Elevated

Bruce signed her cast first with his name, and then the equation that had started their research spiral, both in cramped black sharpie. Nora laughed. They spent most of the day running new readings and scrawling math across all available surfaces. Nora discovered about halfway to lunch, that the tables could be used like a dry-erase board, and that saved them a lot of trouble.

At four and with half a dozen machines still running, Nora slung her bag and coat over her shoulder and wandered to Jane and Darcy’s lab.

After Darcy had helped her into the elevator, Nora found herself hanging out with both women with some frequency. They would occasionally go for lunch together, but mostly Nora would stop by on her way out the door and hang out for half an hour or so. Bruce kept an extremely regular schedule that allowed for things like consistent lunch breaks and ending hours, and Jane definitely did not.

Both Jane and Darcy kept wild schedules, arriving at the lab anywhere between five AM and three PM, and working with reckless abandon until they decided seemingly at random to be done for the day. Darcy was energetic and chatty, and so was Jane though her energy tended to be directed at different types of topics. Nora enjoyed them both very much.

“Nora! What the hell happened?” Darcy crowed from her spot on a desk. Jane peeked out from the equipment she was half-buried under and waved her wrench.

Nora flopped into one of the ugly patterned chairs that the women had moved into their lab, “I tripped walking my dog.” She waved her cast, “You wanna sign it?”

“Yes!” Darcy said and immediately turned to root through a cup of pens for a sharpie. She snatched up a purple one and bounced across the room.

Nora drew her arm away and squinted suspiciously for a second at her friend, “Don’t draw any penises though.”

Darcy laughed. She drew instead a tiny Thor, waving a hammer and being struck by lightning. Nora squinted at it, “Doesn’t that guy live here?”

“Yeah,” Darcy answered like she was insane, “With Jane.”

Nora looked at Jane where she had fully emerged and was crossing the room, “You live with Thor?”

Jane looked surprised, “Yes?”

“Crazy,” Nora muttered, “Isn’t he like, a god?”

Both women looked at her like she was insane, “You work in Stark Tower. With the Hulk. Do you seriously not know anything about superheroes?” Darcy asked.

“I definitely don’t work with the Hulk, I don’t think he’d have a clue how to run a Galler calculation.” They continued to stare at her. Nora fidgeted. “You wanna sign?” she asked Jane finally, waving her arm. They both kept staring, “Look, I spent a bunch of time in Greenland with no internet, and before that I was in Norway doing a doctorate with the worlds worst professor, I missed a lot of the,” She waved a hand, “Hubbub.”

“Right,” Jane said slowly. She took the pen from Darcy and drew a tiny Einstein-Rosen Bridge. Nora liked it quite a lot.

“How was your date?” Darcy asked, seemingly recovered from the discovery of Nora’s ignorance.

Nora huffed, “I didn’t make it. The ER took forever and then when I called to tell him I wasn’t going to make it because I was at the hospital, he got all pissed off like I should’ve given him more notice.”

“Seriously?” Darcy asked, outraged.

“Yeah. I know. And then I got like, no sleep, and totally freaked out in the elevator again this morning. It’s been a pretty rough twenty-four hours.”

Darcy and Jane exchanged a serious sort of look and Jane said, “It sounds like you could use a drink.”

Nora perked up a little, “Are you guys done for the day?”

They were. Instead of taking the elevator down ninety floors to the lobby, Nora followed Jane and Darcy eight floors up. It was much easier to ride the elevator with both women chatting about the work they’d accomplished that day. Nora spared a passing thought to whether it would be easier or harder to ride it the ninety-eight floors to the lobby after the margarita that Darcy promised would be the best she’d ever had.

Jane’s apartment was surprisingly normal. It was in Stark Tower so it was huge, with absurdly expensive looking marble counters and wood floors, but the furniture was all squashy and comfortable looking and there was Jane’s distinct scientific sort of mess scattered all over. Nora looked around with an analytical gaze, “Does a Norse God seriously live here?”

Jane hummed, already digging a blender out of the cupboard, “He spends half his time in Asgard.” Nora slid onto one of the tall island stools and dropped her purse and coat by her feet, “He should be around the tower somewhere today.”

Darcy was digging in the freezer for ice, “He’s cool. You’ll like him.” She pulled out a bag and looked at Nora as she dumped it into the blender, “Who else have you met?”

It took Nora a second to realize she was asking about the superheroes. She was watching Jane and Darcy move with interest. They each seemed to know what the other was doing and moved automatically around each other. They were also pouring worrying amounts of tequila over the ice, “Um. Bruce, obviously. Mr. Stark, but only twice. He’s a menace. Captain America once. And I crashed into his friend um-“ She fought for the name again, “Barnes. James. Yesterday afternoon.”

“What did you think of them?” Darcy asked with interest.

“Well, they’ve both definitely seen me freak out in the elevator so every time I see them they look at me like I’m nuts.” She remembered the elevator doors sliding open that morning, “Barnes like, refused to get on the elevator with me this morning. Probably because I fully ran into him yesterday and then didn’t apologize.”

Jane made a little noise in her throat, “He doesn’t really like people.” She hit the button on the blender.

The margaritas were amazing. Nora had two, sprawled on the squishy couches with the other two women. They talked about their research (Jane’s work was fascinating) and the slew of bad dates Nora had been on lately. Darcy countered with a series of stories about her own awful dates. They made nachos for dinner and covered them in way too much cheese. As the sun was setting there was a huge crack of thunder that made Nora jump, and the patio door slid open.

“Jane! Darcy!” The blond man boomed. He strode right over to the couch and planted a kiss on Jane’s mouth. Nora raised her eyebrows at Darcy, who shrugged. He was truly huge, with long blond hair, and a massive hammer in one hand. He set it on the coffee table and looked at Nora, “Who is this?”

“Hi,” Nora said, thinking she was about the right amount of drunk to meet a Norse God, “I’m Nora. I work with Dr. Banner.”

Thor beamed, “Another lady of science like my Jane!” Nora nodded, “Wonderful! I am most glad to meet any friends of Jane.” He glanced at the margaritas they each had, “Might I join you in your merriment?”

“Go wild, big guy,” Darcy answered, grinning at him.

Chatting with Thor, Nora thought, was pretty weird. He was extremely curious about what she did and understood none of the science she tried to explain. He told them about his day which apparently had him chasing down some sort of weird artifact in Maine, and which now sat on the middle of the coffee table. He told them very seriously that it had once belonged to Odin and Nora wanted to laugh but realized suddenly that it definitely had. He asked about her cast and she told him what had happened. He asked to participate in the Midgardian tradition of signing it and did so with a series of runes that Nora couldn’t begin to translate. He asked a dozen and a half questions about Luna.

Finally, Nora just promised to bring her by the tower for him to see sometime. He beamed.

The elevator ride wasn’t any easier after two margaritas.

Nora spent the weekend considering the numbers her and Bruce got on Friday. She wasn’t allowed to take any research home and her tablet was locked in the tower, but that didn’t stop her from remembering it. She’d rolled it over in her head as she tidied her apartment, walked Luna, and made cookies. She watched three movies and didn’t remember any of them. By the time she made it to work on Monday, her brain was full of ideas. Interesting directions that they could try to spin the research. She was so excited that she managed to get on the elevator the first time.

The lab was still quiet and she dumped her stuff at her table, put the Tupperware of cookies over by the kettle, and set to work starting up machines. She collected the readouts that had been sitting there since Friday and started scrawling them across a fresh board. She was halfway through when she heard Bruce come in. She shouted a hello over her shoulder, and continued scrawling numbers because she didn’t want to forget where she was.

Finally she turned, saying as she did, “Look at this readout, it’s like the laws of cosmic-“ she stopped, “You aren’t Bruce.” Captain America was standing in the middle of the lab dressed in a blue t-shirt and looking deeply uncomfortable. Standing next to him wearing grey was a black man with a goatee that she knew was Sam Wilson. She’d broken sometime on Sunday and figured it was a good idea to google the Avengers so she would know who she was looking at. “Sorry, I wouldn’t have made you wait if I realized. Bruce hasn’t come in yet.”

Captain America cleared his throat, his gaze darting from her face to her cast and back again, “I was looking for you.” There was a moderately awkward pause when he didn’t continue.

“Hey,” The other man said, “I’m Sam.” He offered his hand.

Nora shuffled the marker she’d been using to her casted hand and used the other to shake his. The Captain eyed the movement. “Nora Silver. Um, what can I help you with?” She was deeply confused as to why two Avengers would come looking for her on a Monday morning. Captain America shuffled his feet. Sam elbowed him in the ribs. The Captain glared back. “Captain?” she prompted.

“Steve,” He supplied, then frowned like he hadn’t meant to.

“Sure. Steve. I don’t actually know what I can tell you about the research. I signed a pretty iron clad NDA and I don’t really want to go to jail until I’m a hundred or whatever, so maybe you could come back and chat with Dr. Banner?”

He looked confused, “I don’t- no. I’m not here about the research.” Sam elbowed him again and he finally said, “It’s about your arm.”

“What?” Nora asked in surprise. Her eyebrows shot up towards her hair.

“Your arm? I wanted to-“

“Good grief,” Nora said absently, “How many people in this tower know I tripped over a curb? Did Thor tell you?”

Steve spluttered, “Sorry?” at the same time Sam said, “What?” They both looked intensely confused.

Nora frowned at them both, gaining the sense slowly, that there was some sort of misunderstanding happening, “I tripped on a curb on Thursday? Walking my dog?” Two mouths fell open. “I guess Thor didn’t tell you that. Sorry, I’m really confused, what’s happening right now?”

“That wasn’t-“ Steve started, choked to a stop, then tried again, “That wasn’t Bucky?”

“What?” Nora answered, her confusion growing, “Your elevator friend? No. I know I totally ran into him the other day, but it wasn’t that bad.” She glanced between the two men who still looked mystified, “It was a pretty rough day, I crashed twice and nobody caught me the second time,” she waved her cast, “Tell your friend sorry by the way, I was pretty devastated about smashing my tablet and I forgot.”

The door slid open, “Nora did you start the-“ Bruce stopped dead, “Steve? What’s wrong?”

Steve was slowly opening and closing his mouth like he was trying to form a point and couldn’t manage it. Sam was slowly developing a triumphant look, “Nothing,” he supplied loudly, “We were just chatting with your assistant here.”

Bruce looked as confused as Nora felt, “About what?”

“My arm,” Nora said, aware it did nothing to explain the situation but not really sure how to do it properly either.

“Yep,” Sam said, “Hey, can we sign your cast?”

“Uh, sure?”

So Nora was left with Sam’s signature with a little drawing of a bird, Steve’s with a little star, and an overwhelming sense of confusion.

Bucky didn’t leave his apartment on the weekend. He didn’t really sleep either. The horrible clawing thing in his chest stayed and every time he nodded off he woke again, nightmares of things he did, or maybe didn’t, playing behind his eyes.

He paced. He stared at the stars outside his window. He got so frustrated he punched a hole in the drywall. His hand ached and he felt anchored. Less like a ghost.

He couldn’t forget her face.

He sat on the couch, his head in his hands, and didn’t look up when the door opened. Two sets of footsteps crossed the apartment. Steve made an upset kind of noise, probably seeing the hole in the wall.

“Get up,” Sam barked.

“Sam,” Steve said.

Steve liked to treat him gently, like he was made of glass and would shatter if he was too loud. He loved Steve, but it was hard too. He didn’t know how to explain that the gentleness made him feel fragile. Sam didn’t treat him like he was made of glass. He was firmer, and that was hard too because he pushed Bucky. Pushed him to do things. Pushed him to try to be a person again. Very slowly Bucky raised his head.

“We’re going to the gym.” Sam announced.

Bucky thought that wasn’t fucking likely but he didn’t say as much. Just stared Sam down and hoped he could read it in his face.

Sam stepped forward and kicked his foot, “Get up. I’m serious.”

“No,” Bucky responded, because sometimes when he used his words Sam left him alone.

“No? Well, I guess you don’t want to know what Steve and I learned today.” Bucky was inclined to think he didn’t give a fuck what they learned, but again he didn’t say so. “It’s about Nora.” He furrowed his brow because he didn’t think he knew who that was. Sam continued, “Banner’s assistant.”

It was like being stabbed in the chest, a knife blade that twisted and hurt. The edge of the couch he was holding in his left hand cracked. Steve flinched. Sam frowned at him.

“Turns out,” Sam continued loftily, “She’s real clumsy. Tripped over a curb walking her dog. That’s how she broke her wrist.”

The knife in his chest slid free. The clawing thing in his body settled, just a little. He looked at Steve, who nodded.

“She said to say sorry.” Steve said quietly, “For bumping you.”