Theo's shoes hit the stairs as she rushed down them. Tony had just finished off his final jar of coffee, so she had to go buy more mix and also buy him and his guest (who had not arrived yet) a coffee from the local Starbucks, which was just going to be fun to go to because of the long lines that were undoubtedly waiting there for her.

Tony's words from the other night still floated around in her head. Why didn't you tell me about your gift when Pepper first hired you? Well, the question in itself was stupid to Theo. Why would she have told him? It was a risk to her entire identity. Besides, after everything she had gone through, she would prefer not to go revisit those things.

Something that also bugged Theo about Tony's question was his tone when he asked her. He sounded uncertain, but even a little hurt. Why was he hurt over her not telling him a small piece of information? And why had he called her abilities a 'gift'? It was a curse. If he had to see every memory of a person along with their feelings in the situation, he would not be calling it a gift.

Theo's train of thoughts derailed when she started to open the door to leave the stairwell when something shoved it open. The door smacked against her head and her vision went black for a moment. Steadied by two hands that were not her own, Theo was overtaken by anger… such overwhelming anger and pain. It was almost as if she was drowning in the anger and pain she was feeling as flashes went through her. Betty Ross. General Ross. Gamma radiation. The Other Guy… Loki… Nick Fury… The Avengers…?

"Miss, are you okay?"

Theo blinked herself back to see kind brown eyes. For a moment, all she could think about was the anger flowing through her… And then she felt a hand on her arm as he vision started going blurry again. She yanked herself away from the man in front of her and glared at him. He was 5' 8" with a shaved head colored salt and peppered, though it was more grey than brown. He looked quite familiar, but Theo couldn't place where she had seen him before. She couldn't help the unsettling feeling she felt rising in her as the brown eyes stared at her with worried and confusion.

"Excuse me." Theo said as she regained her composure. She removed all emotion from her face, refusing to allow this stranger to see any clues about her from her visage. Slowly Theo moved around the man, making sure to be careful not touch him. But yet, it seemed that this man wasn't about to let her run off.

"Miss, your head is bleeding! I'm a doctor, my bag's right here. Please, let me make sure you're okay and stitch you up so you don't lose any more blood. The door hit you hard, you may have a concussion." The man went to reach out towards her, but Theo quickly stepped away from him with a warning glare.

Blinking her eyes from the dizziness, Theo reached up to her forehead and felt the blood he was speaking about. She brought her hand back in front of her face to look at the blood and resisted the urge to wipe it on her clothes. Fortunately for Theo, she had never been afraid of blood. People used to say she would become a doctor someday... Well, they did before the accident.

"No, I can clean it up myself. I-I can do it—" Theo murmured as she looked back at the man. Hestarted to move towards her again but she swatted him back with her bloody hands. "Don't touch me! I-I don't like physical contact." She growled at the man. She was feeling dizzier as the seconds zoomed by.

"Okay, I'm not going to touch you, I promise," The brown eyed man held his hands up in surrender. Theo looked at him with caution, not trusting him to not try to help her. "Please, miss, sit on the stairs. You're swaying back and forth, and I'm scared you're going to pass out and that I won't be able to catch you."

Theo watched him for a brief second before acquiescing to the request. She looked back at him with a shrouded gaze – some of the blood was beginning to hit her eye – as he bent down to one of the bags by his feet. He produced a shirt from the bag and held it out to Theo.

"Here, hold pressure on that wound." Bruce instructed her. She took the shirt without a second thought and pressed it to her temple. Theo wouldn't have trusted the man but her mind was a bit foggy from the impact. He moved closer to her with his bag and held up his hands.

"You're going to have to let me help you. I don't know how serious the injury is from keeping my distance. I'll try to avoid touching you as much as possible, okay? I promise."

Theo stared at him a moment before nodding. Within a second he was by her side and cleaning her wound. She tried to focus on what he was doing, but she was feeling a bit woozy. She felt that he was cleaning the wound and was shining a light in her eyes, asking her to follow it.

"What's your name?" He asked her and she looked over at him in confusion.

"What?" She responded, her word slurring a bit at the end of it.

"I asked you what your name is. I'm trying to make small-talk to keep you conscious because you look like you're about to fall over." He responded, not pausing his work for a moment to look at her. Theo stared at him with a feeling she wasn't sure of. Perhaps it was from the visions she saw when she touched him and her lack of time to decipher what they meant.

"Theodora." She answered after a second.

"Nice to meet you, Theodora, I'm Bruce."

"Mr. Stark's friend?" Theo blurted out before she could stop herself. He paused cleaning her wound to look at her, his eyebrows raised.

"Yes, that's me."

"I was going to get you both drinks at Starbucks." Theo added on after a brief moment of silence between them. What were they supposed to say to another? All Theo knew of him was that he and Tony were close and both were perhaps the smartest men in the world.

Bruce went back to working on her. "He told me to get you Calm Brewed Tea." She murmured, her moss green eyes moving to the floor.

Bruce chuckled. "He's got quite a sense of humor, doesn't he?"

Theo didn't respond; she felt her shoulders growing as heavy as her eyelids. She listened to the sound of Bruce's work on her cut. Surprisingly it was calming for her considering she had never liked doctors all that well. Bruce disturbed her peace with a jolt with a light touch on her arm.

"Theodora, you've got to stay awake for me. If you fall asleep for even a moment its bad news." Bruce stated as her eyes met his. "You've got a concussion. Meaning that after I patch you up, someone's going to have to keep an eye on you since you're showing signs of drowsiness."

"No, I've got to do my job. I've got to… to go get tea and coffee for you and Mr. Stark." Theo insisted as she turned her head to look at him but he told her to stop moving so he could stitch her up. With a slight huff she moved her head back the way it was, tempted to fall asleep to spite him.

"Are you feeling any pain?" Bruce asked her in a soothing voice.

"No, I'm in no pain," Theo responded after a moment, folding her eyes over her chest. "I've felt worse. This is hardly a one on the scale."

"Hardly a one?" Bruce queried. "Someone's a bit of a fighter aren't they? I could've told you that from your reaction to me hitting you with the door."

Theo fixed her gaze on the stairs, uncertain how exactly he expected her to respond to that. She had never been good with speaking to others, especially when paid a compliment.

Once Bruce realized she wasn't going to respond, he tried continue a conversation. "I'm sorry about running into you. I wasn't paying attention and I was in a rush to get away from the crowds in the lobby. I figured taking the stairwell would be best. Stuck in an elevator with others… I didn't want to risk it."

"Mr. Stark mentioned that you might not like taking an elevator with others. Miss Holt at the front desk should have alerted you of the private elevator for your use; I told her of it myself." Theo said to him.

"Oh, she was on the phone and a bit distracted. I'm sure if I had waited for her to get off the phone she would have told me." Bruce paused for a moment. "Why do you use the staircase?"

"It doesn't matter."

"I understand," Bruce responded as he dropped his hands into his lap. She glanced over at him to see he was looking at her knowingly. As quick as she looked over she turned her gaze again. Clearing his throat, Bruce began meddling through his bag. "Okay, so I have something that will help with the dizziness if you are comfortable with it? It'll help while I finish up your stitches."

Theo didn't respond and instead focused on the needle in his hand. "Theodora? You still with me?" He questioned.

"Yes, I'm aware." Theo responded to him as her eyes went back to him. "I would prefer to not have a needle in my arm."

"Just checking. I have a feeling Tony will hurt me when he finds out I injured his favorite employee." Bruce said with a soft chuckle as he put the needle away.

"Technically my boss is Ms. Potts. I am not Mr. Stark's employee, but I suppose you could say I am his unofficial assistant." Theo shrugged her shoulders. It hit her that this was the most she had ever spoken to someone other than Tony and Pepper for more than a minute.

"Ah, my mistake then."

There was more silence before Theo broke it. "You said I was Mr. Stark's favorite employee. What makes you say that?" She questioned him.

"He mentioned you the other day is all. He never talks about his employees... Other than Happy that is."

"Oh." Theo murmured as she looked down at her clenched fists. All she wanted was for him to finish with her stitches so she could go get the coffee and tea from Starbucks. "Good things, I hope?"

She saw Bruce smile from her peripheral. "All good things. Just like your love for Shakespeare."

Theo looked down at the ground again and didn't respond. Once again, she wasn't sure how she needed to respond.

"All done." Bruce finally said and she didn't waste a moment before she stood to her feet. "Theodora, you shouldn't—"

Theo turned back to face him, quick enough to make her feel a little woozy. She hid it from him with a stoic expression. "I'll be fine, Dr. Banner. Please, just go on up to Mr. Stark and I'll be back in a while with your drinks." With that, Theo turned back around and headed out of the stairwell.

Tony sighed at the doctor sitting across from him. He couldn't believe Bruce had elected to fall asleep rather than listening to a single word of the Tony's story with the Mandarin. It was so life changing for Tony and his friend had fallen asleep. Tony had thought the tale to be interesting or to at least have enough action to be interesting.

"I'm sorry, I'm not that kind of doctor. I'm not a therapist. It's not my kind of training. I don't have the—" Tony looked at the man in shock and slight annoyance.

"What? The time?" Tony prompted him.

"Temperament."

Tony leaned back in his chair, that word reminding him of something. "You know what, now that I think about it, oh God, my original wound 1983, alright? I'm 14 years old, I still have a nanny?"

"Yes." He heard Bruce sigh and saw him rubbing his eyes.

"That was weird." Tony responded in reference to his nanny. He wondered how the woman was doing now…

A new voice spoke out that disrupted the tale. "Sir, Miss Carlyle is here." JARVIS said to his creator.

"Send her in." Tony ordered with a wave of his hand. Theo had to go get him coffee and had been gone an hour. Usually she was able to get the coffee and be back in less than thirty minutes. New York traffic was a pain, but Theo was able to get through it so fast he didn't know how she did it.

Bruce tensed up slightly. "Should I go to another room?"

Tony knew Bruce's worry was only because no one was to know the man was in the city, let alone in America. The agreement with Fury was that Bruce was to leave the country and avoid stressful situations. From time to time, SHIELD would pull him when they needed him, but for the most part the agency had kept their distances from the doctor. Tony was glad his friend had a little more freedom and a little less stress than before.

Tony looked over at his friend with shake of his head. "Theo isn't someone to worry about, she's not SHIELD. She's Pepper's official assistant and unofficially plays as mine from time to time…" He glanced at his watch. "Which is what she is playing as now. Well, I suppose I should say most of the time. I don't think she's worked for Pepper for a few days now."

The door opened to the upper level of Stark Tower, producing a curvy redhead. She held two Starbucks cups… and a series of stitches on her forehead.

"I got your coffee and tea as you requested, Mr. Stark." Theo said in a small voice as she walked over to him, holding the tray out. Tony noticed she was being more shy than usual. She hadn't looked in Bruce's direction once and her hunched shoulders were as if she hoped she had a shell she could shrink back into.

Tony took the coffee from the tray and sucked some of it down, noticing a detail on Theo's forehead that had not been there before. He stood up and leaned closer in to look at her stitches on her forehead.

"What the hell did you do to your head?" He demanded from her.

"I hit it as I was leaving the building. It's nothing serious—"

"I hit her in the head with the door," Bruce interrupted from his seat. "I cleaned the wound and stitched it up afterwards. I tried to convince her not to go get the drinks, that she should be resting, but she insisted on going to get them."

"Wow, talk about knocking a girl off her feet. Or is it sweeping? I can never remember," Tony studied Theo closely, seeing she looked a bit more pale than usual. "Does she have a concussion?" He asked Bruce.

"Yes, she has signs of one."

"I'm right here, Mr. Stark. You can ask me the questions about myself, not Dr. Banner." Theo said, her voice holding a bit of anger in it. She was pointedly looking at Tony, as if she was ignoring Bruce.

"Well, then guess what, Theo? You get to stay in one of the guest rooms tonight. Since we have our own doctor here now, he can check to make sure you're not dead."

"No, I'm not staying here." Theo refused as Tony took a seat on the sofa he had been relaxing on before. "You know I can't do that, Mr. Stark."

"Why? Because of your OCD ritual thing?"

Theo hesitated a moment, finally glancing over at Bruce. "Yes."

"Theo, I'm not losing my favorite employee because she was too stubborn to accept help. This is me, as your friend, telling you that you're staying tonight here. We'll find you some pajamas and extra clothes. I would send someone to go to your apartment, but I know you don't like people touching you or your things." Tony said as he continued to sip on his coffee.

Theo stared at him for a long moment before closing her eyes and taking a few breaths in and out. Finally she opened her eyes and gave him a distasteful look.

"I am going to quit one of these days." Theo muttered before she took the tea out of the cup holder. She turned to the other man in the room, keeping her eyes on the cup as she kept her grip more towards the bottom so she wouldn't touch him. Holding it out to him, she watched with caution as Bruce reached to grab it. She was so relieved when he didn't brush skin with her as he grabbed it. As he pulled away, it was a different story. His fingers brushed against hers, and it instantly caused her to flinch and clench her teeth.

Tony noticed her tensing up and wondered what she saw. Whatever it was, it caused her to squeeze her eyes shut and pinch her arm. When she opened her eyes, her eyes met with Bruce's. "Theodora? Are you okay?" The doctor asked her.

Theo stepped away from Bruce, moving her gaze away from him again to Tony. "I-I'm fine. I just got a little faint is all." She looked over to see the tea had spilled and jumped to pick it up. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I will run to go get another right now." She picked up the cup and poured the rest into the sink before tossing it into the trash. She started to grab paper towels, but Tony stopped her.

"The maid will get it, Theo."

Theo stopped for a moment before continuing to get the paper towels. She walked over to the spill and scrubbed for a moment before laying other paper towels over it. She looked over at Tony, her eyebrows raised. "They're paid to clean up your routine messes, not mine, sir." She said as she walked over to the trashcan and threw the dirty paper towels in.

"Just because you add 'sir' on the end does not make it respectful, Theo." Tony pointed out.

Theo turned back to face him, condescension in her voice. "Forgive me if my tone was too harsh, Mr. Stark. I was simply stating the truth."

"Employees," Tony said, shaking his head. He looked over at Bruce. "They just don't understand, you know?"

"You don't have to worry about getting me another, Miss Carlyle." Bruce said as he looked to the redhead. Tony noticed Bruce was watching her with an uncertain expression. "I don't need a drink."

"No, Dr. Banner, it was my fault because I spilled your drink. I will go to the break room and make some tea there. I do not mind at all." Theo reassuredly said before she bowed her head slightly. Then she headed for the door and hurried out.

"What just happened?" Bruce asked as he turned back to Tony.

"Oh, did I forget to mention?" Tony said before he took another long sip of his coffee. "Theo is special. She can touch you and see your most prominent memories and emotion at that time. Depending on how long the touch is, she could see your entire life. So I assume she saw you become the Hulk and your emotions of rage and depression hit her like a ton of bricks."