Hey ya'll! This chapter is from Bruce's point of view, things are going to get a little tense, and the other guy might even make an appearance in later chapters, who knows? Also- I wouldn't put it past Tony to hack a cell phone. Just sayin'
Disclaimer: I only own Minnie. She's being good, but it doesn't show.
When Minnie left the apartment, ready to enjoy herself at a much needed girl's weekend (Well, girls and Dallas, and Dallas' boyfriend...) in the Hamptons, Bruce finished getting dressed. He remembered what Minnie had said about not eating the leftovers in the fridge and went to check it out. He poured himself a cup of coffee and added the appropriate amounts of cream and sugar, and opened the refrigerator.
He briefly wondered how it was they had been together for a month and a half he had never needed to open the refrigerator. He pulled the trash can over to the fridge and shook his head as he looked inside of take out container after takeout container. Judging by this collection of food, no one could say Minnie was afraid to try new things. Mexican, Cajun, Thai, Chinese, Greek, Vietnamese, Italian, food from the German deli, desserts from the Russian bakery, it was like a UN meeting in her kitchen.
He chuckled at the thought of the world leaders in Minnie's kitchen, and continued to throw the food out, at this rate, her entire fridge needed to be thrown away and considered a chemical threat. He finished his coffee and carried the now very full bag of trash out to the trash chute in the hallway. He dropped it in, and went back to the apartment and put his socks and shoes on, then put his glasses on and locked the bottom lock on her door, and then went downstairs. He went to the apartment manager's office and got the spare key she had left for him and let the doorman know he was going to be staying there so they wouldn't have a problem.
When his taxi let him off at Stark Tower he scanned his thumbprint before the door opened. He went to the elevator, ignoring the people around, while the Avengers may live on the top floors while they were around, it was still a Stark Industries building. He went to the private elevator and scanned his thumbprint again and stepped into the elevator when it hit ground floor. "Good morning Dr. Banner." Jarvis' voice.
"Good morning Jarvis." he said. "A floor please." A was code for Avengers floor. It was where they all stayed when they did stay.
"Yes Sir Dr. Banner." the AI said, and the elevator started moving. "I expect Ms. Strong will be enjoying her vacation?" Leave it to Tony stark to create an AI that engaged in small talk.
"I hope so, she needs it." Bruce had felt a little funny about chatting with Jarvis at first, but these days, it was almost like talking to a friend.
"She has been rather stressed lately I've noticed." Jarvis responded. "But she has always enjoyed the Hamptons. A Dr. Ross-Samson is to be working with you today in lab 12 with Mr. Stark."
"Will Dr. Samson be joining us?"
"I'm afraid not Dr. Banner."
"When is Dr. Ross-Samson joining us?"
"She's already here sir."
"Great." he sighed. They got to the floor and he stepped out of the elevator, he went to the room he stayed in when he stayed there and grabbed some clothes, he went to the bathroom and turned the shower on before he undressed and stepped into the warm stream. When he finished in the shower he shaved, got dressed, and went downstairs to the labs. He would have to get used to seeing Betty again, as she worked with Tony who was drinking that weird green health drink he always drank. She moved to the white board and wrote something down. He sighed, then punched in his access code, and pushed open the door.
"Morning honey." Tony grinned and Bruce rolled his eyes. "Stay to see red off?" he asked. "Or did you two decide to spend the morning in bed?"
"Sure, for about as long as you and Pepper did." Bruce said and Tony grinned.
"Morning Bruce." Betty smiled and he nodded to her.
"Morning." he said. "So what are we working on?"
"You, actually." Tony said and took another drink of that green crap before he grinned.
"So where did your girlfriend go?" Betty asked later as she was taking blood from Bruce's arm. He thought back to the time he was doing that in Tony's basement lab, Minnie running her hand lightly down his arm, trying to make him relax. He smiled lightly at that thought, about them joking about her nonexistent career in nursing, that could never happen, she was far too scared of needles. He remembered watching the color drain from her face when she pulled the needle out of his arm, and he felt a little guilty about that.
"Hm?" he looked up at Betty. "I'm sorry Betty, what?"
"Thought I lost you there for a second." she smiled. "Where did your girlfriend go?"
"Oh, uh, her Pepper and her friend Dallas went to the Hamptons for the weekend." he said, putting a cotton ball over the area. He taped it down and put his glasses back on.
"Yeah, they've been there for about an hour now." Tony said and Bruce looked at him in surprise.
"How can you tell?"
"Pepper's got a new contact in her phone." he said as he turned his computer screen.
"You hacked into Pepper's phone?"
"Yeah, Minnie's too." he said as he slid Pepper's information to the side of the screen and brought up Minnie's. "She's got the same new number, someone named Felipe."
"Yeah, I think that's Dallas' new boyfriend."
"Huh, Dallas got himself a rich boy toy." Tony muttered as he looked through Minnie's phone.
"Other way around." Bruce said and Tony made a face.
A few hours went by and Betty came into the lab holding two plates with slices of pizza on them. "If I remember correctly," she said and he looked up. "You have the bad tendency to work all day without eating."
"Oh, yeah, uh, Minnie usually kicks my ass into eating something around this time." he smiled. "Thanks."
"So how did you two meet anyways?"
"Uh, well, she's Tony's assistant. He's an Avenger. We met during that whole Loki in New York thing last year."
"I thought you said you've only been together a month?" Betty asked and he nodded.
"When did you get married?" he asked and she smiled lightly.
"About a year later." she said softly and he knew what she meant. "I thought I'd never see you again." she lightly touched his hand and he moved it instantly. "I-"
"I'm sorry." he said as he stood up and walked out of the lab. Tony was in his penthouse, looking through Pepper's phone still. Bruce caught a brief glimpse of a picture of Minnie before Tony wiped the screen clean. "What was that?" he asked.
"Oh, you know, digging through Pepper's phone, looking at old pictures and stuff." he shrugged. "It wasn't anything."
"If it wasn't anything, why'd you wipe the screen?"
"Because I finally got rid of her, why would I want to look at Minnie's face on while she's on vacation?" Tony scoffed.
"Jarvis bring up the picture Tony just wiped."
"Please sir, I'd rather not." Jarvis said sounding hesitant.
"Bring up the picture Jarvis." Tony sighed knowing his friend wouldn't let it drop. The picture was of Minnie over a very young, very attractive, and very shirtless man's shoulder as he went running into the ocean. She was laughing as he ran into the water, and clinging to his shoulders. "Like I said; nothing." Tony said as he wiped the screen. "That's probably Dallas' boyfriend." Bruce nodded and swallowed.
"Yeah." he said and Tony sighed.
"Come on, let's go downstairs." Tony said as he clapped Bruce on the shoulder. They went back to the lab where Bruce hardly noticed Betty; his mind was focused on the picture of Minnie and that guy.
That night he stayed at the mansion, he was lying in bed, pretty close to falling asleep when his phone rang. "Yeah?" he answered it.
"God I was hoping you were awake." Minnie sounded like she was smiling.
"Hey, yeah, I'm up." he said as he sat up. "How're the Hamptons?"
"Oh my god, this house is amazing." she laughed. "Id' be surprised if Pepper doesn't talk Tony into a beach house, they've even got a private beach hon."
"That sounds nice."
"It's beautiful..." she sighed. "I wish you were here."
"I'm sure you're having more fun without me."
"No, not really." she sighed. "I saw so little of you these past few days, and now I can't even come harass you into eating at the Lab." she said.
"Betty harassed me into eating today." he said and instantly regretted saying it.
Jesus Banner. Open Mouth. Insert Foot.
"Oh. So, what are you guys working on?"
"I don't really know." he sighed. "Me, I guess. Or… The other guy."
"What are they doing?"
"Right now we're just running some tests." he said. "How's the beach?"
"It's nice. The water is kind of chilly, I mean, it makes sense, it's practically fall." she sighed. "I guess that means I should talk to the building supervisor about the heater."
"What's wrong with the heater?"
"Well last winter it was overheating all the time, I had to sleep in only my underwear all winter."
"I fail to see how that's a bad thing."
"You would." she said sharply, but he could hear the smile in her voice. "Honey, I'll let you go, you sound tired." she said. "I just wanted to call and check up on you."
"I glad you did." he said. "Have a good time," Not Too god of a time. "And I'll see you Sunday night, okay?"
"Okay, and Bruce...?"
"Yeah?"
"I- I miss you." she said and he smiled lightly.
"I miss you too." he said. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay. Bye." she said and hung up. He sighed and lay back on the bed.
It had sounded like she wanted to say something else, and he was almost scared of what it could be.
