Author's Note: I still don't own Marvel.

xxxx

"Dr. Banner, Mr. Stark is here and over half the girls in the school are asking for his autograph," said Kitty. "You better get out here."

Bruce changed into clothing suitable for a nice restaurant, which included gray trousers, a button-down shirt, a tweed jacket and his best loafers. Then he opened the door. "I'm a bit more sober now."

Holding Dag in her arms, Kitty looked him over. "You look like a professor."

"That's the idea," said Bruce.

"You looked like a druggie when you greeted my parents," said Kitty. "I was so embarrassed."

"I'm going to be on CNN. I would have liked it to be for my work on cold temperature physics. Dr. Drew works with drug treatment centers and I'm going to have to appear on TV stoned or my nerves will trash the studio. Now that's embarrassing." After taking Dagmar from Kitty, Bruce followed Kitty to the living room.

Tony ran over to Bruce and hid behind him. "You have to save me from this horde of teenage girls."

"You've dealt with teenage girls before," said Bruce.

"But these girls have mutant powers," said Tony, in hopefully fake terror. He was too melodramatic for it to be real terror.

"I'm stoned, remember?" teased Bruce. "You're on your own."

"Please, I'm begging you," said Tony, still hiding behind Bruce.

"Girls, no more asking Mr. Stark the color of his underwear or boxers or briefs," said Bruce. "The next person to ask Mr. Stark for an autograph or bother him in anyway will have to change Dag's diapers for the next two days."

All the girls but Kitty walked away and headed in different directions in groups of two or three.

Tony kissed Bruce's cheek. "Thank you."

"Stinky diapers are scarier than the Hulk," teased Bruce. "Tony, have you met Dag's nanny, Kitty Pryde? These are her parents, Carmen and Terry Pryde."

"Hello, I'm Tony Stark." Tony said, walking back toward the living room.

"The Prydes came all the way from Chicago to see Kitty," explained Bruce. "I would like us all to have dinner together."

"Under one condition." Tony put an arm around Bruce. "We go on a real date later."

Bruce looked down and nodded.

"Kitty, do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend?" asked Tony. "She or he is invited to dinner."

"Dag's nanny doesn't get a date," said Bruce.

"Bruce, I'm paying, so you don't make the rules," said Tony. "Kitty, go get your friend."

Kitty put Dagmar on her playmat then walked off. Bruce sat down at the baby's level. He touched the toys on the baby gym and interacted with Dagmar while Tony watched. Finally, Tony sat down beside him and put an arm around Bruce's shoulder.

xxxx

Kitty ended up bringing Jubilee since she didn't want to hurt Bobby's or Piotr's feelings. Bobby would be leaving for Harvard in a few weeks. When someone asked for Tony's autograph, he said, "We have another superhero at the table."

Bruce blushed.

Then Tony said, "The girl who walks through walls."

Kitty signed the napkin. "Shadowcat."

The woman looked at the signature. "Senator Kelly talked about you when proposing anti-mutant legislation."

Kitty said, "Watch."

The woman held the napkin held close to her chest as Kitty phased her hand through the table.

"Wow," said the woman.

Tony said, "The show is over. Get back to your table."

xxxx

While Tony and Bruce were talking about Bruce going on CNN, Mrs. Pryde whispered something to Kitty.

"Dr. Banner loves his wife," said Kitty. "He is so not gay."

"Kitty, thanks for supporting me." Bruce was resting against Tony on the sofa. "I don't know if I'm bisexual or just affection starved. Mr. Stark is bisexual. The press is more interested in the women he is seen with than the men. My wife brought a man into the house we used to share on Asgard. Mr. Stark holding me takes the pain away."

Kitty said, "We didn't need to know that."

"Kitty, you'll need to watch Dagmar while Tony and I are in Atlanta. Your parents can stay here if Storm approves," Bruce said. "I'll give you some money for diapers and incidentals. She has plenty of formula. That three hundred dollars is your pay. You aren't to use it on Dag."

Terry said, "We'll go."

"Mom, I can handle a baby for a few days." Kitty kissed her mother's cheek. "I have Storm and Hank here if I need assistance."

Bruce said, "You're Dag's nanny. Storm and Hank have a school full of children to watch. They're only for emergencies."

"Got it," said Kitty.

"Tony, I need to show Kitty how to give Dag her bath," explained Bruce.

"Sif showed me," said Kitty. "She didn't know how long you were going to be in California. She told me where all of Dag's things were. I had to explain the concept of formula when she told me to give Dag goat's milk."

"If she could stay to instruct you on how to care for our baby, why didn't she stay long enough to say good-bye to me?" Bruce had tears in his eyes. "She left me a dear John letter."

Tony put an arm around Bruce. "She didn't have the courage to face you. Part of her knew she would take one look at your face and she would melt. How could anyone say no to that face?"

Bruce smiled. "Tony is going to help me pack. I need to look like someone who teaches at a prep school. Tony and I will need to spend several hours going over how I need to present myself and what I can and can't say on TV."

"Spin is very important," said Tony. "You can't let the interviewer know you let the Hulk out to save your children, but at the same time, you don't want to look like you could change into an enormous green rage monster any second."

"Why can't he tell people that Mr. Worthington had a vaccine that could harm people like my daughter?" asked Terry Pryde. "And he needed to be stopped."

"Being morally right doesn't give you the right to break the law," said Tony. "Maslow's hierarchy of needs be damned. Bruce knew when he consciously broke the law that he could become a fugitive, again, but he did it anyway. Just because I kept him from being chased by the national guard and, possibly, the army, doesn't mean he should tell the world he committed a criminal act with full knowledge of what he was doing."

Mrs. Pryde nodded.

"We need him here fighting for mutant rights," said Tony. "He can't do that if he's sitting in a hospital for the criminally insane drugged out of his mind."

Bruce put a hand on his waist. "I'm a tool."

Tony put an arm around him. "You're more than a tool to me. I would carry you home and ask you to be my husband, but the world needs you more."

"You would?" Bruce looked into Tony's eyes.

Tony touched Bruce's face then kissed him on the lips. Tears ran down Bruce's face as he wrapped his arms around Tony and returned the kiss. After the kiss was over, Tony said, "I don't understand how Sif could leave you. Big Guy, I would never leave you."

Bruce sucked back the tears.

"Remember how much I love you." Tony wrapped an arm around Bruce. "You have to explain to the TV audience that you rarely have an incident, but your medicine can fail. Eyewitnesses saw you arguing with Warren Worthington Jr. just before you changed. You can do this."

Bruce nodded.

"Kitty, you want to stay out here while I help Dr. Banner pack?" asked Tony.

Mr. and Mrs. Pryde kissed their daughter good-bye and left.