"Tony, I know you're nervous about this, but this won't help Pepper".

Banner adjusted his glasses to check the test results granted by the clinic.

"Then you better give me good news, Bruce", the engineer snorted. He seemed to be on the verge of an anxiety crisis and his hostility was making his science-bro nervous.

An hour ago, Tony had entered the lab as white as paper, practically running to grab him by the shoulders. Bruce had looked at him without knowing what to do, and then Tony babbled almost imperceptibly: "Pepper is pregnant."

"What...?" the Physicist had asked almost automatically.

"Pepper is pregnant and it's my fault …" answered the brunet. He fell into the nearest chair, resting his elbows on his knees and hiding his face in his hands, unable to see the confusion on his friend's face.

Bruce had always been sure this would happen at some point, but in his head he had pictured Tony breaking this news to him in quite a different way. Like Tony coming in screaming happily that he would be a father and that he, Bruce, would be an uncle.

"Tony, I don't see why that's ba …"

"No, Bruce, you don't get it. Pepper was already pregnant when Killian took her…" And everything instantly clicked in the Scientist's brain.

"Are you sure?" He asked, moving his glasses to hide the sudden fear and nervousness that assaulted him. It didn't help that Tony was clearly experiencing the same terror.

The engineer pulled a crumpled sheet from his pants pocket and handed it to him. Bruce scanned the page with due care. They settled into a long silence, each one meditating on their own things, before beginning to argue.

" Listen to me ... if you want me to do a DNA analysis we need to wait two more months at least…

"Oh sure! And while we wait, the opportunity for Pepper to let me do something to avoid that…

"Oh my God! Are you listening, Tony? " Bruce interrupted, definitely not going to let him finish that sentence. " The baby is barely three months old! And you are willing to risk losing your baby when there is a chance he doesn't even have the virus?!"

Tony looked at him, suddenly feeling completely powerless.

"What if we're wrong?" He muttered through his teeth. Bruce was speechless. If anyone knew what it was like to have something uncontrollable in their genes, it was him. "Do you want me to wait to see if Virginia becomes a living bomb?"

Bruce closed his eyes tightly and forced himself to control his breathing. Apparently, his best friend did not care that he could Hulk-out inside the tower.

"This is madness, Tony …" he finally muttered. "What you're asking for is madness. Everyone deserves a second chance, but you are not even willing to give this kid a first one? " He asked in a low voice and immediately looked at the ground sadly. "We can figure this out, Tony".

His gaze turned internally, thoughtful. Deep down, the Scientist knew that the virus was dangerous, that if the body did not accept the Extremis at all, it became a ticking bomb. However, if three months had gone by without an incident, it was quite likely that there was no longer such a risk. And truth be told, he could not see himself snatching a life that was just beginning to form.

"We have to wait a little longer. If we do this now we could also be putting Pepper at risk" he spoke again, looking at his friend again. "I'm only asking for two more months."

Tony did not return his gaze, choosing rather to look at the floor, weighing that idea. If it turned out that the ... baby was completely healthy, he would be making the biggest mistake of his life. But if he had the virus running through his veins and reacted badly to any stimulus…

"I'll give you a month and a half, Banner ... I don't have that much time.

Once Tony had left, Bruce allowed himself to collapse on the laboratory floor. Living with Stark had taught him one thing: the engineer did not see it as a negative that the other guy went out for a walk around his house once in a while. In reality, he was crazy enough for pushing him into it on some occasions.

He remembered the breathing and control exercises that he had learned - it seemed to him now - too many years ago. By now he did them almost unconsciously, knowing it would help. He took deep breaths and the tremor in his body slowly drifted away; even so he put his hands to his ears, not knowing if he felt angry or powerless. He was definitely angry at Tony. Bruce would give anything to have a normal life, to have children and watch them grow ... and there was Tony Stark, willing to throw something so precious out the window. He understood his friend's fears, they were definitely valid, but ...

He remembered then the time Natasha went to recruit him in Calcutta.

"And what if the… Other guy says no?"

"You've been more than a year without an incident. I don't think you want to break that streak"

And absently he had rocked a cradle before answering. The cradle that symbolised all that he longed for, but could never have.

"I don't everytime get what I want."

He had the feeling that Pepper was not really at risk. In his mind there was no way for a baby to kill his mother, not even unconsciously.

But if he put himself in Tony's place, the idea of the mother of his baby and the baby himself dying…

No way he would allow that. If three months had gone by without incident, then he was willing to believe that six more could pass the same way. They would take all possible precautions to make sure that little angel would get to meet the world.

Thanks to the old training, Bruce stayed sitting in the laboratory for a long time in total silence, thoughts and ideas storming in his mind ... But no matter how much he tried, he could not find any sense in them. He was lethargic and crestfallen, but the sound of his watch brought him back to reality. With numb muscles and stinging in his eyes, he looked at the time and realized that it had been almost two hours since he had argued with Tony. He ran his hands over his face and, getting up from the floor, he removed the excess dust of his pants. He glanced at the evidence with a soft sigh, and then headed for the exit. JARVIS turned off the light as soon as he left the place and the lights in the hallway went on while he walked, until he reached the elevator.

" What floor are you headed to, Dr. Banner?"

" I think I'll go to the kitchen for a tea …"

"As you like."

The doors opened, giving way to the main room located on the top floors of the tower, only two floors above the laboratory. He crossed the room and went into the kitchen, turned on the light to take a teapot from the mantelpiece and fill it almost entirely with tap water. He turned the knob of the stove and placed the teapot on top, leaving the fire to do its job while he remained absorbed in his thoughts, now a little more coherent. He leaned lightly on the top looking at the ceiling while waiting for the water to boil, but the trance of looking at nothing did not last long.

He managed to listen to a few soft sobs coming from the next room, and he really did not need to poke his head to know who it was... but he did it anyway.

Pepper was in the huge circular couch in the center, covering half of her face with one hand, crying quietly. For a moment Bruce wished he had not gone up to the kitchen, but he did not want to leave her alone either; she was also part of her "family," despite not talking as much to her as he did to his science-bro.

"Pepper? ... I, uh ... I'm making tea. Do you want some? " he asked softly.

Pepper raised her head and did not even pretend that she was not crying, it was not worth it.

"Oh, Bruce, I ... I'm sorry you saw me like that," she said, and wiping away her tears with one hand, clearly embarrassed. "I wouldn't mind something warm, thanks" she added with a sad smile.

"Don't worry, Pepper. Wait a moment, I'll bring it to you."

Bruce removed the teapot and after preparing the tea and placing a couple of sugar cubes on a napkin, returned to the room and took a seat next to Pepper while leaving the tray on the coffee table. She was still wiping away tears.

"I did not know if you wanted sugar," he muttered as he gave her a cup and pointed at the sugar cubes.

"Thanks, Bruce. It's very sweet of you, "she said and dropped the two cubes in her tea to then blow a little and take a sip.

"It was nothing," he murmured back and also drank. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" he added.

"I know you know already, Bruce. The first thing he did was going to the lab to look for you." She said, holding her mug between her hands for comfort. She stared at the tea for a little to long before talking again. "You know, of every scenario I had in mind, I did not expect Tony to lock himself in the room with alcohol." The strawberry blonde was starting to get mad and frustrated, "I mean, I get it, the baby was already there a few months ago, but this...?"

"Pepper …" Bruce tried.

"Worst thing is, I know what he is thinking. If he went straight to you, he believes our baby is a threat…"

Oh dear, Bruce thought. It would not take a month for Pepper to love that baby; She already did.

He left his cup on the table so that he could take her from the shoulders and rub them in a gesture that he did not do very often, but that now perhaps would reassure her", I don't think he would get rid of him, but the truth is that we still do not know if the virus is a danger to both of you or not. Still, I believe you'll be fine" assured the Physicist with a conviction that he really did not feel, not quite. "In a month I'll do a full DNA study to rule out the virus, all right? And in case it appears ... I'm sure Tony would do the same thing he did with you" he sighed suddenly understanding his friend a little more". As for his behavior ... I think Tony is terrified of losing you. Either way, I think someone should hide his alcohol for a while."

The latter made Pepper laugh a little and nodded, giving Bruce a grateful look.

It was already four in the afternoon and Pepper had fallen asleep in the huge chair with a soft blanket covering her. Bruce put some blackberries in his mouth and went down to his room, where he collapsed on the bed to relax a bit and try to forget the matter for a few moments. Not a minute had passed that the telephone rang.

"No, Natasha. The other guy has not killed Tony yet" he immediately said somehow irritated, without giving the spy a chance to speak at all.

Every day he received a call at about the same time, to see how he handled his stress levels now that he lived in the tower with Tony. Natasha sustained that his anger was only temporary and eventually he would learn to control the Hulk, but the truth was that Bruce suspected that she only called to see how the other guy behaved.

"Wow, Stark was that bad with you today, huh? " He heard the woman say, imagining her raising an eyebrow.

"It's not him, it's his head that has a problem" he responded just to immediately pause and close his eyes. Maybe he was talking too much, he definitely did not need Fury on their tail now.

"Oh yeah? And what do you think he has in his head?"

"It's nothing, agent Romanoff. We are talking about Tony afterall …"

"Banner …" she said calmly, but in her tone there was distinguished authority.

"Nat …"

"Bruce, if it makes you relax, I won't tell Fury a thing. I promise."

"Same way you told me that we were alone and there were hundreds of agents surrounding me?" He asked irritated.

Natasha sighed heavily.

"This time it's for real. How much longer must it take for you to trust me?"

Bruce knew that she would not stop until she found out what was going on in the tower and what had made him so grumpy.

He let out a sight in defiance "Tony …" he started and took a deep breath, pressing his eyes as if the spy were in front of him, knowing the last thing he wanted to see would be her reaction to what he was about to say. "Tony is going to be a father."

Bruce refused to open his eyes, he felt that if he did Natasha would materialize in front of him and even if she didn't , it was easy to imagine her expression. It didn't help that the other side of the line remained silent. Was she surprised? Happy? Maybe she was stone faced, not giving out her concerns.

"How long ago and with whom? " He suddenly heard. Of all the conjectures she made, the Physicist was surprised she had to ask who the mother was. .

"Pepper. It's already three months old" he answered almost automatically. He had not noticed until then how much he wanted to share this emotional baggage with someone else.

"That's not what's bothering you, Bruce. Tell me what is really happening," she said calmly, but he knew she was intrigued.

"She was injected with the Extremis almost at the beginning of her pregnancy" he finally answered, swallowing. "Tony thinks that if the baby was affected by the virus it could become unstable and hurt Pepper, so he wants …"

"To get rid of it" she completed the sentence, this time in a calm voice.

They both knew that Tony would never allow Pepper to suffer any harm, but getting rid of a child was something that for him and her overstepped the limits.

"Things are not going well in the tower, Nat. Tony is probably drowned in alcohol and Pepper is a mess. I think… I think I need help, but please, don't tell Fury. He would only torment Tony and things could get worse," he said a little altered.

"Fury won't know a thing, I promise. I'll be in the tower in a few hours, Bruce. Maybe if Steve comes with me and talks to Tony …"

"Honestly, I think Steve would make him more angry, and Pepper would be more frustrated than she already is. But she'll probably feel better with you here."

"I'll be there tonight. Take care of Pepper until then."

"Deal."

There was a second of silence, until Bruce heard Natasha take a little breath. "Don't try to save the world by yourself, Big Guy. Even you have limits and we are a team, remember?

"I'll try to remember it more often, Nat."

"Seems fair to me. See you in a bit, Bruce."

The redhead cut the call and Bruce stood there staring at his phone.

" ... Did she called me "Big Guy"? "