get hungry.
I scamper over to the kitchen and slide in on the wooden floor. "
"Just got to love socks," I giggle quietly to myself as I slide over to the island in the middle of the room where I spied a bowl of fruit. Suddenly, I feel my foot grip. Stumbling, trying to gain my balance, I feel a sharp pain erupt on the side of my head, causing me to fall to the ground in pain. Landing on my side, I feel my ribs protest against the harsh landing making it hard to breathe. Tears blur my vision as the shock seeps in. Pushing myself upright, so I am sitting, I clasp the side of my head.
"Ow," I whimper as I rub the spot of pain. While it is painful, I can't help but be thankful that it is nowhere near the amount of pain that I was used to receiving from my father. Pulling my hand away, I check for blood in case I split my head. I sigh as I see that there is a smear of red on my palm.
Standing up slowly, I climb up on a stool near me and sit down. I look around for something to press against my wounded head, but as usual, the kitchen is reasonably spotless.
Shrugging mentally, I slowly squirm my way out of my jersey and press it against my wound. I hiss softly from the slight pain it caused. I suppose I had better go to Bruce to get clean up. I hope he is that kind of doctor.
"J.A.R.V.I.S?" I ask as I slip off the stool and make my way back to the elevator.
"Yes, Miss Alexis?"
'Where is everyone, apart from Tony. I know where he is." I ask
"Loki and Thor are currently arguing in the Library. Ms Romanoff, Mr Barton, Mr Rogers and Mr Barnes are training in the gym, while Dr Banner is in his lab."
"Can you please take me to Bruce, please?" I ask as I make it to the elevator and step in.
"Of course, Miss," came the reply as J.A.R.V.I.S closed the elevator doors and took me to Mr Banner's floor.
Standing in front of the glass door of Bruce's lab, I see him bent over a desk with his back to me. I grab the door handle and pull to open it but it doesn't budge. Frowning, I try again with both hands, letting my jersey fall to the ground.
"Sorry, Ms Alexis but you do not have authorised access. Would you like me to inform Dr Banner that you would like to speak to him?"
"Yes, please. J.A.R.V.I.S."
A few seconds later, I see Bruce look up at the door. I wave and give him a slight smile. The door opens inwards, and I walk over to him.
"Hey, Alexis. What are yo-" He stops as he sees the side of my head that is almost soaked in red. Dropping the papers in his hands, he strides over and crouches next to me. "What happened to you?" he asks as he gently turns my head to have a better look at my wound.
"Iwasslidingandslipped," I mumbled, as I shuffle slightly and turn my eyes away from his worried gaze.
"What?" Standing up, he leads me over to a bench before picking me up and placing me on it. "Say it without the mumbling this time please," he says as he walks over to a cabinet on the side of the room.
"I was sliding in my socks in the kitchen, and then they gripped. I must have whacked my head on the side of the island as I stumbled and then I fell on the floor. When I realised that my head was bleeding, I came down to you because Tony is in a meeting for a while." I explain as I look down at my swinging feet.
Placing a medkit down next to me, Bruce chuckles, "Well, I am glad that you came down to me instead of trying to deal with this on your own. And it is quite a curious way of gaining a head injury like this though."
I hiss as Bruce slowly begins to clean the wound with a wet cloth.
"So I thought that you would be with Steve and Bucky today?" Bruce says.
"I was going to go and see them, but then this happened, so I came to see you instead. I figured that you would be the one who knew what to do."
"Oh, but what about before the accident? What were you doing this morning?" Bruce put away the cloth and tilted my head slightly.
"I read in the library with Loki for a while before going and finding Tony. He was talking with Pepper on the phone, but I waited until he was finished. Then we played hide and seek. It was pretty cool."
Bruce chuckles, "You got Tony Stark to play hide and seek with you?"
"Yep," I grin, "It was a lot of fun. He scared me in the last round when he was 'it' though."
Bruce laughs and then rummages around in the medkit. "That sounds like Tony alright."
"What are you looking for?"
Bruce holds up a small tube. "This." Opening it, he puts a bit on his finger before softly applying it to my wound. "This ointment will help with the healing and will lower the risk for getting an infection." I wince as he rubs the ointment on.
"Thank you for cleaning me up Dr Banner."
"No problem," he smiles as he puts everything away back in the kit, "You are lucky that it was only a minimal cut otherwise you would have needed stitches as well."
I shudder at the thought of more needles.
"Now," Bruce lifts me off the bench and places me gently on the ground. "You run along and go see what the others are up doing. If they are training, you can not do anything that will risk that would start bleeding again. Doctor's orders."
I nod. "Yes, Bruce. I promise."
He grins before turning back to his work.
Skipping out, I'm stopped as Bruce calls out to me.
"Yes?" I say as I turn around.
"You might want to change your shirt. There are some blood stains on your left shoulder."
I glance down at it. My new white shirt now had red splatters.
"Thanks, Bruce." I walk out of the room and grab my jersey that was still outside the door.
Stepping back into the elevator, I press the button to the floor that my room is on.
Once I am changed, I can finally go and see Bucky again.