A Second Opinion

By angellwings

The fact that none of them have seen her outside of work for days lets him know that something is wrong. She's not the type to wallow or avoid conflict. And never the type to hide. She's honest, brutal at times, and faces everything that challenges her head on. Which is why he starts to think something is seriously wrong. She never hides so why start avoiding them now?

Unless she knows they'd offer to help her. There's not much she thinks she can't handle and when push comes to shove she really only has herself. Sure, she knows SHIELD is there to watch her back the majority of the time, but she also knows that if anything ever goes wrong and if the Council ever turns against her all she'll have is herself. So, she doesn't allow herself to rely on her fellow agents too much.

It's a risk she can't afford to take if she means to get the job done.

Concern builds in his chest. He doesn't even know her that well or, at least, it appears he doesn't. But he does. He's been watching, observing. It's something he was good at long before he became whatever he is now. When you're invisible it leaves a lot of room for surveillance. When the briefing ends he doesn't think twice about following her.

They've been dismissed to gather their things before wheels up in an hour. A SHIELD facility in Norway has been experiencing Tesseract-like energy fluctuations and since Norway has a close connection with Asgardians it was all hands on deck while they conducted an investigation. The only people staying behind so far were Natasha, Clint, and Fury. Fury wanted to keep the pair available in case another emergency popped up while the others were away.

She turns down a corridor and then ducks into a side room. His hand stops the door from closing before he realizes what he's doing. He waits a moment while he thinks about the gravity of what he's about to do. This is a violation of privacy and he knows if he follows through with what he has in mind more than a few things will change. The concern in his gut tugs at him again and he takes a deep breath before forcing his way into the room. Not the most gentlemanly thing to do but he's beginning to realize that stubborn women don't often confide in gentlemen.

There's no screaming or squealing as he closes the door behind him. She simply meets his gaze and glares in a way that would put him in a catatonic state if she were a telepath. But that's when he sees what she's been hiding. Bandages. Her chest was covered in bloody bandages. She'd been reaching up to change the bandages when he burst into the room.

"Agent," he says coolly.

"Captain," she says in a tone much colder than his. "I don't recall inviting you in."

He suddenly remembers a mission a few days prior in which Maria took a particularly bad beating. SHIELD tried their best to confiscate all the remains of fallen chitauri and their respective tech, but given the size of the assault they were bound to miss a few. This left the door open for a few sick minded geniuses who thought they'd experiment with chitauri cadavers. They were only slightly unprepared for the army of hybrid creatures that greeted them that day and Maria was cornered by a beast that was a combination of gorilla, human, and chitauri. She seemed battered and bruised at the time but it didn't appear extremely serious.

He now knew that assumption was wrong.

"I don't recall seeing medical training listed amongst your skills and abilities in your dossier," Steve says sternly. "Has anyone looked at that?"

"I don't need anyone to look at it. It's fine. Just a cut," Maria tells him with a stiff jaw and a frown.

"The only reason you'd be hiding it is if it would lead a doctor to take you out of the field to recover," Steve declares with a knowing glance.

Maria rolls her eyes before she responds. "It's a scratch. It's fine. I'd appreciate it if you would respect my privacy, Captain Rogers."

"If you were to take a hit to the chest today you'd be down for the count," he says with blunt honesty and clear concern.

"I suppose that's a risk I'll have to take," she says with a glare as she crosses her arms over her mostly bare chest. "Please leave before I'm forced to stop being so polite. I still have my weapon in my ankle holster, you know."

Steve freezes for a moment as he realizes that if it weren't for the bandages Maria would be standing half naked in front of him and blushes in embarrassment. "I'm sorry," he admits as he looks away from her. "I just don't think any of us need to take unnecessary risks and going into the field wounded when we have plenty of man power to cover for you is unnecessary. We're not at war right now, Agent. It's best we all survive until we are. Especially you."

Her brow furrows and she stares at him. "Why especially me?"

"You're a soldier. Clear headed under pressure and willing to make the tough choices to get the job done. You have an instinct for the big picture. It would be a shame to lose you in a small battle when you're still needed in a much larger fight," Steve says with a small grin. It's to the point and logicial and assigns a value to her life that Maria's never considered before. "But I won't pretend to be able to tell you what to do. I know you well enough to know that no one can do that except for your commanding officer. It's up to you, but if my opinion is worth anything I think you'd better serve SHIELD with a recovered and rested body." She glares at him again and he holds his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Take that advice as you will. It's your call."

She quirks a brow at him. "You're not going to run to the medical ward and tell on me?"

He chuckles and shakes his head before he begins to speak with a more serious expression. "I'm not a rat, Agent. I don't tattle. I'm concerned for your safety but I know you too well to think you would endanger the mission, and I'm also going to trust that you know the limits of your body better than I do. It's your decision to visit the med ward. Not mine." Steve says before ducking his head and reaching for the handle on the door. "I'll leave you to, uh, bandage yourself."

"Thank you, Captain," Maria says as she keeps her arms carefully crossed over her chest. "Good day."

"Good day, Agent," He tells her before he pauses and reaches up to scratch below his ear nervously.

She nods. "I'll see you in an hour."

He resists the urge to shake his head before he speaks again. "You will?"

"That's when the Quinjet leaves, isn't it?"

He sighs and nods sadly. He's still hoping she'll change her mind. "Yes, it is."

"Then I'll be there."

He should probably know by now that Agent Hill rarely changes her mind.

He heads to his small quarters on the Helicarrier and packs his own duffel bag. He won't be needing much since he'll spend most of his time as The Captain, but he puts his leather jacket and a few casual items into the bag and heads off to the runway to meet the Quinjet. As Steve approaches he notices that Tony, Bruce, and Thor are already waiting with an impatient Fury stalking around them.

"Finally," Tony says as Steve stops beside the jet. "This is why I don't like working on a team. If I'm late I get a lecture and if I'm early everybody else is late. When are you people gonna start following my schedule?"

"When your itinerary doesn't include the phrase 'Bourbon Break' or hiring a professional DJ to play music for your entrances," Bruce says with a grin. "I know you've got an ego to support but do you have blast AC/DC on every mission?"

"Hey," Tony says defensively as he lifts the glass in his hand to his lips. Steve didn't notice the glass and he has no idea where it came from but he's certain there's scotch in it. "AC/DC is the soundtrack to my life. Without them how would I dazzle my adversaries?"

Steve rolls his eyes like he watched Maria do earlier and says, "Oh I don't know. Maybe you could dazzle them with your fancy suit instead?"

"I'm the Iron Man," Tony states as if that's explanation enough. "An obnoxiously loud entrance is required. I have to give the people what they want."

"I'm not sure your people have really voiced that exact wish, Puny Man of Iron," Thor exclaims with a merry laugh and a hard slap to Tony's back. "I see we are all gathered. Shall we go? I understand we have quite a journey ahead of us."

"Go?" Steve asks in confusion. "Where's Maria? I thought she was coming?"

"She was," Fury tells him. "She reported to the medical ward a few minutes ago with injuries from the last mission that weren't healing. They're keeping her here to rest. She should be ready for field work again by the time the four of you return."

"Oh, that's too bad," Tony says dismissively as he shrugs Thor's large hand off of his back. "We'll miss the ice princess. Really, we will." He pauses and then chugs the rest of his drink. "Alright, time to get this show on the road. I have things to do and a Pepper to do—see. I meant see when we get back."

Steve can't help but stare at Fury as everyone loads into the Quinjet. He knows he's the only one not moving but he still isn't motivated to step into the jet. He's too shocked to go anywhere. Maria went to the med ward. She took herself out of the field. He never expected her to do that, and he knows it will probably never happen again.

"Captain, are you going or staying?" Fury asks with a huff as he motions to the Quinjet door.

"Going, sir. I'm going," He says as he jolts back to reality and quickly marches into the jet. Before leaving Fury places a piece of paper in Steve's hands.

"It's from the Agent," Fury says with a stiff nod before he turns and leaves the jet.

Steve's fingers itch to unfold the paper but he forces himself to strap into a seat first.

"Got a love note there, Cap?" Tony asks with a smug grin. "Didn't realize you still had it in you, Grandpa. Who's the dame?"

Steve stares at Tony and says nothing in response. Couldn't Tony ever just talk? Did everything have to seem like an insult?

"Is that not what you called them back then?" Tony asks teasingly. "I thought everyone talked like Bogart in the good old days?"

"Nobody talked like Bogart except for Bogart," Steve says with a shake of his head before he grins slowly. "And occasionally Bucky."

"I don't know who Bucky is, but if he talked like Bogart I'm almost positive he and I would've gotten along. Who wrote you a letter, Capsicle? Which agent is making a pass at you this time? Was it the blonde with the French twist? She has that secretly hot librarian thing going for her which always works," Tony says with a smirk as he leans back in his seat, puts his arms behind his head, and manages to look comfortable despite the stiff harness that's holding him down.

"I don't think it's any of your business, Stark," Steve says with a small amused grin.

"Come on, Cap, with all your years of experience I expected a better retort than 'nunyabidness.' What are we? Eight years old?" Tony says with a chuckle and a wide grin.

"Some of us are," Bruce says with a teasing pointed glance at Tony. "I know you like to brag about your romantic exploits but some of us actually possess modesty. Let the man read his letter in peace, Tony."

"Fine, I'll just sit here and be bored and silent for the next several hours," Tony says. "It's only—what? Eight hours?"

The other three men in the jet exchange looks and know immediately that Tony plans to make them miserable for the entire flight. The Quinjet lacks certain luxuries Stark is accustomed to which means he has nothing else to entertain him but torturing all of them. He's going to give them half an hour of silence—tops—before he starts regaling them with Iron Man's many battles. Steve always ignored these stories because they made him feel old and battered. Tony sometimes reminded him of a little boy playing at war. Tony's battles always seemed full of misplaced glamour and Steve could never tell if he did this to dull the reality of battle or if he really thought of life as a game. It was one of the many reasons he and Tony would always have trouble working together. Tony finally lets him be and turns to Thor. It seems Tony's decided Steve isn't going to be much fun which is perfectly fine with him. He's got a letter to read.

The letter folds are straight and crisp and each equal distance apart. He chuckles to himself as he tugs at the folds and spots her handwriting. It's a stark contrast to the neat way the letter was folded. Her hand writing is scrawled across the page in a sloppy and indelicate script. He has to squint to make sense of it.

He doesn't expect it, but somehow it fits.

He has no idea what she could possibly have to say to him and despite the nervous feeling in his gut his eyes focus on her words. Would it be good or bad or, worse still, full of cold indifference? He genuinely couldn't guess.

Captain,

I'm having a hard time not running after Fury to tell him I've changed my mind and that the doctors must all be idiots because, of course, I can fight. I can always fight.

But I'm not going to. For once I'm going to listen to my elders (that's you, Captain) and stay put. I'm trusting you with my mission, Soldier, and you better not disappoint me. If you do I'll hunt you down and beat you senseless, super soldier strength be damned.

Good luck and if a good fight presents itself don't let it go to waste.

I know I wouldn't.

Sincerely,

Agent Hill

He grins and folds the letter up neatly before sticking it in his shirt pocket. He doesn't doubt the truth behind her threats. If anything goes wrong she really will beat him senseless. She's an interesting woman, that Maria Hill, and one even the super soldier is too scared to disappoint.