I am serious, Clint. Don't give up. Stay with it. Let me take care of the details."

Clint was looking better. His injuries were healing and since Natasha had broken the news about Paris, his spirits had lifted. He made a few coded jabs about Bucky stealing their thunder but openly admired him for doing what he did.

"Why are you doing this for us?" he asked. "I don't want you to get in trouble…"

"When has that ever stopped me?" She asked, laughing at his concern then became serious. "I never felt like I thanked you for getting me away from that hellhole I was in, so I've always thought I owed you one. Consider this me paying a debt."

"I'll be honest, I think she's the best thing that's ever happened to me. What the hell, we all get stupid and reckless when we fall in love, so yeah. If it's ok with Laura, sure. We'll keep things quiet and… trust you."

"I won't disappoint you." Natasha clicked off the link, smiling to herself as she prepared to move on to the next thing.

Bruce was in his element. Natasha waited at the door while he and Shuri engaged in an animated conversation full of gibberish. She considered herself an intelligent woman but this was like listening to aliens. She caught words she recognized but had enough self-awareness to realize they didn't mean what she thought they meant. They concluded their discussion with Shuri doing her usual bow, smiling at Natasha as she left of the lab.

Bruce's face lit up when he saw her and with a wave of the hand invited her in. "Sorry we've not connected," she said as she joined him. Equations were moving around on their own in the space in front of him. "But I don't feel bad about it. This is a playground for you."

"These people are patient, generous, willing to help me catch up. The technology is amazing. I'd be happy to spend the rest of my life here. I was against us doing this, but now I'm glad. We did the right thing, coming here. It's nice to be wrong. They've answered so many questions…"

"And how about their own questions?" Natasha asked It was so strange to see him happy. "How close are they coming…?"

"Close actually, they see the data but they haven't had that A-ha moment when they realize they've been interpreting it wrong. That should come any day now." He touched a key on one monitor, causing the equations to disappear.

"What are they seeing?" She would regret asking but needed a timetable. "How close are they and please… speak English!"

"Ok," He held up his arms, pressing his forearms and wrists together so that his hands formed a cup-like V shape. They believe they're seeing a wound in space that is closing. He brought his hands together until they looked like he was praying. "What is happening is this." He separated his arms, holding each one up individually. "This one river," he said waving his right arm, "and another river" this time his left, "Coming together to form a new river." This time he brought his hands together and interlocked his fingers. "They understand there's a gap in the fabric of space and time that's gradually closing. What it is, and what its doing is the mystery to them. I'm hoping that it will close before they find out but by then, it won't matter anymore."

"Won't they still have the research and remember why they were doing all this?"

"Yes, but the memories will merge."

"And what will this new world be like?" She asked, not expecting an answer. Bruce shrugged his shoulders in reply. "Now about Tony…"

Bruce's face lit up again. "Come with me. You gotta see this thing." Down the hall he flew, Natasha followed hard after to keep up. Downstairs via a Vibranium powered elevator that put on a light show going down which opened out into a large workspace. The compact metal suit in the center of the room was unlike any Natasha, had ever seen. The suit was more compact, more lightweight and it would be easy to mistake for a second skin, and it was more gold than red.

"It's beautiful." This was a work of art. "Can we get it to work?"

"Oh, it works fine. It just doesn't like Tony. What we are trying to do is mask his signals with a version of the other guy's waves we found in a medical scan. Did you know their Tony had Scarlet fever when he was a kid?"

"Yes," Natasha said. She reached out to touch the suit, and half expected warmth, the way it did when Tony brought it back it back from a mission. For a split second, she saw it, in the air, flying above as she looked up from her place on the ground, being flooded with relief he had shown up. She pulled back as if it had burnt her.

"You ok?" Bruce asked. "It can overwhelm a person…"

"No, I'm fine," she lied. "It's just that we have a deadline. We need to…"

"Clean up the mess as much as we can before we form a new river. And start over." He gave her a meaningful look she returned. "Maybe this time…" he said. She couldn't pretend ignorance of the meaning behind his words.

"Maybe," she smiled back. "But not yet." She expected his face to fall but instead, his smile deepened.

"Not yet, but it's ok. I can wait. Meanwhile, I have to get back upstairs. Lots to do here,"

Standing beside him in the elevator and watching as the lights played around them they traveled upward again. Natasha played the scenario again in her head, focusing on what she had seen and felt. She could see him; the Iron Man in the golden suit patrolling the skies of this reality.

Back in her room Natasha turned on her computer and looked for a video of their version of Bruce. It didn't take long to find. He was lecturing somewhere, walking around a stage, pointing to a screen behind him. He would stop to take questions from the audience. The camera did a pan around the auditorium revealing a full house. What struck her the most was how animated he was. Bruce Banner would smile, but there was always a sadness behind it. That was slipping away. He was becoming increasingly like the man in the video.