1. Sinners (B. Banner)

Chapter Sixteen

Tony walks into the kitchen area of the tower to find Natasha and Pepper, Tony's sort of significant other, talking together, a couple of bottles of his expensive champagne uncorked and on the countertop. Tony makes grabby motions and moves towards one of the bottles.

"Girls night" Natasha argues as she slaps at Tony's hand. "Meaning that champagne is for girls only....are you a girl?"

"Well, I'm not proud of this but there is this trick where I tuck my..." Tony starts and motions with his hands.

"Do not finish that sentence" Pepper warns, Tony holds up his hands.

"Come on, everyone is leaving tomorrow" Tony whines. "It should be Avengers night..."

"There are so few women on this team" Natasha counters. "Two" She holds up her fingers. "Me and Sara...that's not an even set up. So me and her...and Pepper and Rebekah are going dancing....no dick allowed" Tony pouts at her as Steve, Sarai, Bruce, and Rebekah walk into the room. Natasha groans. "This is supposed to be a girl's night" Natasha complains. "There are way too many penises in this room"

"Alright, we're going" Tony assures her, Steve touches Sarai's arm and she smiles back at him before he and Tony leave the room. Bruce brushes Sarai's hair back, brushes his thumb over her cheek and smiles at her. She smiles at him.

"Have fun" he whispers and then kisses her. Sarai chuckles against his lips and then pulls back. They share a look before Bruce follows Tony and Steve out of the room. Sarai takes the offered champagne from Pepper.

"We haven't officially met," Sarai tells her. "Sarai Mikaelson"

"Pepper Potts" Pepper offers back with a friendly smile. "Tony told me all about you" Pepper adds. "You're the vampire Nephilim, right?"

"Nephalem" Sarai corrects. "Nephilim is human-angel....I'm demon-angel" Pepper raises an eyebrow. "And I assume he told you about me feeding from him...I hope you don't mind..."

"Oh, no..." Pepper assures her. "I know his scientific curiosity crosses into the weird...." Sarai smiles and nods.

..............

Spirit is sleeping next to the travel basket set up for Hope in the tower living area. For their girls night, Sarai and Rebekah have to leave Hope in the care of some Avengers. Natasha and Pepper hang back a little, knowing that Sarai and Rebakah need to talk about Hope with Steve and Bruce. Bruce actually can't take his eyes off of Sarai, she's wearing this skin-tight red mini dress with red heels, and she looks completely stunning. Her hair is done up in a messy bun on the top of her head. She steps closer to Steve who is currently holding Hope and puts on a calm but stern expression.

"It goes without saying that if anything happens to that" Sarai points at Hope. "Precious little bundle, I will castrate each and every single one of you" She threatens, and they all know she is not kidding with this. Hope is family. And family means everything to Sarai. "Even you, Bruce" She adds looking at him, he nods. "Hope is...she means everything to me, to both of us" Rebekah nods in agreement. "Nik left her in our protection....so she doesn't leave your sight....even if you need to take a piss, you take her with you"

"We'll be fine" Steve assures her and looks down at Hope, he smiles softly. Sarai watches them softly and then nods. Happy that Steve will watch over Hope whilst they are out.

"And Spirit" Sarai starts.

"He'll be fine too" Steve stops her. "There are four of us here....and a whole security team..."

"You don't know witches and vampires" Sarai points out and sighs. She crouches in front of Spirit, the two them sharing a look. He barks at her and nods. Sarai nods back and then stands. Pepper glances up from her phone.

"Car's here," She tells the girls. Natasha nods. Sarai hesitates.

"Don't worry" Steve tells Sarai. "She won't leave my sight" Sarai lets out a breath and nods before she moves to Rebekah who loops her arm with her sister's. They head off to join Natasha and Pepper in the elevator. Steve hums to Hope as he rocks her slightly.

.............

Steve is practically asleep already, but keeps jerking awake to check on Hope in his arms. He might have taken Sarai's warning a little too literal. Bruce watches them with a smile before he shakes his head.

"You're about to drop, Steve" Bruce scolds. "It's okay, I can take her..." He motions with his hands to Hope. Steve looks down at the baby and then at Bruce. "He's fine" Bruce assures him. The other guy has been pretty quiet since Sarai came into his life. Steve stands and hands over Hope to Bruce. Bruce takes the space on the couch where Steve was sat and gets Hope comfy in his arms. Steve watches them a moment and then happy that Bruce has this all under control, he heads towards his room.

.............

Bruce glances to the elevator as it opens and Sarai and Natasha step out, Natasha touches Sarai's arm before waving at Bruce and heading off to bed. Sarai moves to Bruce who stands from the couch with Hope.

"How was she?" Sarai whispers as she takes Hope from Bruce, he nods and rubs at his eyes.

"Quiet..." He answers, Sarai hums softly as she sets Hope in her basket. She stays asleep, thankfully. Sarai leans up and Bruce wraps his arms around her from behind. She leans back. "How was your night?" he asks. "Un-murder anyone?" he teases, she laughs and turns to face him.

"No, Rebekah was on her best behaviour" She answers and wraps her arms around his neck. "Natasha though...phew, she is a bloody hard woman to steer away from murder" Bruce smirks.

"What happened?"

"Oh you know, drunk guy spilt his drink on her dress...." She answers and leans closer to him. "Want to take me to bed?" She whispers, he hums a little and kisses her.

"What about Hope?" He asks just as the elevator door opens and Rebekah steps out.

"Rebekah has her" Sarai answers, Bruce then nods, the lets Sarai lead him towards his room.

...............

"Bruce" Sarai starts as she sits on the end of his bed as she pulls off her shoes, Spirit now sleeping on the floor having followed them in.

"Hmm" Bruce responds, his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth.

"Do you think we should talk about...us?" She asks and looks at him standing in the doorway of his bathroom. He cocks his head. "About what we are" She elaborates.

"It's 2 am" He points out as he pulls out his toothbrush. "Tomorrow" He offers, but mostly because he is now dreading tomorrow. Now he knows that conversation is coming. He hadn't actually thought about it. But he should have. They are moving forward, they were bound to have that conversation. "What brought this on anyway?" He asks as he disappears into the bathroom before returning, wearing a pair of sweats. Sarai shrugs a little and looks at him.

"Pepper asked what we are" She admits and then stands to pull her dress over her head. "I wasn't sure what to tell her..." She adds before climbing into bed with him. "I didn't want to presume anything either, darling, this is....new territory for me"

"And me" He assures her as she curls into his side. "But we can talk about this tomorrow" He kisses her head and she hums as she settles against him.