Thank you for your reviews! I know I'm not an expert in grammar, but I definitely try to write correctly. I've been getting pretty positive things about the story, so thanks for your support!

I finally made the decision to go see Dr. Banner. It couldn't be that bad, right? All I wanted was for him to not hate me that much. I really didn't want to be deemed as his babysitter. Lord knows, he's a grown man and a renowned scientist; I think he can take care of himself. I mean, who knows? My encounter with Captain America wasn't at all what I thought it would be. I could be wrong, but I got the impression that Wonder Boy and I were going to be friends. Maybe Dr. Banner would be a similar situation. Anything could happen.

As I neared the lab, my body told my brain that it was nervous: my legs shaking like j-ello with every step, my stomach tying into knots, palms sweating, and my heart beating fiercely. But I trekked on in my high heeled boots. I tugged at the deep red sleeves of my sweater with my hands, hoping to dry them up a little.

I was close enough now to see a shaggy haired man through the many windows looking into the lab. I inhaled deeply as I neared the door, preparing to knock. But as I lifted my fist, the windowed door slid open. Ope, okay then. Hesitantly, I tapped on the side and took a step into the lab. The neatly groomed, dark haired head casually glanced over to me. I gave a weak smile taking a few more steps in. "Is this the part when you check up on me to see if I broke anything?" his cold tone inquired. He hunched over his desk. My face dropped, disheartened. I really shouldn't have expected anything other than his disapproval.

"No," I quietly replied. His curious brown eyes looked up through glasses. I crossed my arms over my stomach and glanced around the room. Everything was an off white and filled with various equipment and work benches. I saw two flat, transparent screens that hung from the ceiling. I desperately wanted to play with them, but figured that would have to wait. "I, um… I'm not here to look after you. Well, I am, but not really…" I stammered. Dr. Banner raised an eyebrow pulling his glasses off. I sighed. I spoke slowly, "Look. I don't want you to think that I'm here to hurt you. That's the last thing I want to do."

"I think you should be worrying about me hurting you, not the other way around," he murmured. "Didn't Fury say that you're here to make sure the other guy is controlled?" He really isn't going to make this easy, is he? His tone made me sad. I looked away from his gaze and focused through the windows, overlooking the hangar below.

"Fury is more or less concerned about his toys getting broken," I muttered, casually scanning the room. The other guy? Who is…? I laid my eyes back on him, "Is that what you call him? The other guy?"

He hesitated for a minute before he softly spoke, "His name is Hulk. But yes, the other guy." I bit the corner of my lip trying not to, but ended up smiling at him. "What?"

"That's…kind of cute," I shrugged. "That's not the right word for it, but it is. It is cute. And no, I don't think the 'other guy' needs my supervision. I think he's fine with you." It felt weird to say. Up until now, I hadn't actually paid attention that Dr. Banner was two separate persons: Bruce Banner and the Hulk. It made sense, I guess.

Dr. Banner's perplexed expression suggested that he wasn't expecting those words. I saw his hands were in front of him, fiddling with a pen. "What happens when he's not fine and he comes out? I don't know what you know about me, but I'm bit of a monster," he hissed. I kept my gaze on him intently. I'm a bit of a monster. What a load of crap. There was nothing about his being that screamed 'monster'.

"But you're not." Dr. Banner stared. I continued calmly, "I've met monsters. I know monsters. Some of them are really awful. I know we've just met, but I know that you're nothing like them. If anything, you're a big teddy bear." I felt myself blush. I wasn't sure why that came out, but it did.

It was true. He was clearly trying to protect everyone else from himself, like he was a time bomb, waiting, and he was going to try to shield the world from his explosion. He was running away from everyone and everything, even trying to run from himself, because no one understood. But lucky for him, I used to be in that boat. I ran away until the X-Men gave me a home and taught me that sometimes people are weird and that's okay. I'm not saying that I'm completely comfortable around 'normal' people enough to use my abilities, but around other mutants, I'm fine. I have people I can trust. That's what Dr. Banner needs; some weird people in his life.

"Did anyone tell you about me, Dr. Banner?" I asked, lowering my arms.

"Please, you can call me Bruce," he serenely said, gesturing his hand towards me. Hope flooded my body. I smiled gently at him. "Natasha told me they call you Vapor, but that was it." He walked around his desk so he wasn't hiding behind anything. He was still playing with the pen in his hands. I figured he changed his mind about me, maybe not by much, but enough to show me that he was curious to learn more.

"You would like to know why I'm known as Vapor? You can call me that too, by the way, Vapor. Or Emma. Or 'Hey you!' works too," I smirked. Bruce chuckled at that. He slightly nodded, cautious of what was about to happen. I put my hands up carefully, as if in defense and slowly said, "I'm not going to do anything but to myself, okay? I'm not going to, you know, whatever. You're fine, okay?"

"Alright," he nodded, leaning back on the desk.

I took a deep breath in, "Okay, just watch my hands…" I outstretched my arms, palms upward. I watched as they turned transparent with rippling water, sleeves and all. Bruce walked closer to me, fascinated by what he was seeing. He stopped just in front of my arms. I was a bit taller than him, maybe by an inch, with these boots on anyway. I noticed flecks of silver that dotted his dark chocolate hair.

"May I?" he questioned. I moved my head up and down. With that, Bruce slowly touched one of my hands, his fingers moving through it, causing a small wrinkle to pass through the rest of the liquid. I watched his coffee eyes shine with awe as he examined me. "Are you able to do this with your whole body?"

"Yes." I let the water travel upwards, transforming my shoulders. The alteration slid across my exposed collar bones and down my chest, proving myself. Bruce was circling me, inspecting me.

"And you're able to, um, turn it on or off at your will?"

I shrugged, "Yeah, pretty much." With that, I 'turned off' the effect and my body went back to being solid flesh and clothes. I dropped my arms to my side, feeling a lot more comfortable.

"Huh…" he murmured as he came to a halt in front of me. I was feeling optimistic. I think he understood that I was showing him he was going to be okay around me, and I around him.

"We're all a little weird here," I chuckled, "So, there's that."

Bruce smiled, "I guess there's a lot for me to learn." He rubbed the nape of his neck as he said in a guilty tone, "I'm sorry, about before. It was mean."

"Don't worry about it," I confirmed, "I've had worst. But I completely understand. It can be frustrating." I smiled at Bruce reassuringly. This was good. As far as I could tell, I wasn't a threat to him anymore. Let's be honest, no one really wants a giant green rage man to see you as the enemy. So yes, this is good.

We stood there kind of awkwardly. Neither of us quite sure what to do now. Bruce spoke softly, "I should probably get back to working on finding the Tesseract. Do you know anything about that?"

I sighed, "Not a lot. All I know is that it emits its own energy. And for some reason this guy, Loki, took it." It was honest. I only knew that much from what Phil told me. "So other than that, petty much nothing. Well, besides that you're here to find it for SHIELD."

Bruce gave a short laugh. "Then you know something about it. You wouldn't happen to know anything about gamma radiation?" he inquired earnestly, walking over to a workbench. On it was a large, gold circular disk. Next to it was a small silver orb, along with some other tools. I wasn't even going to bother asking how that worked.

"Not really, no," I remarked, turning towards him. "I can usually follow along if you kind of dumb it down. My brother knows a lot about this stuff. He's the smart one in the family. I know that doesn't help you at all," I rambled on, becoming a little embarrassed. Bruce looked at me amused. I shrugged, "If it was microbiology though, I could maybe help."

"You're into microbiology?" his raised eyebrows in question.

"Only a little. Mostly things like diseases and their treatments," I quietly answered, gripping my upper arm. I looked at him and bit my lip. His face was full of surprise. "I'm um, a surgical technician. So it's kind of important to know these things."

"Huh. I would consider that to be smart. So you like helping people?" he was fiddling with some equipment.

"Eh, more or less, I suppose. I really enjoy the human body and seeing how everything works," I confessed. Bruce beamed at me. I returned it, feeling my cheeks blush a little. He looked down at the objects on the table and exhaled heavily. His lips pursed and he turned his head to the desk on the other side of the room.

"Well…" he started walking past me, "if you would like, you can possibly help me." He picked up his glasses from the workbench and looked at me. My mouth fell slightly open as one of my eyebrows raised. He grinned, "I can 'dumb it down' so you can follow."

"Um…yeah, sure!" I exclaimed, lifting my hands up. I was excited. I just got asked to work with Doctor Bruce freaking Banner. This was so much better than being his babysitter.

Over the next few hours, Bruce and I talked about pretty much everything. He explained some of his work on gamma radiation and how he was trying to find the Tesseract. He showed me how to work the computers and what things meant what. I sat at the desk with him, watching him tinker with the various equipment. If something came up on the screen, I would tell him. I was basically useless, but I enjoyed being there with him and he didn't seem to mind me. He asked me about my mutant abilities and he, reluctantly, told me about Hulk. It was nice.

I hadn't realized how much time had passed until a growl bellowed from my stomach. I gently wrapped my arms around my waist, hanging my head in embarrassment. Bruce snorted at me, "You know, you don't have to stay in here."

"I know," I bleated, glancing at him. He set his glasses on the desk and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was exhausted. "You don't have to stay in here either," I softly chimed.

"I want to get my work done quickly so I can leave. That requires me to stay in here mostly," he sounded slightly annoyed. He exhaled and looked at me. "Go. Eat something, get some rest."

I didn't want to leave him, but I did need food. "What about you? You're allowed to take a break. Come get foodstuffs with me," I offered hopefully.

"I'm fine. But you go. I'll be fine."

I sadly looked at him. I felt guilty for leaving him here, but I figured he wasn't going to budge. "Well, can I get you something then? Coffee? Tea? A sandwich? Fruit?"

"No, it's, it's fine," he was playing with his glasses. I smirked, recognizing that as a 'Yes, I would like you to bring me something but I feel bad asking you to do so' expression.

"I'll find you something," I uttered as I stood up. Bruce gazed up at me ready to argue, but I interjected "You need to eat something. I'll bring you back some stuff and whether you choose to eat or not is up to you, okay?" I could see he wanted to say something, but he knew I was right. He simply nodded. I smiled at him before walking across the room and out the door.

As I made my way through the halls, I pulled out my phone from my jeans pocket. It was late and I had completely forgot to call my friend, Brooke. Oh well, I'll have to call her tomorrow sometime. My boots suddenly weighed more and my whole body felt heavy. I had been so busy that I ignored my fatigue. I made a plan to quick grab something to eat, bring Bruce some food, and head off to bed. Today had been a long one. I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. I placed my phone back in my pocket.

My pace was slow. I stuck close to the wall as I walked, watching agents pass me by; they all had some place to go, it seemed. They were all in standardized SHIELD uniforms; dark blue shirts and matching pants or skirts and black boots. As I thought about it, I realized that there were very few people I've seen who didn't have to wear the same attire. Director Fury had his black trench coat, Phil always wore a suit and tie, Clint had his own uniform with his black and purple vest, and Natasha with her black body suit. The X-Men had their own uniforms too, and I brought mine along just in case. Mine was different, custom made with my designs. I could fight in regular clothes but wearing the outfit made me feel like a badass. I wonder if I asked if I would get a SHIELD uniform…

I was debating whether or not I actually wanted a SHIELD outfit. I mean, on one hand I would have to officially agree to be an agent but on the other, I would look cool. Huh. I'll have to think about it over food. "Emma!" a man's voice called. I blinked, coming into focus with reality. I turned my head to my left, looking down the passageway. I smiled as I recognized Steve's brown leather jacket and his slicked blonde hair. He started to jog towards me. "Hey, I was looking for you earlier. I couldn't find you," he said.

"Oh, yeah. I was actually with Dr. Banner in his lab. Sorry," I apologized.

"Don't be. How was your visit with him? He hadn't seem that fond of you when we first met."

I smirked, "Yeah, I remember. But no, it went really well. I think he's changed his mind about me. I was actually on my way to get something to eat and then bring something back for Bruce." I glanced up at him with hopeful eyes. He was tall. My eyes met with his nose. Man, Imma feel short without these boots.

"Would you like some company?" he offered nervously. I felt my cheeks flush with heat and butterflies roared in my gut. I swallowed what I thought was rather loudly.

"I would love some," I finally sputtered. He smiled at me. We continued to walk down the hall. I felt like an idiot. I was so anxious around him, but he made me feel calm and comfortable at the same time. Oh crap, you like him. You just met him. You can't like him.

I mentally fought with myself. This was stupid, I mean, I had ONE conversation with this handsome guy and we talked about nothing. But it was about a wonderful nothing. Oh my god, shut up sensitive me! Jeeze, it's cold in here… The goose bumps forming on my arms distracted me from silent conversation. My sweater was pretty thin and it definitely didn't help that I was tired and nervous. I wrapped my arms around my stomach. Steve must have noticed because he asked, "Are you cold? Would you like my jacket?"

"Oh, no! I'm fine, really," I tried to protest but he already pulled off his jacket, holding it open for me. I stared at him, unsure of what to do. He raised an eyebrow at me and gently shook the leather jacket he held.

"Your arms go into the sleeves, you know," he sneered.

"Oh my god, Steven! I know how this works," I blurted. Reluctantly I let my arms slip into the sleeves and hugged the jacket close. It was warm and smelled of leather and Steve's cologne. It was magnificent.

"See? That wasn't that hard," he teased and put his hands in his pants' pockets. I placed my hand on my face, embarrassed.

"Oh, shut up," I replied playfully. "Thank you." He looked at me and nodded. We kept walking. Steven was such a gentleman. It was refreshing. And I felt a ton better with his jacket on.

"So," Steve started, "what did you and Dr. Banner talk about?"

I shrugged. "A lot, I guess. He showed me how to work some of the equipment," I added a little joyous.

"Oh! Well that's good. Any news on the Tesseract?"

"Um, no. Not really. He said it might take a while."

"Hm. At least it's a start." His face was tense with thought. I studied his furrowed eyebrows. He turned to me, his expression relaxing, "We'll know something when it comes up," his words were with filled with hope. I nodded and smiled at his bright eyes.

"Yes, we will…" I trailed off and looked ahead of me. The thought of finding the cube began to race in my head. When would we find it? And what will happen when we do? Loki isn't going to just hand it over. And what about Clint? Where is he? I hope he's okay. What happens to everyone here? What happens to me? Do I just go home after this? I tightened my arms around me. I became uneasy. I worried about Clint and what would happen to him when he gets back. And the thought of me going home after all this seemed…gloomy. Maybe I'll move back to the mansion…

"Emma?" Steve softly interjected my thoughts. I looked at him, surprised.

"I, I'm sorry, Steve. I got lost for a minute," I muttered. I gave him a small smile.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. I'm just thinking. That's all," I droned a little more aloof than I should have. Steve looked at me with slight concern on his face. "Really, I'm fine." His expression didn't back down. I hesitated. I didn't want to burden him with my problems. But he was willing to listen and it might make me feel less insecure about everything, getting it off my chest. "It's just… Clint, err, Agent Barton, is a good friend of mine. He's always there for me… And now he's gone and I feel so useless cuz I can't do anything about it. I don't even know where to start looking for him and neither does SHIELD… And then what happens after all of this?" I was discouraged. Talking about it actually made it worse. Saying it out loud made my issues become more realistic. Like somehow just replaying it in my head wasn't as solid as it was once it left my mouth.

Steve looked puzzled, "What do you mean by that?"
"What happens if this whole thing turns out awful and everything goes to crap? Do I just go to my empty apartment and pretend none of this happened? I mean, I'm technically only here to keep an eye on Bruce. When he finds the cube, he and I are free to go. That's it. What if I go home and I'm watching the news or something and everything is blowing up?"

"Hey, slow down," Steve begged, stepping in front of me and gently grabbed my arms. "We have to hope everything is going to be fine. We'll get it right. We'll get Agent Barton back and the cube, you'll see. Everything is going to be okay." His eyes shone as he reassured me. I managed a small smile even though I was still troubled. "You don't have to leave right away, do you?"

I looked at him, trying to figure out what he was getting at. "Well, no. I don't think so."

He let go of me and shrugged, "Then you can stay as long as you like." I couldn't help but chortle. I guess he was right. "That way you can help when things start to blow up." He smiled and I laughed. "Come on, if we keep stalling we're never going to reach the cafeteria." I was so delighted by his words. I followed his lead and we kept walking.

"Thank you," I mumbled. Steve grinned. I was grateful for him being there; he calmed me down. "I can over think things. Especially when I'm worried. So thanks. Really…"

He looked warmly at me. "I mean it, everything is going to be fine. Over thinking isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes it can bring you an answer you weren't expecting to find… You're not exactly worried about the world blowing up, are you?"

My eyes widened as I frantically scanned his face. There was no way he should have known I meant something else. I didn't say anything. "What do you mean?" I stuttered.

"When you said your 'empty apartment', you enunciated 'empty', like you held a grudge against it," Steve replied as-matter-of-factly. "Why don't you want to go home?"

I stared at him, shocked. "I… I didn't realize I said it like that… You actually picked up on that?" He nodded rather proudly. I shook my head, amazed. I wonder if I mentioned anything else I didn't say aloud… "Um…well, to be honest my apartment is pretty lonely," I stared a head of me. "I don't exactly have friends in Albany. I mean, I have a few coworkers I don't mind seeing. And the X-mansion is like an hour away. But it's just me. Most of the time it's fine; I like being alone, but lately I wish someone was there with me." My cheeks heated. It was a little embarrassing admitting I was lonely. I felt Steve looking at me, but I kept my gaze straight.

He cleared his throat. "I uh, I'm living in Brooklyn. I'm usually free. So um, if you're not busy sometime, you could always come down for the day or something. You know, if you wouldn't mind or anything," he stumbled and placed his hands in his pants pockets. The butterflies in my gut turned into a hurricane and I felt my face grow warmer; I was sure I was tomato red. I bit my lower lip. I think he technically asked me out. Or, well, for a future date. Possibly. Maybe. Oh I don't know!

"Uh, yeah! That would be great actually," came from my mouth nearly as a whisper. I was frazzled. But happy. "I, um, don't really know my way around Brooklyn, so it'll be an adventure," I tried masking my school-girl-vibe.

"Then you should definitely stop by for a visit. I'll have to show you around. Although a lot has changed, so I'm not too sure where everything is anymore. I guess it'll be an adventure for me as well," he optimistically admitted.

"Excellent. It'll be fun," I added. We both smiled at each other. His blue eyes were beautiful; I wanted to stare into them for the rest of the night. I didn't care about eating anymore. I merely wanted to soak in Steve's aura.

"Captain Rogers!" I was startled by the booming voice of Director Fury. Steve and I broke our gaze and turned to look behind us. Nick Fury and Phil were walking quickly towards us. "Captain, we got a hit on Loki."

"Where is he?" Steve asked, crossing his arms across his chest. I turned back to Fury.

"He's in Stuttgart, Germany," Phil interjected. I looked at him. Loki… That means Clint.

"Captain, you're up," Fury addressed Steve, who sternly nodded once. He gave me a weak smile. I barely noticed.

"Director," my voice was weak.

"Miss Blaser, the answer is no," Fury firmly said. Before I could say anything he continued, "We had an agreement, Miss Blaser. I know you want to help Agent Barton, and you can help by staying here." He didn't even look at me.

"But Director!" I was desperate.

"I said no, Miss Blaser! You are to remain on the ship. That is an order." His words hit me like a bullet. I turned to Phil, who returned my gaze with a sympathetic face, his eyes full of regret. My shoulders slumped, defeated. I wanted to go, I wanted to bring Clint back. "Captain, we'll depart as soon as you're ready." Director Fury turned and walked the way he came. Phil gave me a sad glance one more time before following Fury. I stared at the two men leaving. I felt like crap. I'm just the babysitter.

I jumped slightly when Steve touched my arm. I gazed up at him, a little dismayed. "It's going to be okay," he softly spoke. He smiled, then turned and followed Director Fury and Agent Coulson. I stood in place and watched the men walk down the hall, until they disappeared.

Blinking, I tried shaking off the emptiness. I turned around and hurried to the cafeteria. I scanned everything without really noticing it. Absently, I filled a bowl with strawberries and pineapple, another with blueberries and raspberries, grabbed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a small container of yogurt from a cooler, and got a large black coffee.

Somehow I made it back to Dr. Banner's lab. I set down the coffee, yogurt, sandwich, and the bowl with blueberries and raspberries on a fairly empty desk. "Emma, are you alright?" Bruce asked gently. I stared at him for a second, before remembering who he was. I blinked down at the floor.

"Yeah. I um...just tired." He nodded slightly, looking concerned. I smiled weakly and headed out the door with my strawberries and pineapple. I mindlessly traveled the halls, making it to my room. I entered the small space, locked the door behind me, set the bowl on the dresser and fell on the bed. I kicked off my boots and wrapped the blankets around me. I laid there hugging my pillow.