Author's Note: I don't own any of the Marvel characters. The descriptions of Bruce's first experiences with being the Hulk come from Hulk. Since the flashback sequences in The Incredible Hulk tell a different story of how the Hulk came into being, I decided to ignore them and go for the story in the first movie. In the movie Hulk, the Hulk didn't kill anyone until the military got into his face. It isn't that I don't like the origin story in The Incredible Hulk. I just prefer a fleshed-out story then one told in flashback. YMMV.

xxxx

"I should wait for the nurse to check me over before I go back to our room." Bruce screamed, "She ate the apple!" He put his hand in front of his face. Not green - good. He was still 5 foot 8, but the Hulk was back inside him where he belonged. "Professor Xavier saw the Hulk in Rogue when he told her to eat the apple."

Sif touched Bruce's face, rubbing her finger along his check. "You weren't radioactive right away."

"I was. It just took two weeks for my radiation levels to get low enough that I became vulnerable enough for my skin start peeling off." Bruce put his hand over hers. "I'll have to stay put until the nurse gets back."

Finally, the school nurse got back and took his vitals. "You can go back to your room if you like. Mrs. Banner, keep him in bed for 24 hours."

Bruce translated. "She will with pleasure." After removing his oversized shirt, Bruce grabbed his backpack to put his clothes on.

xxxx

A few hours later, after Sif and Bruce were back in their room, there was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" asked Bruce.

"It's Rogue," said a female voice with a Southern accent.

"You may come in," said Bruce. "But you have to be careful."

"I'll be careful," said Rogue.

"Please, stay near the door," said Bruce. "You touch me and you'll grow out of your clothes, again. It's not that I don't trust you; it's just that I worry about my wife and my unborn child."

"Dr. Banner, we can talk in the hall."

"Thank you," said Bruce.

"Are you sad that you're small?" asked Rogue.

"I'm comfortable being the size I am." Bruce shut the door to his room from the outside. "And I'm taller than you. When I woke up in the infirmary, my anger and other primitive emotions were gone since they were still inside you. I can't ask you to hold my nastier emotions."

"That monster that destroyed your classroom," said Rogue. "You feel him in your head all the time?"

"Not all the time," said Bruce. "I taught myself yoga and meditation, so I can control it. Being busy also helps. When he was in you, I felt dead inside."

Bobby joined Rogue in the hallway and put an arm around her, only touching her clothing. "Piotr carried you into the hallway. Piotr and I had to pull you away from Rogue," said Bobby. "We were sure you were dead."

"I'm Asgardian," Bruce laughed. "Sif and I couldn't have a child together if I wasn't. I have a lot of life force."

"Are you OK now?"

"As right as rain," said Bruce. "But the school nurse told me to stay in bed for a day. I think Professor Xavier doesn't want to give up teaching physics as much as he claims."

Bobby smiled but Rogue didn't.

"I was telling Rogue I need my more primitive emotions the same as everyone else," said Bruce "When Rogue became me, I felt dead inside like all my joy and sadness had been sucked out of me."

"I didn't become you," said Rogue. "When I touched the first boy I kissed, I felt him inside me, and let's just say touching Magneto made me hate people who say the Holocaust didn't happen even more. Sometimes I forget that my arm isn't the one tattooed. When I became Logan, I remembered terrible things. Things I wouldn't repeat to respect his privacy, but with you, all I got was a very pleasant dream."

Bruce smiled. "Then I'm glad I gave you good feelings."

Bobby said, "You feel good after tossing your professor around like a ragdoll then destroying a classroom?"

"The Hulk protected me from feelings I couldn't handle," said Bruce. "I had DID, also known as Multiple Personality Disorder. The Hulk took care of my anger and I woke up as happy as a clam, which only made me feel more guilty."

Rogue said, "I don't have Multiple Personality Disorder."

"You became me when I touched you," said Bruce. "I'm integrated now. The Hulk and Dr. Banner exist inside me as one person. My friend, Mr. Stark, told me there is no Dr. Banner without the Hulk. Until today, I never understood how true my friend's words are."

"You and Ironman were Avengers," said Bobby. "You saved the world a few years ago."

"A lot of people had a problem with calling the Hulk a hero," said Bruce. "Myself included. However, I'm Mr. Stark's hero."

"That embarrasses you," said Rogue.

"We're best buds." Bruce beamed. "The Banner Ceramic went into production after I left for Asgard. He could have took all rights, but his CEO, Ms. Potts, helped me incorporate. I returned after 3 years a very rich man."

"But you're Bruce Banner," said Bobby. "The Dr. Banner that made the ceramic that changed the auto industry is a Robert Banner."

Bruce shrugged his shoulders. "My legal name is Robert Bruce Banner. Do you want to see my driver's license?" He didn't have a driver's license, but he had a picture ID for non-drivers from New York State.

Bobby gushed, "You're like totally famous. People talk about the fact no one knows who this Robert Banner is. They say he must be a recluse like Howard Hughes."

Bruce and Rogue laughed.

"People will know who Robert Drake is." Bruce saw potential in Bobby. He was one of his brightest students. "I've always been a private person. They would choke on their cookies, if they knew the Hulk made computers and electric cars faster. Well, everything that uses electricity more efficient and faster. Tony teases me that the Nobel Prize committee is will freak when they give a Nobel Prize to the Hulk."

"Why do you work here if you have millions?" asked Rogue.

"Because I think I can give something to you children," said Bruce. "I understand what it is like to be different and hated for those differences."

"The Hulk killed people," said Bobby.

"The Hulk would have minded his own business if General Ross and Major Talbot didn't attack him," Bruce said in a sad voice. "I don't blame the government. They saw him as a threat. The Hulk fed off anger and shooting him with guns and bombs only made him more angry. It was a vicious cycle."

Tony Stark had ended that vicious cycle before they met. If Pepper never slipped and told him, Bruce would never have know that Tony met General Ross in a bar and told him they were putting together a team. Tony had made it sound like the team would finally rid the world of the Hulk, which it did, because Tony understood that the Hulk needed love and acceptance.

Rogue said, "Dr. Banner stood up to Professor Xavier and told him that not talking about uncomfortable topics doesn't mean we aren't thinking those things."

"Like you and Logan," said Bobby. "I see how he looks at you."

"I touched him and he touched me. I can't have you or him or anyone." Rogue pushed Bobby away. "I take other people's powers away, but no one can take my power away." Then she ran down the hall, crying.

Bobby stared at Dr. Banner a second.

"You two need to talk and I need my rest." Bruce went back inside the bedroom he shared with Sif. He rested against Sif and his hand went to her small baby bump. "I can't imagine what it is like not to be able to be touched. Even during the loneliest periods of my life, I touched someone to take a pulse or give a reassuring hug. That poor girl."

"If this is too much for you, we can live at Stark Towers until the baby is born," said Sif. "You can tell Professor Xavier no."

"I gave Professor Xavier my word," said Bruce.