I am finding out that maybe I was wrong

That I've fallen down and I can't do this alone

Stay with me, this is what I need, please?

-My Heart by Paramore

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"I guess we sort of got carried away yesterday, huh? Didn't get a chance to do those blood tests."

She jokingly rolled her eyes. "Damn it, Banner, I was hopin' you'd forget."

"Not a chance. Now I swear to God, you'll only feel a slight prick," Bruce assured her, bringing the needed closer to her arm. Ellie nodded once, not talking her focus off the small line of metal. Tony stood on the other side, monitoring.

"So what do you think about Wilson?" Tony asked her, trying his best to grab her attention.

She looked at him, trying to go along. "Uh…he's great," she huffed, "he's a nice guy."

"Yeah. Too bad he's not interested."

"What? –AH!" she hissed as she felt the needle penetrate her skin. Her concentration darted directly back to her arm. She could see the crimson fluid travel smoothly through the tube. It darkened with time, making it look black. Bruce slowly retracted the needed and gently wiped her arm with a cotton ball.

"See?" he smiled, discarding it, "not so bad, huh?"

She shook her head. He beckoned her to hold the cotton against her skin and she obeyed. Tony sat down at his desk and immediately began running an analysis on her blood. Bruce kept to the other side of the cubical, where he cleaned his workspace and threw away everything he didn't need. Ellie stayed on the bed, swinging her feet to and fro as she pressed the palm of her hand against her arm.

"You don't have like a lollipop or anything, right?" she sighed, carefully lifting the cotton ball to see if the blood had dried yet.

Both Bruce and Tony snorted. "All out, sorry. But I'm sure Tony wouldn't mind buying you a diamond or something to make up for it."

Tony spun around on his chair and playfully tossed a scrunched up piece of paper at him, who managed to dodge it perfectly.

"Well you both know I'm not the jewelry type, but a brand new Harley should do the trick," she joked, fumbling her brows at Tony suggestively. "Or a maybe a helicopter, y'know?"

"How about bicycle and a toy helicopter?" Tony suggested. "I could get you one of those neat remote-controlled ones that hookup to your phone. Maybe even a little drone."

Ellie raised her brow and smiled. "A drone? For what?"

He shrugged a shoulder and folded his arms. "Well maybe you could use it to spy on a certain star-spangled Capsicle."

Even Bruce paused and looked at her for that one. Her smile gradually faded. She looked down guiltily and stopped swinging her legs. "You, uh, you know about us?" she asked them, her voice lowered. Suddenly, she felt like a child again. A child being called into the principal's office for something she didn't even do. Nevertheless, a certain form of guilt swam into her. She wasn't sure what to expect from them. She didn't know whether there were rules against messing around with fellow teammates.

Tony took a deep breath and glanced at Bruce. The look he redirected told him to speak on his behalf. He didn't really know what to say anyway.

"Yeah…," he said slowly, forcefully dragging the word out, "we talk. Guys to guys. The guy didn't openly admit it, but all the signs were there….," he scratched the back of his head, partially regretting that he had brought it up in the first place. "Plus…y'know, Pepper and I talk and uh, yeah."

"I haven't told Pepper…or Nat," she said, tightening her eyes.

He threw his hands in the air in surrender. "Whoa whoa, look, whatever you guys got going on is –"

"Please don't tell Fury," she cut him off, closing her eyes for a second, "I didn't know that we weren't allowed to…uh…it just happened. He's helping with the nightmares, stupid, I know," she started rambling, "look, we didn't have –we haven't, uh, done anything. We just –"

This time, it was Tony and Bruce's turn to interrupt. They both turned their heads and begged her to stop right there. She did. Tony let out a small laugh. It made the predicament less awkward for the whole room. "Relax, Ellie. We don't have rules. This is our home, not a boarding school for nuns. You can mess around with whoever you want, just please spare us the details."

Honestly, she felt like a total idiot at that point. It felt like she had told them more than they needed to know. Tony's words relieved her, though. Instead of talking to a principal, she was talking to her friends again. "Oh my God," she breathed, laughing at herself.

Bruce joined in. "Yeah, what he said. And uh, about the nightmares, it's not stupid. It's completely understandable, I mean as long as you're feeling better, right? If you're happy and he's happy, who's getting hurt?"

Who is getting hurt? Absolutely nobody. She nodded her head once, considering what he was saying compared to the truth. She didn't really see the difference. It felt weird for a second –talking to Bruce and Tony about Steve. Although, she somehow expected someone to bring it up sooner or later, she expected it to come from Pepper or Natasha. Even then, she would've still felt uneasy. But after a moment, it felt normal. It felt right. They were honest and open minded with her, plus she trusted both of them with her life, why wouldn't it feel right?

"Hey," she said on a more serious note. Her legs began to swing again and she found herself fiddling with the small rip in her jeans. "Back to the nightmares. I know it's probably far too late to do this, I mean after all this time, but I was wondering if you could maybe evaluate me and maybe we could start treating it or something…"

Bruce's eyes widened. He and Tony exchanged another brief look before he nodded his head. "Yeah," he agreed, "Yeah, of course. When do you, uh, when do you want to start?" he stuttered, clearly taken aback that she had come up with such an idea.

She flashed him a small smile and hesitated. "Well how about now, if you're not busy with other stuff?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Stark, is that alright? We'll be a couple of hours tops."

"Sure," he sighed, checking his watch. "I needed to swing by the airport anyway. Pepper should be landing soon and I wanted to pick her up and go to lunch."

In a swift movement, he stood up and put on his jacket. "Thanks for doing the test, Ellie, I'll see you two later."

"Bye."

As soon as he disappeared into the elevator, Bruce moved closer and so the questioning she dreaded the most began…

…

In his office aboard the Helicarrier, Nick Fury stood looking down at the city through the window that practically took up the whole length of the wall. His hands were tucked behind his back as the light from the sun radiated down onto his skin and black leather coat. Behind him, two doors slid open as the woman marched inside clutching in her hand a folder with the S.H.I.E.L.D logo printed boldly on the front. She stopped a few feet away from him, lifting her bowed head as she took a small breath.

"Sir, we have a minor problem," she proclaimed, looking at the back of his head, where a black strap was wrapped around it, holding his eye patch. She took his silence as a signal to continue and opened up the file, immediately exposing a small profile picture of a black-haired agent. "I've just received a report claiming that Hayley Dixon is investigating the whereabouts of her daughter, Agent Elizabeth Dixon."

Fury soaked up one more glance at the horizon before slowly turning to face Maria Hill. "Your sources?" he questioned her, still with his arms behind him.

Maria took a quick look at the file. "She's been contacting Jackson Memorial, the facility Dixon escaped from before we found her. She found a snitch that told her about S.H.I.E.L.D and has requested to be reunited with her daughter."

"Where is she now?"

Hill bowed her head and closed her eyes for a second. "At HQ, waiting to meet you, sir."

"Arrange for her to be transported here. In the meantime, I'll contact Agent Dixon," he commanded her, finally taking the folder from her to read it himself.

She nodded once. "Yes sir," she agreed and spun around to leave. When she got to the door, she paused, hesitated and looked back at him. "Sir, I don't think it's a good idea to reunite them," she muttered, frowning. "It could trigger something. Dixon's powerful. Maybe more powerful than she knows."

"I hear you," he concurred, looking up at her from the file. "But it's not up to us. Find the mother and get her here. It anything is triggered, we have to ensure that nobody gets hurt."

"Yes sir."

And with that she left, leaving Fury with a minor mission of his own: to get Ellie Dixon.

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And so in comes Ellie's mother...dum dum! Don't forget to give me some feedback. Thanks for reading!