Betty (bettyross) wrote in wariscoming, @ 2012-10-31 00:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | betty ross, bruce banner/hulk |
Characters: Bruce Banner and Betty Ross
When: This Evening
Location: The Streets of Lawrence, then Avengers Complex.
Warnings/Rating: None
Summary: Betty arrives and has questions. Bruce's brain breaks. And maybe his heart.
Status: Closed and complete.
The streets were quiet tonight, but Bruce had an odd feeling of something not quite right. He was driving in his van, high tech monstrosity that it was, eyes open for anything unusual. He had a feeling tonight would not be a quiet night. Something was off. He hurried as he drove, avoiding accidents so far, and hoping he could make it through this evening without one. Perhaps it was the nearness of Halloween, and perhaps it was just wildness. Either way, something still felt off.
And then, suddenly, he spotted her, and the van very nearly rammed into a light post before he brought it to a stop and hopped out and started running. No way. She couldn’t be here! He hadn’t seen her in almost five years.
But the word burst from his lips as he ran toward her, down that street. And it was full of longing and hope.
“Betty!!”
***
One minute Betty had been leaning over a periscope in her lab and the next she was standing in a wilderness somewhere. At first she thought she was hallucinating or that someone had drugged her, but the longer she wandered the more real it seemed. Betty was having a really hard time coming to terms with what was happening to her. She didn't understand any of it and by all of the laws of science this shouldn't be happening. She was a woman of science. It was hard for her to be in a situation that she couldn't calculate in one way, shape or form. It wasn’t until that moment when Bruce was running towards her that she decided to accept it. Whatever was happening she could handle because Bruce was there.
“Bruce!” she exclaimed and ran toward him in time. She didn’t even give it another thought, she just flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around him.
***
Bruce staggered, but hugged her close, burying his face against her hair. He stepped in against her, pulling her in to press her as closely to his body as he could, wanting to just... feel her close.
He ignored the world, still hugging her, letting feelings old and new fill him and make him shiver. She felt good, familiar, strange, new, old, so much...
He sighed and kissed her hair, inhaling her scent, the same as usual. She was... she was Betty. And that was welcome, right now. "Hello, Betty." His words were soft to her ear. “Welcome to wonderland.” His grin was a warm one and he held her close, tired, confused, and filled with joy.
***
A hug wasn't going to help Betty understand what was happening to her, but it was more than welcome anyway. She needed it just to feel grounded and she needed it because she thought for sure that this time when Bruce disappeared it meant he wasn't coming back. Feeling his arms around her told her that was was wrong. She needed that. She just did.
She smiled when Bruce said hello to her. "Hello, Bruce," she whispered.
Betty let the hug linger for as long as Bruce allowed and then pulled away to look him over. He didn't look hurt so that was a plus, but he also looked different... older maybe... like he had seen a lot more than she had.
"What's going on here, Bruce?" She shook her head in disbelief. "The last thing I knew I was in my lab and now I’m... what is this seriously wonderland? I don't understand."
***
Bruce considered how to respond, then nodded. No sugar-coating, not for her. "Well, to put it succinctly, we, and many others, have been yanked across the multiverse and from present, past, and future times to a world where none of us exist, and where we are immersed in a war against Lucifer, who has been freed from Hell, with demons at his side that like to possess people. Speaking of which.” He pulled out a small amulet and gently lifted it to her. “Put this on, please. Whether or not you believe me now, the demons exist, and this will protect you from possession.”
He nodded, then went on. “There are gods, people who should be dead, superheroes, vampires, normal people, villains, heroes, and scientists here, and none of us have found a way home just yet." He smiled softly. "I know it's beyond any science we know, but... I am pretty sure it is all scientifically sound. If magic can be said to have a scientific basis..." He took a good look at her, trying not to let his emotions take hold. He wanted to explain it all to her.
--
Betty's eyebrows raised as soon as Bruce opened his mouth and started to explain. When he got to the part about the seal she covered her mouth and nose with her hands like that would make the truth of the situation easier to take or something. It didn't.
When Bruce was done she just stood there staring at him. She needed a second of silence to process everything she was hearing. Bruce wouldn't be joking with her. He would never do that to her. If he said it was the truth then it was the truth.
"Okay," Betty said finally with a tone that very clearly said she was making a decision to just accept what was happening to her. She removed her hands from her face and bit down on her bottom lip.
"Bruce, I never thought I would see you again."
--
Bruce took her hands, and squeezed them. "There's a lot to explain in there, and we can take it a piece at a time."
He smiled softly, his heart pounding. "I know. I ran and kept running. Thunderbolt kept me busy for awhile looking over my shoulder. Then I got good enough that I vanished. A little over four years of running in addition to the rest... well, it happens." He sighed, and looked away. "I didn't think I'd ever be able to be with you again, after what happened, after how your father and the public reacted. The secret was out. The Hulk was revealed."
He moved away, looking away, before turning back to her, hands, spread. "I spent most of that time learning more about myself, trying to control things, and figuring out how to not run back to New York. And reading every paper you published."
--
She hadn't been looking for an explanation. She had been trying to convey how surprised she was to see him, that's all. Bruce must have been carrying all of that around for a long time (did he say four years?) for it to come pouring out like that. Did he practice what he would say in case he ever saw her again? The whole situation made her sick.
Betty swallowed hard. She was having a lot of emotions that she didn't really know what to do with. "Four years?" Betty said finally, shaking her head sadly. "It's only been a month for me." The idea that she hadn't seen or heard from Bruce in four years was just another blow to her ego.
"I know why you left," God, she was already starting to tear up. "But you could have at least called me? Sent a letter?! God, anything just to let me know you were okay. I had you back in my life for a fraction of a second and then you were gone again. How am I supposed to respond to all of this?"
--
Bruce winced and staggered for a moment. A month. Damn.
"I tried. The first phone call was intercepted by the general before it got to you, and it took me two weeks to shake them. I sent a phone after that, and they faked your reception of it, and nearly got me again. Fourteen letters, two packages, and seventeen registered documents across the internet, all stolen and intercepted. I tried, Betty, but when it became obvious that Thunderbolt wouldn't let you so much as know I was alive again, I kept moving and tried to hope you would be happy."
He looked down. "I had to hope you could be, somehow. I had to... I had to try to believe you would find a new life."
He shook his head. "I don't know. Anyway you want? Hit me, curse me, call me an ass, if you want, but... just don't let me being here hurt you." He spoke softly, but passionately, his eyes looking at hers with that old same certainty.
--
Betty could be pretty quick to anger sometimes too. It wasn't often and it was usually about little, silly things, but the one thing that could always set her off was her father. She could actually feel her heart beating faster at the revelation that he had been keeping her from him for four years even after she had excommunicated him from her life. How dare he?!
But then Bruce started talking about how she could hit him or curse him and Betty's brow furrowed. The anger at her father went away and her facial features softened. "No," she shook her head and reached up to hold Bruce's face in her hands.
"You being here with me could never hurt me," she said soft, but firmly to make sure she got the point across. "You're the happy ending I choose, Bruce. How could you not know that? It's always been you."
--
He hated what had happened, and that she had been hurt so. Even with her not yet knowing it, he hated it. He smiled softly when she touched him, and he closed his eyes, inhaling her scent again, smiling softly. Damn, but he did like how her hands felt.
Then he smiled slowly. He shivered at her words, and opened his eyes. "It's been a long four years, Betty. And I've missed you during it. There is a lot to tell you... it's complicated."
And then he stepped in and to hell with it, he kissed her, slow and long. He didn't touch her otherwise, just that long and passionate kiss. He needed time, and he needed to think, but thought was out the window suddenly.
--
Before Betty knew what was happening Bruce was kissing her and the rest of the world and all of it's worries were melting away. Betty was convinced that this was the way it was supposed to be; her and Bruce together.
They had tried this before and it had only gotten them into trouble, so Betty tried her best to keep the kiss somewhat innocent, but that whole thought process went out her window in about ten seconds. She wrapped her arms around Bruce and pulled him tight against her as she kissed him back. She couldn't believe this was happening. It was too good to be true.
--
Then he stepped back, pressed away from her slowly, but surely, until he was stepped back several feet, breathing heavy and his eyes wide. he swallowed, emotions hammering at his mind and at his control, but he kept it under his mind's grip.
"Sorry... I shouldn't have done that. Not yet. I... there's so much..." He shivered. "It's been four years for me." He looked down, unable to put to words everything that he felt.
--
Betty didn't want to pull away from the kiss and it took Bruce taking quite a few steps back before she finally got the idea. There were a lot of mixed signals going on here.
"It's complicated," Betty repeated as she pressed her lips together. She felt a little like she was sinking.
"Here," Betty said. She reached out for Bruce's hand so she could lead him to the van to sit down. "We can just talk. It's okay, Bruce."
--
He shivered, and nodded. "I'm sorry." Her rubbed his face and nodded, squeezing her hand and following, sitting opposite her. He felt conflicted, full of so many emotions.
He cared for Betty, had once loved he. Did he still? Could he? It had been four years, and he had tried so many times to reach her, only to be shut down. He had been forced to give up, for his sanity and her safety. He had been forced to run, and keep running.
He had been forced to embrace the monster. He was not even the man she had known anymore. Not really. He was more, and less. And he had no idea what to think of that, or how she would react.
"Talking is good. I think we have a lot to talk about." He scrubbed his face, then smiled. "It's really good to see you."
--
Betty smiled when Bruce said it was good to see her. "It's really good to see you too," she told him genuinely. "Even if the circumstances are...." She looked up at the ceiling for the right works and then shrugged. "... well, they're weird. But I'm willing to accept all of this if it means I get to have you in my life again."
--
"Weird is a good word for it. And no matter what, you won’t lose me from your life." As what, he did not say, since he really had no clue. But... yeah.
"Hey. are you hungry? I know a really good place." He offered her a shy smile, feeling like it was almost a weird date thing. Not a first meeting, but there was so much to go through that it almost was.
--
Almost as if on cue Betty's stomach rumbled and she clutched it with a little laugh.
"Yeah, I guess I am. Food sounds like a great idea, Bruce." Then they could talk, or not talk, over dinner. As long as she was with him she didn't care what they did.
--
He laughed and nodded, and fished out his cell phone. "What's your current favorite? We didn't have time to talk about that last time..." While running from her dad, that is.
He smiled, forcing himself to keep it light for the moment. "I have a lot to tell you." He grinned at her, and shook his head. “Food, and a safe place, first, and then we can talk more.” he reached for her hand and tugged her toward the van.
***