The Juice Box
There was a sleeping child in Maria Hill’s arms and she had no idea what to do about it as she boarded the jet.
“Want me to take her ma’am?” Mason asked from her side.
She wasn't sure if it was because she looked uncomfortable with the child, or if he was just being polite, but either way, she nodded and handed the limp child over. The cockpit wasn’t large enough for more than two people anyway, this was better.
“Wheels up in two,” her hands found her restraints with ease, her headset resting comfortably over her ears.
“Yes, ma’am,” Torres said from his spot next to her, flipping switches until the engines roared to life.
The carrier had moved closer since they left on the mission so the flight back wouldn't be as long. The commander knew that she only had so long before they would be landing again and having to go back to the real world which included Fury being angry about the lost power source. She thought of ways that she could try and track it down again, Selvig probably knew a way to do this.
“Where are Barton and Selvig?” Maria spoke into the headset and watched her co-pilot use his thumb to indicate toward the back of the jet.
“Holding cells one and two ma’am,” he kept his eyes on the dark sky in front of him
“Take over,” she transferred controls and took off her headset, making her way to the back.
The jet was much quieter than normal, the usual talking and card-playing had been reduced to murmurs and silent games. Still, the agents sat up straighter as she walked down the center of the aircraft. It was only as she approached the middle of the jet that she realized why everyone had been so quiet.
There, still in Mason’s arms, lay the girl that they had brought back with them. Her eyes were still closed, but this time she looked more comfortable even as almost every agent stared at her. Maria approached the three agents that had pushed their bodies together to allow for her to use them as a make-shift bed.
“How’s it going over here?” she glanced between Mason and the other two agents.
“Just fine,” the accented agent responded, his arms staying put around the girl's waist.
“She opened her eyes for a second,” the female agent to the left commented, “but then she fell back asleep.”
“Okay, I want you to bring her to the medbay as soon as we touch down, off the jet right behind Barton and Selvig,” she watched them nod, “let me know if there are any issues.”
She continued on her way to the back of the jet, watching the agents around her straighten up before returning their gaze back to the sleeping child. Her knuckles rapped on the metal door before she turned the knob to let herself in.
“Hey Ria,” Natasha barely looked up from her spot in the chair next to Barton’s cot.
“Hey,” she leaned against the doorway, “how is he?”
“Unconscious,” the Russian took her partner's hand again, “but alive.”
“Want me to call Laura?” Blue eyes met green as she gave an honest offer.
“It’s okay, you have enough on your plate already, I can give her a call as soon as we land,” Natasha sighed and ran a thumb across the archer's knuckles.
“I’m sorry,” Maria leaned her head back and closed her eyes, “about Russia, about the Red Room. I’m sorry we pulled you.”
“It’s part of the job and life. I know he would have done the same for me.”
“How about as soon as all of this mess gets cleared up, I’ll help you track everyone down again. I’ll approve all of your time off,” she shook her head, “I’ll even take time off with you if you need back up.”
“You’re telling me that the Deputy Director of SHIELD is willing to take time off for me?” the redhead let out a low whistle, “man, you really are into me huh?”
“You’re such a pain in the ass Romanoff,” the older agent opened her eyes to look at the woman in front of her, “I retract my offer.”
“No no no!” Natasha laughed, “I like it, I like that you’re into me and willing to track down a ghost organization for me.”
The commander smiled for a moment, she likes that I’m into her .
“Fifteen ‘til touch down,” Torres' voice came over the intercom.
“I have to go check on Selvig,” Maria stood up straight.
“Saved by the bell,” the redhead chuckled, “come by the medbay tonight?”
“If Fury doesn’t kill me first,” she responded, reaching for the door even as her heart rate increased.
The second holding cell door was already open as she approached, voices coming from it.
“Glad to see you’re awake Doc,” she watched the agents snap their attention from the man and towards her.
“Ah Deputy Director, glad to be awake!” He smiled and laughed.
“Listen, I need something to give the Director when we touch down, or we're both in deep shit,” she couldn’t think too much about it before spiraling out.
“I believe that I will be able to triangulate the location as soon as it is used with the right equipment,” he furrowed his brow, “it uses gamma radiation, something that is traceable but only detectable with certain machinery.”
“Thanks for the heads up, buckle in for landing,” she exited the room and walked back through the jet.
She glanced over to the child still in Mason’s lap as she passed by, noticing her moving for the first time since she fell through endless portals. There was absolutely no explanation for that, or for losing the tesseract but she was going to need to come up with one and fast.
By the time they landed, all she could think of was getting her hands on equipment or resources that would be able to search for gamma rays. Two of the people that Fury wanted on his Avengers Initiative roster could help with that. That was as far as she had gotten as she stood up and watched the agents exit the jet.
“Debrief in 30!” she yelled into the crowd, they knew the drill, but now she was positive none of them could use the excuse that they forgot on her.
The jet was empty as she exited, watching the crew come on to service the aircraft.
“My office,” Fury was waiting for her at the end of the ramp.
“Debrief in 30, sir,” she tried to buy herself more time.
“It's only going to take 90 seconds for me to yell at you,” he turned and expected her to fall into step at his right hand. She did.
The walk to his office was fast, she had no way to come up with a solution at the speed they were traveling. By the time they reached his door all she could do was lower her head and stand in front of his desk.
“Where is the Tesseract, Hill?”
“I don’t know, sir, but I believe-” she tried to give him an answer she had come up with.
“No,” he barked, “why do you not know its location?”
“Because it was taken along with Loki through a portal,” she kept her gaze straight ahead.
“And you couldn't stop him because?”
“Because I’m not trained on the correct way to approach portals, sir,” she thought back to the child. She didn’t know how to approach the portal but she still found a solution.
“Because you’re not trained on the correct way to- Hill why did I hire you?” he raised his voice.
“Because I’m quick on my feet and know how to adapt, sir,” she had heard him say it countless times, including when she was promoted to deputy director.
“Because you’re quick on your mother-fucking feet and know how to adapt!” he yelled at her.
She stood there and let the words hit her, there was no use in fighting back when he was as angry as he was. Waiting for him to come to his senses wouldn't take long, but until he got to that point she would continue to be yelled at.
“You know the importance of the power source do you not? Or am I talking to a rookie?” He continued to yell, “No, a rookie would have known better. A- a fourth-grader maybe wouldn't have known what to do. Am I talking to a fourth grader?”
“No sir.”
“Dismissed. Back here as soon as the debrief is over.” He knew that he was too worked up.
“Yes, sir,” she squared her shoulders, and left the room.
“Maria!” Coulson called out from his office as soon as Fury’s door was closed.
The last thing she wanted to do right now was interact with anyone, but if there was one person who she could deal with right now, it was Phil. He was a friend first, and that would always be a rule in her mind.
Her hand closed the door to his office too harshly as she followed him into it. He was smiling (because Phil was always smiling) as he sat down and offered her a cup of coffee that she gladly took.
“Rip into you?” He cocked his head to the side.
“A proper undressing,” she sipped the too-hot coffee and tried not to think about how she would rather burn her whole mouth than to get yelled at like that again, “one that will probably have a round two as soon as my debrief is over.”
“Yikes,” he blew on his coffee and took a small sip, “so there’s a kid.”
She nodded, “there’s a kid.”
“Tell me about her,” he smiled again.
“Why?” she raised an eyebrow and took another sip.
“Well, someone’s gotta take that on and we were just talking about May and I having a kid and so I thought…”
“Phil, I love you, you know I love you, but I don’t know if this is the right call.”
“Why?” he parroted her.
“Because she’s a street kid who was working for Hydra or the Red Room and oh I don't know, she can teleport!” she watched the agent in front of her nod and contemplate this.
“Well… someone’s gotta do it right?”
She thought about this for a moment, it hadn’t really crossed her mind that the child would have to go somewhere one day. She assumed that the child would be put up for adoption, or that she would be placed under observation by scientists, and then… well she hadn’t really thought any further after that.
“I guess,” she glanced at her watch, “you really think Mel would be okay with the whole situation?”
“We were in the middle of a conversation about adoption last night before Fury called,” he smiled, “and I don't think there would be a better place for an enhanced kid to grow up. Think about it, we're here all the time anyway and she could learn to harness the powers or I don't know, learn how to help the world if that’s really what she wanted.”
“Already thinking about your kid as a superhero huh?” Maria teased half-heartedly.
“I’m just saying we have the resources,” he smiled again, “I’m going to go check on her in a little bit, if you’re up for it swing by the medbay after Fury round two.”
“I will. I told Tasha I would come check on Barton too,” she stood up, downed her coffee, and went to leave, “bye Phil.”
“Bye Ria," he called out after her.
She had successfully debriefed the agents from the mission and convinced Fury that everything would be alright by the time lunch had rolled around. Phil would reach back out to Tony Stark and try to get him to lend equipment so that they could track the gamma rays. That tracking would come courtesy of Bruce Banner, a theoretical physicist, famed for his work in the studies of nuclear physics and, more importantly, gamma radiation.
Things were starting to look up as she carried several sandwiches to the med bay where a loud crashing sound was coming from. Without looking, she knew one of her people would be at the epicenter of the noise. Sure enough, as she turned the corner, she was met with a wild-eyed Clint Barton. Eyes that darted around, no longer hazy as they landed on the woman in front of him.
“Hey there Clint,” she used her soft voice to talk to him, “care for a sandwich?”
Her hand grasped one of the shrink-wrapped items and chucked it semi-forcefully at his head. He caught it with ease and blinked a few times before Natasha skidded into view, relief hitting her face as soon as she saw the man was still nearby.
“I- I-,” he blinked a few more times before looking down at the sandwich, “I’m…”
“Hungry?” she walked closer, he continued to look at the sandwich, “come on, let's go eat these somewhere that isn’t the medbay hallway.”
“Okay…” he followed her as she walked past a grateful Natasha.
The three of them sat around his hospital room and peeled open the sandwiches, no one saying anything as they chewed the slightly soggy bread.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love sandwiches but I feel like these,” she took another bite, “need work.”
“Could be worse,” the Russian piped up, “at least there’s sauce on these.”
“Condiments,” Maria corrected.
“Condiments,” Clint confirmed, “but I’m with Tasha, could be worse.”
“You peg me for an American cheese and ham type of kid,” the Commander tried to keep the conversation light as the blonde continued to recover.
“On white bread,” he nodded and took another bite, “let me guess, club turkey sandwiches only?”
She laughed at this, she was NOT raised in an environment where club turkey sandwiches were readily available, “I mean I love them, but as a kid, I ate a lot of quesadillas and PB&J’s.”
“Quesadillas aren’t sandwiches,” Clint argued.
“They were what was in my lunchbox at school,” she shrugged, “Tasha?”
“Oh, we didn’t do sandwiches in The Room,” she smiled.
“Just gruel?” Maria joked.
“A lot of stews for lunch, sometimes crackers or bread,” the redhead looked to her partner, “ham and cheese sandwiches even in the circus?”
He finished his sandwich and nodded, looking much more Barton-like, “it was cheap and you could make a lot with one loaf of bread.”
They sat there and talked for a little while longer until the archer decided he felt well enough to call Laura and give her the rundown, Natasha promised to come back as soon as the call was over. She gave him a knowing look as if to say “I understand you don’t want to be alone right now.”
Maria opened the door and walked down the hallway with the redhead, going nowhere in particular. She was happy that they were together, even if it was during something as simple as this. Get it together Maria, you’re not a love-struck teenager .
“Thanks,” Natasha spoke first, “for stopping him, he kinda lost it in there when the nurses woke him up.”
“You don't have to thank me, I just chucked a sandwich at his head,” she smiled and looked down at the woman at her side.
“A very well-placed sandwich,” the Russian smiled and looked up.
In another lifetime, in another situation, in another universe, she would have leaned over and kissed the woman. Molding their mouths together in a desperate attempt to show how much they loved each other. But in this world, she just smiled back and continued walking down the long white corridor that was too bright and smelled too strongly of antiseptic.
“Word on the street is you picked up a kid,” the green-eyed woman questioned and suddenly they had a destination to get to.
“Well tell your sources that it’s not just any kid, and she’s already spoken for,” Maria knew that Clint and Natasha’s ‘sources’ were themselves. They would overhear something they weren’t supposed to and would always say that a ‘source’ told them.
“Pray tell,” she sounded taken back.
“Kid can teleport, Phil and Mel are looking into taking her in I guess,” she was happy for them but scared that they might be in over their heads.
“Teleport?” Natasha stopped and looked at the woman next to her.
“Yeah, like Loki did in that building. She’s enhanced.”
“Wait, is this the same kid you saw in the portal last week?”
“I think so. You were right, the last word on that board was teleport, not transport.”
The Russian thought about this for a second before looking back down the corridor they had just come from, “keep me updated on that, I gotta get back to Barton.”
“Will do, maybe I’ll swing by later?” the Commander blushed slightly, unsure of why she said that.
“Good, we have dates to discuss… for time off I mean,” it wasn’t often that the spy tripped up over her words, it was adorable every time.
“Look forward to it,” Maria waved as she continued down the hallway.
If she was in any other line of work, the sight that she was greeted with would have concerned her as she reached the last room on the left. The glass doors were closed but she could still see into the room. Phil was sitting on the bed in the center of the room, talking to the table across from him where Maria assumed the child was hiding underneath. The blankets were strewn across the room, and an IV pole had been toppled over.
“Be careful in there ma’am,” a young, frazzled agent called out from the nurse station behind her, “they’ve been like that for an hour.”
“Agent Coulson has been in there the whole time?” she watched the man continue to talk.
“Whole-time,” the young man confirmed, “he kicked everyone else out once she started kicking and scratching.”
“Scratching?” Maria turned around to look at the nurse's station.
“We tried to keep her from tearing her IV out and she had a total tantrum, started kicking and scratching everyone who got close,” he sounded annoyed as he raised his arm to reveal large scratch marks down his arm.
“She’s a scared child Agent,” the deputy director reminded him.
“Right, ma’am.”
She walked over to the door, swiped her badge to unlock it, and slid it open ever so gently, still getting the attention of the man on the bed.
“I said no one in here,” his voice was low and stern.
“So I heard,” she responded, keeping her distance.
He turned to look at his friend, his face tired, a large scratch running down his neck, “sorry, Ria.”
“That’s okay,” her eyes scanned the room for any movement of the other person in the room, “any progress?”
“Well, she stopped kicking me about 30 minutes ago and it looks like her IV port stopped bleeding,” he sighed and ran his hand over his face.
“Has she shown you her special talent yet?” the brunette tried to joke.
“Once, one second she was over here, and then she was back on the bed. Scared the shit out of me, but it looks like it scared her too because she scurried back to her hidey-hole as soon as it happened.”
The Commander walked further into the room, being careful to stay quiet and keep her hands in sight. She sat down on the furthest spot on the bed and looked over to the table that the child had tucked herself under. The space was tiny but she had wedged herself into it, green eyes darting over to Maria as she sat down. For an instant, it looked like the child recognized her and the older woman smiled; a second later, her eyes were narrowed back on Phil.
“This is my friend Maria,” he smiled and put his hand on the deputy director's shoulder, “she found you in the building.”
The little girl's eyes darted between the two of them before falling back onto Phil.
“I doubt she speaks English, Phil.”
“Well, I said ‘hi’ to her in like 10 different languages and she didn’t respond to any of them so I don’t really know what to do,” he sounded defeated.
“Have you tired… bribing her?” She had spent time around cousins that were younger than her but was pretty much totally out of her wheelhouse.
“This article says that it’s bad to bribe kids because it ‘teaches children that they can get something they want by acting out.’” he sighed and held up his phone with a paper loaded on the screen.
“Parenting books already huh?”
“I don’t know what else to do, Ria,” he closed his eyes and tilted his head back.
In the moment that his eyes were closed, the child closed hers tight and a portal emerged and sucked her in, she appeared on the bed before zapping back to the spot under the desk. The handler was right, it scared the shit out of all three of them. The little girl's eyes were wide and her lip trembled as she sat under the table.
“Fuck,” the brunette exhaled, her own eyes wide.
“Ria, language,” Coulson scolded.
“Really? She just teleported and you-” she started before he gave her a stern look, “okay, okay, sorry.”
The two of them sat in silence for a few more minutes, watching the girl in front of them who didn’t move other than to shift her gaze occasionally to the door and then back to the agents.
“Okay, fine. Let’s try a bribe,” he looked around the room, there was nothing worthy of a good bribe in there, “man I could really go for candy right now, what about you Maria?”
Even though she didn’t think the child could understand her she nodded enthusiastically, “oh yeah, I would love candy right now.”
Phil slowly got up, his hands raised so the girl could see them the whole time, “Well how about I go get some, and everyone on the bed when I get back can have some.”
The little girl watched him carefully, her eyes tracking him as he walked towards the door.
“Okay, I’ll be on the bed when you get back so I can have candy,” she laid it on thick.
“Sounds good Maria, I’ll be right back with candy and-” he reached for his card to swipe out of the room and stopped, “where’s my card?”
“What?” The Commander wasn’t sure if this was part of it.
“My swipe card, where is it?” He checked each pocket and looked back to the bed.
“Really?” she looked around the sheets and couldn't see it, “I mean you had to swipe to get in here so,”
She thought back to the only action that had happened since she had gotten in the room. The girl had teleported next to Phil as soon as his eyes were closed. Big green eyes locked in on hers as she thought about what the most likely scenario was. The girl had probably been raised on the streets and by Hydra or the Red Room and been taught how to pickpocket. She was using her new abilities to do it even better.
“She has it,” Maria stopped the man in his tracks as he lifted blankets to look for it.
“What do you mean she has it?”
“I mean, when she teleported next to you, she snagged it,” the woman looked over to the child who, sure enough, had an item between her tiny hands, “well, it looks like no candy.”
“Yep,” Phil caught on, “we can only have candy if I can have my special card.”
Maria held up her own swipe card, “we need this card for candy,” she looked at the girl who glanced down briefly.
Maybe she knew English or maybe she got the hint because she stuck out one of her tiny arms from under the desk, card in hand.
“Oh, thank you, honey! I was just looking for that,” Phil smiled and kept far enough away that he had to strain to pick up the card.
As soon as he did, the arm ducked back under the table.
“Are you okay watching her?” He kept his voice low.
“Only if I get candy too,” she joked.
The door opened and closed, the little girl’s eyes on it the whole time. As soon as the sound of the lock was engaged she shifted back to Maria who smiled awkwardly. If her best friends were going to adopt this kid, she was going to need to get better at interacting with children. Maybe Phil was on to something with the parenting books .
The minutes ticked on as the two of them stared at each other, the handler doing her best to come off as non-threatening as possible. She pulled out her phone and texted Natasha for an update on Barton.
Maria: How’s thing 2 doing? You? Lar?
Natasha: 1 video msg.
She looked at the child whose eyes seemed to be drooping a little with how tired she was. Figuring there wasn’t much else to lose, she clicked on the video and let it play out loud.
“Hi Ria,” the redhead was squeezed into bed with Barton, “we’re good, docs said he should be able to head back by the morning after they get the results of his blood draw.”
“I got a juice box for being a good boy,” the archer joked and sucked on the straw. At the sound of juice, the little girl's head shot up.
Maria paused the video and looked at her, “juice?”
Big eyes blinked back at her then glanced down at the phone. The woman shot off a text to Phil to bring back juice. Then, for the second time in 12 hours, Maria did something she normally wouldn’t. She slid off the bed and onto the floor, getting a little closer to the child who tried to make herself impossibly smaller and wedge further away. The deputy director opened the video back up and clicked play again.
“Laura and the kids- ow, mudak ” the redhead cursed in Russian at the elbow that connected with her ribs, “fine. Laura and the ducklings are fine.”
Maria watched as the little girl scooted a little closer, her eyes on the screen of the phone.
“Pretty much we're just hanging out until we get the green light, then I guess I’m off to talk to the scientist who gets all big and green. And you’re where?” The curls that framed her face bounced slightly as she turned her head to look at the man next to her.
“Maybe back to the farm, or going to pick up some other people on Fury’s list with Steve,” he shrugged.
They knew about the initiative, at some point Fury had convinced them to join it and start doubling down on recruitment.
“Anyway, hope that you’re not too swamped with work. Come hang out later if you want,” the Russian gave a lopsided smile.
“Bring more juice!” Barton's voice called out. The little girl looked as if she nodded, just barely.
“Yeah bring more juice, talk to you soon, okaybye,” and then the woman's face was frozen on the screen, still smiling.
In the time that they had watched the video, the girl had come halfway out from under the desk, her little body still hunched over. She looked like a tiny little bear coming out from a cave.
“Do you understand me?” Maria tried to be as quiet as possible.
The little girl just stared back, her face blank as she went to dart under the table again. Maria kept her phone out and scrolled through messages, landing on the muffin video that she hit play on. Again the child crept forward to watch the movements on the screen, her face hinting at a smile as Natasha panned the video over to show the small mountain of muffins they had collected.
She watched the child, eyes glued to the screen, and once again tried to take in everything. Up close she could see that her shirt had holes around the collar and shorts that looked too big for her tiny frame. The curls on her head were matted in some areas, and the shoes on her feet were velcroed as tightly as possible which made sense considering they also looked too large for her. There were more bruises on her body this close, the scabs that she had noticed in the building were just the beginning of the injuries that littered the tiny frame of the girl’s body. Once again, she was reminded of a bear, but this time it was one that had been abused in a circus. Little bear indeed.
The little girl’s head began to loll as she watched the screen until the door opened again and she snapped up quickly, moving under the table once more.
“Ria?” Phil called into the room.
“Down here,” she called back from her spot on the floor.
“Oh, hi,” the handler was surprised by her proximity to the child.
His hands were full of food and drinks that he put onto the bed, the child eying him the whole time.
“Really Phil, salad?”
“I wanted her to have options, and I don't think I can survive off candy alone,” he made a point to emphasize the word and he held up the shiny wrapper.
This got the child's attention who eyed both people that were now perched on the bed, the food between them.
“Juice,” Maria picked up one of the containers and shoved a straw through, taking a big drink of it.
Eyes flickered to the box and then started to close tight.
“No,” the woman called out, watching the child’s eyes open up quickly, “no teleporting, you have to come sit over here.”
“I thought you said she doesn’t know English,” Phil protested.
“I don’t know what she knows,” this time it was the brunette who stared at the child.
She squeezed her body out from the desk and put a hand out, a hand that shook until it was full of a juice box.
“So, she likes juice,” Phil opened a package of crackers and popped one in his mouth.
“And videos of Tasha,” she watched the child down most of the box in a few long sips.
“Is that what you guys were doing down there?” he put another in his mouth.
She nodded and laughed, “what happened to salad?”
“Salad sucks, I’m stressed,” he sipped from the juice box.
He punctured another box and handed it to the child who shot her hand out to take it. Once again she downed it in a few long draws, this time she coughed as she reached the end. Phil instinctively reached forward to help, the child shoved herself back under the desk and continued to cough violently.
“I don’t know what I’m doing Ria,” he pulled a hand over his face.
“Well, the good news is, she doesn’t seem like she’s had someone that’s looked out for her before so it can only be an improvement from there.”
The little girl calmed down her coughing and stuck her hand out again, this time Phil opened a water bottle in it. After a moment of hesitation, and probably annoyance that it wasn't another juice box, the child drank from it. Her eyes looked heavy again and she put the water down.
“Here,” Maria grabbed a cracker and handed it to the child who took it for a moment and then put it on the floor next to the water bottle.
She watched the child for another moment before looking at her phone which started to buzz.
“Hi Fury,” she spoke as quietly as she could, watching the child’s eyes continue to close even as she tried to fight sleep off.
“Hill, I need you at the bridge,” he responded.
“Be there in 5,” she winced as the man next to her looked betrayed.
Fury hung up, the man was never good with goodbyes.
“But we’re making progress,” Phil protested with a whine.
“But the man who signs my paychecks needs me,” Maria mimicked his tone as she stood up carefully.
“Ha, as if he’s just the man who signs your paychecks,” he hit a nerve and she glared at him. It was one thing if she knew she had daddy issues, it was another for anyone else to bring them up. Even her friend.
“Bye Phil,” she swiped her hard and unlocked the door.
“No wait, Ria I’m sorry!” Coulson laughed.
“I gotta go,” she did feel bad, “I’ll stop by here tonight okay?” She was already going to swing by Barton’s room later.
“Please,” he begged.
“Bye, Phil” she exited the room but not before throwing another goodbye over her shoulder, “bye little bear.”
“What do you know about Thor?” The man with one eye asked as Maria approached him in the center of the command center.
“He’s a Norse god, made an appearance in New Mexico, lives in Asgard, and apparently has a brother,” she watched as the sun looked as if it was about to set, wherever they were headed it was already nighttime.
“Do you think he would join the initiative?”
It was an interesting question, from what she could tell, the God was similar to Steve in the way that he believed in helping others. But he also didn’t live on Earth and was probably busy with his own affairs in another world. She didn’t have any siblings so it was hard to tell if this would affect his willingness to join.
“I think he would, but as more of a transient member, sir,” her eyes glanced over to a nearby monitor to see that they were headed for Kolkata, India.
“But you think he would join,” the man pressed.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good because I already wrote him into the plan and gave it to the World Security Council,” he finally turned to look at her, “I need you to get Captain Rogers here. I’d ask Coulson but he’s already on Stark duty and I’m afraid he’d fan-girl too hard.”
“Plus there’s the kid now,” Maria added. Already things were changing with her friend.
“Come talk to me about that,” Fury walked towards his office.
He sat behind the large desk and instructed the security system to make it a secure room. The windows were blocked out and the computer to his left turned off.
“The kid,” the man’s entire face changed as he spoke the two words, he now looked less on edge and more concerned.
“I don’t know a lot about her,” Maria dropped the harsh demeanor that she normally portrayed.
“So it’s a girl?” again the man looked softer.
This was another one of the conversations that the Commander didn't know how to categorize. They were talking as friends now, the man in front of her wanted to know about what was going on, but not as a boss. Not as the director of SHIELD but something else.
“Yeah, she’s tiny and been through the wringer by the looks of it,” she thought back to the injuries that covered the girl, “I’m thinking maybe Hydra or… a member of the Red Room.”
“Romanoff and Barton took that down years ago,” his voice was suspicious as he looked at her.
“That’s what everyone thought, until recently. Natasha isn’t so sure anymore,could be a key detail in that story,” she shrugged.
“You think the Red Room is not only still active but has figured out teleportation?”
“No, I think that maybe she was part of the Red Room. And then Loki taught her that? Or maybe there's something else about the tesseract that we don't know,” there were too many variables.
“So now the government owns a teleporting child,” he sighed loudly, “what am I supposed to do with a teleporting child?”
“Phil wants to look into adopting her, full time,” she leaned forward and lowered her voice.
“Phil? Really?” it was starting to feel more like a gossip session and the Commander was LIVING for it.
“That’s what he’s saying.”
“But I thought that after Bahrain-” he stopped, not sure how to continue that sentence.
“I thought so too, but Phil said that therapy has been helping and he and Mel were talking about it the night you called,” she gave a small smile and shrugged again.
“Interesting,” the older man leaned back in his chair in thought, “that’s going to change a few things.”
“Probably,” she thought of Laura and how she retired after Cooper, but she also knew other agents who had kids and still worked full time, “you ever want kids, sir?”
“For a moment in the mid 90’s but I guess it wasn’t in the cards for me,” he sat up a touch straighter, “you?”
“I’m just hitting my stride in work. I don’t think a kid would be the best choice career-wise,” she too straightened up, “plus I’m 30 and single.”
“Single,” the man scoffed.
“I am!” she argued back, fighting off a smile.
“Well, I don’t deal with liars, so you’re dismissed,” he shooed her away with his hand, instructing regular security to come back online.
By the time she had reached the door and turned to say goodbye, the man was already back to his regular stoney-face self. And so was she.
Her office was quiet for once as she entered it, there were always going to be piles of paperwork that she needed to get through, but for the first time in a long time, the only pressing matter she had was to get Steve Rogers to the carrier. She turned on her computer and waited for the email browser to open, punching in her credentials as the system opened.
Like her physical inbox, her virtual inbox was also overflowing with messages from agents. But that was a problem for a different time, right now all she needed to do was obtain Rogers personal file and call his house phone number. She had his cell number on her own, but the man rarely used it or carried it around. Instead, he insisted on using a landline, something that drove Natasha crazy as it would ring in their shared space.
The phone number was one of the first things listed on his file and Maria read it twice before punching it into her own phone. After two short rings, the receiver clicked and Steve answered.
“Good Evening, this is Steve,” his voice was formal as he answered.
“Hi Steve, it’s Hill,” she clicked open her calendar as she spoke.
“Hi Hill, how can I help you?” His voice was softer as he recognized the woman.
“I assume that you recall the conversation you had with Fury last week?” the brunette knew that it hadn’t gone exactly as planned.
“I do.”
“And I assume that you recall the questions he asked regarding the tesseract?”
“I recall telling him that you all should have left it at the bottom of the ocean,” the Captain was back to his stern voice.
“Well, that didn’t occur. And now we need you to come in case things go south,” she held her breath and quickly added, “for the... good of the country?”
“You can’t just say it’s for the good of the country and assume that I’ll do it,” he sighed.
“But this time will you?” She paused and looked at available times to pick the super-soldier up on her calendar.
“I’ll need a new suit,” he sounded as if he was trying to suppress a smile.
“Already waiting for you. When can you be ready?”
They set up a time for Phil to pick him up after he went on a house call to the Stark residence. She figured if she was going to have him leave the girl, she better make it worth his while. And talking to Captain America in person would certainly be worth his while.
“Thanks, Cap, Agent Coulson will be in contact with you soon. See you tomorrow,” she hung up the phone and checked one more thing off her to-do list.
Her to-do list was ever-growing, she opted to check a few more items off before returning to the medbay to update Phil and bring more juice boxes to things 1 and 2. She ignored the fact that her heart rate increased ever so slightly at the thought of seeing Natasha.
By the time she had finished ⅓ of the list, it was late and she figured she may have missed her chance to see any of the occupants of the onboard hospital. Still, she stopped by the cafeteria and picked up juice before making her way up to the level of the ship they were located.
“You’re supposed to be resting,” she opened the door to the two spies laughing, hard. Their eyes going wide as she walked in, even wider as they caught the juice box she tossed to them.
“And you’re supposed to be piloting- captaining? This carrier,” Natasha argued and Clint laughed again.
The commander took in the sight in front of her, both of the agents were clearly sleep-deprived and finding everything hilarious from exhaustion. She talked to Laura about this once, the woman had informed her that she had to separate the two when they got like this. If not, they would stay up all night laughing and start the cycle again in the morning, crankier.
“What a funny word, captaining… captain… captain- oh hey I hear- no wait,” he laughed again, “our sources told us that you’re getting Cap to officially retire from retirement.”
Both spies cracked up at this, Natasha tilting her head back to laugh, red curls cascading down her back as she did so.
“You’re correct,” she smiled at the two on the bed.
“Good, he’s been like a puppy every time I leave on a mission,” she made a pouty face to emphasize this, “I know he wants to go with me. But instead, he just sits around the house and spends too much time at the gym, real repressed gay behavior ya know?”
“I just don’t see it, Tash,” Clint shook his head, “he was talking to me about that Peggy lady last time and he seemed really into her.”
“She’s about a billion years old now, and how many times do I have to say it to get it into that bird brain,” she tapped aggressively between the archers' eyebrows, “Sexuality. Is. A. Spectrum.”
“I know I know,” he nodded, eyebrows knit, “spectrum. So you think he’s gay?”
“Totally,” both Maria and Natasha said simultaneously.
“I mean have you heard the way he talks about his childhood best friend? ‘Oh Bucky was so great, he was tall and handsome and gave his life for blah blah blah,” she looked at the Commander this time, “good impression, right?”
“Too good, now let Barton sleep,” she tried to put on her best Laura-mom voice.
“But we just got to the good stuff!” Clint complained like a small child. Small child, shit I need to check on Phil.
“And the good stuff will be there later, but Tasha is on a mission tomorrow, and your sleep-deprived,” she shifted her gaze to the Russian, “ready for it?”
“Yeah, go in, tell the scientist he has to come with us or else!” she yelled, getting another laugh from the archer who almost rolled off the bed.
Maria tried her best, but couldn't help the snort-laugh that came out at the change in the redhead's voice, “whatever, just be ready. Actually, get sleep please.”
“Bye, Ria!” Clint called after her as she reached the door.
“Night Masha!” Natasha yelled out.
Her hand faltered slightly at the door, the Russian had never called her that in person. She chalked the slip up to exhaustion and tried to keep her face from flushing red. It was just a loopy mistake, they were just having sex, nothing more.
She controlled her breathing and continued down the hallway to the last door on the left. The lights were dimmed and Phil was no longer sitting on the bed like he was a few hours prior. Now he was sitting in a chair off to the side of the bed, a bed that had a very small lump in the middle of it. She swiped her badge and tried to open the door as quietly as she could for fear of disturbing whatever ecosystem was now in place.
“Hey,” Phil looked up, as he spoke quietly.
“How’s everything going?” She placed the last juice box on the tray table at the end of the bed.
The child was curled up tightly in the center of the bed, her eyes were barely open. But still, they were open and Maria wondered how she could still be fighting off sleep.
“She’s been like that for hours now, she won't sleep but I got her to at least lay down for what it’s worth,” he gave a very small, very sad smile.
“Did she eat?” she looked around the room and saw a handful of wrappers.
“Two juice boxes, one water bottle, four crackers, and half a Twix bar,” he was staring at the child now, “Doc’s said if she doesn't start eating they're going to place a feeding tube. And we very much do not want that.”
The Commander looked at the child, whose blinking was even slower now. She had dried blood on the crook of her arm from where she had torn out the IV, and hair plastered to the side of her face that was pressed into the mattress. Maria approached the bed and sat at the very end, which got a small response from the child, but she was too tired to do anything.
“I think sleep time is our best bet, to help her out, or sedation,” she noticed that the child’s eyes were staying closed for longer periods of time now.
“They want to sedate her tomorrow to place the feeding tube but I know she’s just going to rip it out or teleport away,” he scooted his chair over until it was touching the hospital bed.
“She do anymore of that?” Maria pushed herself further onto the bed.
“No, thank God,” the handler stood up and reached over the bed, “this has been killing me all day.”
He waited to check that she wouldn't wake up before moving his hands to her legs. The little girl still had her shoes Velcroed on tightly as if she needed to be ready to run at any moment. Coulson’s hands worked quickly as he removed the shoes, fabric flailing out of both of them as he did so. There had been a pair of socks shoved into each shoe to help make them fit better, Maria wondered if someone had been trying their best to help the child, or if she had done it herself. Either way, it did little to protect the boney feet that were now visible.
“I figured that was the case,” Phil looked down at the feet that had blisters on the toes and a rash on the bottom, Maria knew trench foot when she saw it, “every time I tried to get close to them she would kick.”
There was a ring of grime around the child’s ankles where the shoes had sat, clearly wet on her feet for too long. The duo looked like complete opposites, Phil was clean cut with an ironed suit on, his straight light brown hair was styled perfectly. The little girl was dirty and injured, the clothes on her were worn and tattered, her hair dark brown with curls sticking up in all different directions.
“Anything in the parenting books on if it’s okay to sedate a kid to give them a bath?” her heart ached as she looked at the filth that covered the child.
“Surprisingly, there’s not too much about that in the books,” he joked, “but there is a full section in the one I’m reading now that talks about leaving during the first few days.”
“Let me guess, bad news?” she thought of how the man would be traveling to New York and DC in the next two days.
“This one says that it’s bad news,” he put the tiny black shoes on the floor, “but this other article says that it can be helpful, to show that I’m coming back.”
“So, you’re still going to go?”
“As fast as I can,” he sighed, “I’m bringing Mel back with me, I’ll pick her up with Rogers.”
“I really expected you to be more excited about that,” the image of his Captain America vintage cards flashed in her mind.
“I’ve met him before!” he chuckled.
“Yeah, for 30 seconds with Tasha and I and you just stared at him the whole time.”
The Captain had stopped by SHIELD to sign the lease that he and Natasha shared. Both women knew of Phil’s obsession and thought it would be nice of them to introduce the man to his hero. However, this ended with Coulson standing awkwardly in front of the door and staring until Steve exited the room, giving the agent a nod.
“This time will be better, I’m working,” he tried to save face.
“You were working last time too,” she laughed and glanced at the child who continued to sleep.
“Whatever,” he rolled his eyes, “all I’m saying is that I’ll be returning with backup.”
“Good, you need it,” she really wasn’t sure how he was still doing it alone.
“I wish I knew what to call her,” he tucked in a sheet around her body, she opened her eyes briefly before closing them again.
“Nothing came up on the database?” The brunette knew that they had been trying to locate any data on her through facial recognition.
“Nothing, and it’s not like she’d let us touch her to get fingerprints,” he sat back down on the chair, looking tired, “How old do you think she is?”
“Dunno,” the child next to her was so small but that didn’t necessarily mean she was young, “Ballpark? 4 to 6 years old.”
“God that’s so young, too young to have gone through whatever she's gone through,” he closed his eyes and tilted his head back.
“The world is a mean place, even for children.”
“I guess it just means that it’s a good thing she will have such a long time in her life to be happy,” he yawned, “she only had to endure it for a little while, and now she gets the good stuff for a long time.”
Leave it to Phil to find a positive outlook on this. The brunette couldn’t help but keep her eyes on the child, she deserved parents like Phil and May. He was right, they were the good stuff, and she was so happy that the two of them would be present.
“You’re right Phil,” she replied quietly, listening to his breathing even out.
They had both been awake since 3am and it was starting to catch up with her as well. But she waited for a moment longer, watching over the two polar opposites' sleep.
“Goodnight, little bear.”