Time is the Only Constant

The next morning, Maria’s alarm went off bright and early. It was the first time in the last few days that she hadn’t woken up to Ellie poking her and she wondered if the girl was exploring her new room or still asleep. 

She made her bed and laid out the button-up and slacks she had ironed the night before along with a T-shirt and pair of shorts for Ellie. They had decided her white shirt with the planets labeled went well with her blue shorts. But now that Maria was looking at the selection she noticed something she hadn’t the night before. 

Her white shirt and blue slacks were the professional, adult version of the child outfit. They would be matching for the girl's first day and the Commander's first day back.  

She smiled to herself and padded into the kitchen where she started her coffee and made two bowls of oatmeal. They had 45 minutes to get out of the apartment which seemed like enough time in theory, but as the woman tried to wake the child, she realized she may have been wrong. 

“Ellie girl, it’s time to wake up,” she sat on the side of the girl's bed and peeled back the layers of blankets that engulfed the girl. 

The child sat up and rubbed her eyes, that’s when Maria realized another thing she may have been wrong about. It seemed that the shower the night before was taken too late and so the girl went to bed with damp hair, hair that now stuck in all angles as the child yawned and went to lay back down. 

“Come on, little bear, it’s breakfast time,” Maria froze as the girl leaned against her. 

They sat like that for a moment longer before the woman wrapped her arms around the girl who melted into her side from exhaustion. She lifted them both up and carried the girl to her spot at the island. 

“Go ahead and eat,” she pushed the bowl in front of the child who blinked slowly. 

Maria grabbed her own lunch box along with an old SHIELD-issued one for the girl. It seemed even Phil forgot things sometimes as the Deputy Director filled both boxes with leftovers and snacks for the day. 

It turns out an hour was actually needed for the two of them to be ready for the day. Maria ran over her mental checklist: breakfast, hair/teeth brushed, medication, dressed, lunch, tablet, backpack, socks, and shoes. She didn't think she had missed anything but noticed the girl fidgeting around, clearly nervous for the day. 

“You’re going to have so much fun, you’re going to do great,” Maria smiled and looked at the miniature version of herself. 

Ellie traced Saturn on her shirt and looked up at the woman in front of her, “Do not get scared. I am strong, not scared. You fear, you die. I am strong. I do not fear.”

“Hey hey, it’s okay to be scared,” Maria smoothed out the curls that framed the girl's face, “you are brave but you can be scared. How about this,”

The brunette walked away for a moment before reemerging with the flashlight which immediately changed the girl's mood. 

“You can take this with you but you have to bring it back,” she was careful to put it in the girl's hands. Hands started to run over the textured metal of the light immediately. 

Maria watched as the girl smiled and then realized she had missed one thing, a first-day picture. She had no one to send it to but it was something she had done with her Abuela growing up and she wanted Ellie to have a picture to remember this day. 

“We have one more thing to do before we leave,” Maria pulled out her phone, “we take a picture of how ready you look.”

The child seemed unsure as she shifted from one foot to the other before straightening up. 

“1.. 2,3” Maria snapped a few pictures and smiled, “you look great, kid.” 

“And you?” the child stuck out her hand for the camera. 

“How about together?”

It was the right question because the girl nodded and stood on her tiptoes next to Maria who propped the phone up on the countertop. The phone took a burst of pictures that the two of them looked at together. 

It was a little too dark (the sun had barely come up and illuminated the living room), Ellie’s knuckles were white (from holding the flashlight so tightly), both of them looked nervous (because they were), and the whole thing was slightly lopsided. It was perfect.

“Ready?” She looked down at the girl who had one hand on her backpack strap and the other on the light. 

“Okay.”

The two of them made their way downstairs, passing by the desk attendant who wished them a good day, and into the parking garage where Ellie reached for Maria’s hand without prompt. The day was already warming up and the brunette was slightly envious of the child’s shorts as she buckled her into the car seat. 

Music from the woman’s phone played quietly in the background as they made the commute to work. Maria continuously glanced into the rearview mirror at the child who clicked the flashlight every once in a while. 

“Can you name all of the planets in English?” it was one of the reasons she had suggested the shirt, it gave the child something to focus on. 

“Um. Yes,” the girl looked down, “Sun, Murcrrry, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupietur, um Sat-ern, Uranus, Neptune.”

The brunette nodded as she followed along with the girl, noting the accent that crept into her voice when she spoke for more than a word or two.

“This does not have, but in books from were used to live, pluto-” the girl was tracing her finger on the empty spot after Neptune before she was cut off. 

“Good morning Commander Hill,” the guard at the front gate saluted and looked at her badge before glancing into the backseat at the child who huffed at the interruption. He stared for a moment longer, a moment too long. 

“Something I can help you with?” The Deputy Director pulled his attention back. 

“No, sorry ma’am. Have a good rest of your day,” he stood up straight and opened the gate for her. 

“Pluto was a planet when I was your age,” Maria looked into the rearview mirror as she rolled up her window and drove towards the parking garage. 

“Here?” Ellie pointed at the spot.

“Yep, right after Neptune,” she pulled into the parking structure and in the spot next to her actual car. A car that was not made to have little girls riding in the back of it. 

SHIELD was a 24-hour organization, no matter what time of day, there would be someone around. However, most employees from cafeteria workers to agents started their day early, a fact that Maria was reminded of as she opened her door and heard the bustle of people around her. 

“Here we go,” she took one last breath and opened the door to the backseat, “there’s going to be a lot of people so just hold on to my hand. If you want me to pick you up, squeeze it twice, okay?”

“Okay,” the girl looked up, anxiety blanketing her face even as she tried to school her features. Apparently, she was still too young for her to have properly mastered that skill in the Red Room. 

The woman helped the child out and made sure both her backpack strap and flashlight were securely in hand before they joined the crowd of people making their way into the Triskelion. At first, no one noted the child that walked next to the woman, not used to looking down. That changed as they waited in line for the elevator. 

“Morning Comm- oh hello!” One of the agents who used to work under Maria spotted Ellie who took a step to hide behind the woman's leg.  

“Agent Su, how's intel treating you?” she pulled the attention away from the girl. 

“It’s good, I just passed my fieldwork test so I should be out there soon. Thanks again for the reference,” the woman smiled and turned her head to get another glimpse of the child. 

“You’re welcome, have a good one,” Maria pulled the girl with her into the somewhat full elevator and pressed the button to the Children’s Center. 

“Hill,” another handler greeted, looking at the child who stood in front of the woman. 

“Morning,” she smoothed the hair on the girl's head and remained facing forward. 

The ding of the floor level brought a much quieter area that both woman and child were thankful for. They walked out, Ellie turning around to watch the doors close which got a reaction from the occupants, and stood in the hallway that led to the Center. 

The child scanned the hallway noticing there was only one way in and one way out. She looked at Maria and then back to her surroundings, on the right side there was a bulletin board of what was happening in the Center. On the left side, there was a large window that looked into a section of the Center that held a long table with chairs that looked out of the window and into the hallway. 

Little fingers clicked the flashlight on and off, on and off, on and off before Maria rested her hand on the child. She crouched down to eye level with the girl who was taking quick breaths. 

“You’re okay,” she placed her hands on either side of the girl's face, trying to keep the anxiety at bay, “try and follow what I do, okay?”

“O- kay,” the response came out broken between breaths. 

“Breathe in nice and slow for 4 counts okay? One…two…three…four… now hold it and let it out nice and slow for one…two…three…four… five,” Maria watched as the girl followed her instructions and her own breath, “one more time, one…two…three…four… hold it, now out for one…two…three…four… five. Good job, little one.”

The child looked somewhat calmer as she continued to hold the flashlight tight. 

“What’s rule number one?” the Commander looked her in the eyes. 

Ellie parted her lips and swallowed, “Ria keep me safe.”

“That’s right, I keep Ellie safe,” the blue-eyed woman nodded, “I wouldn’t send you to the Center if I didn’t think it was really safe.”

“You’re going to go so good today, I already know it,” Maria brushed her thumb over Ellie’s cheek, “and if not, if you absolutely cannot stay here, you go up to an adult and tell them to call me, okay? I’m always just going to be one phone call away.”

The girl nodded and looked at the window, noticing some of the other kids who were now visible through it. She tensed at the sight and Maria let out a breath, trying to keep her own anxiety down. 

“You can do this, I believe in you,” the woman stood up and took the child’s hand, leading them both into the entrance of the space. 

“Hey there!” Grace was standing behind the front desk just as she was the first time Maria had met her, “today’s the day, huh?”

“Today’s the day and we’re a little nervous about it,” the woman looked down at the girl who held on tightly to her hand. 

“That’s okay, we can take it easy today,” the blonde smiled at the girl, “we don’t have too many friends coming in today so you can just hang out. I’ll just need you to fill this out really quickly while I take Ellie to our backpack station!” 

She handed the Commander a clipboard with an intake form (the woman did love a good form) and opened up the half door that separated the front desk area from the rest of the Center. Ellie tightened her grip.

“Maybe you can tell Ms. Grace about your shirt?” Maria asked the girl who continued to stare with scared eyes until the woman crouched down once more, “Remember what I said, if you need me, you call me. You can do this, Little Bear.”

Ellie stuck her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded, slowly releasing her grip until she stood alone and followed the woman behind the half door.    

The Commander let out a long breath and started filling out the very detailed form.

First name: Elizaveta Middle Name: N/A Last Name: N/A Alies: Ellie

Off to a great start 

Allergies: Unknown Medical information: chlorpromazine (metabolism stabilizer)  

Killin it Hill 

The woman worked her way through the rest of the form, putting teleportation under “anything else we should know about your child” and leaving both “emergency contact” numbers blank after hers. 

“How’s it going?” Grace had returned to her position behind the desk.

“How much of this can be left blank?” Maria stepped aside as a parent checked in their child. 

The blonde laughed and leaned over the counter to get a better look at the form, “Ideally? None. But you’re special,” she blushed, “and we have most of her information in the system already.” 

“So then it’s okay that I’ve only filled out like 10% of this?” The Commander wondered how far ‘Special” would get her. 

“Let me see,” Grace flipped the form around and went over what Maria had written, “this is kind of adorable.”

The brunette had no idea what she was referring to and squinted at the paper. 

“You don’t have her last name written down-” the blonde started.

“We don’t know it,” Maria interjected.

“Butttt you have a full paragraph for both her likes and dislikes,” the woman continued to smile as she greeted another family that brought two little girls in matching jackets. 

“Well that’s the easy stuff,” the blue-eyed woman checked her watch. She had a meeting in an hour but needed to get work done before then. 

“You’d be surprised,” she shrugged, “no emergency contact? Not a significant other or…”

“Can I get back to you on that? I need to make a few calls,” she had no idea who she was going to write down and needed time to think. 

“Sure, but really this is the one section that we need filled out, no matter how special you are.”

“Got it, I have to run but if anything comes up give me a call,” the woman grabbed a card from her wallet, “this is my office number, if I don’t answer, here is my cell,” she wrote it down on the back of the card and handed it to Grace, “I told her if she needs me she can go to an adult and they will know to call me.”

The blonde smiled and took the card, “I’ll let everyone else know.”

“Thank you, she has videos she likes to watch on her tablet, snacks in her bag, and a change of clothes, she’ll talk about space and might be mean to other kids but we talked about it and made rules so hopefully that isn’t a problem, she won't make eye contact but knows to say ’okay’ if she understands something, if not she does this thing where she tilts her head, oh and if she squeezes her eyes tight call me right away because it’s how she tel-”

“Maria,” Grace cut her off, “she’s going to be okay. If not, we'll call you.”

“Sorry, she’s just-”

“Different and special like her mom, I get it. We take care of kids for a living, we got it,” the woman softened her smile at Maria, “Now go save the world or whatever it is you do as Deputy Director.”

“Thank you,” she exhaled and turned to exit the space.

She kept her head facing forward as she walked through the hallway until she got to the other side of the large window. From where she stood she could see the back corner of the little kid space where one of the workers was reading a book to a handful of children who all sat on a rug. All but one child. Ellie sat just a little too far away with her back pressed against a bookshelf and her hands balled into fists with the left clutched around her flashlight. 

It took everything in Maria not to walk back in and check the girl out of the space for the day, she could push her meetings or even have the girl sit in on a few of them- no, the child needed to learn how to socialize and Maria needed to learn how to trust the Center. She was one of the people who signed off on the space, but when it came to sending Ellie she had a hard time remembering exactly how secure the area was. 

The elevator dinged as a father brought his kid into the hallway, Maria took it as her cue to leave and trust that the girl would be safe.  

Her office was just as she had left it nearly 2 weeks before, full of organized chaos. There was, however, a new stack of papers on the corner of her desk that she picked up while her computer turned on. She wasn’t surprised as she looked over each letter addressed to her by various people. All had one goal: getting their testing equipment on Ellie. 

The stack was placed back exactly where she found it. There was no way she would let any of these people near the girl, no matter how promising their said research was. She was in the process of picking the papers up to recycle them when her computer dinged to life. 

Her home screen looked different as she opened her email, noticing how that looked different too, sleeker, more intuitive. Nearly a full minute passed by before she remembered the unasked-for (but useful, if she was behind honest) update to their tech courtesy of Stark. The design may have been better, but it didn't hide the fact that she had more emails in her inbox than ever before. She had gone through all of the important ones over the weekend, but now she needed to work on the details. A majority of them were handled by other, lower-level, members of her team but a handful of them were sent from the Director himself. 

She responded back to the easy emails first. No, you can’t add more lanes to the firing range just because the first one has a weird smell to it. Yes, your maternity leave is approved, delegate all work to your team and second in command. Work with IT on this. Work with the expense department on that. Work with a therapist for.. all of this.  

The notification on her computer alerted her 45 minutes later that she had an upcoming meeting. She looked at the planner next to her computer to see who it was with, hesitating as she flipped to the correct date. The most recent date showed not only the events of the day she left for the Helicarrier but also the information she had been looking up: Russian, coat sale, factory? Warehouse? Small child. 

The business of the morning had pulled her away from the ever-consuming thought of Ellie for just long enough, but now as she was reminded of how long ago she had searched for the child, anxiety built. She opened the top drawer of her desk and popped a half piece of gum in her mouth before flipping her planner to the correct date. 

Her 9am appointment was with research and development who wanted to talk to her about new protective equipment that agents could wear in their suits. Or at least she was pretty sure that’s what they wanted to talk to her about when they made the meeting a month prior.  

She continued to chew the gum in earnest as she made her way down to another section of the triskelion, thinking about what Ellie was doing and how she was feeling the whole time. The thoughts continued until she was walking into one of the fortified labs. 

“Deputy Director,” the head of the department smiled and adjusted his glasses. 

“Davis, how are you?” she shook his hand and looked around at the other members who all straightened up as she walked into the lab. 

“I’m doing well, ma’am,” he guided her to another area where a mockup of the new uniform was laid out on the table. 

“After the new software update, we were able to model a lot of these pieces based directly on the agents who wear them,” the scientist explained, holding up one of the uniforms, “the tech helped us scan the med bay records for the most common areas of injury, and we used that along with body cam footage to see movements that can't be restricted.”

For the second time that day, the Commander was, unfortunately, grateful for the update to the system from Stark. This type of equipment would no doubt keep agents safer while they were in the field.   

“And they can be customized?” a certain duo who hated anything restrictive came to the Deputy Directors' mind. 

“They are based on agent records of body measurements to create a custom fit. They can be customized down to the stitching for our more particular agents,” the man smiled and held up the suit, “this one was created with measurements for you, we wanted to try and sell you on it first.”

She ran the material through her fingers, it felt nearly identical to the tac suit she wore most days other than the area over where her ribs and knees would sit. Davis noticed her feel the new additions. 

“Those are where you take the most hits, they are triple reinforced rather than single and double over less common injury points,” he pointed to the shoulder section which felt thinner, “but the whole thing has added protection.”

“The whole thing?” The rest of the suit felt normal to her.

“Yeah, we came up with a flexible polymer that allows it to act as a fabric material until there is direct pressure,” he flicked a section of the suit that went rigid, “then it stiffens to lessen the hit.”

“How much?” the price mattered but only so much, this would save lives.

“As with everything, the more customizable a piece is, the higher the price ma’am,” he looked around the room, “we're thinking a 10-15% increase from current suits.”

“Let me try this one out this week, and if I give the go-ahead, send a quote for my team and Coulson’s team to accounting,” the brunette continued to look at the suit, noticing the man shifting nervously on his feet. 

“We can also make them… in smaller sizes if needed.”

“I’ll keep that in mind with my smaller agents?” she wasn’t sure where this was going. 

“In child sizes ma’am,” he lowered his voice, “if you wanted to bring the girl from the God down here sometime…” 

“The child in my care will not go through testing just because you want information on her, Davis” her jaw clenched on the piece of gum.

“No, no I’m sure that you’re getting enough requests on that front,” he spoke quickly, “but there’s word that she will be brought on certain missions and I just thought you might want to have a uniform-”

“I assure you, she will not be going on any missions. She is a child, she is not a weapon,” the Commander leveled the man with a gaze. 

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” she turned on her heel and made her way out of the lab, angry at the thought of the conversation.

She continued towards the elevators until she passed the largest lab in the building which was ironic because it was the one used by the least amount of people. Two.

“Fitzsimmons?” her knocking cut through the music that was being played on the other side of the door until it opened. 

“Maria! How are you? Come in,” Jemma Simmons opened the door and turned the volume down on the speaker. 

“Hi Jemma,” the Commander walked into the space, waving at the only other occupant, “Hi Leo.”

“Ah, Deputy Director, to what do we have the pleasure,” he smiled and walked over to where she and Jemma were standing. 

“I need you two to help me so I have an actual excuse to use on all other scientists that keep pestering me,” she walked up to the large table in the middle of the room and took a seat. 

The two scientists shared a look and then a smile and sat down at the table opposite Maria.  

“Does this mean we get to know about the child from the God?” Fitz asked with a smile that soon turned into a wince as the woman next to him jabbed her pen in his side.  

“Sorry,” Simmons apologized.

“Word moves fast,” Maria exhaled, “her name is Elizaveta not the ‘Child from the God’” 

“What can we do for you and Elizaveta?” the scientist tried again, looking much more apologetic. 

“I have about 60 requests on my desk from people all over the world that want to test on her and while I’d tell them to fuck off, I know SHIELD will get involved and claim that there needs to be some form of standardized testing,” she thought about the series of tests all of the Avengers and enhanced agents went through, “I figured she would be the most comfortable in a location that’s familiar to her.”

“We would love to help,” the young woman smiled.

“We could have her come check out the space before we do it too,” Fitz was writing on the table they were sitting at that suddenly turned into a computer screen, “then run her through everything, have her teleport a little, read our minds to get a base level of that, I heard she can also shoot lasers so we might have to go to the back room for that.”

He continued to write, Maria let him for a while longer before breaking it to him that she didn’t read minds (that she knew of) and for sure did not shoot laser beams. 

“So just teleportation?” he sounded a little letdown.

“Afraid that's it, Leo,” the Commander shook her head in amusement. 

“Well that should be simple enough, we could record everything and maybe run her through a few scans and a blood draw,” Jemma looked over to Fitz who was writing everything she said down, “maybe an hour or two in total?”

“I’ll find time on my calendar,” the Deputy Director pulled out her phone and searched for an open date, “But let me make one thing abundantly clear.”

She waited for both scientists to look up and give their full attention before she continued. 

“This information will be treated as confidential, I am trusting you two, and only you two, on this. When I bring her in the lab will be empty, and you will encrypt all information, I don’t want anyone knowing if a single hair on her head is out of place. Do I make myself clear?” 

“Yes, ma’am,” the two said in unison. 

“She’s a 5-year-old girl who doesn’t trust anyone, I am only bringing her here because if I don’t the requests will continue and the last thing I need is Fury involved in any of this. I’m trusting you two with a child who is in my care, do not take that lightly.”

There had only ever been a handful of times where she spoke to FitzSimmons as seriously as she was now and hoped that they would understand the gravity of this situation. 

Maria said her goodbyes and made her way back to her office where she shoved her new tac suit into her bag and sat down at her desk. She continued answering emails and reviewing plans for upcoming missions. The handler who had taken over Phil’s team was an older man who already had a team of his own. She worked with him to try and break up the workload and had just gotten to how they would assign missions to Natasha when her office phone rang. 

“This is Hill,” she held the phone between her ear and shoulder.

“Hi, Deputy Director,” Grace's voice cut through, causing Maria to stop all over work. 

“Hi Grace, everything okay?” She asked, trying to keep her voice neutral. 

“We’re having a little bit of a hard time with our friend Ellie,” clearly the child was in front of the woman who tried to sound as positive as possible, “we don’t want to get out from behind our cubby it looks like.” 

“Sorry Grace, will you put her on the phone?”

Maria waited until the rustling sound stopped and she could hear the exhale of Ellie. 

“Hi kid, you okay?” she asked and waited for a reply that didn’t come, “want me to come get you?”

“Yes,” the small voice spoke up. 

“Okay, you stay put and I’ll be there in 5 minutes,” the woman locked her computer and made sure she had her badge, “can you tell Ms. Grace that?”

“Okay,” Ellie spoke into the phone, “5 minutes.”

“I will see you soon,” the Commander said.

True to her word, the woman was at the Center in just about 5 minutes where she could see from the window in the hallway that Ellie was still at her cubby in the backpack station. 

“Hi Deputy Director,” a young man said from behind the front desk as the Commander walked into the space. 

“Hi, here to check Elizaveta out for the day,” she looked to see that Grace was still crouched next to the cubby. 

“Great, just sign out here and let me print your end-of-day report,” the man typed away at the computer as Maria filled in the required information, noticing it was just before noon, “here you are, and now you can go ahead on back and get her.”

“Thanks,” the brunette took the piece of paper and walked through the half door.

The girl popped her head out of the small wooden area as Maria approached, “came?”

“Of course, I told you I’m just a phone call away,” she knelt down so she was eye-level with the girl, “want to get out of here?”

“Yes.”

Maria extended her hand and was shocked at how quickly the girl took it, squeezing it twice. The Commander picked the child up in one smooth motion, noticing that the girl relaxed much faster than she had in the past. 

“Thank you,” she winced at the woman next to her who had just stood up. 

“Of course, there’s always tomorrow,” the blonde smiled back and placed her hand tentatively on the girl's back, “I’ll see you later Ellie.”

The brunette could feel the child go rigid at the unknown touch but continued to keep her chin on Maria’s shoulder. The older woman picked up the child's backpack and kept it in her hand as they walked out of The Center. Grace was right, there was always tomorrow.