Thor only had a few minutes with Bruce before the scientist lost consciousness.

It was concerning, and Thor had barely began to explain everything he needed to before it happened. Bruce had been trembling and pale before passing out completely. Thor gently wrapped Bruce's now naked form in his cloak, as the clothes Hulk had worn had fallen off, and he simply walked out of the colosseum with Bruce in his arms. Outside under the open sky, he called for Heimdall. Light and color surrounded the men, taking them up as quickly as it was spoken.

When Thor touched down again on earth, he knew that Bruce needed immediate medical attention. It was the middle of the night, and the compound was nearly dark, so Thor knew he needed to get inside and get Bruce some help. He'd spent too much time not in control of his own body, on a planet not meant for humans, and his body was obviously in an intense shock. He moved as quickly as possible, and entered the building at a near run.

'FRIDAY?' He ask as he walked in, knowing the AI Tony had replaced JARVIS with now that he was part of Vision, though only briefly being acquainted to the computerized assistant.

'Welcome, Thor.' the AI returned.

"Please call Doctor Ford to the med bay." He called as he hurried down the hall. He'd just laid Bruce on a table when Jennifer ran in, still in pajamas and her feet bare.

"Thor!" She shouted, and the God of Thunder turned and moved, allowing her to see Bruce. "What's going on? Tell me what's happened?" She said, immediately grabbing her stethoscope from the hook on the wall as she came over. She placed two fingers on Bruce's radial pulse, then listened to his heart before looking back to Thor, waiting.

"He was being held on a planet where the biggest form of entertainment was a gladiator competition, as Hulk, forced to fight. Until he and I went against one another, I think he'd been Hulk the entire time." Thor said, standing back. Jennifer covered Bruce with a sheet for his own privacy, then moved to start an IV. She had to take out adamantium needles specially ordered for Bruce, so that the metal could pierce his skin without resistance from Hulk. She was able to get a vein on the second try, and she hung the IV bag up to begin his hydration. Once the IV was started, she moved to elevate his feet, then she retrieved warm blankets from the heater.

"FRIDAY, please call Tony and ask him to get to the compound as soon as possible." She requested, and the AI agreed. She then looked over at Thor, before continuing to attach various monitoring systems to Bruce's limp form. A faint beeping and lines began to flow across a nearby monitor.

"Where was he?" She ask, sitting down on the edge of the bed her patient was on. She gently tilted Bruce's head and connected her fingers to his jaw, where the glow of her healing power crept down her arm and into his neck, toward his chest.

"It is a place called 'Sakaar.', Heimdall tells me it is also know as 'the Place of Lost Things'. It was a planet of mostly space junk, and the sky has many wormholes and portals through which things fall to the surface. The population were scavengers, and the masses were entertained by the fighting, organized by the planet's ruler. He called himself 'The Grand Master'. He seemed very disappointed by Hulk's true form, but because I defeated him, he left us be."

"I'd love to know the conditions he'd been in." Jennifer sighed. "Nutritionally, environmentally. Any of it. I really need more information, but for now getting him hydrated and regulated is our main goal. Thor, you said you 'defeated' him, in battle? Did you hurt him?"

"No." Thor shook his head. "Not Banner. I had laid Mjölnir on his chest while he was still Hulk, but once I had found a way to get him to change back, I removed the hammer before it could harm him. Banner is much too small, I would never do anything to hurt him." He crossed his arms and watched as the young doctor continued to allow the gold healing light to flow over Bruce. It was just a few minutes more before Tony stumbled in, still wearing his armor where he'd worn it to fly in.

"Bruce!" Tony blurted, stumbling out of the suit as it opened. He fell into the bedside on the opposite side from Jennifer. "He looks terrible! Is he okay?" Tony ask, touching Bruce's forehead gently.

"He's in shock." Jennifer replied quietly. "Pretty severe shock. His pulse and blood pressure are both very low."

"Does Nat know he's been found?" Tony ask. Jennifer shook her head.

"No, and we aren't going to until he's stable." She replied. "In fact, 'FRIDAY', please place a lock-down on medbay." She requested.

'Of course.' The AI replied, and the doors could be heard clicking sealed.

"Why isn't Hulk preserving him better?" Tony demanded, not really asking Jennifer personally as much as pondering out loud. Jennifer shook her head and shrugged again.

"I was wondering the same thing. I think maybe too much time spent as Hulk has really taken a toll. I'm really quite worried about his heart, but I can't let him go just yet. I want to keep my healing on him for a while more before I let him go. Then we need to do an echo and make sure his heart isn't giving out. His body must be so exhausted from being the Hulk so long. Thor can tell you more about that." Jennifer explained.

"So, Thor." Tony looked over at the larger man, "How'd you manage this? What all happened?"

"Long story." Thor sighed, sitting down on a nearby stool. Jennifer looked over at Tony and shrugged.

"Go for it, we have the time." Tony replied, leaning against the railing on Bruce's bed.

Hours passed with near silence, Jennifer sitting in intense focus as she attempted to use her abilities to get Bruce's body into some sort of homeostasis. In the meantime, Tony had taken the initiative to start a basic fluid line of IV on Jennifer to keep her going as she attempted to heal her teammate. The strain on her body was starting to be evident in her paling face and the dark circles forming under her eyes, but she refused to let go.

She walked Tony through getting the echo-cardiogram machine for her so she could take a look at Bruce's heart, which had indeed been thrown into an arrhythmia. She sighed and moved her hand gently down from where she'd held his jaw to over his chest, allowing her power to flow directly in from her palm to his chest. Tony noticed as she moved that she shook significantly.

"Uh, Doc?" Tony said, clearing his throat. "I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job..."

"I can't let him go, Tony." Jennifer interrupted. "If he's fighting this hard with my help, how bad would it be if I stopped?"

"She's got a point." Thor said from where he'd propped on the wall. The two men had stayed with the doctor and her patient since the lock-down was sent in place.

"It does neither of you any good if you kill yourself trying, Jen." Tony said gently. "We have world class machinery, medications, tell me how to help. Tell me what to do." His voice shook, and it was evident he was scared for his friend's life.

"I- I don't know what to do, honestly." Jennifer confessed. "That's why I'm just... Holding him as stable as I can. Bruce is the only one of his kind. Genetically, he is a whole new being. There are no studies for treatment of shock on a gamma mutant with powers like his. There is no baseline. Hulk should be helping him, should be healing him. But he isn't. I've read all of his own works, his notes on his body and his situation- but even he wasn't prepared for a possibility like this."

"What about that rhythm?" Tony said, nodding to the heartbeat on the screen. Supraventricular arrhythmia danced across the blue screen, repeating.

"The potassium should've started to correct it hours ago." Jennifer sighed, shaking her head. "He's had two rounds. I don't know what to do, Tony. There is nothing I've ever learned that can tell me how to save Bruce... I just have to keep holding his heartbeat in my hand."

"Okay." Tony nodded. "Okay, and I will stay right here with you. Whatever you need, however I can help you keep going."

"Thank you." Jennifer said quietly. "Actually, some blood sugar would be great. Could you get me an orange juice?" She ask. Thor stood before Tony could.

"I've got it." The Thunder God offered, moving to the refrigerator. He even placed a straw in the cup, so she could better hold it with her free hand and sip. She pulled it down in nearly one drink, and smiled.

"Thank you, Thor, that helps so much." Jennifer said, and Thor grinned. He seemed happy to be able to give any help in this situation at all. She sat in silence for a long while, flexing her fingers in her stiffening hand against his chest. Her palm was starting to sweat against his feverish skin, but she didn't dare pause in her care at all.

She watched Bruce's face, where every once in a while his eyes would twitch into an almost wince. Sweat beaded on his forehead and simply rolled off, soaking his dark curls. Jennifer thought back on his journals she'd read when trying to learn all she could about Natasha and Bruce's twins, and how she might need to treat them.

Bruce had chronicled his difficulties with the Hulk- which were actually quite a bit in their very beginning, in journals which Jennifer found in his lab. The two never had really gotten onto the idea of being one being, or sharing control.

"Hey, Tony? Thor?" she called, and Tony looked over from where he and Thor were sitting, making idle chit chat.

"Yeah?" He said, waiting for orders.

"I was just thinking..." She sighed. "Maybe... Maybe Hulk is mad?"

"What?" Thor and Tony ask together.

"I just mean- What if he is refusing to help Bruce, like on purpose. Withholding the regenerative factor from working on his body?" Jennifer scrunched her nose and shook her head. "Just a thought, I don't even know if it is a possibility."

"No, no that makes sense." Thor said, pulling a stool over and sitting right beside the bed. Tony came over and sat on the foot of Bruce's bed as well.

"How so?" He ask, propping on his chin.

"Well, when I found Hulk, I tried to talk to him first. I didn't want to fight my friend." Thor explained. "But when I tried to bring up Natasha..." Thor's eyes widened. "He went insane. Bellowed at me so hard, spit was flying. Absolute rage." Thor shook his head. "Terrible, horrible, true anger."

"Oh." Tony said, as if something was setting in on him. The three sat in silence for a long moment.

"So you think..." Jennifer ask, looking at Tony.

"The cliff. Sokovia." Tony nodded. Thor raised an eyebrow.

"I'm afraid I don't follow." Thor offered, confused.

"When we were fighting Ultron, Bruce had been struggling with Hulk, which you knew about." Tony started to explain. "What you didn't know, is that Bruce only wanted to help in his way. With Jennifer, with civilians. Helping people, saving people. He wanted nothing with the fight, and definitely not near the population of the city. Natasha made a different call, unfortunately. She felt like in the moment, Hulk was who we needed, not Bruce. So she pulled him close, kissed him hard-"

"And flung him off a cliff, so he would transform." Jennifer ended.

Thor blinked back at the other two Avengers for a moment, stunned.

"I could see how one would be a bit... unamused by that." Thor nodded, after some time. "If it were me, and I had been struggling, I would feel used. Betrayed."

"Exactly." Jennifer agreed. "That's why I wonder if Hulk isn't holding back. He's angry. Hurt."

Bruce's limp form let a deep, rumbling groan, startling them and all three looked over at the man. No change came to the monitor or his state of conciseness, however.

"Seems like you're onto something, Doc." Tony concluded. Jennifer used her free hand to pull up her hair for a moment, allowing air to hit her neck, which was starting to burn.

"I think we should call Natasha." Jennifer suggested. Tony seemed less than convinced, however.

"I don't know." Tony said, shaking his head. "I don't know that is safe for anyone. I mean, he could wake up and Hulk out- and I mean like this, that would kill him. Or you. Or maybe me and Natasha." Tony reminded her. "Thor would probably be fine."

"Tony..." Jennifer sighed. "I don't think he's capable of transforming right now. Besides, I would never do anything to put anyone on this team in any sort of danger. I think you know that."

"Yeah. Yeah, fair." Tony nodded. "But you should know if I unlock those doors, I won't be able to keep Steve out, either. He's been blowing my phone up this entire time."

"What?" Jennifer groaned. "Why?"

"Because... He... Loves... you?" Tony drew out, exaggerating his words. "I mean, I think the whole team is probably wondering what's up, but Pepper took Nat out to get maternity clothes, So she isn't here. Thank God. She has no idea he's even here. When you called, I had her surprise Nat with a trip shopping... However, everyone else is ganged up at the door." Tony said, hooking his thumb over his shoulder to point at the doorway.

Jennifer let out a long, deep breath and covered her face with her unoccupied hand.

"Please call Pepper and ask her to bring Natasha home. Then, and only then, unlock the doors." She agreed.

Just as Jennifer had guessed, the entire team had to be removed from the medbay by near force, especially Steve.

Everyone was very concerned for Bruce, none of them having ever seen him even slightly injured before; They were also concerned for Jennifer, who was really starting to physically start to show signed of how much of her own lifeforce was being spent on keeping Bruce afloat. Steve had protested very, very adamantly to be allowed to stay in the room with Jennifer for support before Natasha arrived, but eventually Tony and Thor were able to persuade him to wait back outside.

When Pepper and Natasha had returned, Tony had met the car outside. Natasha had stepped out with a bright smile, already wearing a new dress which hugged her growing twins well, but her smile faded when she saw her old friend's face. Tony looked exhausted and worried, and in their line of work, there was only a million different things that could've been wrong which he was waiting to tell her.

"Hey, Nat." Tony tried to greet her casually, his smile tight and obviously fake. Natasha saw right through the ruse.

"Tony." She greeted. "What's wrong? What's happened?"

"Uh, yeah. Nat. Bruce's been found." Tony said, shoving his hands in his pockets, eyes on the ground.

Natasha's face flashed with several emotions as her mind raced.

"Alive?" She demanded.

Tony nodded.

"So far." He admitted.

"So far?" She repeated in a small squeak. Tony just nodded and held out a hand, which Natasha took. Tony pulled her to his side and wrapped his arm around the assassin.

"He's in the medbay. Jennifer is doing her best, but it's taking nearly everything out of her, too. We think he needs you." Tony explained as they walked.

"Me?" She said, voice breaking. "How can I help? I don't know how to do anything, I can't-"

"Nat." Tony said, halting their steps for a moment right at the entrance to the medical ward. He took both her shoulders in his hands and looked her in the eyes. "I know, this is hard. It's a lot. His heart is trying to give out, and the only thing stopping that from happening at the moment is Jennifer, except I am worried she may give out before we get it corrected. We've tried to treat him with the normal, you know, human ways. But then the Doc got to thinking- Why isn't Hulk healing him?" Tony sighed, his large brown eyes covering over with tears as he watched Natasha cry, too. "We need you to try to talk to him. To both of them."

"Tony-"

"Natasha, I know this is probably going to be one of the hardest things you've ever done." Tony assured her. "I really do. He looks..." Tony shook his head, "It's bad, Nat. I need you to be ready, to be strong. You have these two counting on you, and that isn't fair. You're going to have to carry your whole family for a moment. But Jennifer and I will be right there."

"Okay." Natasha nodded, wiping her face clear. She cleared her throat and blinked upward to dry her eyes before they entered the medbay doors.

Nothing Tony could've said would have prepared her for the sight waiting inside.

Natasha felt as if she needed to vomit, but she took slow, shallow breaths until the feeling passed. She looked her lover over, noticing he looked more like a corpse than her Bruce. He was paper-white pale, eyes and cheekbones sunken in, his face and hair soaked with feverish sweat. His breaths were shallow and quick, and she could tell the only thing keeping him going was Jennifer, who did not look to be in much better shape than Bruce.

Her eyelids drooped, and dark circles looked more like bruises under her eyes. She had also paled, her hair was limp and equally sweat soaked; She looked as if she'd been running for days. Natasha's tears flowed freely as she took the entire sight in, and she sat gently on the side of the bed opposite where Jennifer was. She watched the glow creep from Jennifer's arm down into Bruce's skin, marbling the flesh with gold light.

For a long moment she just watched Bruce; the rapid rise and fall of his struggling breathes, the twitches in his brow. She wasn't sure what to say or do, so she simply watched him and cried. Jennifer and Tony kept their silence, Jennifer simply sitting in place as life support, Tony there in case of a need.

After some time, Natasha took a few drawn out breaths and as delicately as she could, she reached over and picked up Bruce's hand, lacing his fingers in her own.

"Hey, Doc." She said, trying to smile. "I uh, I missed you." She stopped and looked up at the ceiling, then mumbled something in Russian before looking over at Tony, who simply nodded to encourage her to continue.

"Bruce, it's me. I really... I need you to wake up." She pleaded. "I know you probably don't want to hear about what I need, though. I get that; when you do wake up, you have my permission to hate me. To never speak to me again, if that's what you want. I'd understand." Natasha gagged for a moment as she attempted to choke back a thick sob. Her breath shuttered.

"Bruce, please." She begged. "I have something so important to tell you. I want to look you in your beautiful, deep, honey eyes. Even if all I see in them is how much you hate me."

"Oh, Nat..." Jennifer whispered, tears sliding down her own face. Natasha did not let anything distract her, however.

"Bruce. Please. I love you so much; so fucking much more than I knew I could. I once was quoted as saying that love was for children, and you know that I never really got to be a child. But I was wrong on both counts..." She smiled sadly as she spoke, and she stroked his hand with her own, "With you, I felt so young and free- and love isn't for children. It's the strongest, most terrifying thing in the world."

A sharp alarm sounded from the heart monitor, and Jennifer's head snapped up to see what was happening as Tony hit the clear for the sound to stop.

"His heart is re-synching." Jennifer breathed, relieved. "Keep talking. It has a way to go."

"I just want you to wake up so I can really apologize. I want to start from the beginning. When I lied to you in India, pulled my pistol on you. We didn't even know each other then, but it wasn't the best foot to get off on. I-" She paused and chuckled through tears at the memory, "I really just remember being caught off guard by how handsome you were. Are. You know what I mean." She picked his hand up and kissed his knuckles, then laid his hand against her stomach, gently uncurling his fingers so his hand laid flat against their unborn children.

"I never meant to hurt you. Not once. I'd burn this world to keep you from hurting ever again, Bruce." She promised. "Really, I would. If I could do it over, I would. I made the wrong call in Sokovia, I know that. I knew it when I did it, but I was not thinking with anything other than battle sense. I didn't think about how it would make either of you feel. It was a bitch move, I own it. I am so, so sorry."

"Sixty percent to normal rhythm." Jennifer announced, looking over at Tony, who stood quietly by. He looked a bit more hopeful, but kept quiet.

"And I know you can hear me, too, big guy." Natasha said at last. "I uh, I know you probably really do hate me. I wouldn't blame you. What kind of heartless bitch claims to love someone and uses them? Me, of course, I am the answer. You have never been the monster, here. It has always been me." She shuttered as she tried to form her words. "Listen, if you're holding back helping him, please. Please don't. You don't have to for me, but Bruce is too good. He deserves this world, you both do."

Natasha nearly jumped out of her skin when the hand she held against her stomach flexed. She looked over at Jennifer, eyes wide. Tony came over as well, surprised by Natasha's sudden jerk.

"You okay?" Tony ask, concerned.

"His hand moved." She said, still holding on to him.

"Rhythm at eighty-three percent normal." Jennifer said, checking the monitor.

Bruce's hand twitched again against Natasha, and she held his hand tighter.

"Come on, Bruce. Please. Open your eyes." She pleaded. "Please."

The heart monitor beeped another alert. Ninety percent normal rhythm achieved.

"Please, Bruce." Natasha breathed, like a prayer. Over and over. "Please."

And then, as if finally giving into command, his eyes snapped open.

I'd apologize for the cliffhanger, but it's by design.

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you're all enjoying the story! Be sure to follow, and leave a review!