A Day in Your Shoes

[labcoatgirl]

It had been nice working with Bruce again. The lab setting, the smell of chemicals, the white coats....it was like old times. Betty looks over at Bruce with a smile, dropping a few drops of liquid into vials in front of her before testing the radiation quotient of each.

Everything seemed to be going well.

As Betty slid the last batch into the radiation sensor machine for Jarvis to analyze, there was a warning from the computer AI. "Warning, systems experiencing sudden electrical overl--"

The rest of the warning is cut off by an explosion as the electrical overload reaches the machine in front of Betty. She's thrown back into Bruce by the explosion and electrical output, the two of them thrown against the wall before landing on the debris pile. The entire lab is trashed...and the two scientists are not moving.

Comments

[brokeharlem.livejournal.com]

"It's fine," he promises, knowing all too well what the dreams (nightmares) after a transformation are like. He doesn't envy her then, nor does he have the heart to tell her that she'll probably be at their mercy for the next few days, assuming they can't get this fixed before then. How do you really deliver that kind of news?

He brushes his hand over her shoulder lightly, then pulls his hand back. "I'll ... get you a towel."

[labcoatgirl.livejournal.com]

She sighs, wiping the water out of her face and reaching to try and shut off the water. "I thought..." her voice trailing off for a moment. "...it's irrational. If I showered long enough, it might be a bad dream."

If anything, she now understands what it is that Bruce goes through every day, even if this is a small part of it.

[brokeharlem.livejournal.com]

"It's not irrational." God knows he's wished the same thing, many a time over the years -- that if he just showered long enough, he could wash away the madness of his life.

He offers her a brief, but entirely sympathetic look and moves to get a towel out of the linen closet. He's still wearing the same look when he returns with it, moments later. "I wish I could tell you that actually worked."

[labcoatgirl.livejournal.com]

She shivers a little, stepping out and dripping on the floor as he brings her the towel. Betty wraps it around herself, not looking at him as he speaks. Without a word, she steps in close, just wanting to be held for a moment.

[brokeharlem.livejournal.com]

He allows her that, arms wrapping around her waist to pull her tight against him with a little less hesitation than he might have shown before. Slowly, he turns his head to rest against hers. As with the shower, he doesn't seem to either care or notice that he's getting wet, himself.

"I'm sorry," he says after sometime of silence. He may feel odd, like half a person at the moment, but he's still more than willing to take the blame for everything and anything. Really, though, who else could be at fault here?

[labcoatgirl.livejournal.com]

Usually, she would tell him to stop apologizing. This time...she feels partly responsible.

"...me too," she says quietly into his shoulder.

Once she's able to compose herself again, Betty finally speaks again. "What do we do?" Focus on fixing it, that's what they needed to do. But she wasn't sure if they should be looking for a cure or a way to switch back. As bad as it was, she couldn't give this back to Bruce.

[brokeharlem.livejournal.com]

"It's not your fault." He really believes that, too. The explosion that caused this -- assuming it's at fault here in the first place -- could have happened to either of them. She didn't know that would happen or that this would be the end result. It's not her fault.

He pushes concepts of blame out of mind when she poses her question, however, and wets his lips with his tongue, looking thoughtful. "We could probably recreate the, uh, accident. If we're lucky, if that's what actually caused it, maybe we'll bounce back."