Chapter Nine
On Wednesday, despite the fact that it had been her idea, Maria Hill would have rather been most anywhere else than dress shopping with Sharon Carter.
It wasn't Sharon's fault, Maria admitted. It was one-hundred percent her.
As a rule, she didn't have many girlfriends. Or any, really. And she had very little interest in shopping. Or, again, any.
She knew, from her sisters and mother, that she should care more about that sort of thing but she just didn't have the energy. She was too busy defending her country and saving the world for that kind of nonsense.
Yet, for the sake of her little sister's wedding, here she was with a pile of dresses Sharon insisted "flattered her build" or "worked with her coloring" - whatever the hell that meant - and every time she stepped out of the changing room there was another dress to try on.
It was exhausting.
Their meeting at Team America HQ - damn Tony Stark for getting that nickname stuck in her head - earlier had been not only productive but an opportunity for Maria to see Sharon at work since the fall of Triskelion. Maria had been just as surprised as Pepper when the former SHIELD agent and grand-niece of the agency's founder had contacted Stark Industries with a plan to not only get Captain America into the field to actively defuse Hydra threats but develop and maintain a support team so the super soldier could do just that.
The proposal had been solid, the need warranted, and Maria had told Pepper just that and paid only passing attention to the outfit's activities over the last four months.
Going into their meeting that morning, Maria had done her homework. Captain Rogers she was already familiar with, having worked with him in New York. Sharon she was less familiar with, knowing only that she had come out of the SHIELD Academy older than most of her classmates with three years of medical school under her belt.
Their meeting today had been her first time seeing the Team America operation in person and she found herself impressed with both the set-up and Sharon herself. It was a shame she hadn't had an opportunity to work directly with the young agent during their SHIELD days but, and Maria was the first to admit it, she rarely had time for anyone below a Level 7. It wasn't that she didn't care for the agents serving under her, she literally just didn't have the time.
She'd been surprised - and it happened rarely - by Sharon's professionalism and insights. Maria nearly regretted that the meeting hadn't included Rogers, Barnes and Wilson as she would have liked to have seen how Sharon dealt with their strong male personalities. From everything she'd heard, the three respected Sharon's contribution to the team and, according to Pepper, while Steve Rogers was the obvious captain of the team, Sharon was indispensable as both coach and manager.
The business-focused former SHIELD agent who had earned Maria's hard-fought respect that morning, however, seemed to have disappeared in the sea of silk, tulle, sequins and lace.
Since Maria could really care less what she wore for the damn wedding, as long as she didn't look stupid in some uncomfortable get-up (which was part of why she hadn't just asked Pepper for help), she let Sharon take the lead and kept her protests to a minimum.
"I know you don't think you're having fun," Sharon said as she handed another gown over the dressing room door. "But I'm having a blast. You're like having a life-size Barbie doll. My very own Crabby Combat Barbie."
While Maria didn't think she really resembled a Barbie doll, she could get behind the idea of Combat Barbie. As long as she wore sensible boots and not heels.
She said as much aloud to Sharon, who responded, "Unfortunately, if they make a Combat Barbie, she's not only in heels but can't fire her gun because her boobs are in the way."
"Typical objectification of unrealistic female ideals," Maria muttered.
"If it makes you feel any better," Sharon said, handing yet another dress to Maria, "Steve feels the same way about some of his action figures. If you ever wanted to make Captain America blush..."
Sharon trailed off as Maria stepped out in the latest garment. "That's perfect."
"You've said that about four of them already."
Sharon shook her head, eying the tasteful strapless in midnight blue with a subtle sheen on its full-length skirt. "No, I mean it this time. The cut, the color, even the hem's going to be perfect with the right shoes."
"Oh no..."
"Yes. We're going shoe shopping after this."
"Why?" she practically whined.
"Because Pepper told me to make sure you had everything you need - and she gave me a Stark account to put it all on."
Maria knew better than to argue with Pepper and, by extension, Sharon so she simply returned to the dressing room to put her suit back on while Sharon took the dress up to pay.
The dress ordeal took two hours - twice as long as their meeting to discuss things that mattered - and included another hour of shopping for jewelry, shoes and a tiny purse she would never use again.
Seated in the back of the limousine, she eyed the pile of purchases and wondered how one event could have cost so much in time, money and energy.
Sharon had her own small bag from the jewelry store, a pair of cufflinks she bought for Rogers. It seemed an unusual gift for a work colleague but, considering they were fashioned to look like Captain America's shield, Maria figured they fit the recipient.
She sighed, looking forward to the giant steak she was going to order from room service as soon as she got to her hotel room. With any luck, she could work off the steak before the pool closed and not talk to anyone until tomorrow when she promised to help her mother and sisters with more wedding nonsense she didn't really understand.
Maria turned her attention to Sharon as the younger woman finished the phone call she'd been on.
"You're all set for Saturday with my stylist at 2:00 for hair and makeup," she reported "Anything else I can help you with?"
Maria thought about it, raising an eyebrow wryly. "If guess if you've got a man to keep my mom and sisters off my back, I'd take one. Someone other than Captain Rogers."
A look Maria couldn't read crossed Sharon's face. "I might have someone in mind." She pulled her phone back out and did some one-handed searching. After a moment she said, "It looks like Sam's schedule is open this weekend."
"Wilson?" Maria asked, her interest piqued as she thought about the former pararescueman and Sharon's current teammate. "How does he look in a tux?"
"About as good as he looks in everything." Sharon gave a slight shrug. "Which is very, by the way."
"I hadn't actually planned to take anyone with me but I might be less likely to kill someone if my family thinks I have a social life."
"I'll check with Sam and get back to you tonight," Sharon promised as the limo pulled up in front of the former Stark warehouse.
Maria nodded and, just as Sharon was about to shut the car door, called out "Thank you, Sharon. Really."
"It was my pleasure, Maria. I had fun. Hopefully you did, too."
Maria was about to protest but closed her mouth as she thought about it. Tired as she was, crabby as she'd felt, she had to admit that the outing hadn't been nearly as terrible as she'd thought it would be.
"I did have fun," she admitted, surprising herself nearly as much as she did Sharon. "In fact," she continued, unable to stop herself, "Would you like to grab dinner with me? I was just going to get room service at my hotel."
Sharon smiled at the invitation. "That sounds great," she said, getting back into the car. "If you like Mexican, I know a great place near Capitol Hill."
Much later than she'd expected, Sharon climbed the stairs from the garage and stepped into the command center after dinner with Maria and was surprised to see Sam siting with his feet propped up on his desk while he flipped through one of Steve's Martha Stewart magazines.
"I assumed you'd be sleeping," Sharon said as she took a seat across from him and set her bag on the desk. "How was your flight?"
"I slept for most of it. Bucky wouldn't shut up about the Sasha the German Shepherd." He eyed the bag. "Anything for me?"
"Not this time, sorry."
He shrugged. "So how was shopping with Commander Hill?"
"Good," she answered. "I think I think she sees the value of what we're doing here, the void we're filling in the absence of SHIELD. And, more importantly, we found her a killer dress. She's gonna be a real knock-out this weekend."
"I don't doubt it," he said, looking back down at his magazine. "I assume your fashion sense and her good looks would be a winning combination."
Sharon smiled slyly. "Wanna be her escort Saturday night and find out for yourself?"
That brought his head back up. "Come again?"
"Do you want to be Maria's date for her sister's wedding on Saturday night? Live entertainment, fancy food and a chance to show off how good you look in a tux?"
"How did pimping me out come up during your girls' day out?"
"It just sort of did." Sharon shrugged. "I think Maria's family puts a lot of pressure on her to be more of a traditional female and having a date would help alleviate some of that, at least for a night."
"She doesn't strike me as a woman who'd bow to that kind of pressure."
"No, she doesn't, but I don't think that means it doesn't get to her. Besides, I think the two of you might have fun. You've got your combat background in common and you're both Wolfsburg fans."
"You think serving our country and German soccer is enough?" Sam asked, narrowing his eyes. "Just kidding. I've gone out with a lot of women with far less in common."
"So you'll do it?"
"Sure, I'll do it. Do I need to rent a limo and buy a corsage?"
"This isn't prom, Sam." Sharon smiled at the idea. "Maria does have her own limo, though, and will probably pick you up."
He stood, tucking the magazine under his arm. "Just so you know, hot date and fancy food aside, you're gonna owe me for this. I don't know how yet, but it'll be big."
"Considering that Maria's gonna look h-o-t fine on Saturday night, I'm pretty sure you're the one in my debt." As he walked toward the stairs, Sharon called after him."