"Maybe I'll Just Quiet You Down A Little Bit," He Said, Grinning, As He Pressed His Lips To Hers. He

"Maybe I'll just quiet you down a little bit," he said, grinning, as he pressed his lips to hers. He laughed when small hands began pushing at his legs, and he let go of Andie to look down at Rebecca.

"Damn it, Beck," Bruce joked, leaning down to pick Rebecca up. 

"They take after you with that temper."

"You really think so?"

Bruce's smile fell away for a moment before he forced it back on. He craned his neck to look up at Rebecca.

"You're a very big girl," he said, squeezing her ankles. "Almost an adult, my goodness."

"They take after you with that temper."

"You really think so?"

Bruce laughed and gestured vaguely with his hands in the general direction of the headboard. "Sorry, I guess I just..." He waved his hands. "Hulk strength bleeds through sometimes. Can't always..." He gestured again. "Heart rate. I..." He blew out a hard breath and looked Andie over, his hands falling. "You're so beautiful. I'm forgetting words."

Wow.

"That was ten different kinds of intense."

"I miss you" (because payback's a bitch and so am I)

One Year:

"I don’t know why I keep coming back here so often. At first, I told myself it was for Rebecca, but she doesn’t recognize a headstone as you. Which is… That’s good. I’d rather she remember you as you were, instead of… I just worry she won’t remember. And I still… I blame myself. Obviously, I do. Why wouldn’t I? It was my… There’s no excuse. It was me. That’s me, and I’m the reason you’re… I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself. If I didn’t know that a bullet wouldn’t… Einstein once said that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I’m a lot of things, but I like to think I’m not insane, so I don’t think I’m going to try again. But, if I could… But I have Rebecca. I can’t. I can’t leave her. But, Andie… I don’t know how to do this without you. Please.”

Five Years:

"Rebecca says hi. Sorry, I didn’t bring her today, she’s in the city with Steve. I thought that would be best, since today… Today’s not a good day for me. I’m having… less bad days, than I used to, I guess. But… not a day goes by that I don’t think about you, and then I just kind of… It’s rough. I won’t lie. It’s rough. And I remember you so clearly, the way you felt with me, and the way you’d feel when you got inside my head, and I miss that. It’s weird, but… I miss that. Rebecca misses you. I wish, sometimes, that she looked more like you, because I miss your face. She acts like you, though. And, sometimes, she makes these faces… And it’s like you’re home again. I’m still… Andie, I’m so sorry.”

Ten Years:

"Hi, Andie. It’s been… Wow. Ten years. Really? That’s… Wow. I know I was just here last week, but Rebecca worked some more on control this week. She still loses it sometime, but she’s already better than me. She’s everything you thought I could be, and everything you were, and more. She’s better than both of us. I’m so proud of her, Andie. I know you would be, too, if you were here. We visited the school on Wednesday and Thursday, and I taught a couple of classes. Everybody misses you. They still ask about you, every time, and I’m not surprised by how much it hurts me. I still… I still feel guilty, and I wish more people would blame me. I’m so sorry. I miss you so much, and it’s all my fault, and I miss you. I love you, and I miss you, Andie, so much. But I think I’ve finally… figured out how to live day-to-day without you, even if I still think about you every day. I love you."

((HOT DAMN THAT'S PAINFUL BUT AT THE SAME TIME SO SWEET))

[[HE SURVIVED, BUT ONLY JUST]]

"But why, exactly, do I have to be here?"

"This isn’t an office. It’s Hell with fluorescent lighting."

"I know, I know but we have to be here, otherwise I’m gonna get in trouble with the Professor for not doing my job."