Tony didn't come "right back," to the surprise of neither Darcy nor Clint given what both knew of Tony. After about fifteen minutes of waiting, Darcy removed the hand she had placed on Bruce's and moved to turn her wheelchair around. Clint had remained silent until that point, but seeing her leave he spoke up. "I figured once you were by his side you'd never leave Lewis."

Darcy paused just as she started to reach for the door knob, and looked back over her shoulder at the archer in the corner. "You make me sound like some love sick teenager."

The man also known as Hawkeye raised an eyebrow in response as if to say 'You said it, not me.'

"Shut up," Darcy groaned, trying to bite back a smile and failing. A small laugh escaped her lips, causing a sharp stab of pain in her ribs. "You're not wrong, though," she admitted, glancing back towards Bruce. "If I didn't feel like my body was about to self-combust, you would have to be dragging me away. I'm going to see if that nurse lady can hook me up with some more meds."

Clint nodded in what seemed to be an understanding manner, and Darcy realized he probably knew the exact pain she was talking about. Heck, all of the Avengers had probably felt this way at least a dozen times before. "You'll have to tell me sometime about some of your close to death experiences. I feel like I've gone through enough times to join the club."

That got a bark of laughter. "Sure thing, sister."

Still with a smile on her lips despite the immense pain, Darcy left the room. She wasn't entirely sure how she managed to roll herself out of the hospital room aside from sheer willpower and her stubborn desire to keep up appearances with Avengers waltzing around.

As soon as the door had shut behind her; however, literally just outside the room, she dropped her arms onto her lap and hissed out in pain.

"Need some assistance?"

It was with nothing but relief that Darcy recognized her best friend's voice and turned to see Jane, leaning against the wall and a cup of coffee in either hand. Jane's tone sounded lightly amused but slightly forced, and Darcy could hear a tinge of poorly veiled concern under the surface. Trying to avoid any further missteps and crying sessions, she eyed the coffee and asked, "Is one of those for me?"

"Of course not," Jane said, even as she handed a cup over. "It's for Tony. I figured he could use the caffeine right now."

"Har har," Darcy said, wrapping her fingers around the warm cup and taking a large gulp. She instantly felt ten times better. She didn't care what the science said, coffee was a miracle drug. "Hmm... heaven," she murmured. Then paused realizing that hospital coffee should not taste this good.

With a questioning glance at Jane, her friend immediately ducked her head and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Please thank Thor for me." And Tony, she added silently and begrudgingly, since he was probably the one to tell the Avenger of his girlfriend's distress.

Jane sighed. "You can thank him yourself. He's in your room right now. I tried to tell him that you'd need your rest when you got back, but he wanted to see that you were okay for himself."

"Aw, the big softie," Darcy cooed.

Jane snorted. "Don't let him hear you say that. I think he wants to maintain his image as a big strong warrior..." Deemphasizing her point, Jane took another sip of coffee, which Darcy knew from her experience as Jane's intern to be a double caramel macchiato. Her eyes widened for a second, "Oh, and there is a blueberry muffin in your room, too."

"Praise the gods, "Darcy joked. "A warrior who is really good at ordering coffee. He's a keeper Jane."

"Speaking of keepers," Jane said, handing Darcy her cup and getting behind the wheelchair without even needing to be asked. "Banner? Really, Darcy?"

"He's really sweet," she said, defensively, then as an afterthought added, "and we're just friends."

"I'm not even going to dignify that last part with a response because 'just friends' don't react the way you did." Darcy remained silent. "And I've met Dr. Banner. I know he's sweet. What I don't know is how you know he's sweet, Darcy. When did that happen?"

While you were mourning your long distance relationship with an Asgardian god? Darcy didn't say that, though, because she knew that was just the aching ribs talking. "Uh, just a little bit..."

"How many weeks?" Jane asked, not sounding mad.

Darcy paused before answering, "It's a little complicated."

Extrapolating from there like a good little scientist, Jane screeched. "Months? You've been dating him for months?"

"Just a few. And I swear we really are only friends, Jane. I get Bruce and Tony lunch as part of my job and I hang out in their lab sometimes."

They came to an elevator and Jane stopped pushing Darcy to make her way around to the front of the wheelchair. She pushed the button to go down, then crossed her arms. There was a resigned but still skeptical look on her face. "Darcy, you do know that he's the..."

Right then the elevator doors slid open with a ding. "The Hulk, yeah, I know. Funny story actually..." She giggled for a second. "Funny stories," she amended, snorting then sobered realizing it wasn't really a laughing matter. "That's where it gets kind of complicated... I might have actually kind of sort of met the big guy before I met the regular-sized guy?"

Jane didn't respond but Darcy could swear she heard the gears in the female scientist's head cranking at full speed. Jane sighed, the gears coming to a standstill. "Tell me later," she said. "I don't even want to think about that right now."

Apparently she was thinking about it just a little, though, because right before they reached the door to Darcy's hospital room, Jane piped up again, "So just friends, huh?"

Jane was smiling. Darcy couldn't see her friends face but she knew it by the sound in her voice. It was great that Jane was freaking out about Darcy hanging out with the Hulk, but that didn't mean she wanted Jane to revel in the drama was part of Darcy's pathetic life.

Jane and Clint just needed to mind their own, dang business. And the blueberry muffin from Thor had better be freaking huge.

Not much to say except thank you to everyone commenting on this story and encouraging me to continue! I have just finished Spring Semester of school, and while I'm taking classes over the summer/applying for jobs (because I'm an adult now, who would have thunk it?), I will have a lot more time for updates.

Now... go forth and comment please with your thoughts! have

Also, for those that have seen Captain America: Civil War (SPOILERS) who else really wanted to see Bruce show up? Just me? :)