WHO Bruce Banner & Cassie Banner-Romanoff WHAT Discussing things WHEN Friday very late at night (backdated) WHERE Cassie's room WARNINGS Language, Avengers spoilers STATUS Closed | Incomplete gdoc
Enough time had passed that Bruce was becoming frustrated with his daughter's behavior. He understood why she was upset with the choices Natasha made in their world, shared some of those feelings if he was being completely honest, and was willing to give her space to process the information and deal with her emotions. He thought perhaps the cruise would help, that being away from their normal routines would give her some perspective on everything.
When they returned and discovered how many people were gone from the town, Bruce again thought that it would be the wake up call that Cassie needed, that she would realize that her upset would be exponentially worse if Natasha was sent home without them making amends.
And yet, it hadn't happened.
Bruce knew the strain of it was really getting to his wife and he hated that she was in so much pain. He also knew that the women is his life had a tendency to be like oil and water when there was a conflict, so he decided it was up to him to try and fix this.
Which was why he was sitting on Cassie's bed when she snuck in her window after having been out with Briar far past her curfew. Her actions lately had not gone unnoticed; he simply chose not to comment on them for the time being.
***
Cassie spent as much time as she could away from the house now that it was summer. That included sneaking out of her room at night to sneak off to meet Briar, either at his house or somewhere else. It didn't really matter so long as she wasn't near her parents because avoidance was healthier than any other way that she'd used in the past. Up to and including hooking up with Briar. She thanked whoever was out there that she was the one being caught sneaking back into her room. They probably knew that Briar snuck in, but at least they hadn't said anything so far.
"Hi," she greeted. She'd stilled at the window for a moment before she finished climbing through. Cassie shut and locked the window, making a mental note to unlock it later like she promised Briar she'd keep it for him. She doubted he'd come by tonight though, so it would probably be okay if she forgot until tomorrow.
"Did I miss a text?" She doubted it, but that sounded nicer than what she wanted to say, which was 'what the hell'.
***
"No," Bruce said, patting the spot next to him. "I wanted to talk to you."
He waited until she was sitting down to speak. "When are you going to forgive your mom?" he asked, holding up a hand before she could protest. "I understand why you're angry. She does too. We can't undo what happened at home though. All we can do is take advantage of the time we have together here as a family." Time that could be cut short at any moment due to the whims of the dome, though he left that unsaid because it was obvious and he assumed it was at least part of her issue. He also knew that if something did happen and Natasha was sent home, Cassie would regret it if they weren't speaking and he didn't want to see her go through that pain.
***
Cassie was still cautious about what her dad's motives were because on the list of things he'd want to talk to her about were all things she didn't want to talk about at all, but she moved to sit on the bed anyway. She just gave him space, probably more than he would have wanted. It was hard to not react when he asked about her mom though she did hold her tongue. That didn't stop her from getting immediately defensive though.
"Right," she retorted sarcastically. "Borrowed time that will only make things worse. She died. If she goes, she'll never come back the way she is now. And that's her fault." Cassie knew there was no fixing it, so she wanted to just be mad about it. "And all the rest of your stupid team. Honestly, you guys should've just left everyone else dead." She didn't care about random strangers. She cared about her mom. They'd all done the 'right thing' and she was the one who had to pay the price for it.
***
He sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair. "Cass, I get it," he said, his voice as weary as he looked. "It hurts knowing that she chose to sacrifice herself." Especially for Clint's family. Not that Bruce had anything against Clint or his family. He just wished it hadn't come to that, though he probably would have made the same choice in her shoes.
"I like to think if she remembered us, if she remembered her life here, that she wouldn't have done it," he admitted. He wasn't entirely sure if it was true and he wasn't about to ask Natasha the question.
***
Cassie picked at nothing on her comforter, just to keep her hands busy. She and Briar had talked a bit about her issues with what went down in her parents' world and it had helped some, but not enough. Not enough to make it okay. "You guys aren't even together there," she pointed out glumly. Though truth be told, she doubted that would have stopped her mom any, since she had seemed pretty dead set on the whole saving random strangers thing.
"But you don't know for sure. None of us do, cause that's not how it works." She was tired and she sounded just as exhausted as she felt. She knew her parents felt the same way, but she couldn't just forgive it or forget it. "She fucked up, Dad. She picked wrong. I don't know what else you want from me. I'm pissed at her. She thinks she did the right thing and she didn't." Cassie wouldn't ever think that literally half the universe was worth her mom's life.
***
No, they weren't together at home, and Bruce wasn't crazy enough to think that Natasha would have chosen differently even if they were. They'd all agree to do whatever it took to fix what Thanos did. He might not like what she did, but he understood why she did it and he would have made the same choice. He also knew that there was no way to make Cassie understand that their lives were absolutely worth half of the universe so he wasn't going to try.
"She can't change it," he said. Even if she was inclined to, which Bruce doubted. "So are you just never going to speak to her again?"
***
"I don't know." Cassie fell back on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. That was better than looking at her dad while she felt like she was going to cry. "I'll talk to her eventually. I just- I need more time, okay?" She didn't know what else to do, because she couldn't just be okay with it. She couldn't just forgive and forget. Maybe he could and she sort of understood why he did. She just couldn't and it sucked.
"She can't change it and I can't just be okay with it." Why couldn't he just understand that?