InsaneJournal

Jennifer had taken time to settle in, and make sure that the Bruce Banner at Stark Industries was really <i>the</i> Bruce Banner she was looking for. Her cousin. She’d had a good feeling that it was, but she’d wanted reasonable confirmation before she just dropped in on him out of the blue. She had no idea how he’d react to seeing her, or anyone from their family, after being out of contact for so many years. Would he even recognize her?

A look in her rearview mirror said that, yes, he probably would. She still looked like a teenager, even to her own eyes, no matter how hard she tried to look professional. Still, there was only one way to know for sure.

She stepped out of the car, straightened her blazer, and steeled her nerve for the short walk into the Stark Industries lobby. She decided not to bother with some trumped up story about being there for legal reasons. She’d just tell the receptionist she was looking for her cousin.

Bruce was down in his lab when he got the call. “Dr. Banner? There’s someone here to see you. She claims to be your cousin. A Miss Jennifer Walters? Should I send her down?”

Confusion spread out across Bruce’s facial features before he put two and two together. He hadn’t thought about his family in quite some time and he had no idea why one of them would be there at Stark Industries to see him. “Are you sure?” he asked.

“That’s what she says, Dr. Banner.”

“Okay, send her down.” Even if it wasn’t Jennifer he’d like to know why someone was impersonating his baby cousin.

Jennifer watched, listening to the one-sided conversation, waiting to hear the verdict from the other end of the line. When she was answered with dubious consent, she offered brief thanks--both to the receptionist and the powers that be--and followed the directions she was given down to Dr. Banner’s office. Blame it on an overactive imagination, but as she headed down, she couldn’t help but replace ‘office’ with ‘laboratory.’

She found it easily enough; pausing at the door to try and quell her nerves. “Dr. Banner--” she began, but it sounded silly to address her own cousin by surname and title, even after eight years. “Bruce?”

Bruce had an office, but he spent most of his time down in the laboratory. Once Jennifer entered the room she would notice how much it looked like Bruce lived there. There was a cot and personal items in one corner of the room and various half-eaten meals strew across various tables.

Bruce looked up from the test tube he was working with when he heard his name. He looked confused at first, like maybe he didn’t recognize her - it had been years, after all. Then something clicked on his expression and he placed the test tube aside so that he could take his glasses off and approach Jennifer for a better look.

“Jennifer?” he asked finally. “Is that really you? You’re… all grown up.”

The phrase 'man cave' did come to mind as she entered the workspace and glanced around the room. She caught herself anxiously chewing her bottom lip in the ensuing silence, and smiled, her expression brightening when he finally seemed to recognize her.

"It's me," she said, still not sure where to begin in spite of the fact that she'd rehearsed this conversation a dozen times, a dozen different ways. "I'm a lawyer now. Not that you need one anymore. I just...heard a rumor that there was a Bruce Banner working for Stark industries, and I had to know if it was really you."

Bruce was more than a little surprised by this. He never thought he would see anyone in his family again. After his parents died and the trial was over he figured they all had disowned him, but maybe it had been the other way around.

Bruce shifted awkwardly, unsure if this reunion should include a hug or not. He wasn’t really the hugging type. “A lawyer, huh?” Bruce hated lawyers even though it was a lawyer who got him out of his charges. “That’s…” neat “...great.”

Bruce cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’m working with Tony here. He gave me puppy dog eyes until I agreed to leave the Rockies.” Not that his cousin would have even known he was there for so many years.

Jennifer would have hugged him, except she was old enough now to realize that Bruce might not appreciate it as much as she would. Besides, she wasn’t a little girl anymore, she could comport herself with a little more decorum and resist the urge to throw her arms around his neck. She smiled, and shrugged off the wistful feeling of lost time.

“If I’d known all it would take to bring you home was a good old puppyface, I would have sent you a pouty postcard when I graduated high school,” she joked, trying to keep the conversation light. “If you’d left a forwarding address, that is.” She sighed, and her expression turned more serious. “I know you had your reasons, though, and I hope I haven’t overstepped, in coming here today. I just wanted to let you know I never stopped believing in you.”

Jennifer’s words seemed to knock the wind out of Bruce. He had to take a step back and put his hand on the table behind him for support. He had always thought that everyone in his family believed like the rest of the world did; that he had killed Betty’s sister, that the fire was his fault. Even though he hadn’t had anything to do with the lab fire he still lived with the guilt of that death every single day like the media had somehow convinced him that he had done it.

“I…” He rubbed the bridge of his nose where his glasses used to sit. “I’m not really sure what to say,” he said. “You were just a kid back then.” So, what did she know, really? “No-one else believed me. I didn’t even tell Betty where I was going. I just had to get away. It seems stupid now, I guess.” Even if the urge to disappear was still there constantly.

“I know. And maybe it was childish and naive of me to want to believe the best of people instead of the worst, but my gut told me that you wouldn’t do something like that, and I was right. Wasn’t I?” Not that he would have confessed to her if he had murdered his partner, or that she even expected him to answer such a loaded question. Leading the witness, and all that.

“I wanted to fight for you. But I was just a kid. So after you disappeared, I threw all that teenage angst and passion into my studies, so that maybe, someday, I could help someone like you, so they wouldn’t have to disappear.” Her voice grew thick with emotion as she spoke, but she controlled it, laughing to break the tension. “It didn’t hurt that I made a few connections to help me find you again. I know you probably didn’t want to be found, but there it is. I’ve said what I wanted to say.” And if that was what he wanted, then she would walk away, and never bother him again.

But she was really hoping he wouldn’t.

Bruce didn’t respond to her question about whether or not he had done it. The absolute truth was that he had nothing to do with that lab fire, but the prosecution in the murder trial had made such a convincing case against him they had the jury on their side. It was just a technicality that got him off. He wasn’t sure even he believed the truth anymore and he had been there.

“You became a lawyer because of me?” Bruce replied, his voice full of disbelief. He didn’t think he had that much of an effect on… well, anyone. He was always underestimating himself despite people always liking him in general.

“And you came all this way to tell me that? I don’t… I’m not sure I understand.” He didn’t know what Jennifer wanted from him, what she wanted him to say. He felt horrible that he didn’t automatically know the right thing to say.

“Yes.” It took her a moment to know what to say beyond that simple confirmation. She wasn’t sure she even understood, herself, why she had felt such a strong desire--such a <i>need</i>--to come and tell him to his face how much he had inspired her. She wasn’t expecting congratulations, or praise, or anything like that. It was just something she had to do, and she knew that she would never be able to let it go until she’d said it. And now she had.

“If it makes you feel better, I also came all this way to get away from the snow, and a job that made me feel like a glorified secretary. To find a place where I could be Jennifer Walters in my own right, not just Will and Elaine’s little girl playing dress-up. So if you’d rather I go do that as far away as possible, and not conjure up any more unpleasant memories, just say the word, and I’ll steer clear of anything to do with Stark Industries. I have my closure. I can live with that.”

Bruce’s brow furrowed at Jennifer’s speech and he shook her head when she was done. “No. You don’t have to leave. I think Orange County is big enough for the two of us.” And it wouldn’t completely suck having family around, but he wasn’t about to say that out loud. He still wasn’t sure he really wanted to pull Jennifer into his life. His life was even more complicated now than it was when she was just a kid.

“Uh. Where are you working? Around here, I’m guessing?” There. That was a question a big cousin should ask, right?

That was a good enough answer for Jennifer. After all, it had been so long, it would be like getting to know each other all over again, even if they did try and keep in contact. But it was a start.

She smiled, and withdrew a business card from her pocket, passing it over to Bruce. “I’m working as a legal assistant for Dresden Law and Investigations,” she said, “It’s a small firm, but Mr. Dresden has had some pretty big cases already.” She didn’t go into all the backstory of her new boss, the lawyer turned private investigator, but if Bruce was curious, he now had the information at his fingertips--plus a means of contacting his cousin if he chose. “I think it’ll  be a good opportunity for me.”

Bruce took the card from Jennifer and put his glasses back on so he could take a good look at the information on it. He’d never heard of a lawyer who was also a private investigator, but he figured he probably had his answer about how Jennifer had found him in the first place; not that it mattered much. He was all over the news again.

“Well, good luck,” Bruce said with a little nod as he looked back up at his cousin. “Let me know if I can.. uh.. you know? Do anything.” He wasn’t sure what he could do for her, but now that he knew Jennifer was around he felt obligated to try and help her out if she needed it.

“Thank you,” she said, nodding. She wasn’t sure what she might need from him either, but it was nice to know that she could call on him, if she did. And maybe that was all she really needed, anyway. Just to know he was there. “And the same goes for you, too.”

She smiled, and glance toward the door; wondering if this was her cue to wrap things up. Probably best to keep it short and sweet, at first. “And Bruce? It’s good to see you again.”

Bruce placed Jennifer’s business card on his desk and nodded at her. “It’s good to see you again too,” he found himself saying. After she was gone from his office he found that his last words were true. He hadn’t known how much he had needed forgiveness from his own flesh and blood, even if it came in the form of his little cousin.