The ride was quiet for the most part, which put me on edge. I wondered if he was staring at me and analyzing me as much as I was doing the same to him. I felt a little guilty about the whole thing already. He seemed like a decent person and I didn't want to intrude on all his privacy. Then the picture of the Hulk appeared in my head and I felt even more uneasy.

"Texas?"

"What?" I had been so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn't even registered that he began speaking to me.

"Texas," came his slightly amused reply. "Am I right in assuming that you're from Texas?" I blinked in surprise. That was the type of analysis my coworkers at the FBI could pull off. I didn't expect it from Dr. Banner, especially since he was a nuclear physicist.

"O-originally, yeah. How could you tell?" I asked, obviously shocked. I had grown up in a tiny town in Texas before moving away for college in California and finally to Virginia for the FBI. My accent was still there, but he should have only been able to tell that I was southern, not specific state.

"I…travel a lot. Your dialect is pretty distinct," he sounded a little uncomfortable and yet I could tell he wasn't lying. A half-truth, then, maybe? I wouldn't push it yet. I barely knew him and pursuing this would only make him shut down.

"Oh. Wow. That's pretty impressive. Can you do that with everyone?" I asked curiously. Flattery was always a safe choice. He laughed and I could see the faintest blush on his cheeks.

"No, not everyone. Just people from places I've spent some time in. It's not that impressive. Just observing," he shook his head. "We're here." The sudden change of subject confirmed that he was a little embarrassed by the flattery. I had better go light on that, then. I didn't want him all flustered. I looked out the window to see a very clean building, supposedly where he worked. I stepped out of the cab and slipped the driver some cash before Bruce could. He frowned lightly.

"You didn't have to do that," he began but I smiled softly and shook my head.

"I know. But I wanted to. Besides, I don't plan on taking taxis much longer. I've…I've been saving up for a bike," I lied. I hadn't been saving up, but I was getting a bike, so surely it couldn't be that bad of a lie. "So I figured I might as well pay while you have to cart me around." Dr. Banner nodded once, but slowly.

"Well…all right," he finally sighed and I smiled a little more.

"It's no trouble, really," I assured him. He nodded again and turned to walk inside of the building. I stumbled a little before hurrying to catch up with him. He had longer legs than I did, especially since I was only a couple inches more than five feet without heels and he was pretty tall. "Ah…what would you like me to help you with?" I asked curiously. He seemed to mull this over in his head for a few moments.

"Just assisting me in the lab with measurements and writing things down would be helpful," he answered me kindly. Well, he was nice enough to trust me with that. I had half expected to be doing secretary work. Not that I didn't have experience with paperwork, but it would be hard to build a working relationship with him that way.

"I can do that. I even, um…I brought my high school periodic table of elements," I admitted with slight embarrassment as I brought it out. It was color coded and had all sorts of scribblings on it to remind me of this or that. He glanced over and a smile quirked up on his lips.

"I like the heart," he chuckled softly and I could feel myself flush.

"I-it was to remind me which elements give electrons. You know, cause they're nice, so they get a heart. They make cations, because, you know, cat people are warm and fuzzy and so they're positively charged." I really needed to shut up about my dorky ways of remembering things. But Dr. Banner just smiled.

"That's a smart way of remembering it. I never had any of those sorts of reminders. I just memorized the hard way. It might have been easier if I had something creative like that." His words put me at ease. And he was sort of complimenting me, which was pretty big. I didn't answer, but I was smiling and I couldn't seem to stop. I followed him into the elevator and stood to the side as he pressed the button.

"Now, who are you, lovely?" I suddenly looked up. That wasn't Dr. Banner's voice and I doubted that he was being referred to as lovely by a man's voice, so I could only assume that this someone was addressing me. I found a man standing in front of me. He was younger than Dr. Banner, probably in his late twenties, with wavy black hair and dark green eyes. Oh, God…he was really cute.

"Uh…Leven Cliff?" I sounded unsure of my own name, which made this handsome stranger laugh and hold out his hand for me to shake.

"Daniel Carter, but you can call me Danny," he grinned at me. When I reached out to shake his hand, he instead grabbed it and leaned down to press a kiss to my freckled knuckles. I blushed even more, but was suddenly snapped out of the little fantasy world I was in by Bruce visibly stiffening out of the corner of my eye. His mouth had hardened and I realized I shouldn't have been flirting with men while on the job, which had to be annoying him.

"U-um, well, nice to meet you, Danny," I gently withdrew my hand when he had let go and stepped back a little to let him know that the conversation was over.

"This is my floor anyways. I'll see you around, Leven Cliff. I hope I can call you later. You look like a girl who'd like…Thai food, eight o'clock on Friday?" I didn't even have time to answer before he left. Did…was that a date? Did he ask me on a date? Well, ask wasn't entirely accurate. I cleared my throat uncomfortably and stood in silence for the rest of the ride until we got to Dr. Banner's floor.