I don't own Avengers or anything Marvel related!
"You been here all day?"
Her voice startled him awake, although it wouldn't have taken much to do it, given that he'd fallen into an uneasy nap in an uncomfortable hospital chair.
Looking up, he saw Maria Hill leaning against the doorframe, holding a bouquet of bright yellow sunflowers by her side. He noted that she no longer wore her customary SHIELD issue uniform. She had traded it in for a formal navy pantsuit.
"Agent Hill," Sam greeted her as he stood up and rolled his shoulders and neck, trying to relieve the tension there.
He was surprised to see her, considering the Senate hearings she had been attending for the past week. Every time he walked by a television, he saw her facing down a whole army of angry senators and journalists, all looking for someone to blame. On camera, she appeared to be made of ice and showed no signs of cracking; in person, however, Sam could see that the endless hours of accusations had begun to take a toll.
"Its just Hill now," she replied with a wry smile. "I can't really be an Agent when there's no agency left."
She pushed off the doorframe and approached the small bedside table. She placed the bouquet down and reached into the inside pocket of her blazer to pull out a card.
She held it up so Sam could see it.
"You're cordially invited to Nicholas Fury's funeral" she informed him with a humorless smirk and dropped the card next to the bouquet.
"What? When did he die?" Sam asked, confusion evident in his face.
Maria shot him a look and turned to consider the flowers she had just brought.
"A vase might have been a good idea," she casually remarked, "but I don't think Rogers is going to be here long enough for the flowers to die. What do you think?" She asked, turning back to Sam.
"He woke up briefly this morning, so probably not." Sam replied. "The doctor shot him up with some pain killers to help him sleep so he could heal faster." Sam glanced at his watch, "They actually should be wearing off soon."
"Has anyone else come by?" Maria turned to face the large windows on the far side of the room as she took off her blazer, carefully folded it and placed it over the back of a second chair.
"No, but I've been here since they brought him in." Sam dropped back into his chair with a sigh and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees.
"Who sent the flowers?" She asked, nodding toward them.
"That one's from Stark," Sam pointed at the massive arrangement which took up half the windowsill. "I don't know about the other one. There's no name on the card."
Maria flipped open the card next to the smaller arrangement of red and white lilies. Sam could see a small smile on her face as she read the card and shook her head. She placed it back down, taking care to stick one corner under the vase, and hopped up to sit on the windowsill between the two bouquets.
"You know who it's from?" Sam asked curiously.
"Just someone who used to work at SHIELD." Maria said, dismissively waving her hand. She looked at Sam carefully, "You look like hell."
"It's been a rough week." Sam leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs out in front of him. Sam had been by Captain America's side since he was found half dead on the bank of the Potomac. He was sure that if he wasn't there, Steve would have been alone the whole time. Natasha had gone dark shortly after she'd dumped the confidential SHIELD files online so there was chance she would have come to see him.
"Tell me about it," Maria took a deep breath and let it out. "In a way, I'm glad he's been in the hospital until now," Maria gestured to Steve. "At least he hasn't had to face the heat from the media."
"But you do."
"It's my job," she shrugged, "better me than Captain America. Anyway, I told them what they wanted to hear so it should blow over in a couple weeks."
Sam nodded and tilted his head back to rest on the cushioned fabric of the chair. They sat in silence, both unsure of what to say and lost in their own thoughts. The only sound in the room came from the rhythmic beeping of the machines monitoring Steve's vital signs.
Sam wasn't sure if he was more surprised that she'd come to see Steve or that she'd stuck around to talk to him. They'd only met once before, and that was during the chaos of bringing down SHIELD. His first impression of her had been that she was a ruthless, efficient spy with few emotional ties. He didn't know what to think of this woman who brought sunflowers to a hospital and protected Captain America from the rest of the world.
As Sam opened his eyes to ask if she had heard from Natasha, he saw Maria turn her head toward the door and smile. A woman in a white coat knocked on the doorframe as she walked into the room flipping through a file.
"Hope I'm not interrupting anything, Maria," She said as she smiled at Maria in greeting.
"Not at all, I was hoping I'd run into you," Maria replied and nodded toward Sam. "This is Sam Wilson, he works with Captain Rogers."
"Mr. Wilson, I'm Dr. Evelyn Clark. I'll be taking over Captain Rogers' treatment," She stepped toward Sam and held out a hand.
"Wait, you're not the doctor I met a couple days ago," Sam got to his feet and shook her hand- more out of habit than anything else.
"That's right, I'm not," She responded with a wink and moved toward the computer next to Steve's bed.
"It's alright, Sam. she's good," Maria reassured him, "You think I'd let her near him if I didn't trust her?"
Sam relaxed slightly as he watched Dr. Clark adjust the flow of the IV attached to Steve's arm and make some notes in the file she held.
"Evie, you're probably the only person I know who still uses paper for everything," Maria rolled her eyes at the doctor.
"I mean, after everything that just happened with SHIELD, I'm actually feeling pretty good about myself for that," Evelyn shrugged and shot Sam a look, "no one can hack a piece of paper yet."
She clicked her pen shut and dropped it into the pocket of her lab coat.
"You worked for SHIELD?" Sam asked, beginning to understand the relationship between her, Maria and Steve.
"Not quite" she responded, "but I've worked with Captain Rogers for a few years. He'll be waking up momentarily," she added.
She placed the file next to the sunflowers and walked back to shut the door leading into the hallway.
"Probably should have gotten a vase for those," she remarked pointing at the bright yellow flowers. "Any news from anyone?" She continued, looking at Maria with a concerned expression.
Maria shook her head, "Nothing beyond what we expected. A lot of people went dark and everything's still too hot for them to come out of hiding yet. Barton's alright; May and her people are good, as far as I know; Sharon too, I talked to her yesterday; Nat's fine but she's still in the wind. You haven't heard from her, have you?" She asked Sam.
"Not yet, I thought she'd contact you if she had a chance," Sam replied.
Maria nodded and was about to speak again when Steve groaned and shifted as he woke up. Dr. Clark pushed off the counter where she was leaning and went to him.
"Hey, Captain," She said with a reassuring smile as she pressed down on his shoulders to prevent him from trying to sit up suddenly. "Looks like you took a few hits."
Steve groaned and blinked a few times to focus his eyes on her face.
"When'd you get here, Doc?" He asked, confused by her presence.
"Too late to stop them from pumping you full of drugs," she released his shoulders and pulled a pen light out of her pocket to check his pupils. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I got hit by a bus," Steve said, "but not a really big bus. More like a medium sized one." He chuckled and immediately gasped, holding his ribs in pain.
"Ha, ha. Funny guy," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes and pushing the railing on the bed down. "Can you sit up?"
"Yeah, I might need some help though," Steve said as he pushed up on one elbow with Dr. Clark supporting him.
"Let me help," Sam said, stepping toward them to take Steve's other arm as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
Steve sat up and accepted a glass of water from Dr. Clark as he took in his surroundings.
"Commander Hill," Steve greeted Maria, surprise evident in his voice, "I didn't expect to see you here."
Sam stepped back when he were sure Steve wouldn't fall over.
"I find that the element of surprise is still a very valuable asset," Maria said with a tilt of her head, "And besides, I wanted to warn you not to get caught leaving here. There's reporters camped out at every hospital from here to New York City- and they're all hoping to get a shot of Captain America."
"You don't think I should talk to them?" Steve asked.
"There's a lot of talk right now, Cap. A lot of angry people asking a lot of questions we can't answer. I know it's not your style, but I need you to step back and let me handle this."
"With all due respect, Commander, I have to take responsibility for my actions." Steve said, sitting up straighter.
"Not this time, Steve," She said firmly, "this time it's on us. Fury and I, we should have seen this but we were too blind and too arrogant. My advice is that you stay away for as long as you can. And if you don't want to take my advice, then consider it an order, Captain."
Steve weighed her words as he scrutinized her. He could see the fatigue in her face and posture and decided to back down rather than argue.
"How are you handling it? If you're the face they're seeing then you're the person they'll blame." Steve asked, concerned for her.
"I'm alright." She assured him. "Most of the intelligence community would like to drop me into a dark hole, but even they can't mess with Tony's army of lawyers. So for now, I'm good."
"You're working for Tony now?" Dr. Clark asked, surprised at the revelation.
"He hired me right after the SHIELD documents went online. His lawyers have made it impossible for anyone to pin this on me. And on top of that, apparently JARVIS collected a massive amount of SHIELD information before anyone else got hold of it so Tony needed someone to handle it.
"You're sure no one's going to blame you for bringing down SHIELD?" Steve asked again.
"They won't be able to." She replied with a smirk.
"Good. Then you're both in the clear. Now that that's settled, I need to tell you all something," Dr. Clark spoke up hesitantly. "They found Brock. And he's still alive."
"He's the guy with the beard right?" Sam asked, baffled at the sudden turn of events. "He's tried to kill me at least seven times. What the hell do you mean he's alive?"
"I don't know how he survived," she shook her head and looked at Steve. "He was covered in third degree burns but made it out of surgery alive. I just- I can't believe he's HYDRA."
"I swear I saw an entire Helicarrier fall on him. Are you sure it's actually him?" Sam asked again, still in shock, as he sat back down.
"It's him. I made sure," She nodded and crossed her arms tightly as if to protect herself from what she was saying, "I don't know what to do."
"You saw him?" Steve asked quietly.
She looked away and nodded, "Yeah, while you were sleeping."
Steve pulled her close and hugged her. "I don't think there's anything we can do."
Maria looked down as Steve held Dr. Clark, trying to give them a moment of privacy. Sam realized he was out of the loop regarding the HYDRA agent's relationship with the other three people in the room.
"How could he do that to you? How could he betray you like that?" Dr. Clark asked angrily, her voice muffled against Steve's shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his middle.
"It's not something any of us can answer, Evie," Maria interjected before Steve could respond. "I wish it wasn't true but Rumlow made his choice."
Steve shot her a look and gestured his head toward the door over Dr. Clark's head, signaling for Maria to leave so he and Dr. Clark could talk.
Maria held up her hands in defeat and mouthed something at him as she pushed off the windowsill and grabbed her blazer.
"Captain, Evie, I'm heading out. It's already late and I have one last Senate hearing tomorrow." Maria said as she walked toward the door.
Evelyn pulled out of Steve's arms at Maria's words and turned around, subtly wiping under her eyes.
"Call me when it's over, Maria." Evelyn said as Maria swung open the door, nodding at Dr. Clark's request.
"Come on, Sam. Let's go. You look like you haven't slept in three days and Steve's in good hands." Maria said, holding open the door.
"You good, Cap?" Sam asked as he stood up and swung his jacket over his shoulder. "I'll be back tomorrow morning."
"You don't have to come, I can get home on my own." Steve said with a smile.
Dr. Clark pulled Sam's vacated chair closer to the bed and sat down as Sam walked backwards still talking to Steve.
"I know you can." Sam said. "But I'll see you in the morning anyway. It was good to meet you, Dr. Clark."
"It was good to meet you too. Take care, guys," She said turning wave as Maria and Sam stepped into the hallway and let the door fall shut behind them.
"You know, you weren't subtle at all," Sam said as he and Maria walked to the elevators.
"I didn't have to be," She shrugged, "they both know I left because they need to talk. And I took you with me because they don't need an audience." She threw him an exasperated look.
"So... Dr. Clark and Rumlow were close?" Sam asked, unsure of how to phrase the question. He clicked the button to call an elevator.
"Closer than I thought, judging by her reaction. But it's not my business."
He nodded as they stepped into the elevator. She confused him. He'd been able to understand her detached aloofness the first time they met, but this person- the one tiptoed around her friends' feelings and started conversations was a complete stranger to him.
"Come with me, Sam." She said suddenly, grabbing his arm and turning toward him. "There's this diner in Georgetown, they have the best food and it's always empty."
Maria wasn't sure why she suggested it and briefly considered telling him to forget it, but she found herself unwilling to part from Sam's company. It wasn't just that he was attractive, although she'd noticed that the minute she met him, tied up in the back of a HYDRA truck. It had more to do with the fact that he'd repeatedly put his life on the line for Steve even though he wasn't getting anything out of it. Maria couldn't remember the last time she'd met such a selfless person and she needed to understand why he was doing it.
"Sure," He agreed. "Coffee sounds good right now." He was interested to find out why she invited him.
They stepped out of the elevator together and headed in the direction of the parking garage.
Hello All!
Lots of news below for you lovely people!
1. This isn't going to be a super long story but I love Maria Hill so I has to write it. Dr. Clark is an OC from one of my other stories called Bring Me Back to Life.
2. I have a new a Captain America/Sharon Carter story so you should definitely check it out! It's called Some Kind of Wonderful, rated M and happens to be awesome ;)
3. I have a Thor/OC one-shot coming out soon because so many of you said there's not enough Thor/OC fics! It's also going to be rated M because who doesn't want to daydream about sex with Thor? It's going to be called Lightning in a Bottle.
4. I'm almost done with chapters 5 and 6 of Bring Me Back to Life so look forward to an update for that next week!
5. Please let me know if any of you want a one shot on Rumlow and Dr. Clark! I love him even though he's a bad guy. She's technically paired with Thor but I like the idea of her having her own life/relationships because Thor keeps leaving and sucks at communicating.
As always, please review with any critiques, input or ideas about this story or any others!
-Mo-