Pandas and Smiles
Charlie sighed, her hand absentmindedly running through her hair. She gripped the folder on Pietro Maximoff in her other hand, skimming over it.
He had been shot 17 times, 9 times in the abdomen. He should be dead, but thanks to his superhuman metabolism he lived, barely. Two bullets hit his spine, nerve damage so severe that even his body was still struggling to heal the wounds.
He already had 3 physical therapists quit on him, his personality making him difficult to work with. Too bad he was dealing with Charlie. She had a hundred percent success rate, and she planned to keep it that way.
She flipped the page and looked at what the people before her were planning on doing. She tisked, the plans were sloppy, not thought out well. Instead of gradually working the fatigued muscles and nerves back to the way they were, they jumped right in, making him walk without working up to it. No wonder they quit, the way they were going, they were making things worse.
She finally closed the folder, looking at the young man in front of her, who was laying down in a hospital bed, his gaze following every movement she made. “So, first we're just going to work on the small things, flexing toes, feet and massaging the muscles after every lesson. After that we’ll still go slow, first working on standing, then walking, then running.”
Pietro didn’t make a sound, just shifted to cross his arms in front of him. He stared at his feet, hating the way he was so weak.
“We’ll work together every other day. Now, every case is different but I expect to see progress within the first weeks or so.” her accent was the only thing she and Pietro had in common at the moment, he noted.
He looked up at the woman, the doctors before were here everyday poking and prodding him until he snapped. “When do we start?”
“Right now.” he tensed as she stood up. “Flip over.” she pulled the blanket to the edge of the bed, exposing his legs to the cold air. She tapped his left leg, “when you’re ready.”
Slowly, he turned on his side, and she gripped his calf, her hands surprisingly warm. At first the massaging didn’t do anything but soon his feet started to tingle, as blood started flowing better. He gripped the edge of the bed, feeling awkward just to let her work.
“Feel free to watch some tv, today’s just workin’ the muscles.” She said softly as she worked her way up to his knee, careful of the scar left over from one of the bullets. He grabbed the remote turning on the tv, watching a tv show called Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. He didn’t understand the rapid fire english very well and he frowned in concentration.
Suddenly a hand appeared in front of him, silently asking for the remote. Pietro handed it over to her, and he watched as Charlie paused the show and went on a menu, changing the audio to dubbed over Sokovian. She pressed play and handed it back to Pietro, a small smile gracing her lips.
“Thank you.” he muttered as she went back to massaging his legs, her skilled hands deftly working over the unused muscles.
Charlie spent the time thinking over the team’s reactions of her, they seemed shocked that she had been given a job to work with them and a few seemed wary of her. She tuned into the foreign language, picking out words she remembered from a required course in college.
She noticed when Pietro took a sharp inhale of breath, she did the movement over again and a muscle in his jaw clenched. She looked down at his leg, “where does it hurt?”
He glanced at her, “there.” he pointed to a spot a little higher than her hands.
She gently felt the muscle, it was knotted and cramping. “This might hurt.” she muttered before digging in her fingers into the flesh, untangling the muscle. Pietro winced but turned his focus back on the show playing above him.
She had just finished when Wanda walked into the room, carrying a vase and flowers. The two women stared at each other, Charlie with a small smile and Wanda… with a slightly furrow of her eyebrows in concentration.
Charlie looked back at Pietro, “take it slow. Try flexing your toes tomorrow. I’ll be here this time wednesday.” she helped him flip back over, and gathered her bag and the file. She passed Wanda and gave her a nod and flitting smile across her face.
As Charlie left, Wanda moved towards her brother, setting the vase down before putting the flowers in it. They were from Clint, who still faked annoyance at Pietro, was grateful for him saving his life.
“ Brother, you better not make her quit like the rest of them. She’s a good person. ” She said, Wanda, in her brother’s best interests of course, had read Charlie’s mind. Other than the tougher than usual barrier around her mind, she was a decent human being and Wanda found it amusing how much Charlie had called Fury out on his bullshit.
Pietro on the other hand huffed, before crossing his arms like the petulant child he was at heart. “ She’s a bit nicer than the one’s before but I won’t make promises .”
Wanda rolled her eyes, before taking her chair next to his hospital bed. She watched the tv, “ how did you get it in Sokovian? You’re not that smart. ” She teased.
“Doctor Greanum did it, don’t ask me how .” He rolled his eyes at his sister’s comment. “ Quit disrespecting your elders. ”
“ You’re barely 11 minutes older than me! ”
Bruce was startled from looking at his cells in a microscope by a clatter. He looked up at the perpetrator, who wasn’t Tony. The copper ringlets bobbed as the woman picked up a piece of scrap metal from Tony’s latest project.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Charlie said, a sheepish half smile on her face. Bruce found it hard to stay mad at her for being the team’s therapist, knowing that Fury most likely forced her into the position.
Bruce rubbed his eye, “no, it’s alright.” He dropped his gaze to her shoes, flats , he noted, not necessarily formal but not sneakers. The panda faces brought a twitch to the edge of his lips.
“Nick told me to set up shop here.” she followed his eyes to her shoes and blushed, she wasn’t expecting to be judged by her shoes and she shifted uncomfortably foot to foot. The small movement broke Bruce out of his staring and he looked up at her face.
“Nick?” he asked, confused.
“Oh, uh, Director Fury.” she forgot that most people here knew Nick as Fury.
“Right, well that desk,” He pointed to the table in front of his desk, which was devoid of any of Tony’s forgotten half projects, “and that one,” he pointed to the one farther away, “are empty, for now, Tony’s the basic definition of spreading.” He expected her to choose the second one, away from the unstable person with extreme anger management issues.
But like her interesting choice of shoes, she chooses the one closer to his desk. His lips quirked up in something that could be seen a smile, his respect for the tiny ginger growing slightly. He turned back to start on his work again but out of the corner of his eye he sees her move closer to him.
He looked up at her again, and she gave a small smile, her hand appearing in front of her, “I’m glad to finally meet you, Doctor Banner, your work has found its way into my life more than once.”
He slowly shook her hand, grasping it gingerly, looking closely for any flinch on her face. “Please call me Bruce.”
“Well then Bruce, call me Charlie.” she moved back to her desk, opening her briefcase he hadn’t noticed before, and opening a folder and starting to read it.
He shifted his focus back on the cells he had been looking at before she came in, and scowled at them. Tinged with green, the cells seemed to buzz around and he added the newest formula to them. He held his breath as it seemed to work, attacking the green tinge before the cells burst, not green but not good either way. He cursed under his breath but jotted down notes on the reaction.
“Maybe,” She stopped talking as Bruce looked up at her, “the reason why it won’t work is because without the mutation, the gamma radiation would destroy your cells.”
“How…” he trailed off as Charlie lifted the file she was reading, a picture of the Hulk flapping in the air.
She looked sheepish again, “sorry, it’s part of my contract with Ni-, er, Fury to read the teams files.”
“Oh…” He looked back at the cells in the microscope. Her theory did make sense, why it seemed to work before the cells exploded, no hint of green in the mess… he mused. “I’ve been working on this for months, why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because, you’re standing too close to the picture, it’s all blurry to you.” She grinned, “maybe you need glasses.”
He chuckled, reaching on the top of his head to grab his glasses… only to meet his hair. He frowned, looking around before patting his pockets. Where did I leave… He looked at Charlie, who was twirling his glasses with her hand. “How did you?”
She grinned, “what?” she acted innocent, her eyes wide. She slid off her chair and handed the glasses back to Bruce. “I was wondering if you were going to notice.”
He grinned, finding her humor less grating than Tony’s and lifting him out of the dark hole he had been brooding in. “thanks.” the meaning in the simple word more than just one layer.
She nodded before moving back to her desk, her mini mission complete. Get Mean green fightin’ machine to smile, check...
P.S. Charlie's totally based on my best friend, kinda annoying at times but sometimes helpful, lol you know who you are.