Hey ya'll. I couldn't just leave you with a cliffhanger like that for too long. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm gonna say, we're getting pretty close to the end now. But don't dwell on that, just enjoy this chapter! P.s. I have a job interview today! Wish me luck!

Disclaimer: I own the Hulk... Bobble head.

They moved down the hallway, Bruce feeling a rush of déjà vu, the same hallway he had walked down with Tony and Pepper the first time he had met Minnie. They stopped at the same door, this time it was open, and they walked through the door to see Steve and Natasha kneeling down next to the beat up, unconscious form of his wife.

Bruce felt his heart stop as he moved forward, Natasha looked up, tears in her eyes.

Tears.

He had seen tears in Natasha's eyes only once, and they had been from fear.

This time it was different.

She moved away and he paused as he took in the sight of her. Her hair was no longer in the strangely perfect messy knot Dallas had done it up in before they left, but rather everywhere, some of it looked singed, and it didn't have its usual light red color, but it looked far darker, he realized as he knelt down it was from a cut along her hairline.

She had a broken nose, which probably attributed to the amount of blood covering the bottom of her face, it looked like she had tried to wipe some of it away, but only smeared it to the side, her face was pale due to blood loss which made the blood look that much brighter. Her once perfect floor length teal dress was now cut to above her knees, and the one that had always given her problems was swollen, even under her knee length leggings he could see that. He gingerly rolled up the legging and shut his eyes, she would need knee surgery for sure.

"Pepper, call an ambulance," Tony was saying somewhere behind him, be he didn't pay any attention, choosing instead to check her pulse.

"She's alive." he breathed in disbelief and relief but frowned when he saw she wasn't breathing. He opened her mouth, checking her airways, before tilting her head back, trying to make it easier for her to breathe. When she wasn't responsive he started to do CPR. After the third time of breathing into her mouth she gasped, coughing, he moved away as she rolled to her side, coughing up blood. She opened her eyes and Bruce let out a small laugh of relief as he cupped her face. She stared up at him for a moment before shutting her eyes again, though continued to breathe.

"I can't check to see if she had a neck or back wound." Bruce said as he looked up at Tony.

"Tony, SHIELD is here with a medical helicopter." Pepper said.

"Send them to the basement in my elevator, tell Jarvis no stops except the basement."

"What happened Tony?"

"Tell you later." he said simply, as he turned and looked at the arc reactor. "This is going to be a bitch to clean up." he said and Steve shot him a look.

"Hey Swan Lake, why don't you go wait for the paramedics, tell them which room we're in." Tony said over his shoulder to Logan who rolled his eyes but walked out of the room. Natasha was sitting on the other side of Minnie while Steve picked up his shield from the ground next to where she lay. He stared down at it, and then at Minnie who was breathing normally, her husband was brushing the hair from her face, and trying to wipe the blood off of her face with the sleeve of his shirt. Natasha gently touched Bruce's arm and he looked up, to be met with a handkerchief neither men knew where it came from, but Bruce didn't ask, he just accepted it and used it to try to wipe blood and grime from his wife's face.

"Excuse us Dr. Banner." one of the paramedics said as they walked into the room, followed by Logan. Bruce jumped up but stayed close by as they wrapped Minnie's neck in a brace and strapped her down to a flat board, in case she had a back injury, then put the flat board onto the stretcher.

They took her to the elevator and brought her upstairs, Tony and Bruce insisted on squeezing into the elevator with them, when they got upstairs they walked through the mobs of people, some reporters, some were the guests from before, some were police and some were members of Norman's army. They got to a SHIELD helicopter where Agent Coulson was waiting. He winced upon seeing Minnie's condition, and sighed to himself.

"She'll be taken to our facility in Times Square." he told Tony before looking at Bruce. "He's with her!" he called to the doctors, and gave Bruce a small nod, which Bruce returned before climbing into the helicopter with her.

"I thought you closed everywhere down." Tony said and Phil shook his head.

"We're reopening." he said. "We had guards in the major places keeping HAMMER and HYDRA out."

"Tony!" he turned around to see Pepper running to him. He caught her as she threw her arms around him, ignoring the fact that he was still in the suit, sans helmet, he leaned down and kissed her deeply, the two of them watched as the helicopter flew away, then she looked at him.

I could hear shouting, and someone walking. I felt a pressure on my side get removed and tossed to the side with a clatter as someone tried to speak to me, and then there was nothing. The next thing I remember reminded me of the time I nearly drowned when I was in fifth grade.

I had been rough housing with my friend in the community pool one hot July afternoon, and I hit my head on the pool ladder. I remember being disoriented, and not able to figure out which way was up, and which was down. I must have ingested a bunch of water because when I woke up I was rolling to the side, coughing up water, my dad kneeling next to me, drenched to the bone, even though he hadn't planned on going in the water.

I looked back up, and instead of my father I saw Bruce kneeling above me, his face smeared with blood, instead of water, I could feel his hand on the side of my face before I blacked out again.

Things were loud, and bright and blurry. I could feel someone shoving something down my throat, I felt my body react to it, and someone hold me still, people were calling for things, I couldn't make out words, just panicked, loud, frantic voices.

Someone put something over my nose and instructed me to breathe. I blacked out again.

"Dr. Banner," Bruce looked up to the waiting room door. He had been sent there as soon as they got there, and was promised he would be informed when she was out of surgery. He had been left there, deserted to wait. Nick Fury stood in the doorway, standing next to him, Bruce could hardly believe was the President.

"Director Fury," Bruce stood up and shook his hand, before looking at the President. Two Secret Service men waited outside. "Mr. President." he said as he shook Todd Halloran's hand.

"Dr. Banner," the President smiled at him. "It's an honor to meet you."

"Thanks." Bruce said before looking at Nick Fury. "Any word?"

"She's still in surgery Dr. Banner. She took quite the beating."

"Yeah." he said softly.

"From what I hear she dished it out pretty well too. Maybe she's more like her father then we all thought." Fury said and Bruce nodded slightly.

"Are you here to arrest us?" he asked looking at the president. "Because I don't think that'll work out the way you want it to." he said simply making the president raise his eyebrows.

"No, Dr. Banner, why would you think that?" he asked with a small laugh. "No, uh, actually, I'm just- I know how hard it is, being sent to a waiting room." President Halloran said. Bruce stared at him blankly and the President offered him a small smile before he turned and opened the door, an assistant stood there holding two cups of coffee in her hand. "Tea, right?" President Halloran asked as he held out one of the cups.

"Thank you." Bruce said as he accepted the cup from the president. He sat back down and the president took a seat, he cautiously looked Bruce over as he sat there, sipping the black tea.

The waiting room was quiet, that is until of course, Tony got there. "Oh hey, look at that." he said as he walked into the waiting room. "You haven't Hulked out and given them a reason to work faster huh?" Tony asked as he plopped down in the seat next to Bruce who looked to the side at his annoying friend.

"Yeah, that'll work."

"Worked in Virginia."

"Virginia was an entirely different set of circumstances." Bruce said and Tony gave him a slight smile before clapping his friend on the shoulder.

"Pepper's taking care of the press. She'll be up in a minute; rest of the team is on their way here too."

"Has anyone called the girls?"

"Figured it'd be better for you to do. Y'know, when your wife gets out of surgery." Tony shrugged and Bruce nodded. The room was silent for a moment before Tony cleared his throat. "So, anyone going to mention the elephant in the room? Because I may wear red, but I lean towards blue personally. Especially when voting."

"Tony-"

"What? It's true. Besides, isn't this the guy who approved all of those legislations and bills and everything for Norman to do what he did. Tell me he's waiting for the entire team to get here so he can grovel, because that I'd like to see."

"Mr. Stark, when the initiative was placed before me it was completely different. After I signed it, they rewrote it, changing things around; I never would have done what they did."

"Never would have stopped it either apparently." Tony said with a raised eyebrow before leaning back in his seat. A moment later Pepper came walking in after the secret service men looked through her bag.

"Tony why are there people- Oh, Mr. President," she said looking surprised. "It's an honor to meet you sir." she said as she shook his hand.

"You as well Mrs. Stark." he replied. She smiled and then turned to Tony.

"What is the president doing here?" she hissed to him frantically.

"He's here to grovel." he replied. She rolled her eyes before she moved over to Bruce who stood up and she touched his arm gently before stepping forward and wrapping her arms around him tightly.

"She's going to be okay Bruce." she said softly in his ear and his hug tightened slightly before he let go of her.

"Thank you Pepper." he said softly and she smiled at him warmly.

"Dallas is on his way."

"Where was he the entire time?"

"As soon as the fighting broke out he was getting people out of the building." Pepper explained.

"Never let it be said that little ball of energy doesn't know how to do the right thing, and not just pick the right outfits." Tony said simply and Bruce cracked a small smile as he sat back down.

About half an hour later the entire team was there; Tony had of course introduced Steve to the president as the man who allowed him to become Captain Great White North for a few months, which Steve rolled his eyes at and just told the president it was an honor to meet him. Peter Parker instantly went to talk to the president about something having to do with Norman Osborn while Steve went and sat down next to Bruce.

"How did you get to her so fast?" Bruce asked and Steve looked at him questioningly. "Tony, he told me you were in the control room, but when we got downstairs you were down there already."

"As soon as I hit the button, I took the elevator."

"The elevator was out of service until the backup energy kicked in."

"The cables weren't out of service." Steve said and Bruce stared back at him.

"You slid down the cables?" he asked blankly.

"It's a lot like zip lining." Steve said with a sheepish grin. Bruce let out a small laugh as he shook his head.

"Thank you." Bruce said softly and Steve looked at him curiously. "Your shield, it saved her life."

"I didn't even notice it was gone." he said with a small grin. "She'll be okay. They're good doctors here."

"They got you out of the ice okay didn't they?" Bruce asked softly and Steve nodded.

"You should've seen some of the things they dealt with when you two were gone." Steve said and Bruce smiled gently.

"I'd like you to know," the president said suddenly. "After the events that happened in Canada and with Norman Osborn coming to me to gloat about it, Director Fury came to me and explained everything to me. I've started shutting down government funding to HAMMER, and Norman Osborn was arrested, as some of you know." he looked at Bruce who straightened up slightly. "We've made a mistake, I know that now. And I'm doing what I can to fix it." he said and Bruce nodded before finishing off his tea.

"Look, you're not getting any political points in here." Logan said and Tony looked semi surprised and slightly pleased. "We don't need a speech; we need to know how our friend is doing, so unless you have something you could be doing to be more helpful, maybe you should take a hike." Everyone stared at the two, the president obviously wasn't used to being talked to like that, and Logan obviously didn't want him there anymore, not that anyone really did.

"Director Fury, I'll be in touch." President Halloran said and Director Fury stood up.

"I'll walk you out Mr. President." he said as he followed after the commander in chief.

"Well, Swan Lake, gotta say, I didn't think you had it in you." Tony grinned and Logan rolled his eyes.

"I hate hospitals." Clint was muttering to Natasha about a good hour and a half later. They still hadn't heard anything, but one by one the Avengers were taken to see a doctor, Steve had to have a few cuts cleaned up, but aside from that and exhaustion, he was alright.

Natasha had to have a brace put on her wrist, and Clint needed stitches, as well as having a bruised rib looked at, and Peter had a bruised bone in his shoulder, but aside from that, everyone was fine. Dallas had gotten there and just sat around sulking, it was the quietest anyone had ever seen him, including Pepper and Tony who had seen him after Minnie and Bruce had gone to Maine.

"I'm going to get a coffee." Tony said suddenly as he stood up. "Anyone want anything?" Looking around the room at the team he decided that the lack of answers was most likely a no, Pepper was resting her head on Thor's shoulder, looking puny next to the large god, both of whom were sleeping. Logan was sitting with his feet on a coffee table, Peter had fallen asleep, and Steve looked very close to sleep, Clint was slid very low in his seat next to Natasha who had been staring at the same spot in the carpet for the past half hour.

Bruce was sitting a few seats away from Dallas, he hadn't said a word in the hour and a half, he just sat there, his elbows resting on his knees, and his fingers laced together as he stared at the floor, almost like he was praying. When Tony left the room Dallas got up and moved next to Bruce who hardly looked up.

"She's going to be okay Brucie." Dallas said softly, not that anyone paid any attention. Bruce let out a small sigh and then looked at Dallas. Dallas put his hand on Bruce's shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze. "It'd take more than an explosion to keep her down." he said and Bruce let out a small laugh, before nodding as he ran his hands over his face.

"She's too stubborn to let something like this keep her down for too long huh?" he asked and Dallas nodded.

"She's too stubborn to let something keep her away from you this long." he said softly to Bruce. "Why do you think she turned into the little warrior princess? I know you guys were having problems, because of the no touching thing, but through it all, the both of you obviously love each other more than the other realizes, which is stupid because you've been married for almost four years now." he said and Bruce nodded.

"I know." he said. He looked up at the door as a doctor walked by and let out a long sigh. "Why won't they tell us anything?"

"Well if they stopped to tell us everything, there'd be no time to work on our little red headed mess." Dallas joked and Bruce let out a long sigh before Tony walked back into the room holding a cup of crappy vending machine coffee.

"Ahhh." he said sarcastically as he drained the Styrofoam cup. The door opened behind him and he jumped, turning around.

"Uh... Mr. Banner?" the young blonde haired doctor who looked like a female Doogie Howser asked looking at her clipboard. "Oh no, wait, sorry, Dr. Banner?" she looked up from behind a huge pair of coke bottle glasses that made her eyes look bigger than they were.

"Yeah?" Bruce asked as he stood up.

"Your wife is really, really lucky to be alive. She's out of surgery and uh- Oh-" she was startled by Tony grabbing the chart and looking it over.

"Tony." Bruce sighed, before doing the same thing to him. Tony shot him a look, but smiled slightly all the same.

"You, uh, that is, family can see her."

"They are family." Bruce said instantly.

"All of them?" the timid young doctor asked and Bruce nodded. "Okay, uh, follow me." she said.

Dallas shook Thor and Pepper awake while Logan got up Peter. Steve had stood up when Bruce did, and Natasha and Clint were ready to bolt out the door and go tearing through every room until they found her. Clint had even offered to do so, but Steve just told him to sit down, which Bruce agreed to. The last thing anyone in the hospital wanted was Clint and Natasha tearing into a surgery room.

They all followed the young doctor to a room and she smiled up at them all. "One at a time please." she said and everyone nodded as she walked away.

"Go ahead buddy." Tony said to Bruce who gave him a small smile and then walked into the room. A nurse was checking her vitals and looked up at Bruce as he walked in.

"She's awake, but she's still pretty drugged up." she said softly to him.

"Thank you." he said as she left the room. He walked over to the bed and she looked up at him, her eyes were bleary, though she smiled as he sat down. "How're you feeling?" he asked softly and she sighed, waving her hand in front of her.

"Oh you know," she said, her speech slightly slurred from the morphine and whatever else they had her on. Bruce made a mental note to remember his glasses so he could check later. "Like I got my ass kicked." she said and he smiled gently.

"Yeah, well you did some ass kicking yourself I hear." he said and she scoffed.

"Nothing like how you kick ass," she said, looking proud of him. "But I kicked her ass into the arc reactor."

"I saw." he said and she nodded, then looked around.

"Baby are we dead?" she asked and he laughed.

"No."

"Oh good. I still want to go to Paris."

"I know you do." he said as he gently took her hand. She smiled and gave his hand a tight squeeze, before letting go. "Honey, I'm... I'm so sorry I let this happen."

"Babe, you didn't let anything happen." she said, even in her drugged state. "It just happened. And now it's over. It is over, right?"

"Yeah."

"And we won?"

"Of course."

"Oh good." she sighed. "Will you be here when I wake up?" she asked and he nodded. "The doctor said sleep will help the pain."

"Where do you hurt?" he asked as he sat on the side of the bed.

"My knee mostly." she said and he drew back the blanket slightly to see the thick bandage wrapped around her knee. He leaned down and gently kissed the top of the bandage, his thumbs gently brushing the exposed skin above the bandage making her smile. "My head hurts too baby." she said and he looked at the cut on her head, and noticed they had stitched it up, she had a thin layer of gauze wrapped around her head to keep the stitches covered. He kissed the top of it and then kissed her nose where she had a splint for her broken nose. She tilted her face up, capturing his lips, at first it was fine, just a kiss, but then he felt her absorbing energy, he gently broke away from her and she looked up at him, looking a little more aware. "I'm sorry." she said and he shook his head before he kissed her again gently.

"Don't be." he said and then kissed the top of her head. "Everyone is here, do you want to see them?" he asked and she smiled hesitantly. "I can have them leave." she nodded and he nodded as he got up and went to the door, slipping outside of it.

"She's asleep." Bruce said to the rest of the team."

"That's fine, we'll come back tomorrow." Pepper said as she started to usher everyone out. "Bruce are you coming?"

"I'm going to stay here." he said and Pepper sighed, but knew there was no changing his mind.

Dallas had hung back, and looked at Bruce as the rest of the team left. He held the door open and Dallas went into the room. He stayed for about ten minutes and then left, Bruce sat in the chair next to Minnie while she slept, until he himself fell asleep in what looked like the most uncomfortable position ever.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

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