Leo Fitz (iheartresearch) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2018-08-29 16:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !completed gdoc, leo fitz (iheartresearch), ~2018 august, ~25 points |
Who: Leo Fitz and Bruce Banner
What: Random run-in
When: Wednesday afternoon
Where: That Book Place
Warnings: None
Status: Complete gdoc
Fitz was still watching the town with half an eye towards who else was going to disappear, and definitely keeping an eye on all his people. The last thing he wanted or needed was to lose Jemma, or for Jemma to lose him. They’d had that happen already and didn’t need it to happen again. And then when you came down to the ones from their world that they didn’t know terribly well…
Yeah, he was just glad his people were still there.
Fitz was kind of just trying to hide again, like he usually did when things went pear-shaped for a while, and this time he’d started hiding in the bookstore for a little bit. Nothing wrong with books, and at least there were people around. He couldn’t get yelled at for completely abandoning people this way!
He had a couple books in hand, because yes he was actually going to buy things, when he caught sight of Bruce, someone he didn’t talk to nearly enough as he could -- but who was still someone he was glad to see was still there. “Dr. Banner, hello,” he said with a slight smile.
***
A lot of people were on edge with all the recent disappearances, especially so soon after the clock making them think they were all getting sent home to whatever fate awaited them. It would probably take a while before everyone stopped obsessively checking in with their loved ones to make sure they were still around.
Bruce was trying his best to keep living his life though. He’d been picking up some additional shifts at the clinic to help out Adam, but he also needed to work on some lesson plans for Carl’s homeschooling, so he decided to make a quick trip to the bookstore when he had a free hour.
“Dr. Fitz,” he said, greeting the younger man with a nod. “How’s Jemma feeling?”
***
“She’s tired a lot,” Fitz said, “but that’s to be expected at this point.” He was kind of glad they already knew what they were in for. It was a little less intimidating that way. A little. Because knowing he was going to be responsible for another life? Yup, definitely qualified as intimidating. Possibly edging towards scary.
“So, what brings you in here?” he asked, curiously.
And possibly a little nosy. Because books.
***
That did sound normal and Bruce also knew that Jemma would contact him if she had any concerns.
“Well, Cassie decided to go back to school this year,” he said. “But Carl decided he would prefer to be homeschooled. His younger sister showed up from home, so he wanted more flexibility to take care of her.” Not that he was doing it alone, Bruce knew John and Wanda and the rest of the folks at the farm were helping out too, but he understood why Carl wanted to spend more time with Judith.
He held up the books in his hand. “So I was picking up a few things for Carl’s lessons.”
***
Fitz remembered when they’d been homeschooling Molly years back. “If there’s anything I can do to help with his homeschooling, let me know. Wouldn’t be the first time we made that kind of thing a team effort.”
Yes, he was busy, but he still had the time to help out for that sort of thing. Carl was a good kid, from what Fitz knew and had seen on the network, and he deserved a good education.
***
“I will definitely let you know if I can use your skills,” Bruce said. He had a pretty extensive network of people he could tap for various subjects which made developing a homeschool curriculum much easier. And he also had plans from both Molly and Cassie, so he wasn’t starting from scratch, which also made it easier.
Bruce didn’t have any hesitations about asking for help. “What about you? Here for business or pleasure?”
***
“Bit of both? Ish?” Fitz laughed. “A couple books for me, and a couple educational things for Eleanor. So not business so much as educational.”
Because he was a firm believer in starting early and that sort of thing.
***
Starting early would pay off. It was a lot easier to get them interested in learning at Eleanor’s age than at Cassie’s. Of course, Bruce supposed it wasn’t really fair to compare given Cassie’s upbringing.
“You should bring her by the lab sometime,” he suggested. “I’m sure we can come up with some kid friendly experiments.”
***
Fitz was surprised he hadn’t thought of that already, to be perfectly honest. “You know, I think I’m going to do that,” he said. “If nothing else, it’ll get her even more used to the lab.”
He’d had her in there a few times, but with as much as there was going on and as little as she still was, he’d been being careful. She was getting big enough, though, that it was a good time to start getting her properly used to things. Or at least, he thought so.
***
Bruce smiled. He thought it would be fun to help introduce Eleanor to the lab. “I’m happy to help if I can,” he said. “Just give me enough warning. I’m not sure how long I’ll be working extra shifts at the clinic.”
It wasn’t like he minded at all. He could only begin to imagine the pain that Adam was dealing with right now.
***
“Oh, of course,” Fitz said with a nod. “And if there’s anything I can do to help out with the clinic, let me know.” He didn’t think there would be but he knew how he’d feel if he were in Adam’s position, if Jemma went home after being there for so long, and so he couldn’t very well not make the offer.
***
“I will,” Bruce said. He wasn’t sure exactly what Fitz might be able to do to help, but he knew without question he could count on the young engineer for anything that might arise. “Which, in fact, I’m due there shortly so I better go check out. You, Jemma, and Eleanor need to come over for dinner soon.”
***
“I’ll have Jemma call when she’s feeling up to it and set something up,” Fitz said, because he certainly wouldn’t be the one to decide when his very pregnant wife was going to do something. He wasn’t stupid, thank you very much.
He’d also made that mistake before and had learned from it, again thank you very much.
***
That made perfect sense to Bruce and he smiled. “Sounds good. Take it easy.”
***
“You, too,” Fitz replied with a nod and a smile. He turned towards the front, heading for the registers -- he was just about due home, and he needed to swing by the lab for a moment before actually heading home.