I was so engrossed at looking through these that I didn't hear the door slide open behind me, nor did I hear the hushed whispers. I did, however, manage to pick up the feeling that someone was watching me - the hairs on the back of my neck rose to attention. I span around, much faster than I probably should have, and felt my world spin once more. I leaned back on the counter heavily, swallowing hard and blinking. When I opened my eyes again, the world had returned to normal, and across the lab/hospital room from me, I could see three guys, standing staring at me.

I stared back, willing my heart to calm it's Salsa.

"Claire?" The man in front asked tentatively, tilting his head to the side slightly, and taking a step towards me. I pressed my back further into the bench.

"Who's Claire?"

The man dropped his head, sighing. He turned back to other two. "I told you she wouldn't remember." he protested, holding out his hands in an admission of defeat. The shorter man scratched his beard and stepped past, moving towards me. Instinctively, I shrank back against the bench, trying to make myself as small a target as possible. The guy froze, seeing me, holding out his hands, palms turned towards me.

"Hey, Claire? Kiddo?"

I eyed him nervously, my eyes darting from him, to the first guy, and then to the blonde guy standing sheepishly at the back, avoiding my eye. my eyes flickered back to the guy with the beard, who was creeping towards me.

"Who's Claire? Is that me?" I asked, gulping.

"That folder you were looking at? The file? That's you. You're Claire." the guy with the beard was getting pretty close to me now. I narrowed my eyes and he stopped moving again.

"How did I get here? Who are you people?"

"Claire, it's going to be a long day, you've only just woken up, and I think it's important that you get some rest before we overload you-" the guy in the glasses said quietly, before being interrupted by the man with the beard.

"I think the girl can handle learning a couple of names, right? After all, she deserves to know what she's doing here." he shot me a smile, which I didn't return. My eyes kept flickering to the tall guy at the back, who was staring at a spot just in front of me.

"I don't-"

"Of course she can." The guy with the beard placed a hand on his chest. "My name's Tony. This is Bruce-" he waved a hand to the guy in the glasses, who shot me a brief but warm smile, "And this is Steve." he pointed to the blonde guy at the back, who finally looked up.

Wow. Okay, he was attractive. Electric blue eyes and perfect blonde hair. He was tall and lean too, with a perfect posture.

I dragged my eyes away from him and back to Tony.

"Okay," I heard Bruce murmur. "She knows our names, can we get her back to sleep now? Tony, look at her, she's shaking."

Tony and I both looked down to my hands, which were gripping the bench so tightly that my knuckles stood out vibrantly.

"Claire?" I looked back up at Bruce, who was slowly walking towards me. "I promise you I'll explain this to you, but for now you need to get some rest. You must be tired."

I met his brown eyes, and saw something beautiful. I saw trust. An undeniable connection. He was willing me, pleading with me with those puppy dog eyes. Slowly, I felt my eyelids grow heavy and itchy. My mouth stretched into a yawn.

"That's it Claire, you're tired, aren't you?" Bruce said softly, taking a grip of my arm and leading me back across the cold tiles to my bed, where he and Tony eased me onto the mattress, pulling the covers up to my shoulders. Steve hovered behind them, his piercing eyes remaining the only clear thing to me as the world swirled and merged into a few basic hues. Then everything went black, and the blue of Steve's eyes faded into the darkness.

---

When I woke up, my lab room was dark. The lights were all off, but outside past the patterned glass that distorted everything I could see lights, and hear people talking. I eased my way out of bed and padded across the lab to the door, pushing it open a crack to the dimly lit hallway. Across the hall another door was ajar, and light was flooding out. It was from there that the voices were coming.

I slipped into the hallway and crouched beside the door.

"So what was she like?" That was clearly a woman's voice.

"Confused." Bruce?

"She didn't really say anything. She just asked where she was, and who we were." That was Tony's voice.

"And she asked who Claire was." The voice was unfamiliar, but I had a feeling it was Steve's.

"Wait, you mean she didn't know who she was?" Another unfamiliar male voice.

"Yeah, she just kind of-" Steve broke off as the door moved slightly. I'd been standing to close to it, and pushed it slightly. I hung back in the hallway, cursing myself silently, while the room remained quiet.

"You can come in if you want, Claire." Bruce said softly after a few moments. I sighed, and pushed the door open completely with one hand, stepping into the room to come face to face with Steve, Tony, Bruce, and two other people I'd never met before.

"Um... Hi..." I murmured, my voice a lot smaller than I'd hoped it would be.

Notes

Completed! Tell me what you think of it!!