A/N: This chapter is too long. Just. Too long. But I had to cram it all in here or my chapter outline would go all wonky and I'm stubborn and didn't want to deal with that. Haha. So y'all get an extra long chapter today. Hooray.

Thanks to all who've read, reviewed, followed, and favorited so far. You're beautiful. Yes, you. :)

(Speaking of which, do y'all realize this story already has almost 11,000 views!? I AM AMAZE)

I don't own, nor am I affiliated with, Marvel and/or The Avengers. I'm not making money off this story. All I own is Amrita (plus a few bit-part OCs) and my plot for her.

Amrita was almost done her shift at the hospital, and she couldn't have been happier to have it be over. Due to her extensive medical knowledge (and the falsely-dated papers she had to prove it), she had a rotating position and could be sent to whatever ward had the greatest need that day. Unfortunately, she had been sent to pediatrics that day, and she had been put through the emotional wringer, so to speak. Despite that she honestly preferred children over adults on any given day, she could not stand pediatric medicine. It was so hard for her to see the difficulties that many of the children had, dealing with illnesses and conditions that even adults could barely cope with most days. She was watching the clock as she finished the last of her patient rounds for the day and wrote a new prescription for the young girl. She looked happy, but so very tired. She gave the girl what she hoped was an encouraging smile and a sticker from the roll she had been carrying around with her all day, wishing her a good evening as she left her in the care of an older, kindly nurse. She signed off the paperwork and dropped it off at the desk, all but dashing out of the ward with a quick farewell to the rest of the staff as the clock struck the hour.

Home time, she thought with no small amount of relief. She quickly changed out of her scrubs and lab coat into her street attire. Pepper had talked her into buying more western-style clothes, but she still didn't feel very comfortable with the tight jeans that so many women seemed to be wearing around the city, so she had a beaded off-white t-shirt and a navy blue maxi skirt with a pair of leather sandals. She let her hair down from the sensible bun she had swept it into for her shift, running her hands through her now wavy hair and frowning in the change room mirror, pulling a plain black hairband from the tote bag she had tossed her scrubs into to pull back the few strands of hair that wanted to fall in her face. Relatively satisfied, she exited the change room, making a bee line for the front entrance of the hospital when she was stopped by a hand on her arm. She jerked at the sudden contact, nearly giving herself whiplash as she whipped her head around to see who it was that had grabbed her, eyes wide.

"Sorry," Bruce said quickly, taking his hand off her arm and holding his hands up in surrender. "Sorry. Lapse of judgment."

Amrita breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She didn't know who she thought it might have been, but Bruce had scared the daylights out of her. She had been so focused on getting out the door that she hadn't even noticed him there. She shook her head.

"No, it's okay. I just didn't notice you there. What are you doing here, anyway? Did you miss my face that much?" she said jokingly, despite the fact that she kind of hoped he had.

Bruce chuckled. "No, I just figured I'd come pick you up before we go out." He took note of the blank look on her face. "It's Tuesday," he prompted, but just got an eyebrow raised at him. He raised one of his own right back at her. "We agreed last week that we'd make Tuesday grocery day. Remember?"

"Ohhh, right," she said, a look of understanding dawning on her face. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go," she said, offering him her arm. It had sort of become a 'thing' for them over the past week, ever since the day of the beach party. Amrita found it most amusing, though, when Bruce was the one tucking his hand in her arm; mostly because of the role reversal, but also because it sent little tingles up her arm at the touch, when she was wearing short sleeves like today.

"Hey, I found a good Asian foods store the other day, but we might have to take the bus. It's a little far to walk from here," he said, pointing at the bus stop just down the block as they exited the building.

Amrita gave a little shrug. "Alright. You'll have to pay for the tickets though, I still have a hard time with those machines they have for the coins…" She grimaced at the memory of the last time she'd tried to use it. She'd held up the line of people trying to get on the bus for almost two minutes, and finally the driver had snatched her coins and put them in the machine himself, slapping the ticket in her hand with a nasty glare. Needless to say, she hadn't ridden the bus since without someone there to help her with the ticket dispenser.

Bruce chuckled, remembering the story from when she'd told him and how flustered she'd been about it all. He was just about to remark on it when a skateboarder went zipping past them on the sidewalk, knocking Amrita down before Bruce could react.

"Hey! Slow down, jackass!" he yelled, feeling the anger bloom in his chest. He paused, taking a few deep breaths as he felt the ever-lingering presence of the Hulk stirring at the emotion. When he felt he had a handle on it, he crouched down beside Amrita on the sidewalk, examining her as she propped herself up on her elbows. "You alright?" he asked, concerned despite himself.

Amrita gave him a disgruntled look. "Yeah, nothing hurt but my pride," she said, accepting the hand he offered her to help her to her feet. He bristled when he realized her right arm was skinned, having left a little blood on the sidewalk but already visibly healing. He positioned her so that the back of her arm was pressed against his (thankfully black) shirt so that no one would be able to see it healing. She gave him a confused look, and he pressed his lips together.

"You're hurt," he muttered by explanation, and her eyes lit up with understanding as she nodded.

"Thanks," she mumbled in response. He led her the last few steps to the bus stop, discretely checking her arm as they waited for the bus to pull up. It had already fully healed, having been just a case of the skin being torn up a bit. Nevertheless, he kept her arm pressed against his sweater as the bus pulled up and they boarded, Bruce putting the change into the ticket machine and handing Amrita hers.

There wasn't much room in the bus. Bruce only found two seats next to a middle-aged businessman who looked rather irate. Car trouble, probably, he thought. The man looked greatly displeased with the people he was surrounded by, as though he thought they might be diseased and he could catch something just by riding on the same bus as them. Bruce didn't like the look about him, but guided Amrita to the only empty seats anyway, letting her slip in first so she could have the window seat away from the angry man.

"Do you really need to sit there?" the man snapped. "I'm supposed to be carpooling with two other men, and since my car died, they'll need someplace to sit once they board. I'm sure you can find someplace else."

Amrita's eyes sparked with righteous indignation, and Bruce gave her an amused look, realizing he didn't even need to deal with the man himself as he settled into the seat between Amrita and the businessman, settling in to watch the carnage.

"Really? I'm surprised anyone else can even fit in this bus with the gigantic attitude you're toting around," she said, cutting him off as his face turned red and he opened his mouth to retort. "If anyone should be getting up, it's you. Do you realize how many more people there are that will be boarding this bus? You're a perfectly able-bodied young man, do you expect people will take kindly to you and your likely similarly able colleagues taking seats that could be given to the elderly or new mothers?" she hissed. "Your type are the worst. You feel the world owes you something. Well guess what? It doesn't. So take your head out of your ass so you can at least see the sunshine."

The man clenched his jaw and got up, going to the very front of the bus and standing there. Bruce turned to her and gave her a slow clap, shaking his head in amusement.

"Remind me never to piss you off," he said. "You can be pretty intimidating when you're angry."

Amrita raised an eyebrow with a cheeky grin. "I'd say the same to you, but I don't think you'd appreciate it very much," she joked.

Bruce laughed. "No, you have a point there," he said, settling into an easy conversation with her as the bus rolled on.

"Somehow I'm just not sure you have room for all of this food in your entire house, let alone your kitchen," Bruce said as they trudged into Amrita's house, each of them carrying four bags that were just about bursting at the seams with food.

Amrita scoffed. "You underestimate my puzzle-solving abilities. I could stack this all to fit perfectly in my fridge if I needed to," she said, placing her bags on the counter and pulling some items out, "but thankfully, most of it will go in the cupboards, which have a lot more room than the fridge."

"Mm-hmm," Bruce hummed in agreement, before changing topic. "So now that we're not in public, can I ask you something that's been on my mind all day?"

Amrita raised her eyebrows at him. "Sure. Shoot."

"Bang," he drawled, grinning at the stink-eye she gave him for the lame joke. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. Anyway." He cleared his throat, leaning against the counter, one hand shoved in his pants pocket. "What all abilities do you have?"

Amrita tried to smoothly deflect the question. "I thought I answered that once before. Bruce, did you hit your head while working with Tony?" she said teasingly.

Bruce shrugged. "That's besides the point. And yeah, I thought you had too, until I thought about the conversation we had before. You never really answered my question, did you?"

There was silence. Amrita would not lie to him, despite not wanting to tell him the full truth.

"That's what I thought. You see, you deflected the question last time, too. Asked me what I'd heard and said you'd tell me whether it was true or not. But you never really told me what abilities you have." He fixed her with a disapproving look.

Amrita stopped unpacking the groceries and sighed before turning to fully face him.

"Alright. Let's sit down, then."

The two of them moved to the living room, and Amrita sat, leaning forward with her elbows resting on her knees as she spoke, not looking at Bruce. She stared pointedly at the reflective surface of the coffee table as she slowly explained her abilities—the healing factor; the pyrokinesis; the strange incident when she and Bruce had fallen from the helicarrier that she still didn't understand; and finally…the regeneration.

Bruce was silent for a long moment, and when she finally dared to glance over at him, she found him leaned back in his chair, one arm folded tightly across his chest and the other over his mouth as he stared at her, brow furrowed, as though he was concerned or upset. She couldn't tell which. He removed his hand from over his mouth and crossed that arm over his chest along with the other one.

"So…how long have you been alive for, then?" he asked carefully, as though he didn't really want to know the answer. He probably didn't, she thought. After all, who would want to find out that their good friend was some sort of inhuman super-being who'd been alive for thousands of years, if not more?

"I don't know," she said. "I've read ancient Egyptian texts and gotten flashbacks, though, so I'm going to go ahead and say it's been a while," she drawled sarcastically.

Bruce leaned forward, arms resting on his legs and hands clasped together between his knees, lips pursed.

"Do you have any idea what you are?" he asked, sounding genuinely interested and—concerned? She didn't know why he would be. She was a centuries-old being that had essentially lied to him by not telling him about herself. The scientist had enough drama and weirdness in his life without her adding her own to the pile. She would've thought he would run away at the first sign of abnormality. She wouldn't have blamed him if he had, and, she reminded herself, he might still yet.

Amrita hesitated. "I'm…not sure yet," she said. "I've been…wanting to look into it, though. I only found a clue to whatever it might be recently, though." She pressed her lips together, unsure if she should tell him about what had happened on the helicarrier.

Bruce, however, was relentless. "And that would be…?" he pressed.

Amrita stared at him for a moment before caving.

"When Loki was brought onto the helicarrier…he got in my head," she admitted, looking at the floor, not wanting to see the betrayal on Bruce's face at the new revelation.

"What?" he hissed, sounding upset, but she refused to look up and confirm it. "Why didn't you tell me? I could have—"

"Could've what? Helped?" she said flatly. "I'm sorry, Bruce, but even the Hulk can't fix a problem of the mind. It's too delicate a thing," she said bluntly. "And besides, I had the situation under control. I pushed him out."

"You pushed him—" Bruce made a strangled noise in the back of his throat, standing up and pacing back and forth in front of the coffee table. "Jesus, woman. You realize how dangerous that guy is? Do you—do you realize you were probably antagonizing him? From what I hear, he doesn't exactly take kindly to that kind of thing. If he ever manages to get out of Asgard, he might come after you!" He said, genuinely upset.

Amrita was taken aback that Bruce was so emotional over the fact that she had thwarted Loki. Hadn't they all done that when they'd defeated him a month before, anyway? She stood up, placing a hand on Bruce's shoulder, trying to focus on transferring soothing energy to him.

"Bruce," she said firmly. "Calm down. I'm fine. Look, even if he does come after me, I'm not the only Avenger around, right?" she said, trying to convey the message that she trusted him and the rest of the team to have her back if it came to that. "Besides, for just being the team medic, I'm surprisingly tough." She smiled.

Bruce took a deep breath, closing his eyes and seeming to sway a little. She put a halt to the energy transfer, and he opened his eyes again, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Did you do something just there?" he asked. "All of a sudden, I just felt really…I dunno. Mellow."

Amrita gave him a slight smile. "Energy transfer. Same concept as when I heal, just with emotional effects rather than physical."

Bruce nodded. "Yeah. Alright. It was nice, but…don't do that again," he said, placing his hand on hers where it rested on his shoulder and gently removing it. "It's a nice sentiment, but unless you see me turn green…let me control it myself, okay?"

Amrita blinked, a bit surprised at his reaction, but nodded. She wasn't sure why, but she'd thought that perhaps he would be glad to find that she could help him control himself. She hadn't even considered that he might prefer to control it himself. She mentally kicked herself. Of course he would want to. It was a basic human thing; everyone liked to feel like they were in control of themselves, even when they weren't. That was why having an unwanted reaction to things like Bruce's Hulk side reacted to anger could be such a frightening thing. It was the loss of control more than anything that tended to scare them.

Amrita cleared her throat, embarrassed at what she'd done. Desperate to clear the air, she wracked her mind for a topic that might be of interest to the scientist.

"So…that clue I said I'd found earlier," she said, starting up a little awkwardly. "Uh, it happened when Loki contacted me."

Bruce caught her eye, and despite the fact that he bristled at the mention of Loki again, he nodded, motioning for her to continue.

Amrita swallowed. "He…he called me Garuda," she said. "And it felt…familiar. I believe it used to be my name, before I became Amrita."

"Garuda…?" he muttered, placing a hand over his mouth, brow furrowed in thought. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

Amrita's eyes widened. "It does?" she asked cautiously, not wanting to let herself have any false hope. After all, she was so old, and Bruce was just a rather intelligent human with a rather unfortunate condition.

"Yeah," he said, seeming deep in thought when his phone suddenly started ringing loudly, startling them both. He fumbled in his pocket for a moment before drawing it out. "Hello?"

There was someone speaking on the other line, but Amrita couldn't hear it. As they spoke, Bruce covered the mouth of the phone and mouthed 'it's Tony'.

"Yeah. Uh-huh. Okay, alright. Just don't test drive it before I get there to check the specs. I'll be right there," Bruce said, hanging up the phone and giving Amrita an apologetic look. "Sorry. Tony wants to test-drive his latest suit and I have to go make sure he doesn't end up blasting a hole in his foot or something equally idiotic." He smiled wryly. "Um…I'll see if I can do some research on your 'clue' before I see you next, okay?" he said, gaze softening as he looked at her.

She nodded, and as he turned to leave, she panicked, fearing that if he left without her saying something, he wouldn't come back after all the gritty truths that had been revealed about her that day. Acting rashly, she reached out and grabbed his hand, blushing furiously when he stopped and looked back at her, surprised.

"Um. Uh," she stammered, trying to put the words together that she wanted to say. "I just, uh…wanted to say t-thanks…for everything you've done for me," she said, staring at Bruce's feet. "So…thank you, Bruce. It means a lot to me."

Bruce smiled, squeezing her hand.

"No problem," he said. "What're friends for?"

With that, he slipped his hand out of hers and headed for the door. Amrita couldn't tell if she was just imagining it, but she could've sworn she saw the hint of a blush on Bruce's cheeks, too.

Bruce had been looking over the specs for Tony's latest Iron Man suit for the past twenty minutes, and none of it had sunk in. His mind kept wandering off, and he didn't want to admit to himself where it kept wandering off to.

"Bruce, come on. Hop to it. I'd say I'm sweating bullets in here, but the A/C in this thing is keeping it as fresh as a cool spring day," Tony said airily from inside the suit that he'd already donned in anticipation of field-testing it, just the mask part off. "Seriously, though, where's your brain at, because it certainly isn't in here," he said, twirling his finger in the direction of his head.

Bruce gave an aggravated sigh, pressing the palms of his hands against his eyes.

"Sorry, Tony, I'm just not able to focus right now," he said, standing up abruptly. "I need some air."

"Whoa-whoa-whoa," Tony said, using the boosters on the suit to propel him in between the scientist and the exit. "Hey, we're on the money," he said to himself before addressing Bruce once more. "Does your inability to focus happen to have anything to do with the fact that you were once again visiting a certain hotheaded medic before you came here?" he said, looking as though he already knew the answer to the question. (Which, Bruce realized, he probably did, knowing Tony.)

Bruce gave his friend a disgruntled look. "I thought we had an agreement about not tracking the GPS in my phone, Tony," he said warningly.

"We do," Tony said innocently. "It's not my fault you're boringly predictable. And by the way, I'm hurt that you would think I would track you like that."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "That's because you have, and I know that you would again if you were either bored or curious enough to," he said blandly.

Tony shrugged. "Yeah, you're probably right. But that's not the point. The point is," he said, "that you're trying to distract me from the fact that you were at Rita's place and now you can't focus. So what's the deal? Did you two finally pucker up and things got awkward?" He said, clapping a metal-clad hand on the other man's shoulder and just about sending him stumbling. He glared at his hand. "Sorry. Slipped my mind," he said.

Bruce frowned. "We did not kiss," he said. "Just…there were some things she told me about herself that were…really surprising, and kind of unbelievable," he muttered, quietly adding, "And which make things a lot more complicated."

Tony raised his eyebrows, not seeming surprised. "Oh, you mean the things about how she's practically immortal and SHIELD is looking into the idea of her not being from earth?"

Bruce looked at him, shocked, and not just a little upset.

"How the hell do you know that?" he cried, his hands flying into his hair and pulling at it. "And furthermore, if you knew I was interested in Amrita, why the hell didn't you tell me you knew that before I got in too deep!"

Tony stared at him for a moment before smiling.

"I'm proud of you, buddy. Always knew you'd find yourself a girl," he said.

Bruce ground his teeth together. "Not the focus here, Tony."

"Sorry," Tony said, only sounding half-sincere. "I found the files when I hacked SHIELD's database on the helicarrier. Well, except for the one that I found a few days ago about them being suspicious of Rita's origin." Bruce gave him a look. "What? You were out with Rita and Pepper was at work. You know how I get when I'm bored and there's no one to talk to."

Bruce gave an aggravated sigh, not even bothering to comment.

"So did she tell you anything that would point you in the direction of where she comes from? I'd personally find it highly amusing if we were able to crack the case before SHIELD does," Tony said, disengaging himself from the suit seeing as Bruce didn't seem about to help him navigate the test-drive. He pulled up a holographic computer screen and looked over at Bruce expectantly, waiting for something to search for.

"Um…there was one thing," Bruce said, massaging his temples, feeling a headache coming on from all the things he was worrying over. He had come to the conclusion over the past couple weeks that he liked Amrita, thinking that he might be able to see them becoming something more than friends, if her behavior around him was any indicator, but the fact that she was apparently immortal was something he was having trouble wrapping his mind around. How could she possibly like him if she had been around for…however long she had been? How would that affect them? He was human; he would eventually grow old and die. How would he expect her to stick with him through all that? She would be forever the young woman he knew now, never aging. It was doomed to fail before it even began.

"She said she thinks her name used to be Garuda."

"Uh-huh," Tony said, looking nonplussed. "And how do you spell that."

Bruce gave him an irritated look, his growing headache not helping his mood any. "I don't know. Sound it out!"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Fine, princess. Don't get your bloomers in a bunch." Tony started typing away at the screen, sifting through information. Bruce sat down at the work table, putting his head down on his arms. The sudden silence in the lab was peaceful, but it did nothing to put his worries to rest.

"Uh…Bruce, buddy?" Tony said, catching his attention. "I don't think you want to see this, but, uh…I think you should see this."

Bruce looked over at Tony, standing up with a sense of unease as he strode over and read what he had pulled up on his screen. He read it a second time. And a third. He swore violently, picking up the glass of water that was sitting on the table and throwing it, watching it shatter against the far wall with a dim sense of satisfaction as he sank to the ground, placing his head in his hands.

"Yeah, I hear you buddy," Tony said, awkwardly patting the scientist's shoulder. "Just let it all out."