A/N: Hello my friends! A big thank you to all of you that read, followed, favorited and reviewed! I love you guys! I had a great vacation in Ocean City, Maryland (if you're ever on the East Coast, check it out) and now I'm back to give you Chapter Nine!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.


Chapter 9: Color of Choice

Bruce POV

I watched Natasha practically fly through the wreck that was all that remained of the jazz club where the robots had first appeared. I was flying the SHIELD helicopter (Clint had taught me how to last November) around the wreckage and picking off stray robots while warning the others about advancing enemies.

Captain was working on smashing a half dozen robots by the restrooms (or what was left of them), Tony was looking for a way to power all of them down from a main switch, Clint was up high shooting them with Serena, and Thor was electrocuting them by the dozens. But I really watched Natasha the whole time as I hovered. She danced among the robots, smashing them as she went. I noticed a bunch of them fleeing from the other guys and converging around my fiancée.

The Hulk was tearing away at my mental fortitude, begging for release, just as I heard Natasha's voice over her headset,

"Bruce! I need a lot of help down here. Maybe you can come down here and vent a little?"

"Yes dear."

I called Clint and he shot a grappling hook arrow into the helicopter door and took over as I got angry. I heard the Hulk roaring louder than ever, I was letting him out. I felt myself expanding and my vision turned from all colors to a steady shade of radioactive green. I jumped out of the helicopter in the middle of my transformation and I landed as the Hulk.


Natasha POV

I heard a loud thud from behind me and I felt the ground shake. I smiled as I turned and saw the Hulk making the robots short circuit with a single, ear-splitting roar.

"HULK SMASH!"

He took them out with a swing of his arm, crushing them as if they were twigs. It was terrifying and powerful even if I knew that the Hulk would never hurt me.

I turned around just in time to kick an advancing robot in its head. Tony came over my headset and said,

"Guys, I found the main switch and Jarvis is working to cut the power, you can keep fighting but I think these robots are equipped with a self-destruct feature. This means that if I turn the main power off, they could go into a lockdown and simultaneously combust at any given moment, so please use caution."

I continued to fight and then all of a sudden, I felt the ground shake. I turned around and saw a stampede of robots coming towards me.

"Son of a bitch…",I muttered before I turned and hauled ass as they gained on me.

"Hulk!", I called out as I ran.

He looked over, saw me running for my life, and a look of concern flashed across his features. Before he got mad. Really mad.

"HULK SMASH!", He roared and began charging towards me.

Just before we were about to collide, he leapt over me and began destroying the angry mob of robots.

I wasn't watching where I was going and I tripped over a chunk of concrete. I fell and felt my right ankle give out. I landed on my stomach and I twisted myself around so I could assess the damage.

My right foot was bent at an odd angle and I had definitely broken my ankle. I attempted to stand up. I let out a long string of swear words in Russian before bracing myself against a nearby wall as the pain became unbearable. I pressed a finger to my headset and called Clint.

"Clint, I think I broke my ankle, can you fly over and drop me a line?"

"One dropped line, coming right up."

I glanced over to the main fight and looked up. Today was definitely a day to remember. Bruce proposed to me this morning and then I got myself injured again. I'd have to go through physical therapy all over again, just the thought of it made me scowl.

I looked over and saw the Hulk watching me from a distance, a worried look on his face as he walked over to me. I knew he wouldn't harm me but that didn't stop my heart from beating faster as he approached. He looked at me, tilting his head to one side and asked in a soft tone,

"Spider hurt?"

I nodded.

"Yes, spider hurt."

"Hulk hurt spider?"

"No, bad robots hurt spider."

Hulk looked over at the sparking remains of said robots.

"Spider safe now, Hulk smash bad robots."

He came closer and I saw Clint hovering,

"Clint, don't try to take me now, he may mistake you for an enemy."

"Alright Tasha."

I looked at Hulk as he came even closer, extending a large hand to me. I reached out and touched his large index finger.

"Hulk protect pretty spider."

"Thank you."

He came closer and sat down near me, I attempted to walk over to him but I cringed as I shifted my ankle. Hulk noticed my discomfort and picked me up gently around my waist, sitting me down on his lap.

"Hulk love pretty spider, Bruce love spider too. Spider love Hulk?"

I nodded and said,

"Natasha loves Hulk and Bruce."

He placed a finger under my chin and cooed,

"Natasha. Pretty Natasha."

Hulk seemed to grow tired and he started to shrink down to a normal size and he started looking more like Bruce, only the green hadn't faded.

"Bruce?", I asked tentatively.

Hulk/Bruce looked at me and said in a voice that sounded like Bruce,

"Hulk still here, Bruce be here in a moment. Natasha need to wait."

I watched patiently as Hulk/Bruce's skin began to fade from green to Bruce's normal tone. He looked at me with his mournful radioactive green eyes and I watched as the green faded and was replaced by the warm brown that I had fallen in love with from the start. Bruce shook his head and a pesky curl of his brown hair fell onto his forehead. I smiled as I reached out and
brushed it away, kissing him gently.

"Nice to have you back."

He looked up at me, worry clearly evident in his expression.

"Natasha. Are you alright? What did I do? Did I hurt anyone?"

"No, I'm not alright, I think I broke my ankle when I fell over a piece of concrete. You destroyed a bunch of robots and you saved my life. You didn't hurt anybody at all."

He let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness." He turned to me. "Now, what about your ankle? Can you stand or walk?"

"No, I can't put any sort of weight on my right ankle. I can have Clint pick us up."

Soon we were flying back to the tower. Bruce stepped out of the on board bathroom, wearing a new outfit and looking more like himself. I was laying down, still in my uniform and waiting for Bruce to examine my ankle. He had demanded that I leave my boot on for the time being and that he would remove it when we got home.

All I wanted to do was pop some popcorn, pick out a movie, and snuggle up next to Bruce. I didn't want to go through medical, that hellhole was full of nosy doctors and nurses that didn't value patient privacy. I swear that they have every one of my dirty secrets on file somewhere, they have dirt on every agent of SHIELD and on every Avenger and their significant others. Thank God Tony had furnished a small Medical Wing on the 100th floor.

Bruce came over and held my hand, thumb brushing over the back of it gently. He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

"I'm so glad you said yes."

I gazed up at him and said,

"So am I."


Bruce POV

I unzipped Natasha's boot when we got home and I took her straight to the small 'Medical Wing' we had at the tower. She cringed as I slipped the boot off of her swollen ankle. She was right, she definitely broke it. I touched it gingerly and she said a few choice words. I took her into the X Ray area and got a couple shots of her ankle, which happened to be cleanly broken.

"So how bad is it?", she called from her bed.

"You broke it. Now I have to fix it up for you."

I came into the room, holding the wrappings for her cast.

"What color do you want?", I grinned at her as I held up a roll of rainbow cast material.

She rolled her eyes at my attempt at humor.

"I'm the Black Widow, what color do you think I want?" she smirked at me.

I nodded.

"Okay so I guess you'll be wanting a red cast?"

"Yes please Dr. Banner."

I went straight to work on setting her ankle and told her that it would be off in four weeks. She scowled at the hardening cast and groaned,

"Ugh, Bruce…I hate being injured."

"I hate seeing you injured."

"Bruce?"

"Hmm?"

"What color roses do you think I should have in my bouquet?"

I glanced over at her and planted a kiss on her lips.

"Lavender is nice for love at first sight, but I've always found that red was symbolic of bliss to marriage and true love."

"Well Bruce, red is my color of choice."

I took her hand and admired how well my mother's ring suited her. It was a perfect fit too, like Natasha was meant to wear it.

Mother would have been proud.

I opened up the closet and pulled out a pair of crutches and brought them over to Natasha.

"Jesus Christ Bruce! I don't need those!"

I rolled my eyes. She was so stubborn and it made me love her that much more.

"Natasha, you do need these, no matter how much you hate to admit it. Just think of them as unlikely weapons."

She shrugged and muttered under her breath,

"Well, I don't have to like them."

I shook my head.

"No sweetheart, you don't have to like them."

She looked up at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Sweetheart? Is that my new pet name?"

I shrugged as I felt the heat rising up in my face.

"If you don't want it to be then…" I trailed off.

"No Bruce. I'd love to be your sweetheart."

She smiled and then swung her legs over the side of her bed, attempting to stand. She wobbled around and I supported her as she said,

"I'd love to be your whole world."

I pulled her close and murmured, my lips a millimeter away from hers,

"Ah, but my lovely Natasha, you already are."

She pressed her lips to mine. I could feel her passion, it made me go insane and have a strong urge to tear her clothes off and make love to her right here, right now.

Natasha wobbled even more and that snapped me out of my testosterone-charged daydream.

We broke apart as she grabbed her crutches and said,

"I might as well get used to these things while I can."

I smiled at her flexibility. Then again, there was no doubt in my mind that, had any other doctor been telling her to use the crutches, that she would have vehemently refused to do so.

Such a beautiful, stubborn woman.

I pressed the elevator call button and we got on board.

"So Bruce?"

"Yes?"

She fixed me with her lovely, green-eyed gaze and said,

"Who do you want in the wedding party?"

"Well, let me think…Tony definitely has to be my best man."

She nodded in agreement.

"Pepper is going to be my maid of honor. Who do you want to give me away?"

"Clint. He is the closest thing to a brother that you have."

"I agree."

The elevator doors slid open and then Pepper pulled Natasha and I aside, into the formal dining room.

"Pepper," Natasha asked, "What on earth is going on?"

The strawberry blonde woman turned to us and said,

"We're celebrating!"

"Celebrating what?"

"Your engagement of course!"

Natasha looked at each other and said,

"Oh."

"Well it's a special event when one becomes engaged, and Tony insists on throwing a small celebratory dinner party of sorts."

We followed Pepper into the formal dining room where all our friends had already gathered and sat down next to each other as Tony stood up.

"I'd like to raise a toast to my best friend and his lovely fiancée.", Tony raised his glass and looked at us, "Bruce, from the first time I met you, I could see greatness and a heart of gold under all that insecurity. It takes a lot for a genius like myself to break that barrier of insecurities, but it takes an even smarter, more sophisticated woman to make those insecurities disappear. Thank you Natasha. Bruce, my friend, my science brother, I wish you and Natasha all the joy in the world. To the happy couple!"

Glasses clinked together as a chorus of "To the happy couple!" echoed around the table.

We were served Surf and Turf, which was my favorite food and then for dessert we had Sharlotka (a Russian apple cake), which was Natasha's favorite dessert.

We sat around and then Tony spoke up,

"Pepper and I just got this incredible idea."

He glanced over at Pepper and she grinned as Tony nodded, giving her the go ahead.

"We want to have a double wedding!", Pepper practically squealed.

I looked at Natasha who was coughing in utter surprise over her spicy Bloody Mary. She sputtered,

"Y-You what?"

Tony reiterated for his fiancée,

"We asked you if you wanted to get married at the same service as us, same venue, same everything."

I was stunned into silence.

Tony never shared, and now he was willing to share the most important day of his and Pepper's entire lives. Was I willing to share mine?

More importantly though, was Natasha willing to share hers?

I turned to Natasha who was chugging her Bloody Mary, obviously shocked by the question at hand. I finally found my voice and addressed Tony.

"We…are uh going to take a moment in private to consider taking you up on this, so yeah."

I stood quickly and Natasha hobbled out as fast as she could on her crutches. We closed the double doors behind us and she said,

"What the unholy fuck are they thinking?"

I was astonished too and I shook my head,

"I have no clue."

"Do you want to share with them?"

"I don't know. Maybe we should weigh the pros and cons of this."

"Maybe we should."

I only hoped that our decision wouldn't backfire on us.


A/N: So there's Chapter Nine! What did you guys think? I'm going to let you lovely readers decide whether or not Bruce and Natasha should be married in a double service with Tony and Pepper. Send me a review with your vote! Vote "Yes!" for a double service or vote "No!" for separate services. Voting will be open until next Sunday at midnight (Maryland time) and you may only vote ONCE! Let the voting begin!

~ Nova