incrediblebanner | (no subject)

It's not that she hasn't woken up on her own before. But she hasn't for a while; even when she's recovering from the Hulk, Steve is more often than not at least nearby. It's... a little concerning, waking up in the Avengers Tower without him, especially when the last thing she remembers is going to bed with him at their home.

"Good morning, Dr. Banner. It is 8:23 AM, and the current temperature is 65 degrees with a projected high of 72. I've taken the liberty of starting the coffee, which should be available in four minutes."

Dr. Banner. Not Dr. Rogers. She frowns; it's not like JARVIS to slip like that. "JARVIS, where's Steve?"

A pause. "Captain Rogers is not in the building. I am not privy to his current location, but I can place a call for you, should you wish to speak to him."

"Please." She pulls herself out of bed and stretches. There's no tell-tale ache to indicate she'd recently come back down from the Hulk. It doesn't take long for JARVIS to get her on the line, and then she has to figure out what to say. "Steve? Did we... have a fight?"

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Steve doesn't know what to make of the call from Bryce. He can't honestly think of a single reason he'd be hearing from her, and what she asks doesn't really clear up his confusion.

"Uh, no. You need somebody to bring you some pants or something? Are you all right?" Because, yeah, all he can think is that she Hulked out, got banged up, guessed that he was the source or couldn't find anybody else to bring her clothes.

She frowns. That's... an odd way to answer. "I'm fine. I just... what am I doing at the Tower?" There's a pause, while she tries to remember something, anything that would explain this. "Where are you?"

What an odd question. "Don't you live at the Tower?" he asks, sounding steadily more concerned. "I'm at my apartment." And since she sounds disoriented adds, helpfully, "In Brooklyn."

Apartment? No, they have a house now. "I haven't lived at the Tower in years. Not since..." Well, not since they got married. Speaking of which, her wedding ring isn't here. That's not normal, either.

There's a long pause after that statement while he tries to work out if Bryce has gone around the bend or if he has, but eventually asks the obvious and inevitable. "Not since what?"

If this is his way of telling her he's unhappy with their relationship, she needs to re-evaluate... everything she knows about him. "Our wedding."

JARVIS, apparently incapable of staying silent any longer, chooses this moment to carefully intervene. Bryce gets a quiet "Dr. Banner, according to my records, you are not and have never been married to anyone."

Steve, on the other hand, gets a text message that reads Aside from disorientation, Dr. Banner does not appear to be suffering from any symptoms of head trauma. -J

That Steve manages to read the text and keep talking to her on the phone is pretty impressive given the subject matter. "All right. I'm coming over to the Tower. We can work that out, there. I don't think Tony's in New York right now."

Married or no, he's Steve and he cares about his teammates and this is bizarre. He'd think Bryce was trying to express interest in him, but that... doesn't fit with what he knows of the woman, at all. Neither having interest or weird games, actually.

She can't help the little sigh of relief. He's on his way. They will figure this out. "Okay. I'll... be here."

Once he's off the line, Bryce snags the nearest electronic device with a screen. "JARVIS, I need information on what I've been doing for the past... five years."

"Dr. Banner, it may be best for you to go to one of the medical labs, where I could perform a diagnostic scan."

"Just show me, JARVIS."

By the time Steve gets there, she's gone from nervous pacing to sitting on the floor against the wall, knees drawn up against her chest.

On his way and then there, wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a dark blue jacket thrown over the top that makes him look less informal than jeans would on anybody else.

He stops for a moment when he sees Bryce on the floor, hesitates and is pretty uncertain. On the other hand, she said something about a wedding and that means he's probably a source of some kind of comfort and might not get his head torn off for being physically close.

Not literally torn off. Maybe literally thrown through a wall.

"Hey," he says quietly, slowing down and coming to a stop beside her before he turns around and slides down the wall to join her. "Guess figuring it out's not going so well?" ...Nobody said he'd be great at this, though.

The thing is, this is actually really familiar. They've had conversations like this before, though usually after something more relatively mundane, like a really awful therapy session. She's let herself tip her head over onto his shoulder before she can think better of it.

"Well, my theories aren't exactly promising."

Maybe he's better at it than he thinks he is. He's a little confused by the head against his shoulder, but he's a physically affectionate, warm, open guy. He doesn't mind. All the confusion is that it's coming from Bryce.

And honestly? Kind of nice.

"Share 'em with me, anyway?" he suggests, still quiet.

She ticks them off on her fingers just for the hell of it. "Some outside force is screwing with my head. Some outside force is screwing with reality, though that would take a lot of energy for what seems like a relatively small change. Or I'm just going crazy without any outside help."

The last one is recited quietly, in a dull tone of voice. It's not as if mental instability is so far-fetched, with her.

"You're not going crazy." He leaned against her shoulder, nudging gently against her for just a second. "I've seen your brand of crazy. This isn't it. That leaves outside force screwing with you, screwing with reality. I'd buy either one."

That's... it's very Steve, honestly, and for a second she could almost forget that this isn't her husband sitting next to her. Supportive, even when she's not so sure it's well-placed.

"Well, I know someone who can help me knock off two theories, at least. JARVIS, see if you can get a message to Professor Charles Xavier. Tell him my memories aren't matching up with reality."

There's a pause, longer than it should be. "Dr. Banner, I don't have any records of a Charles Xavier. Would you like me to broaden my search beyond the Avengers' network and your usual contacts...?"

The back of her head hits the wall with a satisfying thump. "Sure, why not. Knock yourself out."

Edited 2014-06-05 16:01 (UTC)