A/N: Hey guys, just a few quick things! First, this is a short chapter, and mostly Alice/Bruce centric. I know a lot of you are here for Klara (and I totally get that, she's awesome! :D), but just...try to follow me on this ride. I promise I'm doing everything I can to make it worth your while :) The other thing is, one of you asked what the rough length of this fic is, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that it is 25 chapters long. So we're already a quarter of the way through (which is crazy)!

Okay, I think that's it. Onward! :D

Chapter Six

Bruce didn't follow her out of the Dungeon. Alice almost wished he had.

It had been a petty, childish way to leave things. It was beneath her. But she was so pissed she could hardly see straight. Didn't he know how much this meant to her? Didn't he know how much he meant to her? Did it even matter?

She needed to get out.

She was in their bedroom without really remembering how she got there. Her go-bag was on the bed. She shoved some clothes into it, whatever she could grab, and tossed it over her shoulder. She had some cash, what little was left from her previous life. It wasn't much...but she had started over with less. She felt like she couldn't breathe. The walls were closing in and she just needed to get out. It was stupid. She was stupid.

She wished Clint was here.

She headed for the elevator. No one came up to stop her. Probably still congratulating themselves on not getting Klara killed. Alice tried not to feel the sharp pang of jealousy. She had been so calm, so still, so in control. Alice wished she could feel just a fraction of that.

She got to the lobby and strode toward the revolving doors. Not a peep from JARVIS. She was free to come and go as she pleased. She pushed through and sucked in the cold November air. The sun was shining, but it did almost nothing for the temperature. It felt good. She felt as if she were on fire. She turned left and merged into the flow of foot traffic. She didn't know where to go. She just needed to go.

Bruce gave Alice an hour to cool down before he went upstairs. He was exhausted, from the experience of his transformation, as well as from all the poking and prodding Tony had wanted to do afterward, but he was ready, ready for whatever disaster might be waiting for him upstairs.

Or, at least, that's what he'd thought. Before he found the bedroom in a state of disarray. Before he realized that her most worn clothes were missing. Before JARVIS informed him that Miss Ripley was no longer in the building. Only then did he realize that he wasn't ready. Not for this.

She got as far as Central Park before she collapsed, dropping into the grass of an open field and letting her feet rest for a minute. She shut her eyes and took another long, cleansing breath of the cold air. Despite the lingering scents of exhaust fumes and food vendors, it smelled more like home here than anywhere else in the city, her old home, the origin of her worst nightmares, the place she tried hardest to think about least. She rested her arms on her chest, one hand gripping her wrist, pressing the metal of her parents' rings into her skin.

It took a while, but eventually, she calmed down enough to realize that it was chilly. Definitely too cold to be out in only a t-shirt, especially after dark, which was rapidly descending. She sat up and pulled her bag into her lap, opening up a side pocket where she usually kept a light jacket.

A puff of jasmine filled her nose and just like that she was back in Kolkata. It was the day before Holi, a bell tinkled over the shop door and Bruce was there, a garland of jasmine clutched shyly in his hand: an apology. She saw him with green dust in his hair and colors streaking his clothes, her hand clutched in his and she felt safe, for the first time in so long she couldn't remember the last time. She saw his eyes glowing in the bonfire, a furrowed brow trying to understand, and doing better than anyone ever had before.

She saw him lying on the dirt floor, curled against the chill, rain pattering on the roof of an abandoned hut. She saw him rising into the air as a helicopter bore him away for who knew how long, perhaps never to be seen again.

She saw herself falling in love with him. Falling so deep she knew there was no way out. She had known it in Kolkata. She knew it now.

She breathed deep of the jasmine and opened her eyes. Avengers Tower rose up against the fading light of the sun. She sighed and dropped the hand that had been worrying the leather straps against the inside of her wrist.

Damn it.

She got the jacket out of her bag and began the slow trudge home.

Tony had ordered Chinese takeout. Bruce had never felt less hungry in his life. Tony didn't push him. They sat at the table in the dining area, Tony wolfing down everything in his box, a tablet propped up next to him, tapping and running algorithms, while Bruce poked listlessly at his noodles. It was dark. The picture windows were glowing with the light from the traffic below. Bruce pulled a long string of noodles from the box and let it drop.

"She's coming back," Tony said, not even looking up from his tablet, "I mean, unless she plans to sleep on a park bench. She hasn't used her credit card since she left, so no hotels or-"

"You checked her credit card?" Bruce asked, feeling as if he should be indignant on her behalf, but barely able to conjure up a tone of vague interest.

"What?" Tony asked, "It's my credit card! I have the right to see where my money is going-"

"And that didn't set off any bells in your head?" Bruce asked, stirring his noodles again, "Like, 'I might be an abusive stalker' bells?"

"I just wanted to see if she was okay, alright?"

Bruce glanced up, but Tony was still pointedly not looking at him. Bruce's eyes dropped back to his noodles.

"She's too smart for that," he muttered half-heartedly, "I'm sure she's got cash."

Tony didn't answer.

"It's better anyway," Bruce went on, trying to say the words out loud, hoping it would make them feel true, "It's too dangerous here, what with Hydra, and the scepter, and...me."

Tony still didn't answer. His fingers weren't moving on the tablet anymore. Bruce swallowed.

"It's better this way," he said firmly, pushing away from the table and taking his box of noodles to the fridge, "It's better-"

The elevator chimed and the door slid open. The noodles slipped from his fingers, and before they hit the floor he was moving. She had barely stepped from the elevator and he had his arms around her, fingers clutching at the jacket that smelled of jasmine and chai. He pressed kisses to her cheeks, her hair, her forehead, wherever he could reach. Then he wrapped himself around her again and she buried her face in his shoulder.

"I'm still pissed at you," she muttered.

"I know," he whispered, sounding more relieved then he had any right to be, "I know, I know."

He did know. He knew this wasn't going to be all that was said. He had quite a bit to say himself. But right now, right this second? This was the most important thing in the universe.

"See?" Tony said, sounding smug, "Told you she'd be back."

Alice pulled back far enough to glare at Tony around Bruce's shoulder.

"I'm pissed at you too, asshole."

"You gonna demonstrate that to me in the same way?"

This earned him a stiff middle finger and a punch to the arm as he sauntered past.

"Ow! That's it, I'm heading down to the workshop. Get a room, you two!"

And before either of them could respond, he disappeared into the elevator.

"He is such a jerk," Alice muttered, but she was smiling a little.

Bruce bent down and kissed her, long, slow, memorizing the sensation of it. Just in case.

"Alice," he said, when he could finally speak, "I know you're pissed. And we're gonna talk about it. But..."

He saw something flicker in her eyes, an old familiar fear and he paused, determined to tread carefully. He was in dangerous territory.

"I know the day will come-" he said finally, "-when you'll go. One way or another, I know that. But...when that day comes, promise me you won't just disappear. I couldn't stand it, the not knowing. It's worse than..."

He couldn't say the rest. Not right now, but the fear had faded from Alice's eyes. She put her head against his shoulder again and hugged him close.

"Never again," she whispered, "I promise."

They did talk, then. Alice had known they would. Bruce wasn't one to just let something go, not when he knew it had bothered her. So they sat together in their room, holding hands, and Alice tried to put into words what she had felt.

"It was like...knowing that you had heard everything I was saying, but you thought I wasn't smart enough to understand it, even though it was coming out of my own mouth."

Bruce shook his head, rubbing small circles on the backs of her hands with his thumbs.

"That wasn't it at all," he said, "I just...didn't want to get your hopes up, not before we knew. And I didn't see any reason to put you in a situation that might be dangerous on a hunch."

"Do you really think I didn't know it might be dangerous?" she asked, feeling her anger swell again, "Is that supposed to help me believe you don't think I'm stupid?"

"You're not!" Bruce insisted, then took a breath to calm himself, "You're not stupid, Alice. You're one of the most independent thinking people I know. You think of things other people don't even consider. It's why you're gonna be a great nurse. It's why I wanted you to go to med school."

Alice rolled her eyes. This was an old argument, so old that it wasn't even an argument anymore. Nursing had been the compromise, and Alice was happy with it, even if Bruce still thought she was wasting potential.

"You keep saying that, but what you're doing isn't proving it," Alice said, "You see that, right?"

Bruce sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I just don't want you to get hurt," he muttered, guiltily.

"I know," she said, "But I assumed the risks when I made the suggestion. And it...sort of felt like you stole my idea. And I know that sounds petty and dumb, but it...hurt."

To her surprise, he nodded.

"Yeah," he agreed, squeezing both her hands in his, "Yeah, I get that."

"I just want to be involved," Alice said, "I'm not asking to be in the room or anything, not yet. I mean, I saw Klara. She was... She was amazing. I've never seen anything like it."

"We're still processing the numbers," Bruce said, his expression brightening as scientific data entered the discussion, "I'm not sure we'll ever completely understand what happened in there. It's definitely more than...whatever Thor was telling us about her power. It...felt different with her there. Like she was really speaking to him. And he was listening. It was like he...respected her, respected how she responded to him. In a weird way, I feel like I understand how Loki might have been brought under her sway. She has a presence..."

Again, Alice tried not to feel the pang of jealousy. She'd never been given the opportunity to connect with this part of Bruce. She was never allowed anywhere near the Other Guy. She swallowed the emotion back and tried to see Bruce's fascination for what it was: scientific interest. Klara was an anomaly, a puzzle to be solved. If there was one thing Bruce loved, it was a puzzle.

"I know," she said when she could trust her voice again, "He clearly connected with her. I'm not gonna mess with that. I just want to...be there. I mean, this is a huge deal. I want to be a part of it."

Bruce sighed and took her face in his hands.

"Yeah," he said, "You're right. I'm sorry. I should have trusted you."

Alice smiled.

"It's okay," she said, "Learning every day, aren't we?"

"Always," he agreed, pulling her into a hug, "You're my favorite puzzle."

It was the best thing he could have said.

A/N: *sigh* I can't help it, I love these two idiots ;D