Chapter 28
An exhausted Dr. Bennett knocked on Fury's door. At his answer, she pushed the door open, crossed the room and collapsed into one of the chairs in front of his desk.
"You look like hell," he remarked.
"I feel worse," she replied.
"Do you have any news? Did you find anything with the brain scans?"
She nodded solemnly, "oh, yes. We found plenty."
When she paused, Fury impatiently waved for her to continue, "well, don't keep me in suspense, Doctor."
Taking a breath, she launched into the series of tests that they ran on three of the worst afflicted.
"First we ran an MRI on each individual. They were inconclusive. There was no unusual activity in any of them. I wasn't willing to give up on the first try, so we followed with PET and DTI scans. These gave us much greater detail than the MRI."
Fury grunted, "and?"
"Each one had lower than normal levels of activity in the lateral tuberal nucleus area of the brain."
"What the hell is that?"
"It's a small region located in the amygdala that controls emotional responses and to a small extent temperature regulation and appetite."
"What does that have to do with the headaches?"
"Well," she quirked her lips as she thought about how to explain in words that a layman would understand. Granted Fury wasn't your average layman. "Headaches can be symptoms for a lot of different physiological disruptions in the brain. But the other symptoms that my patients have been experiencing seem to line up with what we see on the scans. Slightly elevated temperatures, nothing that would be of concern on a normal basis and might even be dismissed if it wasn't for the other host of symptoms. Some of the patients reported a lack of appetite also. Then there is the extreme reaction that Dr. Banner displayed last week. These all suggest we are looking in the right direction."
Fury leaned back in his chair, tenting his fingers under his chin, "do we know what's causing this?"
"So far, no. All the blood work came back negative. There are no indications of physical trauma to the head. There's no way to know if there are lesions on the area without exploratory surgery, but I don't think we're to that point quite yet. I wouldn't rule it out, though."
"Let me get this straight, Doctor. You want to open up one of my people's heads and dig around in their brain? Looking for what?"
"Lesions," she answered. "Areas of damaged or dead cells. And no, I said we're not to that point yet. We are setting up for EEGs right now and are going to see if we get anything on that before we decide our next course of action."
"Well, that's reassuring," he snorted.
She stood. "If you have no other questions…," she let the sentence hang.
"Oh, I have plenty of questions, Dr. You just don't have any of the answers yet. Go do your tests."
Hurrying out of his office, Bennett closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Fury was running out of patience and she would feel the brunt of his wrath if she didn't get to the bottom of this soon.
Back at the infirmary, she found Dr. Raynor, SHIELD's resident psychiatrist in a discussion with her assistant.
"Julie," she greeted the other woman, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Tina, I hear you are running brain scans on some of the trainees hoping to find the cause of these headaches. Ms. Mendoza here tells me you had a breakthrough."
"Yes, the PET and DTI scans we ran showed reduced activity in the lateral tuberal nucleus of all three that we have tested. We're setting up for EEGs right now."
"Would you mind if I assisted? This is fascinating. There might be a paper we could publish on the findings."
"I would appreciate all the help I can get," Bennett smiled. "But right now, I'm just focused on getting to the bottom of the problem and staying out of Fury's line of fire."
Raynor laughed, "believe me, I understand completely. Let's see what we can do when we put our heads together."
After a lot of stumbling around in the dark, giggling on Ruby's part, and a few curses from Bruce, they managed to find the hot spring. Luckily, they were able to smell it well before they reached it.
Ruby flushed when Bruce stripped down to his underwear and tested the water.
"What?" he asked at her look. "You've seen me completely naked multiple times."
"But that was in a completely different situation. This is different." How was she supposed to explain that the way she felt about him had changed a lot since they were running for their lives in Colorado.
He looked confused, "this was your idea. What did you think we were going to do when we got here? Keep all our clothes on?"
She chewed her cheek. She was being silly, she told herself.
"I really didn't think that far ahead."
He looked up at the sky, clearly exasperated by her reticence, "okay…. Look, I'll turn off the flashlight. It's dark enough out that we can't see anything important. Will that help?"
Relief flooded through her, "thank you."
When he turned the light off, she stripped out of her shirt and pants, leaving just her underwear and bra on. The slim crescent of the moon above did little to illuminate the night, but a stay beam caught the gold of her pendant and it glittered brightly for a second before Ruby moved. Wrinkling her nose at the sulfur smell from the water, she wondered how corrosive the water was. Next time, if there was a next time, she would have to leave the necklace behind at the cabin.
Stepping into the steaming water, she eased into the pool until only her shoulders, necklace, and casted arm were above the water. It was surprisingly deep, and she found a smooth rock to sit on that kept her at just the right depth.
"Wow, this feels so good," she sighed. Her body, stiff from the arduous hike up to the cabin, began to relax in the heat.
"Yeah, I wish I had come up here before now," Bruce agreed.
Feeling around, she discovered another smooth, flat rock on her left side. Twisting, so she could feel with her right side with her good arm, she found yet another. Holding her cast out of the water, she felt around the entire circumference. There were five stones in all, including the one Bruce was sitting on.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"I don't think we are the first people to use this pool," she told him about the rocks.
"I wouldn't doubt it."
"I wonder who was here before us? Maybe ancient Americans found it and thought it was a gift from the gods and declared it a sacred place. They may have named it something like "the goddess's womb" or "the Healing Waters," don't you think? The secrets of its healing waters would have been passed down from generation to generation until it was shrouded in myth and legend."
Bruch chuckled in the dark, "or it could have been a bunch of college students on spring break sitting around getting drunk and high."
She splashed water in his direction, "don't ruin my fantasy!"
"I bet they peed in the water."
"Bruce, that's not funny!"
"Okay, I'm sorry. But you have to admit "the goddess's womb" is a bit much."
She giggled, "yeah."
She leaned back until she felt the bank behind her. Keeping her cast out of the water was a pain in the tush, so she was looking for a dry spot to prop it up. Her cast bumped into the small bag she brought along.
"Oh, I forgot," she turned to open it and tossed one of its contents at her companion. There was an audible thud and it hit some part of his body. Hopefully, not his head.
"Ouch," he protested. "What the hell was that?"
"A bar of soap," she announced loftily. "You apply it to your stinky body."
"My stinky body?" he asked with mock outrage. "I'll show you how stinky my body it."
He surged across the pool at her. Ruby squealed and turned to scramble out of the water, but she wasn't fast enough, and he caught her, pulling her back against his wet chest.
"Stop it," she struggled half-heartedly, not really wanting to escape. "You'll get my cast wet."
"Then stop wiggling," he breathed in her ear.
Settling back against the bank, he twisted her so the she straddled his thighs.
"Now, you can rest your arm on my shoulder," he told her.
Doing as he bid, she asked, "it's going to be kind of hard for you to wash like this."
"I think we'll do just fine. Here," he found her hand where it rested on his upper arm and put the bar of soap in it.
"What? You think I'm going to wash you?"
"You're the one complaining," she felt him shrug. "I was fine the way I was."
Well, she thought, it would give her a chance to touch him. A lot. Her cheeks burned at the thought and she was glad for the darkness that covered her blush.
"Quit blushing and start scrubbing," he prompted her gently.
Bringing the soap up to his chest, she began to lather it, making circular motions. It was weird, being this close to him, being able to feel him, hear him, smell him, but not really being able to see him clearly. The crescent moon and stars that filled the night sky above them gave off just enough light for her to see the silhouette of his face and to reflect off the whites of his eyes occasionally.
"What are you thinking?" he asked softly.
"That I wish there was more light so I could see you better."
"You're the one that wanted it dark," he pointed out.
"I know."
Ruby massaged the soap across his chest, feeling the curly hair that formed a trail down its center and spread out across his pectoral muscles to end just short of his nipples. As she brushed her palm across each of them, they pebbled at her touch. For once, she didn't blush and just enjoyed touching him. Leaning back, she worked the suds down his chest to his stomach. While not ripped, it was flat and firm. When her hand touched the edge of his underwear, Ruby reversed the path.
Bruce's shoulders were almost twice as wide as hers as she lathered them, stretching awkwardly to reach to reach his right shoulder. As she washed it, she felt his breath against the side of her face, then he planted a light kiss just in front of her ear. She froze and he kissed the side of her neck. His left arm wound around her waist and pulled her against him as he kissed his way down to her shoulder.
"You're making it hard for me to do my job," she breathed.
She felt his lips move against her neck as he answered, "are you telling me you can't multitask?"
"No, you have my arm pinned between us," she giggled.
He released her long enough to take the soap away from her and toss it up on the bank, "I think that's enough soap."
She giggled again, "impatient much?"
Instead of replying, he pulled her close again to nuzzle her neck. Ruby leaned her head to the side to give him better access to the delicate flesh as he kissed and licked his way up to just below her ear. Despite the heat of the water surrounding them, goosebumps rose on her skin. She sighed at the caress and shifted on his lap. He responded by placing his hands on her hips and pulling her tighter against him. The bulge of his arousal throbbed against her through their thin undergarments.
Leaving her neck, he captured her lips and kissed her passionately. Ruby returned his kiss with equal fervor as they tasted and explored each other with their lips and tongues. When they pulled apart, both were slightly out of breath.
"Ruby…," he began.
Nearby, out in the impenetrable darkness, a branch snapped, and rocks tumbled. Ruby and Bruce froze, ears straining to hear any clue about what had caused the noise. Through the night air, a heavy grunt reached them.
"Wha…?"
"Shh," Bruce whispered. "Shit, I forgot about the bears around here."
"You forgot?" she hissed. "Where's the flashlight?" She leaned over him to grope around the edge of the pool.
"Forget the flashlight," he pulled her back down onto his lap. "Do you remember the way to the cabin?"
She nodded before she realized he couldn't see the motion. "Yeah, it's back that way," she pointed, then sighed. "I mean behind me and down the hill a little way."
"Ok, it's in the opposite direction from the bear. Can you make a run for it?"
"What are you going to do?" she whispered back.
"I'm going to stay here and distract it for you."
"That's stupid," she poked his chest. "We should make a run for it together."
"Shh," he put a finger on her lips. "It's moving."
Sure enough, she could hear the crunch of leaves and rocks as it moved around.
"I think it's getting closer."
"It probably hears us arguing. Just go, Ruby. I promise I'll be right behind you."
"Promise?"
"Absolutely."
She pressed a quick kiss to his lips, "you better. I plan to finish what we started this time."
She felt his smile against her mouth, "then I might just beat you back."
Another grunt from the bear came from just a few yards away. Bruce lifted Ruby and shoved her towards the other side of the pool.
"Go! Now!" He yelled.
Ruby didn't know if his yell spurred her into action or the answering grunt from the bear, but her fight or flight instinct kicked in and she jumped out of the spring and ran blindly towards the cabin. There was just enough light filtering down from the moon and stars for her to make out trees and boulders as she dodged them.
Behind her she heard a pounding as something heavier than followed her headlong charge down the mountainside. She hoped it was Bruce and not the bear. She slipped on loose shale, flailed her arms about trying to keep her balance, but failed and landed on her butt with a hard thud, knocking the breath out of her. The noise grew closer as she scrambled to her feet, but she realized she had lost her sense of direction. She was on the verge of panic when a light flickered erratically around her.
"Are you alright?" Bruce called out as he slid down to where she stood.
"Shh, the bear will hear you!"
He started laughing.
"Keep your voice down! What's so funny?"
"You didn't hear me yelling?"
"No," she said irritably, "I was busy running for my life through the forest in the dark."
He laughed harder.
"What?" she demanded.
"It was an armadillo," he wheezed.
"An armadillo?"
"Yes," he bent over laughing.
Ruby smacked him with her good arm, "it's not funny! I could have fallen and broke my other arm." But his laughing was contagious and soon she was giggling.
"Some Avenger you are! Scaring me to death over a stupid armadillo! How could you not know the difference between it and a bear?"
"Hey, you're the one from Texas," he protested. "Isn't that your state animal?"
"No, it's not! Besides, I'm a city girl. The only ones I have ever seen were either at the zoo or dead on the side of the highway."
They both laughed, then froze at another noise from somewhere out in the dark.
"How about we take this inside?" she suggested quickly.
"Yeah," he agreed. "We'll go back and get our clothes in the morning."
"In the day light."
"Exactly."
Together, they hurried towards the cabin and its safety.
"We're not going to tell anyone about this, are we?" Bruce asked, pulling her close.
"What happens on the mountain stays on the mountain."
