And here is the conclusion. I am so thankful to those of you who have stuck with me on this. This story started as a simple image of fierce, tough guy Fury encountering a young Hill and taking her under his wing. I was going to spend the first day of my vacation on this little, short piece, then get new chapters of my other stories done. Instead, this kind of took over. I'm hoping you don't mind too awfully much. Now that this is out of my head, I can get back to my other works.
Sandy-wmd and Qweb: Thank you both for your feedback. Your comments about the forensics stuff prompted me to go back and expand on a couple of bits I had written. Made them better, I think. You're appreciated.
Spitfire 303: Thank you
LostintheDarkEyesandSoul: I think these are all people who need family and are making their own. Her father (undeserving of the term as he is) is, indeed, a *********. It was fun letting Nick beat him up. I hope to have the next chapter of my Hury story up in the next week or so, depending on the demands of life and work.
keamkntl: Glad you like.
a graceless heart: It a hard one to write and to read. I'm glad you're enjoying reading.
I appreciate the reviews more than you could possible understand. They make me positively giddy. Favorites and follows give me a warm, fuzzy feeling too. The conclusion is ready. I hope you enjoy.
Melinda pushed the wheelchair down the hall. Her pace was even and unhurried, but she wasn't going to slow down, either.
Maria turned to look at her. "So, the doctor said it's okay for me to leave? And the social worker and police officer? Because they said that they wanted to talk to me again."
"We got the clearance we need," the agent responded.
The younger woman started to respond, but stopped. "Got it."
"Good."
A car was idling at the curb, and Jasper jumped out, opening the car door for them. While Melinda helped her settle in the bac seat, he pushed the chair back inside.
As he pulled into traffic, Maria looked over at the other woman.
"Where are we going?"
"Home," Melinda told her.
"Oh." She sank back, sighing in resignation. Of course she was going home. Back to him.
Allowing her head to drop back, she closed her eyes. She ran through a series of mental exercises, focusing on pushing back the pain. She may have dozed off, because when she opened her eyes and looked around, she was confused.
"This isn't my nighborhood."
"It is now," Jasper told her, pulling into the driveway of a neatly maintained bungalow. He opened the door for them, then grabbed the paper bag containing Maria's belongings out of the trunk.
"I promised you that your wouldn't have to go back there," Melinda reminded her. "I always keep my promises."
"But what about the police and the social worker?"
"That's all being taken care of. There's an old saying. 'It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission.' In this case, your safety and well being were primary concern. We've hinted to the doctors to take a look at your x-rays. Check for old injuries. Then there's the fact that the finger marks on your neck are smaller than the bruises on him. Those marks are pretty clear," she told the girl, reaching over to touch the bruises.
"But what if..."
"The truth will come out, Maria. These people really do know that they're doing. They have pictures of your injuries. They measure the handprints on you, the ones on your dad. Measure your dad's hands. They'll come to the proper conclusions. We just thought it would be better for you to be where you know you're safe and where he doesn't know where you're at."
Melinda led the way up the sidewalk. She tapped on the door, then pushed it open, motioning the others to follow.
They stepped into a large, open room. Phil put down his coffee cup and rose to greet them, giving Maria a gentle hug.
"Good to see you up and around," he told her.
"Up, anyway. The around part is still slow going. Is this your place?" she asked.
"No, it's mine," said the woman coming in from another room. Nick came up behind her, carrying a tray of snacks and a fresh pot of tea. She directed him to set it on the table, then walked over to stand in front of Maria. She looked her up and down, then looked to Melinda.
"Are you going to introduce us, daughter?"
"Of course. Mom, this is Maria Hill. Maria, this is"
"Mom?" Maria interrupted.
"Lian May," Melinda finished.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. May," the girl apologized. "I was surprised. I wasn't addressing you. That would be out of line."
"It's alright, Maria. You may call me mom if you'd like. Or Lian. Or Mrs. May. Or Gertrude."
"Gertrude?" Melinda asked.
Lian shrugged. "Maybe she's always wanted to call someone Gertrude," she commented.
Maria looked at her, then shook her head. "No, ma'am."
Mrs. May rolled her eyes. "Did you forget to bring her sense of humor?"
"Prudence, maybe," the young woman commented. "It might be interesting to call someone Prudence, I think."
Nick snorted and Phil laughed out loud.
"I guess I'll answer to that, too," Lian grinned, taking her hand. "Welcome home. Let me show you to your room." She led her down a hallway and opened the door to a sunny bedroom. There was a bright, yellow spread on the bed and white curtains at the window. "We can redecorate if you want."
Maria shook her head. "No, this is fine." She ran her fingers along the spines of the books on the shelf.
"Is the bed alright? Not too soft or too firm?" Lian asked.
"I'm sure it's perfect," the girl answered, sitting down and bouncing lightly. She picked up a scrapbook laying on the bed and opened it up, glancing at the achievement certificates. "Is all this Melindas?"
"No, dear. It's yours."
"I meant the awards."
"So did I."
Startled, Maria looked down. She studied the awards more closely, realizing that they did, in fact, bear her name. Turning the pages, she recognized the certificates she had slipped into the trash cans. She jumeped up and walked over to look at the medals in the case on the wall.
Also hers.
She turned to Lian.
"Nick brought them over. Thought you might like to have them."
Maria bit her lip, not knowing what to say.
"Let's go back and join the others," Lian suggested quietly. She led her back into the living room and over to the seating area and started pouring the tea, ordering Phil to pass them around.
The room fell silent. Maria looked around, but no one would meet her gaze. Nick stood by the back door, looking out into the garden.
She cleared her throat. "Thanks, Nick. I guess I owe you my life."
"Don't," he said harshly.
Maria's eyes widened and she turned to Lian.
"Don't worry, child. This bunch is all feeling guilty."
"Guilty?" She looked around. "Why?"
Lian reached over and tapped gently on her cast. "Because you got hurt."
"That's ridiculous," Maria sputtered. "As I recall, you guys as the ones who have taken care of me time after time. Made sure I had hot meals. Medicine. Escapes."
"But I didn't protect you when you needed it most," Nick said.
"Aren't you the one who swooped in like a bat out of hell and pulled him off of me? Gave him a taste of his own medicine?" She vaguely recalled the sight of paramedics tending to the blubbering man as they rolled her out.
"After he had alredy hurt you, Maria. I should have done something earlier. Before anything you."
"What could you have done, Nick? Any of you?" She set her cup down and studied the group again. "You had your lives. Your jobs. None of you were responsible for me."
"I was," Nick protested. "I chose to be responsible for you. To look out for you. And I roped them into helping me."
"You didn't 'rope' us into anything, Nick," Phil told him. "You offered an opportunity and I took you up on it."
"We all chose to be a part of this," Melinda said.
"Willingly and gladly," Jasper added.
"But why? Why were you interested in me?"
"Because you said you didn't like bullies," Nick reminded her.
She still looked confused. Melinda scooted forward in her chair and leaned towards the younger woman. "The work we do helps people, Maria. We help keep them safe. Protect them from bullies that they may not even know want to hurt them. So much of it no one ever even sees. We know, and it's enough. But sometimes, it's hard to remember that the masses are made up of individuals. With you, we could all remember that even something we see as a little thing can make a big difference in someone life. You helped us stay in touch with our human side, Maria."
"Your spirit touched us and we wanted to try to make things a little easier for you," Phil said.
"And you did," she told them. "All of those things that seemed little to you? The school supplies? The coats? The fudge bomb pops? Those were so big to me. They made my life bearable. Those are the thoughts that got me through the tough times. When he was drunk. When it was cold because hadn't paid the bill and the heat was off. I knew that there was good in the world."
"But you shouldn't have had those tough times, Maria."
"Why not? Everyone has tough times to one degree or another. I'm sure you all did. It's all those things that make you who you are. The good and the bad."
"But yours was reaaly bad. I should have gotten you out of that situation,"
"Into what?"
Nick rubbed his head. "I don't know. Phil mentioned CPS. So did Jasper. I resisted. Maybe if we had gotten them involved...made them aware of your situation."
She shook her head. "No. In my neighborhood. CPS was like the boogeyman. Adults told us that if we misbehaved, they'd call CPS to come and take us off to the work farms. There were a couple of kids that got taken and no one ever heard from them again. I know now that they probably got put in a better situation, but back then? That scared us. If CPS showed up, you said whatever you needed to so that they didn't take you away."
"Besides, you all asked me about him. Every time I saw any of you, you asked how things were with my dad. I knew what you were asking and I chose to lie. I was afraid of what might happen. I chose to stay in that situation."
"You were a child."
She walked over to look Nick directly in the eye. "If you're going to blame yourselves, I can blame myself, too," she insisted stubbornly.
He shook his head, but she continued to glare. "Again. My choice." She looked to Phil. Then Melinda. Then Jasper. And finally back at the older man.
He finally snorted. "Stubborn brat."
Funny. The term had stung coming from her father but sounded rather affectionate from Nick.
Lian set her cup down with a clink.
"Good. Now that that's settled, we need to talk about school."
Maria's face fell and she shrugged. "I don't think it really matters. None of the colleges I wrote to seem to be interested in me."
Nick caught her arm as she turned to walk away.
"Actually, they are." He reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a thick stack of envelopes. "I found these in the trash can in your father's bedroom." He held them out. "They're thick ones, too."
She gave him a stunned look, slowly reaching out as though fearing they would disappear. Taking them, she stared in wonder for a moment, then dropped to the floor. She carefully tore into one, quickly reading through it before opening the next. With each letter, her smile became broader. Finally, she looked up.
"They want me," she said in wonder.
"Course they do. Smart people at colleges," he replied gruffly.
"But that's only if you finish your high school work," Lian reminded her.
The excitement left her face. "How am I going to do that? Will I transfer to a school here?"
"Lucky for you, I have my teaching credentials," Mrs. May told her. She pointed to a desk. "We have your textbooks and a computer. I also have a studio in the back that Melinda used to use so you can continue to work on your physical training as well. I'd be willing to bet we'll get you through all this even before your accelerated program would."
XXXXX
That was a bet Lian May would have won. Her method of teaching and Maria's method of learning meshed perfectly and it seemed like no time before the expressions of interest from colleges became acceptance letters and scholarship offers.
She applied the same drive and determination to her university work and it seemed like no time before graduation was in sight. Though most of her new family had moved on to different cities and different positions, they had all were excited to watch her cross the stage.
Nick, particularly, had become very busy. His phone seemed to constantly buzz when they were together, but he seemed to have no problem glancing at it, then putting it away.
"I need this Maria. You keep me sane and focused," he told her as he sat across from her at Lian's kitchen table one night.
"Have you figured out what you're doing after graduation?" he asked.
She shook her head pointing at the papers she had spread across the table's surface. "There was a job fair at school a few days ago. I talked to a bunch of people. Passed out a lot of resumes. These are the ones that I was kind of interested in and was going to think about setting up interviews with."
He leaned forward to get a closer look at the papers.
"GE. Ford Motors. Goliath National Bank. Stark Industries. Pretty impressive names."
"Yeah. The guy from Stark was practically drooling over my resume. Said I looked like exactly the kind of person they liked to bring in." She frowned. "He seemed okay, but Tony Stark was there, too."
"You didn't like him?"
"He seemed kind of flaky. He was flirting. Not just with me. With all the women stopping by. I just didn't get the impression he takes things very seriously," she told him.
"So, no Stark Industries?"
"I don't know that I really want to go into the corporate world."
"What are your other options, then?"
"Military," she answered. "There were recruiters there from all branches." She laid the information packets on the table one by one. "Army. Navy. Air Force. Marines. Coast Guard. Also, the FBI, CIA, and Secret Service." She got to the bottom of her stack and frowned. "I don't remember this one," she commented softly.
"Which one?" Mrs. May asked.
"Something called 'SHIELD'? I don't remember a representative from a group by that name."
Lian looked at Nick, but he didn't return her gaze.
Maria finally looked up. "Have you heard anything about them?" When they both shrugged, she rolled her eyes "Look, I know you're all involved it top secret spy sort of stuff. Is this an organization that you've heard about?"
"Yes, I've heard some about them," the woman admitted. "Like most groups of that nature, they've got their good and their bad. I think you'd do well with them, but I think you'd do well just about any place they're smart enough to put you in charge."
"Suppose it couldn't hurt to talk to them," she shrugged, putting the pages in her 'maybe' pile.
It was several weeks later when Nick opened the file on his desktop,
'New Candidates for Academy Admission' it was titled.
He skimmed through the bios and notes from the interviewers, approving most, marking a few for further review. He stopped, breath catching in his throat. He had been expecting this, but seeing it for real was giving him second thoughts.
Maria Christine Hill.
She had scored quite high on all asssessments, physical and academic. He looked at the notes.
Bright. Quick to grasp new ideas and concepts. Strong willed. Decisive. Definite leadership qualities. Well organized. Brusqe and to the point.
He smiled. The interviewer had certainl read her well.
But what to do about her?
In spite of what Lian thought, he hadn't been the one to give her the information about SHIELD. He would bet that was Sitwell's doing. While he had no doubt that she would be an asset, he wasn't sure about sentencing her to this life. He knew the dangers, the risks. It had it's rewards, but it was a difficult life.
Rejecting her application would be doing her a favor, actually. Giving her a chance for a normal life. A life with family and friends and regular hours and maybe even a pet, he thought, looking at his fishtank, empty since the last one had perished from lack of attetntion.
But she was an adult. It was her choice to make, and taking that choice away from her made him no better than her father. Putting aside his personal reservations, he had to admit that she and SHIELD would be a good fit.
He also had to admit to a flash of pride when he clicked to accept her application. He liked to think that he had played a part in her becoming the woman she was.
XXXXX
He thought he did well, acting surprised when she gave them all the news about being accepted into the SHIELD academy.
"You're sure that's what you want?" Phil asked her.
She nodded. "I did some reading, talked to the interviewer. It seems like it's the organization most in line with what I want to do. Of course, they said that the majority of people who start the training aren't able to finish it, so..."
"Do you think that will be a problem for you?" Jasper asked.
Hesitating only a moment, she squared her shoulders and shook her head. "No. I can do this."
Her confidece proved well founded. As usual, she threw herself completely into every aspect of her training, earning top marks in academics as well as physical classes.
She was catching her breath after a particularly hard workout. Her instructor was making some notes, discussing her performance with her when a supervisor joined them.
"How's she doing?"
"Very well," the instructor replied. "I'm thinking we may see some of May's records fall."
Maria's head popped up. "May?"
"Agent Melinda May," he confirmed. "It's been a while since she was here, but she's still one of the best we've ever had." He pointed towards towards the 'Wall of Honors.' "She still holds most of the records in the women't division."
She walked over, studying the wall. Sure enough, 'M. May' appeared numerous times on the records plaques as well as being a top perfomer in multiple categories during her time at the academy.
She moved over to study the men's section of the wall.
"So, why do they have separate awards for the men and women?" she asked, skimming through the names.
"That question has been asked several times in the last few years," the intstructor told her.
"Usually by the women," the supervisor added.
There. Sitwell, J.
"It's been discussed and dismissed."
"Usually by the men. They don't think it would be fair."
"Because some of them would lose their records if they had to compete with the women?" Maria commented.
Coulson, P.
"Very likely."
There.
"Fury," she murmured.
"Yeah. Our esteemed director was a standout from the very start.."
"Director?"
"Yes, Nick Fury took over as director of SHIELD several years ago."
Later that night, she called him.
"How's the training going, Maria?" he asked.
"What? You don't get regular updates, Director Fury?"
There was a moment of silence, then he cleared his throat.
"Yeah. About that."
"You're all SHIELD?"
"We are."
"And you run everything?"
"More or less."
"Just one question. Is that how I got accepted?"
"Absolutely not!," he answered immediately. "If anything, I was tempted to reject you because I know what this life can take from you."
"I'm an adult, Nick. This is my decision."
"I know. I also know that you will make an excellent SHIELD agent and that is why you are currently where you are, Ms Hill. Your success or your failure is entirely in your hands."
"Thank you, sir," she told him. "I guess I'll see you at graduation."
"I have no doubt you will," he agreed. "No doubt at all."
Only a very few in the audience who were listening closely heard the extra note of pride in the voice of Director Nick Fury when he announced the name of one particular graduate. Three agents stood in the back of the room, watching with approval as each student crossed, the stage.
They had all dined at the May house the night before, celebrating the accomplishment of the young woman who had found a place in their lives and hearts. There were a few tears shed as she told them how much difference they had made in her life and they told her how proud they were of her. This was a safe place where they could share and express the emotions that could not be shown publicly.
When Maria's name was called, Phil heard a sniff coming his right. He pulled a packet of tissues from his pocket and handed to Melinda with a knowing grin. She glared at him, then passed it to Jasper on her other side. He took of his glasses, wiping his eyes before blowing his nose and passing the package back to Melinda. She handed it back to Phil. Before he could put it back in his pocket, she reached over and pulled one out.
"Something in my eye," she muttered.
He gave her a surreptitious hug.
"Yeah. Something in the air in here," he agreed.
After the ceremony, the new agents crowded around their training supervisors who were passing out envelopes containing their new assignments. Maria accepted hers and stepped aside to open it.
"Director Fury's office," it read.
She folded it and tucked it into her pocket, then headed into the maze of corridors,, ending up at the door to his office She knocked lightly.
"Enter."
Crossing the large expanse of carpet, she stood at attention in front of his desk.
"I was told to report here for my assignment," she told him.
"Ah, yes. Your assignment." He picked up another envelope and handed it to her. "First thing in the morning, you'll report to Agent Sutton in field operations for your first field assignment."
She took the envelope and nodded. "Yes, sir. Will that be all?"
"Not quite." He rose and crossed to a small refrigerator. Opening the door, he bent over and reached into the small freezer section. He took something out and turned back to face her.
"Fudge bomb pop?"
She laughed and reached out to take one. "Day wouldn't be complete without it," she told him.
And that wraps this tale. Thanks for reading. I really appreciate the time you invest in me. I'm tickled pink about the response I've gotten for this. I had some doubts, but I'm glad you like. My lovely readers never let me down. Time to post and get back to Risks. Or Stroll.