She stared at him disbelief. Several moments passed before she opened her mouth to talk again.

"What about Ste—?"

"You can't tell Steve." Fury sighed, "not yet at least."

"But Director Fury, why—"

"Now, Beth" he started, "I'm not Director of S.H.I.E.L.D anymore. Director would imply that I actually have an organisation to direct. And since when did you start calling me Director Fury?" He let out a huff.

She didn't reply, only smiled sadly. She knew how much his position had meant to him, and how tirelessly he had fought to get it. It was true though; she rarely addressed him as Director. Maybe it was her way of letting him know everything was going to be okay. Not that he needed that affirmation, Nick Fury was many things, but he wasn't an easy person to conquer on the best of days, and certainly not by HYDRA.

He signaled for Beth to carry on.

"Nick" she corrected herself, "we've been at this for weeks, don't you think Steve has figured it out by now?"

"No." He replied flatly.

"Look Nick, we have to be realistic here. If we've actually found the Winter Soldier, how do you suppose we're going to keep that from Steve? You saw the look on his face when he came back to the Triskellion and told us he had just seen his best friend—"

"But that's the problem Elizabeth, it's not his best friend. The James Barnes he knew isn't the same one waiting for us in Brooklyn. Well, I say waiting..."

"Brooklyn? And what do you mean he's waiting for us?" Beth asked.

"Sentiment I suppose, we've been tracking him for a while now but I had to make sure. I had Agent Hill coordinate a team down there, her last time 'returning a favour' before leaving us to work for Stark. Not that there's an 'us' to leave anymore... Anyway, I figured if there is anything left inside the shell of a man that HYDRA made him, he'd head back there."

She didn't respond, waiting for him to answer her second question. He nodded in acknowledgement.

"I don't know how easy it'll be to stabilise him yet and I'm not taking any chances. When I say he's waiting us, of course, I mean you and a special ops team. "

"And where did you get yourself one of those, Mr. I'm-Not-Director-Of-Anything-Fury?"

He laughed. A genuine laugh that Beth hasn't seen or heard in a long time.

Fury had been her Supervising Officer when she joined SHIELD. He hadn't quite achieved Director status at that point, but he certainly had no qualms in giving orders.

They had first met after an attack near Moore's Eatery, a quaint but well liked cafe in West Virginia. The business had been in the family for generations, Beth saw herself running it after she had come home from finishing college. She was only twelve then, her mother was killed on site.

Her brother and father were taken into the intensive care unit after that. For days she had sat by their sides, hoping for some kind of miracle that would save them. The doctors had tried, but there was nothing left to do.

She had buried her mother and brother on the same day. As for her father, his body had very mysteriously gone missing soon after he was pronounced dead. The doctors had apologised, said this sort of thing happens from time to time.

"It just happens?!" she remembered screaming at them.

The day of the funeral was the day she had met Nicholas Fury. He claimed to be a friend of her parents' and that he had come to pay his respects.

Grief stricken, Beth had been thankful that she didn't have to bury them on her own. Even if it was in the company of a stranger, his presence made her feel safe.

And now, nine years later, Fury had been the only paternal figure in her life since her parents' death. She had no other family to turn to, either shunned out or deceased at any rate.

Nick had taken her in, made her one of SHIELD's finest. She had started training when she was sixteen.

He always said that he could count the number of people he could trust on one finger, and Beth was fortunate enough to have earned that trust soon after they met.

"Beth? Beth? Elizabeth! Are you listening to me?" His voice brought her back to reality.

"No, sorry, what was that again?"

"I said we'll stay here for a few more days, a week tops. That'll be enough time to prepare you and Wilson."

"Sam? Don't you think you should tell him if he's going to be catching HYDRA's prized possession?"

"Beth, I can count the number of people I trust—"

"I know, I know. But you can trust Sam too, Nick."

"I don't want to take that risk just yet." He countered.

"You know, you've been talking an awful lot about your risks and assets lately."

"And? Wilson seems fine. Hey, I may even be starting to like the guy. But as far as he'll be concerned, it's a standard rescue op for one of our own, nothing more."

"And when he figures out who it is we're coming back with? Then what'll you do, Nick? You can't keep lying to everyone."

"But Elizabeth, he's still a risk. Maybe even a liability, and I just can't afford to make a mistake like that. Now, you on the other hand. You are an asset. I haven't seen anyone as skilled at hand-to-hand combat as you. You see, Beth, there are some people that have proven themselves to be loyal to SHIELD. People like you, Steve... even Romanoff."

"Romanoffs? What's she got to do this? I thought she was going incognito for a little while."

"She offered to help you when you go to Brooklyn, you'll be meeting her and the team there."

Beth was pleased. Natasha Romanov was one of the few SHIELD agents she actually worked well with.

"And Nick, what if I don't want to help?"

"Then you don't have to," he started, "but you will." He concluded finally.

"And how can you be sure of that?"

"You'd think after all these years, you wouldn't have to ask me that." When Beth didn't respond and he continued, "I know you Elizabeth. You know how much this would mean to Steve, and you know how capable you are of completing this mission. It'll be like child's play compared to what you've done before."

She doubted it. This was HYDRA's secret weapon, their masterful assassin who had survived countless decades in the shadows until now. The Winter Soldier had survived this long without remembering who he was, and there was a slim chance those memories would be resurfacing any time soon.

"I'll do it." I have to, I owe it to Steve she thought, and if not him, I sure as anything owe it to Nick.

"I knew you couldn't resist, you're not one to avoid adventure Beth, not at all."

There was a knock at the door. Beth got up to open it, but Nick put a hand on her shoulder and slowly limped his way to the front of the office. He had not yet fully recovered from his extremely-near-death experience a few weeks ago.

"Captain" He said, "Can I help you?"

"No, sir. I just wanted to speak to Elizabeth, if you don't mind."

"Enough with 'sir' business Rogers."

"Understood sir— ah, Nick." He corrected himself quickly.

Nick raised an eyebrow and turned to Beth, who was peering over her shoulder.

"A Mr. Rogers would like to see you."

Beth stood up and gave a quick nod to Nick, saying "I'll talk to you soon", before exiting with Steve.

"What were you talking about in there? You took a while."

"Oh, we were just going over our plans for the next few months, we'll be changing bases again soon..." She trailed off, unsure if Steve would buy in to her story.

"Whatever it is" he stopped, looking pointedly at Beth. Of course he knew she was lying, as good as she was, Steve knew her all too well to fall for that trick. "I'm sure I'll find out eventually." He smiled at her, letting her know it was okay. Steve knew how close Beth was to Nick, she would quite happily die before she told anyone something Nick wanted to be kept a secret.

"You heard from Nat at all?" Steve asked her casually.

"No, but—" Beth stopped. She couldn't tell Steve that they would be meeting in a few days to rescue the Winter Soldier.

Steve stared at her expectantly. "But what?"

"Oh, um, it's nothing. I wasn't thinking."

"You've been saying that a lot Betty, you sure you're okay?" He asked, concerned.

Beth, sounding mockingly irritated, answered, "maybe if a certain someone didn't insist on calling me 'Betty' all the time," she hit him lightly on the shoulder, "I wouldn't be so forgetful!"

"Sorry Beth, it's just a bad habit."

"Is it, Steve? Is it really?" She asked him condescendingly.

"Okay maybe that one was on purpose." Beth gave him a knowing smile. "But I knew someone in school called Elizabeth, everyone called her Betty, even she called herself Betty!"

"Well Steve, my sweet ancient artifact, this Elizabeth prefers Beth. Try and remember we're in a different century now..." Before she could continue, Steve had wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Say that again" he whispered, his tone light hearted.

"We...are...in...a...different.../century/, Mr. Rogers." She breathed, making sure to emphasise that particular word.

Steve reacted quickly, throwing her over his shoulder effortlessly and on to the sofa nearby. He began to tickle her, knowing it was one of her few weaknesses.

The two were both laughing in the midst of Beth's pleas for Steve to stop.

"Stop it! Steve, stop! STEVE!" She shouted in half-laughter.

"Guess what Uncle Sam bought his little soldiers today!" Sam came inside, holding what looked like several boxes of pizza. "Oh, I can see you two are a little busy..." He said.

Steve and Beth looked up at the same time. Sam took in the sight before him. Beth was lying on the sofa with Steve on top of her, his arms around her.

Beth cleared her throat, her and Steve were in a slightly more compromising position than she had realised. Steve, coming to the same conclusion looked back down at Beth, his face centimetres from hers.

He decided to show his friend mercy, giving her a quick smile before lifting her up off the sofa and on to her feet again.

They both turned to Sam, who was glaring at the two of them with a hint of curiosity. "Oh, don't stop on account of my presence, please carry on" he said with jest.

Beth laughed, "just a friendly tickle war my dear Wilson!"

"Well if the two of you are done, I bought food."

"How did you manage to get past Fury? There's no way he would have let you out of here." Steve asked.

"I'm not a fugitive like the two of you."

"And here you are talking to us both. If we're fugitives, I think that makes you an accomplice." Steve declared.

"It doesn't matter, right now I couldn't even care less if we were HYDRA's most wanted, I just want to eat." Beth said, eyeing the boxes in Sam's hand.

Sam moved them away before Beth could grab one. "What are you doing? These are mine."

"You're going to eat all five boxes of extra large pizzas?" Steve inquired dubiously.

"I know I could." Beth piped up. She put an arm around of each of the boys' shoulders. "Come on, let's get the rest of the team." She said with enthusiasm. All those weeks of being constantly on the move had made less prone to paying attention to what she ate, it had mostly been stock standard S.H.I.E.L.D manufactured food they kept in the bases. But the smell of the pizza was far too inviting to resist.

"Hey Beth?" Steve said.

"Hmm?"

"About what you said before, did you mean it? Am I really your sweet ancient artifact?"

She laughed before whacking him on the back of the neck.