Was he being paranoid? Maybe the pain was causing him to imagine things; maybe the spike in chemicals was naturally occurring. Sterns had been complaining of migraines, no doubt a result of barely resting since the accident, so his thinking could also be compromised…

Bruce lay in his hospital bed, staring at the ceiling, trying his hardest not to move around. He ran number puzzles through his head - trying to remember pi to as many decimal places as he could, and thinking through the latest ideas on Fermat's Last Theorem, on the off chance that his outsider's perspective would enable him to provide an insight.
But nothing managed to distract him.
Just days ago, he'd been working to harness energy from the smallest scale imaginable, trying to make a breakthrough as revolutionary for human development as fire once was. Now he could think of nothing but the agony.

Bruce knocked politely on the half open library door.
"Hello?"
There were tall stacks of books on the tables, and long sections of shelves that were totally vacant.
"Is anyone here?"
A gorgeous young woman walked round from behind a row of bookcases, her delicate frame holding at least half a dozen thick books. He was taken aback by her beauty - he knew the general's daughter was working here, but he'd not yet met her.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you…"
He laughed as he spoke, slightly nervously. Placing a hand on the back of his neck, he massaged the tension he felt, in a habit he'd carried with him for a long time. Though he was now in charge of a major research programme, he still hadn't gotten the knack of being indifferent about inconveniencing others.
"I was going to ask a favour, but if it's a bad time?"
She was smiling back at him, with a slight shyness evident on her soft, warm face. She reddened, ever so slightly, but grinned back at him.
"No worse than any other. I'm starting a library from scratch - the Dewey Decimal system's harder than I imagined to set up."
Bruce moved in from the doorway, to the first set of shelves. Taking a random book down, he looked at the bottom of its spine, labelled with a sticker bearing a series of numbers.
"You seem to be doing a good job, as far as I can tell." Returning the book, he looked into her eyes. "I've heard good things about this place, thought I'd stop by and check it out."
She laughed, nervously. She smiled, broadly, a smile that spread across her face and revealed angelically white teeth. Her long black hair was arranged neatly behind her head, and in her white blouse and ankle-length skirt, she had the appropriate look for a librarian. Bruce wondered how far this was her normal dress code, and how far she'd altered herself to what was expected of her. He'd gotten into the habit of wearing shirts (and occasionally lab-coats), despite feeling more comfortable in the t-shirt and jeans he was currently wearing.
"I'm glad my reputation's growing."
Suddenly he realised that, in a split-second or two, he'd moved on from trying to decode clues about her personality, to admiring her figure. A little ashamed of himself, he pulled back - she was of course, a person first and foremost. Besides, on an isolated army base, with naturally aggressive, young male soldiers massively outnumbering women, she was likely to be subject to that kind of objectification elsewhere.
Bruce placed his hands against his jeans pockets. Even though he wasn't fond of labcoats, a place to hide his nervous hands would be useful now.
"I'm sorry," she said, softly, "I didn't catch your name?"
She placed the books on the corner of a nearby table, bending elegantly as she lowered, then raised herself.
"Bruce Banner."
He smiled cheekily, boyishly - he knew the impact that his name would have. Ever since he became a minor legend while still studying at Cal Tech, his name alone had been enough to act as a chat-up line. Combined with a cheeky, nervous grin, he'd found it made him more or less irresistible to the geekier girls. When he left the safety of campus life to work at the underfunded research arm of Roxxon Corp, it'd been a shock to his system to learn that he'd once again have to work to impress the fairer sex...
"Bruce Banner?" Her face lit up, she was a little delighted by the pleasant surprise. "I've been hearing a lot about you."
It was just like being back at college.
"Well, I like to let my legend build before introducing myself."
They shared a laugh at his daft joke, her face lighting up even more than it had before.
Given the choice, women liked a charmer, Bruce had long ago realised. But if they suddenly realise that the charming guy is a world-class genius, he suddenly becomes even more attractive.
Though enjoying himself, he could feel nerves building, butterflies flying at cross-paths to each other within his stomach. It'd been over two months since his arrival on base, and he'd been too consumed by his work to even consider romance. But this girl seemed more than worth the time.
"It is Liz, isn't it?"
"Well, I prefer Betty."
Whether deliberate or subconscious, she placed her body at a slight angle, the curve of her hips accentuated by her stance.
"Oh? That's a bit of an old-fashioned choice."
She smiled, naughtily. His line had been intended as a playful nudge, and she'd taken it that way.
"Sometimes the old-fashioned things are the best. You know you can rely on them."
Bruce nodded, melodramatically.
"True. It's always nice to know where you stand, to be sure of things." He paused, for effect. "Of course, as one of the world's leading theoretical physicists, I don't always have that comfort." He sighed, melodramatically. "But, we all have our burdens..."
Betty laughed. With her smile still broad across her face she leaned in, close enough that he could smell her perfume.
"I thought you were meant to be humble, and modest."
He shrugged, and looked away with a nervous grin, unable to totally keep up the pretence of ego the joke relied on.
"I like to drop that into conversation wherever I can."
It wasn't quite true. But he was, despite a natural timidity, comfortable with the fact he was one of the smartest people in the world in his area of expertise. It was fun to be a little bit cocky, from time to time.

Bruce thought back to the day he'd first met Betty, how much the physical impact of his nerves had played on him, how he'd worried about his nerves overwhelming him, and ruining his chance with this great girl. He thought about how excited he'd been to get to know the beautiful librarian.
He wondered if he would ever feel that good again.