...that contains the genes for cholera toxin. Infectious CTXφ particles are produced when V. cholerae infects humans. Phage particles are secreted from bacterial cells without lysis. When CTXφ infects V. cholerae cells, it integrates into specific sites on either chromosome. These sites often contain tandem arrays of integrated CTXφ prophage. In addition to the ctxA and ctxB genes encoding cholera toxin, CTXφ contains eight genes involved in phage reproduction, packaging, secretion, integration, and regulation. The CTXφ genome... Bruce's eyes were beginning to hurt. He had been reading about infectious diseases for the past two hours. Although he had taken a liking to being a doctor of medicine, he couldn't handle that much toxin and bacteria talk all at once. The doctor took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, leaning back in his chair. He was alone in the lab, which was very rare, mainly because Tony never left him alone, but, the billionaire and his lovely redheaded personal assistant/girlfriend had gone out on a date and weren't planning on being back until late, so, he figured he'd get some reading done.

Bruce sat for a moment, debating whether or not to go upstairs to see what Lennon was doing. Dinner would have to be ready soon, and he was getting pretty hungry-which he thought was funny because he spent an hour reading about illnesses caused by food-but, he wanted food all the same.

Then, as if on cue, just as he was getting up, an audio call from the kitchen came up on the screen. He smiled and pressed the button. "Hello?" He said with overdramatic emphasis, knowing it would make her laugh.

"Dinner's ready, doll!" Lennon's chipper voice replied with a giggle.

"I'll be right up!" He said as he stood up and closed his book.

On his way upstairs, Bruce's mouth was watering with the amazing smell coming from the kitchen. He made his way into the oversized room, but there was no sign of Lennon. He looked around, but couldn't find her. "Lennon?" He called.

"In the living room, Bruce!" Came her soft voice.

Bruce made his way to the gigantic living room, but stopped in his tracks when he stepped through the doorway. His heart jumped up to his throat.

Sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed and holding a glass of Tony's expensive wine, was a very well-dressed Lennon Burke. Her long, almost luminescent white hair was waved and curled and falling gently over her shoulders. Her grungy band tee and skinny jeans had been traded in for a black, full sleeved lace dress that went down mid-thigh, and hugged her body beautifully. On her feet were a pair of cherry red heals that were easily six inches tall. Her makeup was dark like always, but her eyes were so well done up, that it looked professional. Even her lips matched the color of her heals. Bruce was speechless. Lennon looked... stunning. His jaw dropped.

She smiled nervously at the doctor. "Hey, Bruce." She purred.

The doctor tried to swallow the lump that rose in his throat. "Uh... Hi, Lennon." He cleared his throat and looked around the room. The lights were dimmed, and the fire was roaring on the wall facing her, the dancing flames giving her face an almost glowing appearance. There was music playing in the background, something sweet and jazzy from one of the collections they collected. On the table was the open wine bottle (which Bruce knew costed over six hundred dollars at least), and a glass half filled. There were two plates on the table, both with a dish that he recognized as a simple, but amazing Greek dish that he had fallen in love with. "What's all this for?" He asked timidly.

Lennon shrugged, her face slowly becoming pink. "I just thought... Since Tony and Pepper went out on a date night... We could have dinner together." She replied, her voice shaking a little.

He looked down at his casual attire. "I'm a bit underdressed for a date."

Lennon giggled. "I think you look nice. You always do."

The doctor chuckled and sat down next to the girl, picking up the glass of wine. "Does Tony know that you went through his wine collection?" He teased her.

Lennon nodded. "He said I could take a few bottles for the night."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so you two planned date night, huh? I should have figured when Tony asked me what my favorite dish was."

She laughed, the sound ringing through the room like golden bells. "No, actually, it was Tony and Pepper. They set it up. I almost didn't do it." She admitted.

"Why not?"

The young woman's face turned bright red, which Bruce adored, and she looked down, embarrassed. "Because I'm partial to you, but I was going on their faith that you felt the same."

Bruce's heart jumped and he looked down at the ground. He didn't know what to say. On the outside, he looked calm, but on the inside, he was screaming. Lennon did have the same feelings he felt about her. He heart was going erratic. He was speechless.

Lennon cleared her throat. "Anyway," She said, picking up the plates of food and holding one out to Bruce. "I hope you like it. I've never actually made Greek before. I did my best to make it taste at least relatively good." She said.

The first bite was heavenly. The flavor nearly knocked Bruce off his feet. "It's wonderful, Lennon." He exclaimed in between bites.

The white haired girl grinned proudly. "Thanks, Bruce."

The couple spent another hour on the couch, eating the delicious meal Lennon had made and drinking the whole bottle of Tony's expensive wine while they talked and talked and talked. They were getting a bit tipsy already, but that only made it better.

"So, Sam actually fell off the stage?" Bruce asked, laughing through his drunken haze at the story the young woman had been telling him.

Lennon, who had almost immediately burst out laughing, nodded her head. "He was unconscious before he hit the table."

"Oh my God."

The two were laughing so hard that there were tears streaming down their faces and they were unable to breathe.

Finally, once they had calmed down, Bruce and Lennon placed their heads down on the back of the couch, each looking into the other's eyes, not saying a word to each other, just looking. Bruce reached out and took ahold of Lennon's hands, holding it tightly between his own. "Your hands are so tiny." He commented, his thumb tracing imaginary circles on the back of her knuckles.

Lennon smiled. "Normal for European woman. Their hands were tiny yet strong for working. Although I'm only European on my mother's side and she's never worked a day in her life." She snorted and took another sip of her wine.

He laughed. "So, I have a question."

"Hm?"

"Why did you never tell me that you..."

"That I fancied you?"

He blushed. "Yeah."

Lennon bit her lip and looked down at her nearly empty glass. When she turned her gaze back to Bruce, she almost looked apologetic. "Because, you struck me more as the 'married to my work' type, and I'm not really all that smart, so we couldn't have one of those steamy office romances like in all the pornos." She replied.

The two laughed while Lennon refilled the wine glasses, emptying the wine bottle. As they continued to swim in each other's gaze, Bruce brought her hand up to his lips, and pressed a kiss to her knuckles, making her blush.

"What was that for?" She asked once he pulled away, her voice soft.

The doctor shrugged slightly. "I saw Thor do it, and I wondered if it would have the same effect if I did it." He replied quietly.

Lennon turned pink and then slowly leaned in toward the doctor, her eyes locked with his. Bruce's heart pounded in his chest as he began to get closer to her. He reached his hand up and curled his fingers around the side of her neck, using his thumb to stroke her cheek. She smelled so intoxicating; expensive wine and the golden honey smell that was from her shampoo. Bruce wanted to do nothing more than just hold her there forever.

But, his mind was at war.

He had been trying so hard to suppress the emotions he had for the beautiful woman in front of him for so long, but he could no longer ignore them. Bruce was in love. But, that made it worse. He couldn't fall in love with her. She's too young for you, you moron. She has her whole life and so many options, she should never have to settle for an old, broken man like yourself! What if you hurt her? What if the Other Guy hurt her? She'd never forgive you!

He tried to pull back, but, just as he did, Lennon's fingers brushed against his chest as they curled round the collar of his shirt, and he felt himself smile.

Fuck it.

Bruce crushed his lips to hers, setting off fireworks in his mind as he pulled her closer. Kissing her was like everything he could ever imagine. In that moment, for just that moment, there was no Other Guy. There was no S.H.I.E.L.D. There was no one trying to harm him or destroy him. There was no Tony, no Pepper, no Thor, no Loki... The world had caught its breath in the midst of the constant chaos, and for just a moment, everything was tranquil. The storm had passed, the sky was cleared, he didn't care about anyone or anything... Bruce Banner was in love, and not one person could ruin it. Not even Bruce himself.

The two slipped quietly off the couch, stumbling through the halls toward Bruce's bedroom. Lennon's dainty fingers glided over the buttons on his dark button down shirt before throwing it to the floor. Her shoes came off, kicked over to the corner. The bedroom door slammed behind them as they collapsed onto the bed, their bodies pressed together with no force able to separate them. Lennon nipped and kissed at his neck, sending the animalistic side of Bruce into a frenzy. He gripped the fabric of the dress so hard he was surprised it didn't rip, and he tried to pull it up over her head…

But suddenly, Lennon pushed him away. "Wait, no, stop, stop. I can't do this." She whispered, sitting upright on the bed.

Bruce, who was coming out of a daze, propped himself up on his elbows, staring at the woman in confusion. "What's wrong?" He gasped, trying to catch his breath. Suddenly, a million thoughts began racing through his head, and he began to panic. Had he gone too far? Had he hurt her? Did she think he was taking advantage of her? "Lennon, what's wrong?" He asked. "What did I do?"

The woman shook her head. "You didn't do anything, Bruce." She whispered.

"Then what's wrong?"

Lennon looked down at the ground. "My life is just fucked up."

Her answer struck a chord, and Bruce sat up and moved so he was sitting beside her. "What do you mean?"

Lennon seemed to gaze off into space before shaking her head. "I never believed it was customary to tell anyone anything, especially anything like this, but... I don't know, with you, I feel like I have to be honest, and to be perfectly truthful, I haven't been." She paused and waited for Bruce to speak, but when he said nothing, she continued. "You know that I've been with people before. Many people. My last actual long term relationship was probably when I was thirteen and it lasted two months. Of course, those relationships matter when you're in eighth grade." She joked, making Bruce smile. "But... After that, I just… Went crazy. I mean, I played in bars, and a lot of those bars let their bands drink for free, not caring if they're minors or not. If a guy bought me a drink, normally, I'd sleep with him. It was just how things were.

"When I was sixteen, I met a guy who I ended up catching feelings for, though the reason is unbeknownst to me. I did what I could to keep him, bought him drugs, slept over when he told me to, all of those unpleasant things that I regret now that I'm older." She took a deep breath. "Then, I found out that he had a girlfriend in Baltimore, and they were expecting a baby. When I found out, I threatened to tell her, and he lost his mind. He kicked me out onto the streets, told my dad what had been happening, although everything he had said was extremely exaggerated and not factual, tried to turn Sam against me… And he got away with it. But, that was almost too much for me." Her voice trailed off, and she shook her head in disappointment.

That's when something he had read in her file clicked in his head, and he felt his heart drop to his stomach. "Is that when you took all those pills?" He asked quietly.

Lennon immediately went rigid where she sat, her jaw locking and her normally calm emerald green eyes were flashing with anger. She turned her head to Bruce, her expression hard, and unforgiving. "How did you know that?" She demanded.

Shit. His blood turned to ice in his veins. "I..." He tried.

"I never told you that, how did you know about that?" She shouted again, getting off of the bed and standing over the doctor, although she was only a few inches taller, though it had no impact on her level of intimidation. "How did you know?"

Bruce knew he couldn't say anything. He wanted to lie, but he knew he was stuck. "Tony was worried about you, and he pulled up the file on you. I knew I shouldn't have read it, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He stammered, trying to defend himself.

Lennon laughed sarcastically. "Oh, fantastic! What else did you find out, hm? Find out any more juicy details about me?"

"Lennon, I'm sorry!" He shot back, though it was weak. "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have, I tried to stop him, but-"

"So you decide to read it?" She retorted, her voice getting louder every moment. "That's fucking bullshit, Bruce, and you know it!" She turned on her heal and stomped out of the room, gathering up her things as she did.

Bruce got up and ran after her. "Lennon, I didn't do it out of malice, Tony wanted a valid reason to let you stay! You know him, he always does background checks!" He kicked himself mentally for how ridiculous he sounded. He knew he wasn't making sense.

She snorted. "Yeah, well, now you know the wonderful parts of my exotic history. Does it make you feel better to know how fucked up I was? Was what I told you not enough? Or did you just not trust me?" She hissed, tears filling her eyes.

"Of course I did! Don't you understand?" He growled, the Other Guy already bubbling to the surface of his mind as his anger rose. "Tony wanted you to stay here and he brought up your file so that he could show me why! He felt bad for you and neither one of us wanted you to go home to your abusive father who puts you in psychiatric hospitals with even more fucked up doctors! But, then again, you're the one who let him come live with you in the first place, so, maybe I had a reason to be concerned!" He shot back, the Other Guy roaring in his head.

But the moment he said it, he regretted it.

Tears began pouring down Lennon's face and he knew he had made a huge mistake. "Lennon..." He gasped. "Lennon, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..."

The girl turned her back to him. "I made the choices I did for a reason. You can't stay angry forever. You of all people should understand that." She whispered through her tears before running out the door, leaving Bruce completely alone.

The doctor watched her as she walked away, the ache in his chest feeling like he had just been punched, but he said nothing. He had done enough.