Jennifer's woke slowly, stretching her entire body before snuggling back under the covers, a small smile playing on her lips. The bed was incredibly comfortable and she luxuriated in it, especially after the hard mattress and stiff, starchy sheets that she'd had to put up with in the hospital.
The hospital.
Her mind snapped into drive then as images flashed. The two men standing over her in the dark. Her anger. The feeling of her body changing; the sound of her clothes ripping. The feeling of crushing that gun in her very hand. The image of her changed, green face in the mirror.
Jennifer's heart was beating wildly and her breathing was becoming short and rapid.
Suddenly, a hand was rubbing her back soothingly.
"Hey, it's alright, you're safe. Nothing's going to happen to you. You're safe here, you're with friends," a soft voice was saying.
Jennifer focused on it, her brows coming together as she tried to place the familiarity of it.
"Bruce?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm here," he replied.
Her eyes opened then and he smiled down at her.
"There you are. See, you're good; nothing to worry about here," he said.
She nodded and pushed herself up, sliding upwards until she was sitting up in bed against the headboard. It was then that she noticed her hands – all pink and normal sized. Jennifer gasped and pushed up her sleeves. No green. Urgently, she pushed the sheets aside, checking over her legs before patting her face and pulling a lock of hair around. It was gone, no more green; she was back to normal.
"I'm normal," she grinned. "I'm cured."
Bruce's face instantly froze her.
"I am, aren't I?" she insisted.
Bruce looked down and away, with a small shake of his head.
"Your DNA says otherwise," he stated gently. "It's been changed, altered."
Jennifer stared at him. "You're saying I'm not human anymore? What am I, then? Some freak!"
Her voice had risen alarmingly by the end and she could feel herself getting angry.
"You need to calm down!" Bruce said urgently. "Slow your breathing, concentrate on it."
"I don't want to calm down!" Jennifer bit back.
"If you don't, you'll turn into your Hulk-self again, you'll be big and green just like before," Bruce snapped back.
That froze her.
She stared hard at him, her eyes staring intently into his, seeing the truth and anguish written there. Slowly, she tried to do as he said, concentrate on her breathing but it was so hard. Everything about her screamed to continue getting angry, that getting angrier and angrier could make the pain and hurt go away. Only Bruce's presence and that not-so-tiny part of her that was deathly afraid of what could happen was there to counter it.
The battle was hard and felt like it took hours, but slowly, Jennifer was able to calm herself down. Eventually, she settled, slumping, back against the pillows, spent.
"What's happened to me?" she asked.
Bruce sighed. "Somehow, my blood has altered you. I hoped that it was only temporary, that after you changed back, you'd go back to normal. But that hasn't happened. Your very DNA changed; it's very close to mine, now."
"But not the same," Jennifer latched on to that. "So, there's still hope."
"Maybe," Bruce allowed. "The only thing different about our … transformations is that you get to retain your intelligence and memory, where as I don't. Why that is, I have no idea. I'd give anything for Betty to be here right now."
"Betty?" Jennifer asked.
"A former … colleague of me. She was there when my … accident occurred as well. She knows gamma and its effects almost as well as I do," he explained.
"Well, where is she? Maybe she'd be willing to come here and help you," she suggested.
Bruce shook his head. "I haven't heard from her in years and wouldn't know where to start looking to find her."
"Will I turn green again?" Jennifer asked softly.
"Let's hope not, but I wouldn't rule it out," Bruce replied, laying a comforting hand on her arm.
"I'm guessing it's when I'm angry?" at his nod, she continued. "So, if I'm not angry, I turn back?"
"That's what I'd expect," Bruce replied, "at least, that's the way it happens with me."
"But I haven't been angry for a couple of days. Why didn't I change back earlier? And what made me change back anyway?" she asked.
"I'm only guessing here," Bruce warned. "But I think that the reason you took so long to turn back was that you were so stressed, your … Hulk-side … decided that the best way to protect you was to ensure that you had your full strength ready at hand. As to what finally changed you back, well, you laughed. I'm guessing that you finally allowed yourself to relax."
"I'm guessing you want to run some more tests?" Jennifer sighed.
"I do," Bruce replied. "But I think it's not going to be what you expect."
She looked at him quizzically and gestured for him to explain.
"I'd like the two of us to go somewhere remote, somewhere where there's no people around. And then I want you to trigger your change," he said.
"WHAT! Why?" she panicked.
"Listen, you get to keep your intelligence. I think you can use that. You can calm yourself down and have some control over changing back. Who knows, you might even be able to control changing back and forth at will," he explained. "The problem is that it's not going to be an easy process; in fact, I expect that it'll be long and hard. But I know you, Jenn, you're strong – in your mind, your will – and I know that you can do this."
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