Evermore

Chapter 24

The next day Natasha avoided Bruce, except for when she needed her ankle looked at which he told her was healing nicely and faster than he anticipated.

The dream she had the night before shook her up, and being in the same room as Bruce made her tense.

"Nat, are you okay? You seem a bit off," he said when she was done with her checkup. "If this is about last night, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's fine," she said while ducking her head.

She felt his finger under chin as he gently led her to meet his gaze.

"What's wrong?" he whispered.

Natasha sighed and told him the truth, "Last night I had this dream before I woke you up and it just shook me up a bit. You ever have dreams about people and then all of the sudden you have trouble looking at them the next day?"

"So, the dream was about me" he asked as he moved his hand from her chin to next to her hand on the table.

She nodded and Bruce asked, "Do you want to talk about it? Or is there anything I can do?"

He seemed so concerned that she had to reassure him it was nothing bad.

"It's fine. I just need a bit of time."

He must have known that she didn't want to discuss it any further, because he stopped pushing.

Natasha thought it was embarrassing enough she had the dream, and she didn't want to think about it anymore. Bruce was just a friend.

_________

That night she was looking outside of the window in the empty hallway, her mind wandering to when her parents were alive, and they would spend time with her and Yelena in the backyard of their house.

When she feels a presence next to her, she turns and sees Bruce.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey. You okay?"

"Yeah, just thinking about fireflies." She could tell he didn't understand, so she elaborated, "My mother was a scientist and taught Yelena and I about them. Sometimes when she gave us our nightly science lessons my dad would come outside to teach Yelena and I how to defend ourselves. He always said that he was the muscle and mom was the brain."

"They sound like good parents," he said.

"They were."

She spent a good portion of the night telling him about more of her childhood. He told her about when his mother was alive.

"Um, are you doing better," he asked before he helped her up the stairs. "From earlier today, I mean?"

"Yeah," she answered honestly.

At the end of the night when she was in bed, she felt better knowing that her friendship with Bruce was still intact, but it didn't quite take away the small nagging feeling that had slowing been growing when she was around him. The problem was that she was more aware of it now, but Natasha knew she could ignore it.