Assembly Required

"All agents! Code 13! Repeat: All agents! Code 13!" Lucy heard over the intercom.

"Great." She muttered as she moved away from the microscope. "Just what I needed. Douches who don't listen. I mean it's not like I didn't warn them. And I specifically told them to change the recording, but no, Stewart said 'I can handle it'. Doesn't seem like he handled it."

She was interrupted from continuing her monologue by an agent who appeared at her lab door. "Why wasn't I notified that he woke up?" She says quickly.

"I believe you just were." He answers cheekily.

"Funny," Lucy said dryly.

"I know. It's a gift," Chris, the agent, said. He then got serious. "He's currently running on foot. Seems to be headed nowhere in particular, but we do have other agents following him in SUVs. Follow them, and they'll take you to the Iceman." Chris says as they reach her transportation. "Just be safe out there."

"When am I ever not?" Lucia replies and she goes in pursuit of her patient. She follows the black SUVs for a few blocks and then stops when they stop at Times Square.

She parks her motorcycle down the street. It's when she gets closer that she sees this will probably be a problem, a crowd was beginning to form.

The SUVs made a circle keeping her patient in and everyone else out. Lucy stumbles and apologises her way through the crowd as she makes her way to the front.

"Sorry Ma'am, you can't come in." He blocks her way.

"I'm a SHIELD agent," Lucy says as she reaches into her pocket to retrieve her badge.

"Badge, please." He says.

Lucy groaned in frustration. "I seem to have left it in my lab coat."

"No badge means you can't come in."

"I know that. You don't have to be a dick about it." Lucy responds. She's about to turn away when she hears someone call out to her.

"Lucy?" It's someone she hadn't seen in awhile.

"Jeremy." Jeremy turns to the agent she was talking to.

"Let her through, I'll vouch for her." The agent does as told and lets Lucy through.

"It's been so long." She tells Jeremy once they are a few feet away.

"Since Tom's funeral," Jeremy says bluntly. Lucy's hand twitched.

"Has it been 2 years since the funeral?" She says slowly then shakes her head. "Anyway thanks for the save."

"No problem." He responds, then changes the subject. "So what are you doing here? I heard you were taking time off after everything that went down at the Stark Expo."

"I was. Then Coulson called me. He said I needed to come back. I've been assigned to him." Lucy nudged in the direction of the recently awakened super soldier.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously." Lucy looked over at him. The Captain was looking at his surroundings, he was taking it all in.

"I'm sorry, by the way," Jeremy says, getting her attention. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine, Jeremy." Lucy cuts him off, then changes the subject. She already was uncomfortable speaking about the funeral as it was. "The kids and I are fine. My brother looks after them when I'm working."

"I'm glad you have help," Jeremy says. "Were you on a trip with them when Coulson called?"

An agent approached them before Lucy could respond, for which she was thankful. He directed her towards Director Fury after saying goodbye to Jeremy.

Fury saw Lucy approach and got the super soldier's attention. "Captain, this is Lucia Carrillo, she will be your handler for the time being."

Lucy extended her hand in greeting. "Nice to meet you, Captain. Please call me Lucy."

"Steve Rogers," Rogers repeated as he shook her hand. He gave her a weary smile. "Glad to meet you, Lucy."

Fury looked between the two before giving a single nod as if he just confirmed something. "Captain, if you were to be so kind and follow Agent Beck. He will take you back to our base, where you will be examined by Doctor Carrillo."

"Just for a physical. Relatively simple and fast." Lucy input.

Steve nodded, yet looked uncomfortable. "Unless you'd like for one of us to accompany you, Captain, back to the base." Fury added.

"No, it's fine. Just... I have a lot to take in." He replied, rather nervously.

"I can imagine, Captain, but in your case, I will accompany you to the base," Fury spoke. "I'm sure the Doctor will meet us there and she can take you to get your physical done." Fury looked right at her.

"I will be there," She informed them.

"Good, now, Captain, Agent Beck will take you to one of the vehicles, I will join you shortly. I need to speak with her for a minute." Steve nodded and headed towards the agent that brought Lucy to Fury.

Fury turned to Lucy as soon as Steve was out of earshot. "I need you to come straight to me when you're done with the physical." He told her. "And, Lucy, answer any questions he has as honestly as possible. And if you manage to ask any questions, keep it about his health, don't push. Let him go at his pace."

"Will do." Lucy said, "And can I just say the only other time I've been this nervous was when I met Mark Hamill."

"You will do fine." Fury reassured her. "Even Coulson has the utmost confidence in you. And if I'm being frank, is jealous because of your proximity to the Captain."

"He is," Lucy stated. "I better get going if I'm to meet you at the base." Fury nodded and saw her go.

~~~~~~~

Lucy was currently standing in the kitchen, preparing dinner, when she got a phone call. She answered without even looking at the ID.

"Coulson." She said.

"Finally using my last name, I see." Phil Coulson answered on the other side.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Dad, but no I haven't." Lucy explained.

"Well, at least, I still get to be called 'Dad'." Phil said.

"Is that Dad?" Asked someone as they walked into the kitchen.

"Is that Mark?" Phil asked.

"Yes," Lucy replied to both men simultaneously.

Mark swiped the phone, earning him a surprised yelp and glare from Lucy.

"Hey, Dad." Mark said into the phone, after putting it on speaker.

"Good to hear from you." Phil answered.

"You too." Mark replied. "Just letting you know that it's your turn for dinner."

"Thanks for reminding me."

"You know, we could just go to Portland and see Audrey." Mark put in. "Not a bad idea. I'll ask her when she's free. Pass me your sister, I need to talk to her."

"Alright. Just out of curiosity, what's wrong?"

"Level 7 emergency." Phil answered easily.

"Shit." mouthed Mark as he handed the phone, off speaker, back to his sister.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Lucy asked, switching the knife in hand for the phone.

"Fury wants to put together a team to locate the Tesseract. It's been taken from us." Phil said. "And he wants you to be part of the team. Now I don't have time to give you all the details right now, but I'm on my way to New York."

"Ok. But what is the Tesseract?" Lucy asked.

"That I can't answer right now," Phil said. "But I've already called Natasha and she's going to bring in your buddy."

"I thought Tony didn't trust Natasha."

"He doesn't." Phil agreed. "But that's not who she's going to get. I'm coming for you and Stark. She's going to get Banner."

Lucy sighed. Despite the brief time they worked together, Lucy enjoyed it and learned a lot from Bruce Banner. "Well, at least, Clint will be there to keep an eye on her."

"About that," Phil paused. "Clint has been compromised.

"And that's all I can tell you for the time being. If you go to Stark's new place in, say, an hour, we can discuss this more with the two of you present."

Lucy remained quiet. "Alright, I'll be there. But you better explain everything."

"I will. Don't worry." Phil said. "See you soon, Sweetie."

"Bye, Dad." Lucy hung up and sighed. Then she called her brother over.

"Ok, you're going to have to take over dinner." She told him as she began to put away the food and cutlery.

"What? Why?" Mark asked, baffled as to why he was in charge of dinner. "I can't cook."

"I know, Mark, which is surprising and rather ironic." Lucy told him. "But I need to be at Stark Tower within an hour. If I leave within the next 15 minutes, I can get there in time. It's about the emergency. Apparently something belonging to SHIELD has been taken. I don't know by who or why, but Dad wants Tony and I in on this."

She stopped walking toward her room and turned to look at him right in the eyes. "They're even bringing in Bruce."

"That's serious," Mark told his sister.

Lucy only nodded as she proceeded to pack quickly. Mark followed behind her. "What about the kids?"

"I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I'll keep you informed. As for them, I'll need to talk to them. You know their schedules and everything, so I'm not that worried."

"You know you can trust me." Mark said. Lucy stopped what she was doing to look at him.

"Of course, I trust you." Lucy told him.

Mark smiled and hugged his sister. "It's fine. This will be over soon."

Lucy broke the hug to look at him. She'd been feeling anxious for a bit now. "Lucy, nothing is going to happen." Mark said, seeing that look on her face. "Not everything that you've seen has happened."

"Marco! Be serious." Lucy glared at him.

"I am, Lucia!" He responded.

Lucy rolled her eyes and took out a journal, rifling through it until she found what she was looking for. She thrust the journal into Mark's hands.

He was looking at a hand drawn picture of Iron Man in a Japanese garden beside Colonel Rhodes and his upgraded suit. "That's from the expo." She turned to a different picture.

This time showing a blond, buff man trying to pull a hammer from a muddy terrain. "This was in New Mexico. Dad was there. That's Thor. I was in Malibu with Tony.

"I drew those years ago." Lucy pointed to the date on the back of the picture. It was from two decades before. "Pa was still alive then."

She found another journal. She turned to a page then showed it to Mark.

There was a group of people standing in a sort of circle looking around. It was a rough sketch, but he thought he saw Tony's suit and a circular item with a star in the middle.

"This hasn't happened yet. But it could." Lucy said.

"But it couldn't, Luce." Mark replied. She sighed. "Trust me, I know I sound paranoid, but this time it's not just what I've seen... it's... it's this feeling I get. I'm getting a bad feeling about this."

~~~~~~~~

Steve Rogers was escorted to the room, where they were going to perform the physical, by 5 agents.

They didn't want him to go running again. However, Rogers didn't seem interested in running away again.

He wanted answers for the questions he had. And if SHIELD had them then he'd stick around.

The leader of the group was Jeremy Harrison. He knocked on the door and opened the door, walking in followed by Rogers. "When you're done, I'll take him to his room." Jeremy informed her. "If you need me I'll be out in the hallway."

"Thanks Jeremy, but I think I can handle him." Lucy stated and gave him a bright smile. "No need to worry. You guys can leave."

"But-"

"Seriously, I've got it."

Jeremy gave one last look at Steve and walked out, closing the door behind him.

"Is he always that suspicious of men around you?" Was Steve's first question. He immediately blushed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to intrude in your private life nor your relationship."

"It's fine." Lucy assured him. "A good deal of people who work within SHIELD seem to know about my private life anyway. Jeremy's a good friend. He's still reeling now that my fiance, his best friend, is dead."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's fine. He died over 2 years ago, but we were together for a long time." She paused for a moment. "I've been mending, but it's a process. Slow, for sure, but I'm getting better as time passes on."

Steve seemed to see it as unsolicited, but wise, advice. He would move on from Peggy, but it was a process that took time.

"I thought that someone like you, would have suitors waiting." Steve said.

He blushed as he finished the sentence. He thought she was attractive, he couldn't say that she wasn't. Though he also didn't know why he was blurting every thought out loud.

Although Steve had to admit, he still wasn't good at speaking to women.

"I'm sure there are plenty of them, but I'm not currently seeking a relationship. I have my hands occupied as it is."

Steve decided not to ask anymore questions least he get even more red than he already was. But he felt there was something he needed to get out. "Excuse me, Dr. Carrillo."

"Just Lucy, Captain. Technically speaking I'm not a medical doctor, but I have trained with some. And I do have a doctorate." She assured him.

"Then, please, just Steve. I prefer it over Captain." Steve said. "But can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Are any of my friends alive?" Steve asked cautiously as Lucy pointed to where he needed to stand.

"I'm not going to sugar coat it Cap- Steve. Most have died, and they've left behind families. Although a few are still alive, such as Peggy Carter." Lucy said as she looked over the form that was displayed on a Starkpad. "She did start SHIELD with Howard Stark, so there's that tidbit."

Steve looked out the window at the mention of Peggy, but it seemed to him that Lucy didn't notice as she wrote down the information needed.

Lucy weighed him and did whatever else she needed to do before making him sit down again. As Lucy began to take his pressure, Steve spoke.

"What year am I in, specifically?"

"2012, Captain... Steve." Lucy replied, her face a bit red due to the mistake. "Today is Sunday April 1st, unfortunate for you to wake up on April Fool's Day. Though at least, it gives Director Fury a chance to come up with some excuse using today. Also if you're wondering it's close to one in the afternoon."

"2012?" He said, stunned. Lucy hummed a yes as she wrote down his pressure. She also wrote a note saying that it was normal for it to be high given the situation. "What I saw didn't make it seem like 70 years passed."

"Well, after the war we did have many advancements. A lot has changed in the last 70 years. Especially in the last decade, technology has advanced rather quickly. There's a new phone every other year or so."

"Was that those little boxes in people's hands as I ran by?" Steve asked cautiously.

"Yes, cellphones. Smaller versions of telephones, but portable and hand held. You can touch the screen, and do a number of things. And we have the internet, or world wide web, as it was known in the 1990s."

-------

"So?" Fury asked Lucy after she finished talking about Steve Rogers' health. "How is he?"

"In general, he's taking it in rather well. He asked about how the war ended. That wasn't pleasant to reveal. He disliked the summary I gave him of the Cold War too. Also, he asked about cellphones. Apparently he saw some people with them. So there might be some pictures of him circling around online."

"I'll get on those. Thanks for the heads up." Fury replied.

"Though I do have a concern. He only asked once about his friends or anyone he knew. He didn't specifically mention Peggy Carter." Lucy replied worried. "I mean, I said her name and, other than him staring out the window, there was no reaction."

"Give him time. He's taking everything in at once." Fury said. Lucy nodded, understanding, yet continued.

"My suggestion is that he makes a friend, or at least someone he can trust. Perhaps it could make the adjustment process easier."

"Great, then do it. Starting tomorrow."

"Me?" Lucy asked surprised. "Tomorrow? I can't. I'm going to take the kids to Coney Island."

"Take Rogers with you then. I think it'll do him good to be somewhere familiar. And plus he seems to trust you already, so that's a bonus."

"Not going to happen, Fury. Not going to happen. I'm not taking him with me to Coney Island. Especially when you're going to deploy a specialised team to tag along. I have my kids to worry about.

"Also, not to mention he's only been awake for a day. You're not known to give free reign after one day. What exactly are you planning for Captain Rogers?" Lucy accused.

"I want him to be comfortable. He deserves to try and live his life the way he wants. And he needs friends. You need friends. Gets both of you off my hands for a bit." Fury confessed.

Lucy glared at him. "Fine. I won't deploy a team. For the kids' sake." Fury relented.

~~~~~~~

Lucy had brought her children out to the living room and explained the situation at hand.

"But Mom," Luke began. " What happened to Uncle Clint?"

"Yeah, where's Uncle Clint?" Em echoed. She shook her head and held Em's hands in her own.

"I don't know, guys. But I'll figure it out."

"Be careful, Ma." Jamie said. Mark, who was standing in behind the kids, looked at Lucy and held eye contact with his sister momentarily.

"Why do you say that, Princesa?" Lucy asked her as she stroked her hair.

"It sounds dangerous, Ma." Jamie reasoned.

"We just want you to be safe." Henri added.

Benji looked over at her. "We love you, Mom."

"You don't need to worry about that. I'll be doing research. Nothing more, nothing less." Lucy told her kids. "But if you feel like you're in danger and Mark can't help, call me. Okay? Call me and I'll drop everything and come straight to you."

The 5 of them nodded.

"Alright, now I have to get going." Lucy said and stood. "I have to meet your Grandpa at Tony's new place."

Jamie and Benji stood up excited, that Lucy felt compelled to add. "And I will tell both of them about the science fair."

"Gracias, Mami!" Jamie wrapped her arms around Lucy.

"Ok, niños. I've got to go." Lucy hugged each kid individually. "Be good for Mark. I'll call when I can. But remember anything happens let me know." The kids nodded. Lucy felt anxious to leave, but knew she had to eventually. Mark noticed.

"Hey, don't worry. It's under control." "Still. Bad feeling." Lucy explained. "Also you're badly outnumbered. 5 to 1. Not good chances."

"Everything will be fine. Just breath." Lucy took a couple of deep breaths as Mark advised. "Now you better get going if you're going to beat Dad there."

Lucy nodded. "Right. Bye."

Lucy hugged Mark, then had one last group hug. "Los amo, mis amores." Lucy said to the kids.

"Te amo también, Ma." Luke said.

"A la Luna y de regreso." Jamie finished.

Lucy held them tight before letting go and leaving.