The Flu

"Phil?" Even with the mess she had on her hands, Maria was glad when she picked up the phone and saw Coulson's number. But then she remembered what he had reported about Victoria the last time he called and worry washed over her. "How's Victoria?" Maybe they needed to see about getting her moved to a hospital to be on the safe side? She really, really didn't want to take chances. "If you need to get her to a hospital, whatever you need to do, do it. Fury isn't here now but…."

"Victoria's fine. Just had a bath that apparently called for using every towel we had on the BUS."

"A bath." And as sick as Victoria was, obviously this bath would have to be of the sponge variety. She would hate that, being so weak that she needed others to take care of her like that, bathing her and tending her every need. But it probably had made her feel a whole lot better. "So she's doing alright?" If they were bathing her and getting her cleaned up, wasn't that a sign she was doing okay?

"She's fine. Stark's arranging a teleconference with a cardiologist he knows just to be on the safe side, but Agent Simmons and Banner think she's going to be fine, at least as long as she doesn't experience any further shocks. What happened to Nick? Could I ask how he ended up in a mental institution?"

"You heard about that already. Of course, it made the news. Of course you've heard about it. He went to try to let Victoria's family know that she was okay, and to stop the funeral, or burial or wake or whatever ceremony he could make it in time for. Except when he told some of the president's staff that this was a misunderstanding, that that Victoria was fine, they decided that was a sign that he had snapped from the stress of the flu outbreak and losing his very valuable agent. They had him sedated and taken away to the closest mental institution. Agent Carter's there now with her aunt and Agent May's mother. And I'm here trying to find a judge that isn't at Victoria's wake to sign an order getting him transferred back to Shield custody." She didn't know what in the world she was going to do if she didn't find a judge who would sign papers to get the director back. It was Friday. If she didn't find one fast, Fury was going to be spending a long weekend in a padded cell.

"Bad news!" Jasper called as he came in. "Looks like our judicial system has shut down for the day. Not a judge to be found. They're all either at Victoria's wake or they decided to take the day off. Did you know she got the entire Supreme Court to attend?"

"She isn't dead! I don't think she'll be happy to know who attended her wake when she isn't dead!" Maria grumbled. "You couldn't find a judge? What about a law clerk who knows how to forge signatures? Could you find one of those?"

"No judges means that all of the law clerks, at least the ones who couldn't find a way to attend the wake, got to go home early." Jasper said. "Wait, who's on the phone? Is that Phil? How's Victoria? She's doing okay, isn't she?"

"Victoria's fine." But Fury wouldn't be, at least if what Sharon had reported about the doctor's plans for his treatment were correct. But without a judge to sign the paperwork….

"Maria, what's going on?" Coulson demanded. "You can't find a judge? What's going to happen to Nick if you can't find a judge to sign the papers to get him released?"

"The doctors have him admitted on a 72 hour hold. If I don't find a judge, then he spends the weekend in the mental institution, and might be booked for close encounter with electricity. I'll find a judge. I'll get him out."

"Electricity? Wait, they're wanting to do shock therapy on him?" Coulson demanded.

"That's what Sharon says the doctor was talking about. I'm hoping he wasn't serious, or if he was, that it it might take a bit to get it sit up. I'll get him out before then. There has got to be a judge somewhere." Finding one was definitely looking like a problem, though. Maybe it would impress Victoria a bit, to see the kind of attention her supposed death had led to?

"Hey, Agent?" Stark called as he looked up from his phone, and then clicked on the link in the text Pepper had just sent. "You might want to take a look at this. Agent Hand's family is on the news."

"On the news? Please tell me they're alright!" Coulson and May hurried over and looked at the screen in Stark's hands. If something happened to her family, Victoria would definitely have a heart attack, and Fury might need the mental institution for real.

"Worse. They're being interviewed." Tony said as he handed over the phone. "Sweet grieving senior citizens talking about the poor granddaughter they just buried, I don't think your director's getting out of the funny farm any time soon."

"That's Victoria's grandmother?" Coulson said as he looked at the woman on the screen. She was small, probably not even five feet tall. How did someone that small end up with a granddaughter that was so big? Her husband didn't look much bigger than her and…. "Wait, doesn't Victoria dye those streaks into her hair?" He could have sworn that she did, but when her grandmother turned her head, there was a red streak that looked like it matched Victoria's in the hair twisted into a bun on the top of her head.

"She was such a wonderful, wonderful granddaughter." Victoria's grandmother told the reporter who was talking to her. "She wasn't able to come home as often as she wanted, or as often as we would like, but she called every chance she got. We couldn't have asked for a better, sweeter granddaughter than Victoria. And she had such a good heart. Her father wanted her to be an accountant, but she always wanted to make the world a better place. That's why she joined Shield."

"Do you blame Shield for what happened?" the reporter asked.

"No. And what they arranged for Victoria, she would have been so pleased. Everything was exactly the way Victoria would have wanted it to have been handled." Her grandmother blinked back tears and grabbed for her husband's hand. "Victoria loved Shield. She devoted twenty years of her life to them and believed in what they were doing, how they were trying to protect the world and make it a better, safer place. We know how important that is. And we know that a lot of other people are sick with the same thing that took our Victoria away from us so…"

"We don't know what happened, not exactly." Her grandfather said as his wife started to sob. "The flu, that's what they said it was, and a lot of other are apparently sick with the same thing, so we know that Shield's busy, but surely someone could call and let us know exactly what happened."

"We don't blame them." his wife pulled herself together enough to speak again. "Victoria loved Shield, and she always talked to us about the people she worked with and how important they were. We just need to know what happened. Was there someone with her when she died? If nothing else, I need to know that, that she wasn't alone. Please, just let me know that someone was with her to hold her hand when we couldn't be there, please. That's all I want to know, that my poor sweet little girl didn't die alone."

"Maria?" Coulson said as the interview ended with both of Victoria's grandparents breaking down in tears. "Did you see?"

"Oh, yes." A wave of guilt washed over her. How had things gotten so out of hand that Victoria's grandparents were sobbing on national television? Victoria was going to kill them when she found out, and if the doctors who were dealing with Fury saw, he was heading for electo-shock therapy for sure. There was no way they would believe this was an innocent mistake after seeing those two poor people sobbing, and begging to know that their granddaughter hadn't died alone.

"No one's told them that Vic's okay?" John had came in just in time to catch the last of the interview. "Wasn't Fury going to do something about that?" If Vic ever found out about this, a lot of people were going to die, and then she would probably have a heart attack afterwards.

"Fury tried. Only when he tried, some people from the White House thought he had lost it, and he got drug away to the mental institution for the next 72 hours if Maria can't find a judge to sign papers to release him to Shield."

"He might want to see about booking a longer stay. Vic's grandparents are crying over this mess, she's going to kill him if she finds out." John said. "Is anyone trying to let them know she's okay?"

"My mother's going to try, but it might take awhile." May said. But with the reporters everywhere, trying to interview them, would her mother even be able to get to talk to those poor people? This was a disaster of epic proportions!