Hello again! Here is a new chapter! I hope you'll enjoy it!
Guest: thanks again for the review! I'm glad you still like the story. Don't worry, the Neverland crew isn't going away anytime soon! As for the movies, I did the same. But I know I need to watch Black Panthers as well as Ant Man and the Wasp :)
I hope everyone is enjoying his/her summer!
Take care!
Chapter 19
Creeping Conflicts
She was dancing. He was leading her to the right, to the left, turning her around, and then to the right, to the left again. She wasn't afraid. She was dancing in his strong arms, and she knew nothing could hurt her there. She raised her head to smile at him, to look in his eyes…
And she woke up.
Anna-Grace quickly looked around her, hoping no one had seen her, even if she knew mind reading was impossible. She was alone in the living room, as it should be : Peter and Rosie had warned her they were going into town and would not come back before dinner, and Bruce was with Nathan and Cherry at the Museum for the end of the afternoon. She was supposed to enjoy her first time being alone in who knew how long to relax, and had thought to do some reading. Except that she must've been more tired than she thought, and had fallen asleep after the first page. And had dreamt such a strange dream…
Anna-Grace hastily got up, ashamed at the scene she remembered. She wasn't one to foolishly dream about boys and love! However, try as she might to ignore it, she couldn't hide what really annoyed her: not the dream, but missing its end. She was longing to see who her dance partner was, to look at his face. But she had woken up, and she would never know who was the person that was making her feel so safe.
Feeling the usual redness coming on her face, Anna-Grace busied herself with tidying up the sofa before going to clean the kitchen, when she heard a soft knock on the front door. She wasn't expecting anyone, but she welcomed the reprieve. She thus went to the entryway and was happy to discover Natasha's twinkling eyes on the threshold.
Feeling herself beaming, she welcomed her friend inside the apartment. While the guest settled in the room, observing the living room with a corner smile barely hidden at the toys on the floor and the drawings on the wall, Anna-Grace fetched coffee before sitting near her friend who suddenly rose up and handed Anna-Grace the book she had been reading before she fell asleep.
« Little Women? I thought you wanted to read books whose end you didn't know, Anna-Grace » teased the ginger woman.
« Ha ha, well, you know… » awkwardly answered Anna-Grace, suddenly trying to not think again about her weird dream. If someone on this earth could read into her mind, Anna-Grace was sure it was the Black Widow, and she definitely didn't want her friend to know about those specific thoughts. It was uncomfortable enough as it was…
« Is everything alright Anna-Grace? You seem… »
« I'm fine Natasha, I'm fine ».
The worried eyes rested on her, and Anna-Grace smiled, thankful for all of the friends concerned by her well being. She put her hand on Nat's and said,
« I assure you, Natasha, I'm fine », knowing that particular concern was due to everything that had happened a couple of months ago.
Her honest answer - and the fact that there wasn't anything Anna-Grace could truly hide from the Black Widow - reassured the spy who nodded, letting her lips curl in a tender smile. However, the smile fell and Anna-Grace tensed. Natasha never stopped smiling, no matter how infinitesimal the curl.
« What's going on, Natasha? »
Before Anna-Grace could think of all the worst things that could've happened to Bruce, the ginger lady intervened:
« Bruce is fine, Anna-Grace. We just… »
« We? » interrupted an edgy Anna-Grace.
« You know I'm not the only one keeping an eye on you and Bruce. »
« Well, yes, I guessed… » she said, unsure about where the conversation was going.
« Those you know are myself, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Nick Fury, and Clint Barton, » Natasha listed with a firm tone. Anna-Grace nodded, registering each name with what she had learned about the superheros over the last few months. Sure, she didn't like it, but since it meant keeping Bruce safe, she went along with it.
« I already told you that I was sent here to be the link between the team and you. »
« Yes I know Natasha but… »
« Let me finish, Anna-Grace. This isn't easy for me. »
Natasha's tone had been firm, again, but gentle, and Anna-Grace nodded, despite her apprehension. She owed it to the Black Widow, after all.
« I never told you what the others were in charge of. Mainly, Clint is taking care of your husband, Steve is supervising while Nick stirs away any unwanted eye. »
She paused, looking at Anna-Grace who once again nodded, waiting on whatever bomb Natasha wanted to drop on her.
« And then there's Tony. »
Anna-Grace tensed, disliking the pause in Natasha's speech. Her friend sighed before saying:
« He's looking into whatever transformed Bruce into a boy, to see if there's a way to reverse it ».
Anna-Grace's heartbeat quickened, that couldn't be, she couldn't lose her baby! However, before the panic could deeply root itself into her heart, Natasha took her hands in hers, and calmly said:
« Not that we absolutely want to reverse him to his adult form. We're just trying to see what our possibilities are. »
« Why? » Anna-Grace hated how high her voice sounded, but she hadn't felt so powerless in a long time.
« Because, as you know, Bruce is supposed to be a grown man, with friends, a life and a job. It wouldn't be fair to him and to us to not even consider this particular possibility, » answered Natasha, squeezing the woman's hands.
Anna-Grace remained silent for a while. She wasn't surprised of course, because it made sense. She would be lying if she said she had never thought about how Bruce had become a boy, if it could be reverse, and what she would do in that scenario. But those had never been more than fleeting thoughts, because deep down, the mother knew they could disrupt their lovely Neverland peace. This was so not something Anna-Grace was ready to face.
Yet here she was, her new worst nightmare planted in her heart life a knife by Natasha's kind voice. Pure intentions but torture nonetheless for Anna-Grace.
Finally, the « mother » nodded, smiling bitterly. She hated it, but there was no point denying others had known Bruce before her and had the right to want him back.
« However, no decisions will be taken as long as we do not know if we can or cannot reverse Bruce to his old self, » Natasha pointed out, and Anna-Grace nodded, once more. It wasn't like she could do something else, her voice had been lost somewhere in the conversation. « The second variable is whether Bruce can hulk out or not. You do understand this is an important one. »
Anna-Grace nodded sadly. What could she answer to that?
« However, we have more leeway when it comes to that, » continued Natasha, letting go of Anna-Grace's hand to take a sip of her coffee.
« How so? » said Anna-Grace, her voice brought back by Natasha's tone. Something awful was about to be said.
« We can plan different scenarios. »
« Like ? »
She was stupid to insist, she should just shut up, but Anna-Grace knew this was what Natasha had come to say.
« Like where Bruce should stay for his safety, » the spy said looking Anna-Grace in the eye.
Natasha was serene, and Anna-Grace felt more and more anguished with each passing second. What was that supposed to mean?!
« We decided, Anna-Grace, that if Bruce can hulk out, you and he will need to move out to a more secure location. » stated Natasha, without sugaring it.
It was like a death sentence was being pronounced, and Anna-Grace was looking at the executioner, insisting when she knew she should be running away:
« Where? »
« We decided on Stark Tower. It's in New York, so you would still be able to meet your friends, it's one of the more secure buildings in the world but will still look like a home and not a bunker… » said Natasha, listing the qualities of Anna-Grace's next prison. Natasha probably knew what was going on inside the fair-haired girl, because she chuckled and said « Come on, Anna-Grace, it won't be a jail. It might even never happen. »
Anna-Grace diverted her stare, shaken to her core. She heard Natasha sigh and place her hands on hers again:
« I know this isn't good news, however conditional it is, but you have to understand we are doing this for Bruce's safety. If he hulks out, he'll need a safe home… »
Anna-Grace nodded but this time, her silence was cold. She had no idea what to say, thoughts were meddling in her head, sadness being the leader of all. Truthfully, there was nothing to say because if the Avengers decided something, who was she to say no? Her own powerlessness weighed on her, again, heavier and heavier. She wanted to be alone, and Natasha understood, taking her bag and leaving, but not before putting her hand on Anna-Grace's tense shoulder and whispering kindly:
« I wouldn't allow this if I didn't think it was the best for you and Bruce, Anna-Grace. Remember I am you friend… »
Anna-Grace nodded, but didn't look at the spy, waiting for the front door to close behind her friend before she let the tears fall down her face. The apartment was empty, again, but how different it looked now from how it had appeared to her a mere half and hour ago! The dream and its embarrassment seemed so trivial now… She knew she might be overreacting, but it felt like a step into loosing Bruce. She had never thought more than a second about him being an old man again, always dismissing it as impossible before forcing herself to forget about it. But now… Now it became a possibility and it scared her so much…
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Something was wrong. Bruce didn't want to be « precious » because Dad always said that was bad, and that Bruce was like that, even though Bruce knew better now than to listen to everything his Dad used to say. But to say that something was wrong when everything was alright certainly seemed « precious » which was bad.
However, Bruce wasn't stupid. Anna-Grace, Peter, Rosie, Natalie, Nathan and even Nathan's mother didn't seem to mind - Anna-Grace even said it was good to be smart, and she liked it when he showed her something he knew - he knew that because she always smiled her special 'I'm proud of you' smile when he did it and Anna-Grace never lied - except maybe when she didn't want to hurt him and even then it was more like she was hiding something than lying - so it certainly was okay to be smart. And since Bruce was smart and that was okay, it must be okay to notice that something was wrong.
The museum had been awesome. It was awesome to learn so much 'stuff' - he liked that word, it was such a big word but at the same time such a small word, 'stuff' you could even linger on the 'f' to say 'stuffffff' which was fun, and he had had so much fun with Nathan saying « stufffff » and 'stuuuuuuuuf' and 'sttttttttttuf'. And it was really fun to make faces at the dinosaurs - he liked the big ones, they were so big and 'impressive' Anna-Grace had said and he felt like he wanted to look at them forever - and that was okay Anna-Grace had said, because they were amazing, and nature was amazing, and it was okay to be amazed at nature and dinosaurs.
So the museum had been awesome. But something was wrong. Anna-Grace wasn't acting normal. She smiled at him like she used to, and she gave him her 'I'm proud of you' smile lots of times and she laughed with Nathan's mother while he and Nathan made faces at the dinosaurs and she looked happy to see him, so she wasn't mad at him or sad because of something he had done. But something made her sad. He didn't like that because she looked like Mommy when Dad was mad at her, or mad at him. Had someone been mean to Anna-Grace?
I hope not.
Bruce didn't like how angry Hulk was but he agreed. Because no one had the right to hurt Anna-Grace. She was too precious. And not in the sense Dad used when he said that word. No, Anna-Grace was precious like a treasure or a gift or friends. Actually no she was better than all of those together.
She's Anna-Grace.
Yes, she was Anna-Grace, that summed it up pretty well. And no one could hurt Anna-Grace, that would be mean and unfair. It was okay to be mean to Bruce, no matter what Anna-Grace or Peter or Rosie or even Natalie or Nathan said, because Bruce wasn't perfect. He made mistakes and maybe sometimes he deserved people being a little bit mean to him. But Anna-Grace deserved the best. She deserved for everyone to be really sweet and kind to her, because she was Anna-Grace - not that he was saying she was perfect, because Anna-Grace said no one was perfect and she never lied - even if maybe she just got it wrong and didn't know it, in which case, she wasn't lying and Bruce could imagine Anna-Grace being the one perfect person on earth - but Anna-Grace made mistakes, she had told him she had made mistakes and Anna-Grace didn't lie - even if Bruce couldn't understand how Anna-Grace could make a bad mistake like he did, but Anna-Grace was smart and a grown up, which meant that she was wise, something that Bruce wasn't yet because being wise took time and effort and a kid cannot be as wise as a grown up because grown ups have more experiences than kids - even if Rosie kept saying he was wiser than many adults she knew which was weird but at the same time Rosie made lots of jokes so Bruce didn't really know if that was a joke or not.
« Bambino, everything alright? »
Anna-Grace was looking at him and she was worried. He made her worry about him, she was so kind and sweet and perfect. He smiled at her and nodded because he was so happy she was there. She was smiling at him again, and she went back to her book so that meant she wasn't afraid anymore. He didn't want Anna-Grace to worry about him because he worried something was wrong. That wasn't fair. Maybe he should just play with his ducks while Anna-Grace read on the couch. She liked reading and she didn't have lots of time reading. Yes, he should play with his ducks.
And the dinosaurs?
Yes, you're right Hulk, let's fetch the dinosaurs, this will be fun. I mean if you're okay with that, ducks?
The ducks agreed so Bruce played with them and Hulk for the remainder of the evening, after presenting everyone to his dinosaurs. That was a fun evening, and he completely forgot about what had him worried in the first place.
Well, until the next day when Natalie came to the counter at the lobby and Anna-Grace suddenly tensed when she spotted her. Bruce didn't think much of it when it happened because after Anna-Grace smiled at him, and at Natalie, and Natalie smiled at them, and Rosie arrived it was fun. But then it happened again. And again. And again.
Was something wrong between Natalie and Anna-Grace? How could that even be possible? Anna-Grace was perfect - well almost perfect because Anna-Grace didn't like being called perfect, and Bruce wanted to do things Anna-Grace liked so he didn't say she was perfect, he said she was almost perfect, which she didn't mind. It even made her laugh, probably because she knew why he said that, and he liked when she laughed, especially when she was laughing thanks to him. And Natalie was Natalie. She wasn't perfect because Anna-Grace wasn't, but Bruce was pretty sure she was very close to being almost perfect. She was so pretty…
But then why were things weird between Anna-Grace and Natalie?
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
« I don't care, Natalie! I mean, Natasha! Damn! I… I don't want to talk about it! »
« Anna-Grace… »
« Don't… »
Anna-Grace stopped talking as soon as she spotted Bruce entering the hall but she knew it was too late. Once more, she was forced to remember Bruce was not like any child as she watched his concerned eyes jump from her to Natasha to the floor to her again in a never ending circle. Oh, how she wished right now he didn't have that incredible hearing of his…
Natalie sighed in front of her before placing a smile on her face and turning around to face Bruce and welcome him home with open arms. He clearly hesitated a couple of seconds before trotting to the counter to let Natalie hug him fiercely. Before he had time to decide whether or not to ask if everything was alright, Anna-Grace quickly asked him how his walk with Peter had been, and she was glad to see him jump into his tales about dogs and wind.
However, none of them forgot and none of them let it go - a bad habit they shared - keeping it inside until of course it was bound to bottle up and explode. Thankfully for them, Anna-Grace was the first one to explode. Maybe she had less resilience, maybe Bruce had just decided long ago he would trust his caretaker no matter what, but it hurt the boy nonetheless.
It happened in the kitchen. Anna-Grace had invited Cherry, Nathan and the usual group from the Park for a small afternoon snack, despite her tiredness. On their way there, they had stumbled on Natasha. Of course, the Black Widow had purposefully been on Cherry's way, and Anna-Grace knew it. However, discretion and Anna-Grace's inner sense of politeness had obliged the blond woman to invite the spy to the impromptu meeting.
Anna-Grace was now tensely drinking her tea, while the kids drew on the floor, for once in reasonable silence. Natasha and Cherry were exchanging happily on some band's last feats as, strangely enough, Cherry and Natasha had discovered they shared a passion for the same band. « Life was funny » Cherry had said with her always happy and calm voice, but Anna-Grace had seen clearly in Natasha's play: to befriend anyone getting close to the Lorien family. It annoyed her to no end. Couldn't she be left alone with her… her boy? She knew she was being unfair, and that Natasha's check ups were necessary but still…
Unfortunately for Anna-Grace's bad mood, Natasha often put her twinkling eyes on the blond woman. Not only did Natasha know exactly what was going on inside Anna-Grace's head, she wasn't even trying to hide it!
The talking ladies were sitting facing a simmering Anna-Grace who had a perfect view on the kids behind the women. Bruce had just put on the ground his green felt-pen to take a blue one. A kid took the green felt-pen but Bruce quickly snatched it away, a frown on his face, and Anna-Grace suddenly exploded:
« Bruce » she snapped at him
He let go of the pen as if it was burning him and looked at her with big eyes that betrayed the thoughts swirling in his head like a typhoon: he had been bad, she was mad, should he run away? she was mad, he was a bad boy, what should he do, she was mad, she was mad…
Guilt entered her body like a comet at the bottom of her stomach and she rose to go by his side, but he ran away to his bedroom, crying she was sure. She stared at the hallway where her boy had just been, wondering what had she just done? She hazily looked around her to find all eyes fixed on her. Cherry and Nathan were concerned, the others surprised, but it was Natal… Natasha's eyes that spurred her action: she ran to Bruce's bedroom feeling those sympathetic yet defying eyes on her back, when really they should've been angry and accusing.
Once at Bruce's door, she hesitated. What was an adult - a parent figure - supposed to do when he had just been unfair? How was she to act with Bruce, who had so many issues? Should she knock? Should she just open the door? The seconds dragged on, and she heard a sniff behind the door that provoked her decision. She knocked on the door softly, saying
« Bruce, Bambino? »
She waited two seconds but got no answer so she slowly opened the door and got in the room, closing the door behind her. Her boy was up in the center of the room, twisting and twisting his hands, holding on his tears, looking at everything but herself. She sighed, so mad at herself…
« Bruce, baby, I'm… I'm sorry, I should've never screamed at you. »
He suddenly stared at her and his surprised eyes struck her where she was. He wasn't twisting his hands, she absently remarked to herself, but his bottom lip was still trembling. She slowly made a step forward, and when he didn't draw back, she knelt on the floor before opening her arms and saying:
« Come here Bambino »
He rushed to her arms, knocking the air out of her lungs and she enfolded him in a hug, whispering:
« I'm really sorry. I wasn't mad at you… »
« Why do you apologize? I was a bad boy… » he said in a shaking voice
« You just refused to share, when I know you know that's not nice. » She raised his head so he would look at her, knowing what she had to say : « Had I warned you, would you not have given the pen back? » in a knowing tone.
He looked at her, and he blushed, shrugging and humming in his special and non-committal way that said « yes » when he was embarrassed. She smiled and hugged him, whispering « I know you would have done it ». He hugged her back, hiding his face in her body. She stroked his hair and kissed him on the head, saying slowly:
« Should we go back? Nathan must be worried… »
It was the right thing to say, because he nodded slowly. His good heart couldn't let his friend suffer even though he was himself embarrassed. Anna-Grace let go of her boy, taking his hand and they went back to the kitchen. One of the mothers must have warned the kids because nothing was said as Bruce went back to his place, while Anna-Grace went to sit at her chair. Bruce took the pen he had snatched out of the kid's hands, handing it to him and apologizing shyly. The kid smiled and said it was nothing, before taking the pen from Bruce's still outstretched arm. Bruce sprawled on the floor again, glanced quickly at the ladies who where looking at everything but him, and saw Anna-Grace smile directed at him. She nodded and he blushed, proud, before going back to his paper. He didn't notice the ladies' smiles as they went back to their conversations like nothing happened - which probably was the case except for Natasha and Cherry. Bruce didn't see either the look that Natasha and Anna-Grace exchanged, Anna-Grace first tensed and defiant before she relaxed and blushed slightly in front of Natasha's sweet smile and appreciative nod.
However, he did notice how, when Natalie stayed behind to help Anna-Grace clean the kitchen after the kids and ladies parted, there wasn't so much tension between them as if some kind of truce had been found. He didn't really understand what changed but it eased his mind, and he forgot all about what he had been worrying about. Anna-Grace was smiling and singing softly, Natalie was here, and Bruce was happily playing with his ducks and dinosaurs on the floor, knowing dear Rosie would be joining them for dinner and Peter would arrive for dessert, and Natalie wouldn't leave. What else could he wish for?