"Holly." the gentle voice drew her attention away from the book she was reading. A man a few years older than she was with a mess of auburn curls and golden eyes stopped before her chair and held out his hand to her. "Are you ready to go?"

"I suppose if I must." Holly teased as she set her book aside and took the mans hand. As they walked down a hall together the man handed her a manila folder which Holly began to flip through her eyes flying across the pages.

"What am I fishing for exactly?" Holly asked not looking at the man who kept pace with her easily.

"The target has been accused of being a rat so the bosses want you to find out what all he has been running his mouth about." he replied pulling on the cuffs of his sleeves. "Everything you need is there."

"I can see that. Do the bosses want him fully intact?" Holly inquired as she came to a stop outside of a room with two armed guards. Holly realized that she was alone. She spun around and looked up and down the hall for her handler but he was a ghost in the space that was an endless black in both directions. As Holly eyed the guards they beckoned her forward.

"Whenever you're ready ma'am." the taller of the two spoke in a deep voice, his eyes hidden behind dark spectacles.

"Shouldn't I wait for my handler?" Holly bit her lip and handed the file over to the guard that had spoken as her features melted away and soon a different woman stood before them.

"We were given the authorization to let you in whenever you are ready."

"Apparently we're on a schedule…" Holly murmured her eyes glazing over as she turned the doorknob.

The room before her eyes was completely dark except for a single spotlight that revealed a person with their hands bound behind the chair they were seated in. The person's clothes showed signs of a struggle and their uneven breathing supported the assumption. A small stream of blood ran down the chin and disappeared under the neck of the white, cotton shirt they wore. Holly could feel her mouth moving but she couldn't make out anything except for the breathing of the prisoner which drowned out everything in the room. She moved with the grace of a predator across the tile floor and stopped before the target to grasp the top of the black bag that concealed their identity. She pulled it off in one fluid motion and felt the material fall from her hand as she studied the face underneath the bag.

One word broke the silence and it took Holly to realize what the sound was.

It was her own scream.

"Kurtis!"

Holly sat up ramrod straight in her bed her eyes searching the darkness frantically for her handler but she was alone in her bedroom. Shaky breaths escaped her as she threw the covers off her sweaty body and pushed herself off the bed and towards the door. Peaking out of her bedroom she spotted Helena on the couch deep in dreamland. Looking back into her room Holly knew there was no way she'd be able to get back to sleep so soon after a nightmare like that. She couldn't help but be jealous of her sister's peaceful sleep as she tiptoed across her suite and out into the common area.

Bruce emerged from his room grumbling. He had been woken by a nightmare and when the numbers on his clock informed him it was sometime after three he decided he may as well get up. He never was able to get back to sleep after having a nightmare. 'Better luck next time' Bruce growled. He was debating whether or not to go up to the lab when a quiet rustle and crackle of plastic drew his attention towards the table.

"You're up early." Bruce greeted Holly. She had been sitting at the table idly rolling an empty water bottle back and forth in front of her but she perked up at the sound of his voice. It seemed extra gravelly this morning.

"Yes well, Helena was sleeping still and I didn't want to wake her up. What's your excuse?" Holly replied eyeing him.

"Figured I'd head up to the lab…"

"-At three in the morning?" Holly exclaimed in disbelief. She looked him up and down with a raised eyebrow. "Want to talk about it?"

"No. You?" he challenged.

"Nope. Do you want some breakfast?" Holly asked pushing away from the table and standing.

"At three in the morning?" Bruce retorted, throwing her words back at her.

"Would you prefer I let you go run up to your lab so you can go over completed work meticulously, looking for mistakes you know aren't there until the sun rises at which point you'll come back downstairs and do your morning routine so no one will know. You'll shower, dress, and come out for breakfast while acting like you got a full nights sleep." Holly said in a low tone, her eyes never leaving Bruce's which had widened just the slightest.

Bruce swallowed and found himself unable to tear his eyes away from Holly. She was different in that moment, not as light and bubbly as she was normally. Standing before him now was something much darker. It was poised, calculating, and appeared to be almost smug at seeing him squirm. His heart pounded in his ears as he finally blinked and dropped his eyes to the floor momentarily. He needed to calm down. He could feel the other guy stirring at what he assumed was a possible threat.

"How do you know that?" Bruce murmured though it came out more like a low growl. He stiffened as Holly shifted away from the kitchen and instead stopped before him and looked up into his eyes. All at once her expression softened and a sympathetic smile pulled at her lips.

"You're not the only one who is robbed of sleep more times than they'd like to admit." She hovered momentarily, reaching out to squeeze his hand but stopping halfway and instead turning back towards the kitchen. "Go ahead on up to the lab. I'm not going to tell on you."

Bruce frowned as he watched her fumble with some pans in her determination to make breakfast, filling the empty living space with quite a commotion. He could just leave now to the elevator and leave her to her own devices but something inside told him that was wrong. She had offered to make him breakfast at three in the morning so he wouldn't go off to be by himself. Maybe she didn't want to be alone.

"Here." Bruce said taking the pans from Holly's grip and placing them quietly on the stove top. "Let's go have breakfast in my room. Not everyone on this floor is deaf you know and it's way too early to be waking the Russian if we want to live."

"Okay." Holly said softly. She appeared to have reverted to her normal, kind self and it put Bruce's heart at ease. No need for defending. Everything was going to be okay.

"Are you always this abrasive in the morning?" Bruce joked as he opened his door for her.

"It's a curse."

"Well nothing a little tea can't soothe."

"Tea? How is decaf anything supposed to make me cheery?" Holly said crossing her arms as she stood in the middle of the living room.

"Well it may not wake you up but it might put you back to sleep." Bruce said putting his teapot onto the stove top.

"If it can't put you back to sleep, how is it supposed to help me?"

"Are you always going to compare yourself to me because I would highly advise against it." Bruce said his eyes darkening though he was turned away from Holly's gaze. She had no idea who she was talking to, or did she? Holly, feeling like she had overstepped some sort of boundary, bit her lip and decided to sit at his little dinner table without another word.

There was a spell of silence as Bruce waited for the water to boil. Having already set two cups and the tea of choice out, he leaned against the counter and watched Holly. She didn't look at him, instead letting her eyes memorize the details of his little suite. She'd noted how simply it was decorated before but noticed now how actually barren the place was. Nothing distinguishable as his- no awards, no pictures, no books. She felt her heart grow heavy as she realized why the emptiness felt so familiar.

This was how she had lived since escaping- this emptiness. This wasn't a home, just a place to lay your head. It was the dwelling of someone accustomed to living on the run. You didn't settle in when you might have to leave at any moment. You kept anything precious close by and everything else was expendable. Clothes, blankets, and books were all replaceable. She had kept a list of her favorite books in the hopes that one day she might be able to collect and keep them. Holly thought back to movie night when Bruce had been having a nightmare. What did he have to run from? What could he be afraid of when he was staying at Stark Tower with the Avengers?

"Here you go." Bruce said placing a cup in front of her along with a bottle of honey.

"Thank you." Holly sighed as he took the seat across from her. She squeezed some honey into her tea and stirred the hot liquid. She chanced a look at Bruce from behind her tea cup and found he was looking at the table top. Did she make him uncomfortable?

"Soothing?" Bruce asked not looking at her.

"Do you want me to leave?"

"What?" Bruce was staring at her now his eyebrow raised in confusion.

"I don't want to intrude on your space. If you really want to go to the lab I can just go to the gym or something." Holly fidgeted under the table.

"Why do you think I want you to leave?"

"Well you were just burning a hole through the table." Holly teased quietly. Bruce couldn't help but crack a smile and scratched the back of his head.

"I was just thinking about…stuff." This time Holly saw his eyes darken as he took a drink of his tea and she bit her lip. She wished she knew him better so he would open up to her.

"If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't spying on you." Holly said quietly keeping her eyes on Bruce as she spoke. The light hadn't returned to his eyes and she took his silence as a cue to continue with her explanation. "I had a lot of trouble settling when I first moved in. I was out of practice living with other people around and when I couldn't sleep I would walk around the tower. I find knowing my surroundings to be…comforting." Holly swept her hair back behind her ear nervously. She didn't open up to people often.

"I remember seeing you in your lab one morning and wondering why you were up so early. Paint me surprised when, at breakfast, you came out of your room acting like you had just gotten up from a good night's sleep when I was certain it had been you in the lab. No one else was up at that time."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Bruce asked as he stared into the bottom of his teacup.

"At breakfast?" she squeaked as he got up from the table to supply them with more tea.

"Or when you weren't spying on me in the lab?"

"I…" Bruce had taken his seat again but his eyes were closed as he took a long draw from his cup. She knew if she took tea down as fast as he did she would surely burn herself. "I guess I just figured maybe, in some way, you were kind of like me."

Bruce's eyes snapped open and he felt his heart start when he saw she wasn't sitting across from him. She couldn't possibly be like him! He would know about it. Bruce turned as he heard the faint tinkle of china as Holly set her glass down in the sink and made her way towards the door, pulling her sleep shirt closer around her.

"Thank you for the tea. I feel much better." She smiled but he jumped up and stopped her before she reached the door.

"What do you mean?" he barked as he held a firm grip on her arm. Her instincts told her to pull away, that she could easily over power him and escape, but doing would make it seem that she was hiding things. Suspicious people ask questions (and get nosey in the case of her roommates). "How could I possibly be like you!?"

"Don't fret." Holly soothed, placing her hand over the one that held her arm with an increasingly tightening grip. He jumped at her touch. 'That's interesting', Holly thought. "I only meant that…When I find myself being bothered by something I tend to cling to familiarity. I am used to being alone and I don't have that anymore so when I'm bothered I try to track down somewhere I can feel that way. No cameras, no people- just me alone with my thoughts." Holly shifted so she was facing him completely, her finger stroking the back of his hand.

"I know that if I had brought up my discovery to you in front of everyone, or approached you in the lab, you would have reacted the same way I would have if someone approached me in the same situation. Panic. Fear. Frankly, I don't think either of us wants to run anymore." She pried his stiff fingers off of her arm and let it fall back to his side. He was staring at her in the way that made her know he was panicked right there as he stood before her and she sighed.

"Good night Bruce." Holly turned back and opened the door just enough to slip her body out of the room. Before she had disappeared into the night Bruce found his voice again.

"What would you know about running?" Bruce stammered out.

"More than you think." Holly replied before shutting the door behind her. She found her way back to the room with ease but didn't crawl back into bed. Instead, she slipped onto the couch bed with Helena who wrapped a comforting, sisterly arm around her as she slept. Hopefully family would keep the nightmares away this time.