Author's Notes: I still don't own the Avengers or the X-Men. They belong to Marvel. All I own is Dr. Susanne Rosen.
xxxx
The next morning, he made eggs and toast for Sif and himself. He enjoyed the taste of the butter and strawberry jam on his toast. Watching him eat his eggs drowned in salsa, Sif said, "Did you have a nice talk with the Professor?"
"We won't be getting much sleep once the baby is born, so I didn't want to wake you," explained Bruce.
Sif's eyes were on Bruce's face. "So?"
"We talked," said Bruce.
"You aren't wearing your backpack," said Sif.
"The eggs are fried and I have butter on my toast," said Bruce. "I can add more calories to my diet this evening, if necessary. When I lost weight, I lost fat and muscle. I need to do light exercise that won't levitate my heart rate too much to make sure I don't only gain back fat."
"You need fat," said Sif.
"I also need muscle, so I have to watch my calories," explained Bruce. "If I could exercise like crazy, I could do protein shakes and work out until I gain back the muscle. But I can't."
"Sounds complicated," said Sif.
"Not really." Bruce took a sip of orange juice. "Lots of people due to heart problems or other reasons are told to do light exercise. Climbing stairs is one of the best exercises around. And I do enough of that here."
"Until I got pregnant, I never thought about nutrition," said Sif.
"You didn't have to," said Bruce. "People on Asgard eat a good diet. Since most people there do much more physical labor then Misgardians do, they don't have the weight problems that plague Misgard."
Sif smiled. "I know some fat Asgardians."
Bruce thought about Volstagg. "Me, too. Over sixty percent of Americans are overweight. We're in a school for mutants, so you don't see it."
"How did your talk go last night?" Sif changed the subject. Maybe, she thought she looked fat, but she needed the weight for the baby. Babies are parasites that will take from the mother to get the nutrition they need. Bruce didn't want to tell her that but it was a medical fact. And she was carrying his mutant baby, so she needed the extra calories.
Bruce let her slide. "I made the Professor understand that my friends aren't called the Avengers for nothing."
"And you still have a job?"
"You wanted me to quit." Bruce ate another slice of toast. "You went to his office and asked him to fire me."
Sif took his hand. "I did that out of love."
"He can't advertise for teachers in Monster or the local paper," said Bruce. "He isn't the type of man to cut off his nose to spite his face. Also he knows that if he fires me, Logan would be upset."
Sif smiled. "He wouldn't want that."
"I suppose he could advertise in Monster or some other online job site then screen for mutants." Bruce noticed that he finished his eggs. "Since Hank McCoy is too busy making sure all mutants are covered by ADA, he can't take the position of X-Men physician. Last night, the Professor offered me the post and I turned him down."
Sif leaned across the table and kissed his cheek. "Good for you."
"I'm going to call Susanne later today. Maybe, we can restart video sessions." Bruce drank the rest of his orange juice and kissed his wife. "I'm going to work on today's lesson. We'll have lunch together."
Sif hugged him and gave him another kiss. "Have a good day at work."
xxxx
That afternoon, after filling his bag with distilled water to clean the line (especially the part inside him), Bruce called Susanne. "Hi, how are you doing?"
"I'm good," Susanne said. "How are you doing?"
"I'm well," said Bruce.
"You don't sound well."
"Since I had a bit of problem getting enough food into me, I needed a G-tube. I had a nurse practitioner do the procedure as I gave step-by-step instruction. I've done the procedure before when a patient can't take anything by mouth and their condition doesn't allow a NG-tube."
"Speak English," said Susanne.
"I thought I was," said Bruce. "After I lost 8 pounds in two weeks, I thought it was ironic that a man who tried to kill himself more than once was going to extreme levels to stay alive. I now eat three small meals a day and snacks by mouth and supplemental feedings through a hole in my belly. "
"Why are you telling me?" Susanne asked.
"Because I don't want you freaking if we use video chat and you see an IV stand."
"Are you maintaining your weight now?"
"I'm gaining slowly," said Bruce.
"Can you come to my office?" Susanne asked.
"Sure, I have a backpack with a hole for my feeding tube that I use if I need to eat outside my bedroom. I thought I was banned."
"I also have home office for my clients that live on Long Island."
"You give me directions and I'll be there." The ride to Long Island from West Chester wasn't too bad as long as she didn't live all the way at the far end.
Susanne ran over to him while he was parking his motorcycle in her driveway. "Those things are dangerous."
"I'm a good driver," said Bruce.
"People will just not see the motorcycle because they are looking for cars," Susanne said. "They can look right at it and not see it. You get hit and a helmet won't keep the other guy from making an appearance."
"Your job is to make me feel better about myself." Bruce put his helmet on the handlebars. "I'm very good at self-depreciation."
Susanne put her hands on his shoulders and took a good look at him. "You're thin, but you don't look like you're starving to me."
"How about 'hello, it's nice to see you', not 'Oh my God, you're riding a motorcycle?'" Bruce gave Susanne a hug. "Sif is getting big. I'm excited and nervous about being a father. My own father wasn't a good example of parenthood."
"I'm sorry," said Susanne. "It is nice to see you. Let's get inside."
Bruce walked inside and followed her to her home office.
"Take off your jacket," she said. "Stay awhile."
"I take off my jacket and I'll need to rearrange my plumbing." He disconnected the tubing from his belly hole then removed his backpack and jacket. Then he checked the temperature of the chill pack inside the backpack and refilled bag with his spare bottle of nutritional supplement. Finally, after putting the backpack back on, he reconnected the tubing by feel.
"I didn't need to see that," said Susanne.
"It's a temporary measure until I can eat enough food to maintain my weight," said Bruce. "I usually do a better job at hiding the plumbing, but my students know."
"What are you feeling right now?"
"A bit exposed." Bruce shrugged his shoulders. "Embarrassed. Naked."
Susanne sat on the sofa beside him. "Wow."
"People use a feeding tube to lose weight on the K-E Diet," said Bruce. "So going about my business with a feeding tube isn't as odd as it once was. Tony was the most upset about the hole in my stomach. He of all people. My hole will heal. His would need skin grafts and major reconstructive surgery, which I think is part of the reason, he has that arc reactor still in his chest."
"He worries about you."
"I know. But his behavior was like the pot calling the kettle black."
"Anything else going on?"
"I'm nervous about being a daddy," said Bruce. "I'm like a surrogate father to a private school full of children. We have 6 adults living on campus and 27 young people at this time. One of those adults is Logan. He is mentally 16, so I'm not sure if he counts."
"That's a terrible thing to say," said Susanne.
"He has amnesia," said Bruce. "The last time he babysat six of the children were kidnapped. He's off babysitting duty. The children still have nightmares about it."
"I'm sure he's a nice man."
"Logan and nice man don't belong in the same sentence. However, I enjoy his company and I like hanging out with him more than any of the other adults on campus, except for my wife, of course."
"Of course." Susanne nodded. "You're still have trouble socializing it sounds like."
"Logan and I take our cycles out and ride around on the back roads. I love looking at all the leaves change color. New York in the autumn is beautiful."
"I'm still not comfortable with you on a Harley," said Susanne.
"I'm not here to make you comfortable," Bruce said, knowing comfortable was one of Susanne's buzz words. He wanted to push her bottoms.
"I'm not here to make you comfortable either," said Susanne. "We only grow by stepping outside our comfort zone. Do you have to take your food in liquid form?"
"No Katz's," said Bruce.
"OK, we can do Indian," said Susanne.
"If I start talking about work, the stuff I say is beyond top-secret," said Bruce. "I work with mutant children. If I mention the girl who walks through walls, that is one girl. It's the same as Senator Kelly mentioning her by name, so I rather not eat in a restaurant where someone can overhear us."
"You said the girl who walks through walls because she was talked about in senate." Susanne smiled. "I like your caution, but I won't say anything to anyone. How about we get a take-out menu and eat here?"
"We'll need to order, at least, two orders of Naan and that's for me. I want Palak Paneer, Chana Masala and Tandoori Chicken." Bruce knew that people died when recovering from anorexia by eating more than their body could handle, but Bruce was used to eating more than a normal human being. Also take-out at the school was limited to pizza night.
"That's all?" said Susanne.
"A Mango lassi would be nice, but I did clean out my line with distilled water earlier today, and my nutritional supplement is mostly liquid, so, maybe, I should stay clear of any more beverages." Bruce said. "I'm going to be paying for my own food, so what do you care?"
"Any more liquid and you will be spending our whole visit in the bathroom." Susanne shouldn't have said that.
"Where's your bathroom?" asked Bruce.
"Just outside the office, turn left," Susanne said. When he got back, she ordered the food over the phone. "Do have cash or a credit card?"
"Debit card. I may have some cash on me." Bruce took his wallet out of his jeans' pocket. "Fifty dollars should cover it."
"Sixty if you want two orders of Naan," said Susanne.
"New York food prices," said Bruce. "Give me back the ten and I'll give you another twenty. No beverages. If I get thirsty, New York tap water is fine."