Audra sat up in a panic. Her dark blue comforter tangled between her legs, satin pillows laying haphazardly on the floor, neck dripping with sweat. She rubbed the shorn hair on the back of her head and tried to calm her breathing.

She focused hard on recalling her dream. Flashes of ballet shoes and surgical tools came to mind, before morphing into sounds of guns, trains, and the ocean. She shuttered, but continued searching her mind, trying to assign meaning and persons to these chaotic visions. Anger, fear, sand, chemicals, tanks, missiles. Audra was tearing at her hair in panic. Her eyes were clenched shut. Her breathing sped up and her chest tightened. She could see him. Oh god. A man grew old in front of her. Oh god. Oh god. Her friend. A man decayed in front of her. She writhed in place begging her own mind to let her go. "Audra. Audra." The man in her dream said.

"Audra."

"Audra!"

"Audra it's just me! It's Bruce! Bruce Banner!"

Audra slowly opened her eyes, as if afraid of what she would see. She lowered her hands upon seeing the man in front of her but did not yet relax.

"JARVIS alerted me that your vitals were abnormal. I tried to knock but you didn't answer. What happened?"

"It's- nothing. I'm sorry I shouldn't have- I shouldn't even be here." She cried, standing up and beginning to gather her things.

"Stop. Stop. I get it. Bad dreams, panic attacks, whatever it was its okay. Most of us here get something like that too. I was just concerned. I think JARVIS called me because I was closest to your room or something but I'm glad they did because no one should go through that by themselves."

"It was just a dream. It's fine. I just think…if I'm going to be here another night I need to sleep on a different floor, one that's further away." Audra's brain was still piecing together Bruce's real face, as she still was blinded by visions of the man.

Bruce processed the meaning behind what she had said. He felt a sinking weight on his heart as he realized the compounds bad dreams had seeped into Audra's already unrestful sleep.

Audra has already picked up on his train of thought and tried to interrupt it to comfort him.

"It's no one's fault. If anything, I should be sorry for invading people's privacy. But hey aside from that this is the best sleep I've gotten in three years!" she cracked a smile. "How about some breakfast? Last I heard it was Steve's turn to cook and you know he's always up at the crack of dawn anyway" she said, glancing at the blinking clock which read: 6:28 AM.

Bruce was certain Steve had already been up for over an hour, now how Audra knew that… was mildly creepy but he dismissed any thoughts on that from his head before nodding in agreement.

The pair quietly walked to the kitchen, where, sure enough, the smell of eggs and bacon was coming from inside. Steve stood over the stove in a pink apron that comically contrasted with Steve's stature and masculinity. Bruce knocked on the inside of the door to draw Steve's attention.

"Banner. Audra."

"Hey Steve, how's the morning going?"

"Pretty well, actually. I slept pretty well, then went to the gym, sketched, and caught up on the news. Now I'm cooking, and oh! I forgot to ask-" he turned his attention to Audra "Do you like bacon?"

Audra nodded "pretty sure! Been a while though."

He shook his head understandably, stirring the eggs in another pan. "Did you sleep alright?" She could feel the hope he had invested in this simple question, and she couldn't bring the mood down.

"Yep! Like a baby!" she said, before Bruce could say otherwise.

Bruce of course faltered at this statement, but didn't say otherwise. Throughout the next 20 minutes various Avengers filed into the kitchen, lured by the smell of sizzling bacon.

"Hey kid" said Barton.

"Hey!"
"We were thinking…" he looked up to Natasha, who offered no help, "how about today we go up to the gym...to spare and maybe test out your abilities."

"uhh-"

"No pressure! Of course." Barton interrupted.

She could feel his nerves and began to feel nervous herself, though Audra wasn't sure if it was her emotions or his making her feel this way. She knew they had good intentions, however, and gave in.

"Sure."

Barton let out a sigh of relief.

"Great. After breakfast then? You can change and we can do some sparing, rot some apples, obstacle course, play human lie detector-"
Natasha gave him a withering look.

"Or whatever practical tests the science bros can plan out" he nervously laughed.