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20 - TWENTY QUESTIONS

WITH THINGS RETURNING TO NORMAL, SHE HAD TO ADJUST TO PEOPLE GOING IN AND OUT SPORADICALLY. Tony made more meetings to go to, despite not being CEO of his company anymore, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had to go on missions, and Steve often went with them, though they all came home within three days, taking short ones to make sure that she and Bruce weren't alone in the Tower for too long.

She remembered certain things her masters told her about this specific mission of hers, but she tried not to think about them as much these days. It had been about two months, nearly three, since she had seen them, and while she could still remember more about all she had done, she didn't want to remember too much, no more than she could remember at the moment.

"How's the studying coming along?" Tony asked, still adjusting the sleeves of his dress shirt, leaning against her chair as she studied, eating her cheese danish that Bruce made her.

"It's going okay," she said, "And you were right. I still have my mutations even though I don't need the serums and drugs anymore. So I'm able to get through this faster than most, it's easy for me to piece things together, at least when I'm doing this."

"That's good," he said, smiling and patting her shoulder, "And yeah, I had a feeling that it wouldn't translate the same to social situations, but that's okay, you don't really have to worry about that just yet."

She didn't quite understand what he meant, though she had some suspicions, but she instead simply chose to continue her studies, waiting for Bruce to come back from his greenroom. He went in every morning, and while he continued to invite her with him, she knew that he'd rather be alone, so she decided to let him stay alone.

"Morning," Clint groaned, walking up the stairs with an entirely new set of bandages strewn all across his arms and cheeks, "How's it going, you guys? Morning, uh, Marnie."

She tried to smile, waving her danish in greeting. Clint was still having trouble getting used to her name, often calling her Cheese, and she didn't find much problem with that, but he kept trying with her first name, which she appreciated.

"I'm off to sleep in a meeting, I'll see you later, I got a new supply of coffee by the way, Barton, top right," Tony said, motioning towards the cabinet, and Clint made a sound of pure delight as he made his way over, and Tony smiled when he couldn't see.

But she saw, asking, "You bought that for him, Tony, why don't you want him to know?"

Tony froze, staring at her like a deer in headlights, and she turned to look at Clint who's face had turned red, staring at Tony, halfway to reaching towards the new supply of coffee.

"You got these for me?" Clint asked quietly, glancing towards the packaging, his eyes widening, "These are my favorite, you don't like this kind."

Tony cleared his throat, almost like he was choking, mumbling something about being late as he tore down the stairs and out into the elevator, disappearing in less than two minutes, and she had to wonder what she did wrong, looking towards Clint who seemed conflicted as he brewed a pot of coffee, mumbling to himself about how Tony didn't need to do that and if he was being a nuisance showing up all the time.

She just continued to eat her danish and study, hoping it would be explained to her later.

º º º

She found that the same sort of thing kept happening, and she wondered exactly what it was that she was missing. After all, Tony had insisted that she could say what she wanted freely, and she didn't see anything she was saying as anything too obscene.

She was sitting with Steve, Natasha, and Arabella in the common area, Arabella insisting that they watch this new movie she found on her own that she loved, and while Natasha seemed to want nothing more than to be anywhere else, she agreed, and Steve seemed to be far too fond of Arabella to say no, and he seemed incapable of doing that to begin with.

She was just happy to be included.

"This is actually pretty good," Natasha hummed, throwing a bone to the young girl who practically beamed at the comment, squealing softly as she shifted in her seat next to the woman.

"What's pretty good?" a voice called, and all four looked up to find Tony who was having a day off, looking like he had just woken up, stretching high above his head as he moved to look at the TV.

She noticed Steve staring at Tony, watching him as he stretched, and she tried to catch his eye, to raise her eyebrows the way she had seen all the others do—she wasn't capable of raising only one—to ask him why he was always doing that.

"Bella's showing us a movie she found," the blond explained, motioning towards the available seat, "Wanna join?"

He looked so hopeful, and she couldn't help but remember Arabella mentioning softly to Natasha that Steve had a thing about keeping people close, always wanting to protect even if he wasn't aware of it, and that was why he was always so touchy around them; he was only shy about it if it's a woman, though, old fashioned sentimentality and all that.

Tony seemed to catch that as well, giving him an apologetic smile with just enough of the usual Tony charm to still seem his own. "Sorry, Cap, I gotta get to work, but rain check, when I'm done we can watch all the movies you want, okay?"

Steve looked disappointed as he watched Tony grab a box of granola bars and blueberries from the cabinets and fridge, already making his way back when Steve called out, "Yeah, sure thing, no worries, Tony."

Tony glanced over and winked, smiling to himself as he began to head back, and she watched as Steve's face turned bright pink, and she glanced over to Natasha and Arabella who bore twin smirks, sharing a look, and she tried to understand what she was missing. 

"Why are you always looking at Tony like that?" she asked, and she heard Tony falter from where he was walking down the stairs, making his way back up slowly as she continued to question Steve, "And you're always turning pink when he does anything, and you're always asking him to spend time with you, and he always turns pink if you say something nice to him. Why?"

She looked back to Tony whose head could just be seen past the barrier between the stairs and the wall, his eyes wide and face red as he looked between her and Steve who looked just about ready to pass out, wanting to disappear through the couch cushions.

She looked between them, then towards the other women who were grinning madly, looking at the scene like it was the most entertaining thing in the world which, perhaps, it was. 

"What?" she asked, and that seemed to break the spell, Tony tearing out of there faster than she could blink, Steve coughing madly, grabbing at his water to try and calm himself down, Arabella squealing and cackling while Natasha tried to hide her laughs behind her mouth, her shoulders shaking.

She didn't know what had happened, but she had the sneaking suspicion she had started it.

º º º

"I feel like I asked for this," Tony groaned, the team all meeting early in the morning before she woke, some more awake than others, such as Clint who had fallen asleep again against Natasha's shoulder. 

"We all asked for it," Steve corrected, careful not to look at Tony too long, "But should we do something about it, I don't think she's trying to be malicious about it, I think she's just...incredibly vocal."

Bruce looked up from where he was buttering his croissant. "Wait, is this meeting about Marnie?"

"Bruce," Tony whispered, looking offended, "We talked about this meeting in the lab, you said, 'uh-huh, okay, Tony.'"

The man cleared his throat, having the decency to look embarrassed. "Sorry, I really wasn't listening. But what's the problem, has she been doing something?"

"It's not bad or anything, it's just kinda weird," Clint explained, staring down at his pot of coffee before glancing over to Tony who wouldn't meet his eye, "She just...points out stuff."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, I'm not following."

"We just don't know if we should point out to her that pointing out everything isn't...socially acceptable," Steve explained, glancing towards the others who all nodded, "Don't get us wrong, we love Marnie and we know she's going through some stuff, but if we want her to assimilate shouldn't we let her know that most people don't appreciate this? Because she can understand that, right?"

"Yes, as far as we know anyways, we haven't professionally tested her to make sure there isn't anything psychological that we're missing, and from what I can tell, she'll understand, so what's the problem?" he asked, though he had a feeling he already knew what the problem was, but he knew it was always better to ask.

"I don't know," Tony sighed when they all looked to him, "I just feel bad, I told her to say anything that was on her mind, so she's doing it, and I feel like if we start telling her what she can and can't say, she'll just not say anything, and she might start thinking of us like those guys that had her all those years."

Bruce bit his lip, nodding in understanding. "That makes sense, I get that. But if what she's saying is all that upsetting, we should tell her."

"No, it's really not that bad," Steve said, then paused, glancing towards the others, "At least, not for me, but I don't know..."

Tony cleared his throat, glancing towards Clint who still hadn't started drinking his coffee. "If we don't make what she says that big of a deal, then it'll be fine. Right?"

Clint nodded, finally meeting his eye, holding his gaze as he started to drink from the pot, and Tony could only roll his eyes, glancing towards Steve who turned pink as soon as they made eye-contact, but the blond nodded as well.

"Okay, it's decided," Tony declared, "We're just not gonna say anything and hope she'll mellow out."

"I mean," Bruce sighed, "I could say something, it'll help her out more if we say it rather than someone she just runs into later on."

Natasha nodded at that, seeming to like his idea more. "Just play it safe. We don't want to hurt her, gaining her trust was hard enough, the fact that she trusts us enough to speak her mind is surprising."

"Yeah," Arabella agreed, "But if there's one person that'll get it so she'll hear it right, it's Bruce."

"What's that supposed to mean?" the man asked, taking a bite from his cooling croissant.

The rest of the team shared a knowing look. "Nothing."

º º º

"Hey, Marnie," Bruce greeted as she stepped into the lab with her tablet, the man looking up from his work to smile at her, "Hey, your hair's getting longer."

She smiled, nodding as she reached her hand up to tug at it. "Yeah, it is. Where's Tony, is it just you?"

"He and Steve are watching some movies, he said he owed him a rain check," Bruce explained, going back to his work, "What's been going on with you, did you sleep well?"

She tilted her head as she sat down, trying to understand him. "Why are you asking all these questions like that, is something wrong?"

Bruce laughed softly, shaking his head as he turned around. "No, nothing's wrong. But you notice a lot of things, don't you?"

She nodded, perking up, and immediately began to rattle off about the way the team acted whenever she pointed out the things she noticed, such as Clint and Tony and the coffee, Steve and Tony's dynamic, Arabella always staring at Steve, the way Natasha never liked it when anyone touched her, and how they always seemed so surprised and flustered whenever she pointed it out.

Bruce nodded as she spoke, licking his lips when she finished, humming softly. "Marnie...I know you haven't been here long, but...has someone ever mentioned something that you didn't really want to hear, and it wasn't bad, but it just...made you uncomfortable to have to face? And with everyone around to hear it?"

She shook her head after a moment of thinking. "Not that I can remember."

"That's okay," he said immediately, "There's no problem with that, but what I'm trying to get at is that...okay, listen, we don't want you to think you gotta censor yourself, in this country, there's freedom of speech, say what you want, and none of us are all that bothered with it, they're not upset with you, they don't want you to stop talking—"

"They just don't like me pointing stuff out all the time," she finished, nodding in understanding, "You could have just said that, Bruce."

He sighed with relief, laughing as he took off his glances, bending forward over his knees where he sat. "I'm so glad you understand, and can you blame us, we don't want you to think we don't want you talking or that we'll get upset and get rid of you if you upset us."

She licked her lips at that. "I mean, I'm not saying I'm not afraid of that, but I don't think you would want to get rid of me for that, I've seen some of you fight and argue."

Bruce nodded. "Yeah, we do that, and we still care about each other, and it still applies to you. And don't worry, okay? We're not gonna get rid of you."

She furrowed her brow. "Promise?"

He gave her an encouraging smile, nodding. "I promise. And you can still point stuff out, just...try to read the room, figure out if it'll be something they're comfortable with."

She nodded in understanding, and the two went back to their individual work where she was already putting this newfound understanding to practice. And to think, she had gone into the lab to ask Bruce why he was always blushing whenever she touched his arm. 

Maybe she'd ask him later, because she would like to know.







AUTHOR'S NOTE

I didn't know when I wanted to have this chapter, but I knew that I had wanted it someplace, so I'm glad I'm doing it now, because I mentioned that while she still has her mutations, social cues and graces aren't necessarily her forte just yet, and they're all okay with that.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

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