The lunch date with Sam went pretty well as Steve and Mia headed back to his place. She liked Sam he was witty and what's more held a conversation pretty well. She didn't like most people but she liked him. He understood war, but he also understood living life to the fullest and had a wealth of things to say that interested her. It wasn't often that she liked someone. Pulling up to the side street of Steve's place the two of them went inside as they climbed the stairs together. Mia had her arm linked with his and as they came to his door his neighbor; whom Natasha aforementioned, came out of her apartment dressed in light pink scrubs carrying a laundry basket.

"Hi neighbor." she said to Steve and he gave her a small wave and smiled. The woman then noticed Mia and Mia noticed that the woman's jaw set slightly and her eyes caught hers. "Hi, you're a friend of Steve's?" she asked.

"Yeah." Mia nodded.

"I'm his neighbor Kate." she said sticking her hand out and Mia took it.

"Nice to meet you."

"Hey if you want you can use my washing machine instead of going all the way down to the basement." Steve offered like the gentleman he was.

"No that's alright. I just got off shift and was in the infectious disease ward so, better not."

"Right. Well offer still stands in the future."

"Thanks." she smiled warmly and turned to walk away. Mia felt a little inkling run through her mind and down her spine but she just shook it off. She was being overly cautious of people at the moment.

"Oh, I think you also left your stereo on by the way."

True to her observation music could be heard playing behind Steve's door with the sounds of old band music from the forties. As Kate walked down the stairs Mia and Steve shared a look. She nodded as she took his keys and placed them in the door and he took out the open window and onto the escape railing. Mia took a gun out from the holster under her jacket and clicked back the safety. She then opened the door slowly and closed it behind her, crouching down as she saw Steve climb through the kitchen window and pick up his shield off the floor. He held it up, placing his arm through the strap and headed towards the living area. Mia followed along and as Steve then stopped and his shoulders slumped.

"I don't remember giving you a key." he said.

Mia stood straight as she looked around the shelf and saw sitting in the dark corner next to the record player was Fury. She clicked the safety back onto her gun and re-holstered it and settled her jacket back over it. Something seemed off.

"You really think I'd need one?" Fury gruffed a bit as he sat up. "My wife kicked me out."

"Didn't know you were married." Steve said looking at him more intently.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me."

"I know Nick, that's the problem." Steve walked over and turned on the light and Mia's eyes widened as she saw Fury was banged up pretty bad. He had a contusion on his forehead and his lip was bleeding as well. And from the looks of it his shoulder was bleeding pretty profusely as well. Fury looked between the two of them and held his hand up to signal silence as he reached over and shut the light off. Taking his phone in hand he typed something out on the small keyboard and kept talking.

Ears Everywhere the message said on his phone. He then looked at Mia who nodded and expanded her mind searching the area nearby. Her eyes closed as she continued to listen to the two men talk.

"I'm sorry I had to do this but I had no place else to crash."

"Who else knows about your wife?"

"Just my friends." Mia heard Fury stand and took a few paces.

"Is that what we are?"

"Well that's up to you." and that's when her eyes shot open as she made to reach out to pull Fury out of the way. But a large sound echoed in the apartment effectively shooting out the wall behind Fury as his body lurched forward and blood sprayed. Mia grabbed a hold of his wrist and began to drag him towards the kitchen as Steve took up his shield again and held it for cover. Mia bent down as she saw blood began to pool as two gunshots had been issued to him and blew holes through his chest. Her eyes began to glow white as she reached down and applied pressure. Fury coughed as he then grabbed Mia's hands and shoved something into it. A Shield flash drive.

"Don't trust anyone." he choked out.

Bangs were heard on the front door that Mia had closed and locked behind her and suddenly it burst open.

"Captain Rogers!?" a female voice yelled.

Mia stood up with her blood soaked hands and shoved the flash drive into her jacket pocket on the inside. She then drew her gun holding it up as Kate the neighbor from across the way rounded the corner.

"Captain I'm Agent 13 with Shield Special Services." she said. "I was assigned to protect you."

"On who's order!?" Steve demanded as she came into the kitchen and Kate or rather Agent 13 was met with a gun to her face. She took one look at Mia and then at Fury on the floor and her face set in stone.

"His." she said as she fell to her knees checking his pulse and taking a walkie out of her pocket. Mia kept her gun low but still trained as she watched the interaction. "Foxtrot is down. He's unresponsive. I need EMT's"

"Do we have a twenty on the shooter?" a voice said from the walkie.

"Tell them I'm in pursuit." Steve said as he looked out the window and one moment he was there and the next he barreled out through the glass and shutters and across from one building to the next.

"Dammit!" Mia growled as she holstered her gun but Agent 13 reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Agent Harper stay." she said desperately. "Please help me."

Mia was torn. She was supposed to be by Steve...she was supposed to have his back. Mia grabbed a rag off the kitchen counter as she bent down and took Agent 13's hands as she pressed them down on Fury's chest. Mia's eyes glowed white as she placed them over the other woman's and suddenly Fury's chest rose up and fell down like he was being electrocuted. She did this a few times before pinching his nose and breathing air into him.

"Keep compression and pressure and give him oxygen. I need to go."

"Please don't!"

But Mia stood up as she too took the same exit as Steve her body launching out the window but instead of landing in the opposite building her body took flight into the air. It had been a while before she had flown. The wind whipped at her as she leveled out in the sky her eyes and mind searching before she found Steve running through the windows of a building and as he launched himself onto a roof top and threw his shield at the assailant. She dove down and as the shooter reached out and grasped the shield with a metal arm he flung it back. As it was heading for Steve, Mia dropped down hand up as the shield stopped in mid air. Her white eyes took in the assailant and he hers for a simple moment before running off the side of the roof and down below.

The two of them ran to the edge and looked around to find that he was gone like a ghost. Both Steve and Mia looked at one another as they heard sirens in the distance. She handed him back his shield of which he took and clenched his jaw.

"We need to go." Mia said.

"Right." he nodded and she wrapped her arm around his waist and his around her shoulder as she effortlessly picked him up and they went over the edge of the building. Using her gifts she floated them down the dark sidewalk below and they stood straight. Mia took out her cell phone and dialed a number as she put the end to her ear.

"Nat, something's happened. GPS my coordinates. This is a code red." she hung up not waiting for the others response and she looked to Steve gesturing him to follow. "This way."

They circled round back to his apartment and Steve hopped onto his bike and Mia on the back as they tore off down the streets of DC towards a Shield mediated hospital. The only hospital Shield Agents went to in times of distress was in Bethesda, Maryland. They only hoped they made it on time.

Upon arriving Steve and Mia ran into the hospital as they found Agent Maria Hill waiting.

"They've taken him into surgery a few minutes ago." she said. "Come on."

They followed her into a open view of the operating room and Steve lent on the window pane as he watched. It would be some time before any progress was made but the doctors worked diligently. Maria was on the phone a few times as they watched and Mia lent on the wall arms crossed as she clenched her jaw. She didn't hate the man but she didn't want him to die either. Forty minutes passed and the door to the room opened as Natasha came bursting in and right up to the window.

"I-Is he gonna make it?" she asked shakily.

"I don't know." Steve said.

"Tell me about the shooter." Natasha asked.

"He's fast. Strong. Had a metal arm."

"Ballistics?" her lip quivered as she stared straight ahead.

"Three slugs, no rifle. Completely untraceable." Maria said looking also quite emotional.

"Soviet made." Natasha stated her eyes wide.

"Yeah." Maria looked at the assassin with question then.

The monitors in the room then went off and Mia pushed herself from the wall and too went up to the glass. It took her a moment to realize that Jasper Sitwell and Rumlow had entered the room as well while the doctors went around and rushed as Fury began to flat line.

"Don't do this to me." Natasha whispered her voice overcome with emotion and pain. Mia felt it. It was genuine.

The doctors pulled out the defibrillator and charged it on as the doctor put gel on it and made the call to clear. Mia clenched her hands on the pane as the wood beneath her fingers began to crack.

"Let me in the room!" she made to go out the door but Steve grabbed her arm. "I can save him."

"Mia." he said.

"You have to let me save him." she whispered helplessly. They continued to shock Fury trying to get his heart restarted but he had been flat-lined now for too long. Maria began to cry, tears falling down her cheeks and she quickly made to wipe them as she turned. Natasha however kept staring as she clenched her fists at her sides.

Mia and Steve looked on and Mia felt overcome. She felt no connection to this man or at least she thought she didn't but for some reason this hurt. He had protected her, given her a home, and a purpose within Shield and now he was gone. She couldn't cry, she just felt shocked. Why did she want to save him? Why did she feel like she could? Why was her body telling her to run into the room and shake him to life? Her eyes shut as a pain erupted in her head momentarily and she held fingers to her temple. Steve thinking that she was emotionally overcome pulled her into his chest and held her his face buried in her hair.

Images flashed in her head. A car crash, a person inside, flames...shattered glass everywhere. One hand reaching out and touching her fingertips as she cried and cried. Begging for this person to hold on as their body was crushed in between the metal of the car and the steering wheel. The feeling of life leaving that person's body as her mind was filled with fear, anger, hurt, and what's more...loneliness. Death was lonely and painful. It wrenched at her gut and she opened her eyes. She gently pulled away from Steve as she raised her hands slightly to look down at them and rubbed her fingers together. Blood caked all over them and on the sleeves of her jacket.

Blood all down the front of her shirt and splattered on her shoes.

Fury's blood.

She should have stayed. Should have helped keep him alive.

Steve's hands went over hers as he shielded her away from the sight of blood and she looked up at him. He looked tired, concerned, and very sad. She just blinked a few times before she felt wetness on her cheeks and she stared at Steve her lips parting and her breathing laboring and soon she started to cry. Steve wrapped her in an embrace again as he tried his best to muffle her sobs into his chest.

Time seemed to move slowly then as they removed him from the operating room to another room where you could say your final goodbyes. Fury lay there, eyes closed on a table with his body covered with a white sheet. Natasha stood there staring down at him her arms folded and Steve and Mia stood by the back wall. Steve held her hand in his as they stood in silence for a few moments. The only thing that brought them out of their revere was when Maria walked into the room and up to them.

"I need to take him." she said gently.

Steve let Mia's hand go as he walked up to Natasha and stood next to her quietly saying her name to bring her out of her trance and thoughts. The assassin reached out placing her hand on his head gently saying her last goodbye and then turned as she hustled out the door and Steve followed. Mia gently rest her hand on Maria's shoulder and gave the other woman a look of understanding.

"Let me know what I can do Agent Hill." Mia said.

"He liked you, you know." she said. "He looked out for you."

"I know he did."

"Just stick with Captain Rogers." she ordered and Mia nodded as she walked out the door to see Steve and Natasha in an argument almost but as Mia walked up so did Rumlow.

"Captain they want you back at Shield."

"Yeah give me a moment." Steve said but Rumlow remained firm.

"They want you back now."

"Okay." Steve said firmly. Rumlow then looked to Mia.

"You too Harper."

"I'll be along." Mia said.

"You're a terrible liar." Natasha said as she then flit a look to Mia. The two women looked at one another and Natasha smirked. "And you should have stayed with him."

Mia swallowed hard and just rolled her eyes feeling anger bubble. How dare she say that to her face. She cared about Fury too. Natasha turned and strut off down the hall and Mia took a pace up to Steve as the two of them came close. Mia took out of her pocket the flash drive and looked at it and then at Steve.

"What now?" she asked and Steve looked to his right at the vending machine being stocked. He took it from her hand and while the vendor wasn't looking reached over placing it behind a stack of bubble gum.

"We will come back for it later." he said. "We can't have it on us while at Shield. We talk about none of it."

"He told us not to trust anyone."

"We can trust each other. Mia I trust you. With my life." he said placing his hands on her shoulders gently. He came forward and kissed her forehead then.

"I trust you with mine." she said.

"Let go."