𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚛 {Bruce Banner}

Trials and Tribulations

_ _ _

Instead of staying in their shared apartment, Tesla stays with her mother. Elsa doesn't question why her daughter shows up at her door. For two days, Tesla does not say a word about why she left Berlin and why she hasn't been speaking to Bruce. Elsa doesn't ask about it right away, but on the third day, she can't take much more of her daughter's grumpy behavior.

In her quaint little living room, Elsa is reading the paper in a floral patterned armchair. She gently lowers the paper from her view as Tesla walks by to the kitchen. "I read about your speech in Poland." Elsa gestures to the newspaper. Tesla stops walking, staring at her mother. "I would've liked to see you finish the conference."

Frowning, Tesla looks away from her mother. "I didn't feel like it."

"You sound like you did when you were a kid," says Elsa, slowly rising from her chair. She moves after her daughter into the kitchen. Tesla grabs orange juice from the fridge and two glasses. Elsa continues, "Anytime something went wrong or you were upset, instead of explaining you'd just say you didn't feel like doing it anyway."

Tesla pours two glasses of orange juice, sliding one over to her mother. She turns back to the refrigerator, putting it away.

"I had a miscarriage too," says Elsa. Tesla's hand freezes on the handle. She doesn't turn to look at her mother. Elsa takes her glass, leaning against the counter. "Shortly after your father died, I found out I was pregnant. They tell you that stress isn't good for the baby." Elsa scoffs. "I was so stressed. I was stressed over Albert's death. I was stressed about the funeral and being on my own for the first time in a long time, and I was stressed about raising you all by myself." Elsa's dark eyes mirror Tesla's. There's so much pain hiding in them. "I lost the baby."

Swallowing her guilt and sadness, Tesla stares at her mother. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Elsa takes a sip of her juice. "It's not the most pleasant discussion to have with someone, especially my daughter."

With furrowed eyebrows and a downcast look, Tesla sits down at their small kitchen table. A third chair has always been there, between Elsa and Tesla. It never really occurred to Tesla until a few years ago that it was her father's chair. Maybe it was her unborn sibling's chair now too. The image of Albert sitting in this very chair, cradling the baby, appears in Tesla's mind. She stares, transfixed on the chair, unable to lose the picture in her mind. It plays on a loop until Elsa speaks again.

"What I'm getting at here is, don't take Bruce for granted. He's here with you through all of this. Even if you two never get married..." Elsa gives her a pointed look, which Tesla rolls her eyes at. For the last three years of their relationship, Elsa has begged both of them to get married. They have yet to have the conversation. "You two love each other. And that baby comes from that love."

"I lost the baby," she whispers, staring at her glass of orange juice.

"But you didn't lose the love," says Elsa.

The guilty feeling Tesla has had lately returns, along with selfishness. Her mother had to do all of this on her own. She lost her husband, she lost a baby, and she had to raise a baby on her own. She lost the baby and she lost the love of her life. Tesla still has her significant other. Tesla recalls a conversation Elsa Edison had with one of her sisters a long time ago during the holidays. Elsa's sister was urging Elsa to consider dating again, finding someone new. While Elsa smiled and bobbed her head thoughtfully, she never actually intended to do what her sister and others in her family had hoped for her. She rarely ever went on dates with new people, and Tesla never remembers meeting any of her dating partners. Elsa never once thought about finding someone else. Her sole focus was, and is to this day, her daughter. Perhaps all the loss she feels is the reason why. She couldn't risk going through any of that again; the trials and tribulations of falling in and out of love with someone. It's a risk, one that Elsa never took. Now, however, she's urging her daughter to do it. Tesla knows she'll feel guilty if she doesn't listen to her mother's advice.

"You should live every day with the intent that it could be the last day with your loved one." Elsa shakes her head, looking bitter and distant. "Not in a fearful way, but in a way that conquers that fear. Love them tightly, hold on to them. Don't let silly things get in the way. Take on those challenges together. You love each other. Don't waste your time on anything else." Elsa pauses, collecting her emotions. She peers at Tesla with deep eyes. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I do, Mutti," she replies, her voice thick with emotion. Tesla sniffles. "I love you."

Reaching across the table, Elsa holds out her hand for Tesla to take. She squeezes her daughter's hand tightly. "I love you too, liebling."

"I am so sorry that you had to do all of this on your own..."

"No, that's quite all right, Tesla. I'm proud of where we're at." Elsa gives her a slight smirk and raises her eyebrows. "Wouldn't hurt if you'd get married to Bruce Banner soon, though," she chuckles.

Tilting her head and sharing in her smile, Tesla comments, "We'll see."

Shortly thereafter, Tesla decides to give Bruce a call. It takes her a minute or two to remember the schedule that he would've had in London and the time difference, but at this point, he should just be wrapping up his last speech and he'll have access to a phone. Tesla calls him from the living room, where the telephone rests on the side table. She dials and waits, allowing it to ring. Twisting the coil around her finger, she chews on her bottom lip. Impatience creeps in. The doorbell rings. Tesla curses to herself and hangs up the phone, "There goes ten bucks."

Making her way to the front door, Tesla calls out to her mother, who's preparing dinner for the night in the kitchen, "Were you expecting anyone?"

Elsa shakes her head.

A tiny warning goes off in her brain, and she hesitates. Tesla stands by the door, waiting for another moment. The doorbell rings again.

"Well, are you gonna open the door, or make me come all the way over there?" wonders Elsa.

Tesla waves her off, carefully opening the front door. Bruce Banner stands on the porch. There's dark circles under his eyes. He stares hopefully at Tesla as she stands frozen in surprise.

"Hi," he mumbles.

Reaching for the door, Tesla pulls it shut behind her, standing on the front porch with him. "I was just trying to call you from London. What are you doing here? You—"

"I left early," he cuts in. Bruce twists his fingers together for a moment. He looks incredibly stressed. "I had to come talk to you about everything. Tess, I am so sorry—"

"No," she stops him, shaking her head. Bruce looks confused. Why won't she let him apologize? He wants to make things right again. He was wrong for not understanding, wasn't he? "You don't have to apologize. I know that this...loss is hard for both of us. And I shouldn't have pushed you away from me."

Bruce gently pulls her into his arms, closing his eyes tightly as she leans into him. He's been wanting to hold her for such a long time. The two of them have been so lonely even if they were next to each other. "Thank you for saying that." Bruce's chin and cheek are pressed into her temple, and she can feel the movement of his jaw and the vibration of his voice against her skin. She loves feeling close to him like this. Tesla closes her eyes, allowing herself to listen to his voice and enjoy his body next to hers. He continues softly, "I know that this isn't something that we'd ever imagine to happen to us, and I know it's certainly not something I want to talk about all of the time, but I want you to know that I am so grateful for you and I am so proud of you despite what you went through. I'm so honored to be the one that could possibly have a child with you, and I am so incredibly in love with you that I am also so hurt by the fact that we lost something like this. There are some things that are not going to be the same, but it doesn't change how I feel about you or about us. If it's all right with you, I will gladly work through this with you. I just wanna be there for you and with you. I want us to be together, Tesla."

"I want that too," she mumbles, pressing herself tighter against him.

"Will you marry me?"