Chapter 11

Natasha's POV

Time Skip... A Few Days Later...

  It's been almost a week and none of us have yet to hear from Bruce nor have been able to successfully pinpoint his location. Wherever he is, he's making it quite clear that he doesn't want to be found. I'm his girlfriend... or was... I'm not quite sure, but I over everyone else had the right to know where he disappeared to. If I find Bruce or Hulk, they have some serious explaining to do.

   You know what's so funny? Everyone's treating me like I'm broken now rather than the tough fighter I've always been. No matter how much sarcasm I use or dirty looks I throw in their direction, they won't budge in terms of their behavior. It really sucks. The only person who gets how I'm feeling is Tony, which is why I've been spending more time with him over anyone else. Tony is Bruce's best friend so he truly understands my pain and vice versa.

  Tony and I are currently training together because we hardly ever get to train together. I'm usually training with Steve or Clint because we have similar skill sets as well as that we're close friends. I'll get back to training with them eventually, I just needed a little bit of a change for now.

  "Nat, he'll come back to us eventually, he always has." I sigh. "I hope so, but there's something about this time that just seems so final. It almost feels like I'm planning his funeral." A dark look passes over Tony's face. "Tony, what's wrong? Are you okay?" I study him for a moment before realizing he's about to have one of his panic attacks. "Tony, have you been taking your meds?" He shakes his head no and I sigh, running to his room to grab him his meds and bring them back. By that point, he's sitting on the floor leaning against the wall holding his head in his hands, breathing quite heavily. I sink down onto the floor beside him and hand him his anxiety pills along with some water to take them with.

   We sit in silence for a few minutes before his breathing begins to go back to normal but dried tears are on his face. He wipes them away with the back of his hand. "Nat, I'm so sorry you had to witness that. That was so unlike me." I wrap an arm around him. "It's okay Tony. We're all human even though we often pretend like we're not. That's our coping mechanism that only fellow Avengers can understand and even some of them don't always understand it either." He pulls me into a gentle hug. "People never gave Bruce enough credit. He's done so much for the team and much of it has gone unrecognized."

   I nod in agreement. "I agree, but at least the two of us can see just how amazing he is." A moment of silence passes before I break it. "Tony, I really miss him." He looks at me sadly. "I miss him too Nat. It's not the same without him. We'll continue to search for him but we can't stop being Avengers in the meantime. The world depends on us." I laugh bitterly. "That's quite the load of pressure." Tony returns my bitter laughter with some of his own. "No kidding but we're in this together." I grab a hold of his hand and squeeze. "Together."

    We decide to go back to training for awhile to keep our feelings at bay, our skills up to par, and our minds busy. 

Three hours later...

  We decide to stop training for the day and attend a meeting with Maria Hill, which lasts for an hour. It's a little awkward because no one was willing to answer too many questions because most of us aren't in the state of mind to do so. Wanda has been in a lot of pain and I can't blame her, her brother was just shot and killed a few days ago. Vision has been her rock and I'm proud of him for stepping up to the plate and doing so. Tony's definitely my rock right now and I'm his. We're both coping with losses, though Wanda's is worse because there's no way her brother can ever come back. Meanwhile, Bruce simply fled and does have the capability of coming back if he wants to.

  After the meeting, we get as far away from Maria Hill as possible so we can go eat supper together in piece without anyone else interfering. Our drinks include iced tea, coffee, hot tea, apple juice, and soda. Our food choices include pizza, pasta, chicken, steak fries, and burgers. We chose these foods because all of us could use comfort food. Vision's the only one who can't eat because although he's humanlike, he's not completely human. He's a humanoid android, in other words, a sophisticated robot. I mean I guess he could eat food, he just wouldn't be able to taste and relish it in the way that humans can and do.

  We all end up getting super drunk after supper except for Vision because he can't taste nor has any interest in consuming alcohol. All of us will probably regret this in the morning but who cares. We've been through this past week, why not drink to take the edge off a bit, even just temporarily? 

Hoped that you guys liked this chapter! :) -Mary